1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
My dad would set up these awesome toy train tracks in the living room while I was asleep. His builds were orders of magnitude better than what my brother and I could do as 3 and 5 year olds. We'd wake up to a huge new layout every once in a while. We played with those trains nonstop for days. They were awesome.
I asked him about it recently, and he apparently has no recollection of doing that lol.
And that's how you found out your house was haunted
Or dad enjoyed the cocaine... I once rebuilt a fucking motorcycle and had no idea I even did it until a couple days later lol.
Lol wtf, that's Stephen King Cujo level
My friends and I used to call each other dildos before we knew what it meant. It was my favorite insult; it rolled off the tongue. Then one of my friends' older brothers told us what it meant and we were shocked. We must have been at it for months.
I miss being that innocent.
I was playing Nintendo with my dad when I was fairly young, we were racing. He didn't take the shortcut, so I figured in my little head that a playful insult was warranted. And I remember thinking that 'chicken' just wasn't quite powerful enough.
So, my, a teeny tiny little blonde girl, turned to my dad and said "what are you, a pussy?"
Ha ha
You stupid dildo!
Same. I dont know where I heard the word from, but it became my playful insult as a kid.
Got a very rude awakening when I called someones kid a silly dildo and had a red faced dad scream spitting in my little childhood face about it.
My grandfather on my mom's side owned a farm. My mom was a teacher with a lot more time off than my dad, so pretty much every school holiday we would stay with my grandfather for a while. There was no real structure, just go play outside, stay on the farm, be back for dinner, and let an adult know if you were going to walk to the neighbours (through the fields, nowhere near a road).
Oh, and don't eat the mullberries! I always came back with purple stains everywhere, claiming I didn't have any mulberries lol
There was a dam to go swimming, dogs and chickens in the yard, pigs, cows, maize fields, luzern fields, and what felt like endless long sunny days.
I don't think it's possible to relive that feeling of utter freedom as an adult, plus my grandfather passed away and the farm was sold decades ago now. Some things are better kept as memories, I think.
Lego.
There's something about it that's just so satisfying to me. Putting every piece in exactly its right place. I got into it as a kid, kept it up until college.
A few years ago I started getting into it again. At first it was just the Marvel sets, but then I got a couple of castle ones. I still love it as much as I did back then, except now I can share it with my kids.
Dude, you ever just have absolutely awesome crispy fries, the kind that feel like they were battered and are tangy and fluffy? There was a horse park I worked at as a kid that had a food truck that made those and just sitting outside on a nice day with a good basket of fries is up there.
And the best part, is it still fucking rules.
I remember enjoying McDonalds... I mean I know it kinda sounds "lame", but the Big Mac, McChicken, McNuggets, and Fries are just so memorable. I had McDonalds in Guangzhou, China too, but like... don't have much memories of it lol. Somehow, the NYC Mcdonalds are just more memorable, maybe I got older and memories are encoded better, or maybe its just novelty, I mean, an entire different country, I was so excited, so its probably easier to remember.
But yea... I think McDonalds is just the first "western food" I had after arriving in the US.
We go there quite often, and its not the shitty stuff today, it used to taste much better (2010s for reference), not sure if its location dependent, but the current McDonalds near me sucks so much. It's like very close to where we lived, could walk there within 10 minutes.
I mean... there's no really any guide to finding any "real" non-fastfood places, everything is just foreign, so we never really went to any "foreign" places, never really went to a local non-chain restaurant (except Chinese Restaurants).
But I do remember getting cakes at a local bakery and also there was a sushi place, I think it was my first time having sushi.
But yea... the McDonalds thing is gone, corporatism/inflation, or whatever happened, or perhaps its location dependent? Idk...
Some of my greatest pleasures then and now are simple ones.
Young me: Sitting on a swinging bench with a glass of juice staring at clouds/sky/stars or trees/squirrels/birds.
Old me: Sitting on a swinging bench with a cup of coffee/tea/beer/whiskey etc, staring at clouds/sky/stars and tree/squirrels/birds.
When I was very young, my grandfather treated my family a several day trip to a theme park. It was obviously a blast for little me, but there was one ride that I was a few inches too short for. Bummed me out. The next morning as we were getting ready for another day, my mom called me over, took my shoes, and started stuffing them with tissues, determined to get me those extra inches. Not too long after, we went on that ride not once, but twice! It was a blast.
I doubt I'd face the same issues nowadays, so probably not much chance reliving it, hah.
there was one ride that I was a few inches too short for
Bruh, you reminded me of the opposite situation. When my family were new immigrants in NYC, the money situation was a bit of a struggle, so my mother often tell me to just pretend to be younger, avoid the MTA employee stationed on that stop, and just go through the turnstiles with her, as on, on one fare, which was allowed for uo to like 2 children accompanying an adult. But...
Eventually I got too old, but my mother keeps insisting. I felt so embarassed lmfao. I was like idk 11/12 years old, and I was growing taller. And also, my mother would pass the monthly pass through like the fence thing to my father, who then just waited 20 minutes and can swipe the card again (because they prevent double swiping in quick succession), I think it was against policy to give it to another person, but like... lmao. Personally, as a child, I was always taught to be obedient and obey laws/rules. but then this happens, so I feel so uneasy, lmao, I felt like cops were gonna show up and we'd get in trouble.
But I eventually got so big, I convinced my mom to just get me a separate fard card loaded with a small amounts of money (deducting money instead of being a monthy pass). (Just googled the site, apparantly it's done by height not age, so I think that was always the case even back then)
So yea, that was NYC. Damn I think I spend so much time on the subways I have so much memories of it. It's like a big section of those years, much more memorable than car rides when nothing notable happens. I always get so bored on those subways. I had no phone, smartphone didn't even exist. I'd just stare out the windows and see things. Mind wandering through thoughts. Pretending there's a monster in the tunnels. And the Manhattan Bridge. Can't even call in the tunnels, so my dad or mom (whoever was with me at the time) would make a phone call to someone else, either the other parent, or my older brother who already got a cellphone (a verizon flip phone). Bruh I didn't get one till much older after the Smartphone revolution already begun.
Damn, those were nostalgic. NYC was nostalgic. But I kinda hate it there. Trying to find a bathroom was a bitch, Manhattan doesn't allow non-customers to use their store bathrooms, so I hate those storeowners. I remember my mom asking a fellow Chinese Immigrant who ran the store, to use their bathroom, they fucking refused, even though my mom already said she was already planning to buy something there anyways.
I just got so pissed at this transactional type of mindset, I fucking ran off to get my mom to stop spending money there.
I kinda disliked Manhattan ngl, even Chinatown, not Chinatown itself, but these fucking evil storeowners who wouldn't let a little kid use their bathroom. Also MTA subway stations had NASTY bathrooms, oh lord.
But anyways, NYC, subways, I was basically always just observing the environment. No entertainment to stop the boredom. Except sometimes I ask my dad for the flip phone to play with like the few games that it does have. Snake? Tetris? Forgot... I remember one of the later feature-phones having an UNO game.
Oh wow I rambled so much now its a wall of text. It's amazing how much memories got associated with just thinking about NYC Subway.
Childhood happiness was centered around Christmas, or maybe a family trip to a place like Disneyland. I was generally happy as a kid, except for the times dealing with school bullies. Nothing in my childhood compared to the absolute giddiness of seeing my wife in her wedding dress for that first look, nor the pure joy of realizing for the first time just how much I love my children.
When I was 10, after a full day or playing in the surf with my best friend on a secluded beach on the west coast of Java, I got a massage from this old lady, we called her "Iron Fingers" as the sun went down. And yes I did recreate it 30 years later. And it was glorious.
I just had my brother come and stay with me for a few days and we spent a good couple hours playing the GameCube I recently bought. Definitely felt a ton of nostalgia. We would play the crap out of our GameCube growing up. 007 Nightfire split screen with bots was the best
I'd say some of my happiest moments aren't thinks worth remembering the details of typically. Like, one time after we had moved recently, I accidentally was about to turn at the turn before our apartment. Blinker on and everything and my roomate told me it was the wrong turn and I responded "its too late" and turned anyways - not to troll or anything, just how my brain decided to deal with the last minute information. Anyways, after turning around and making it back home, I was just literally rolling on the floor laughing in pain from the incident for reasons beyond my understanding. Only remember that one because we continued to making "its too late" jokes since then - otherwise it would soon have been forgotten. So I'd say my happiest moments just tend to be otherwise insignificant interactions with those that I love and that's never really changed.
I'm sure there are tons of happy moments in my childhood since I believe I had a good one, I just don't remember then or really much of anything before 14-15 years old and my teenage years weren't that great family wise.
Had to think through the fuzzy memories, but I can absolutely recall some of the fun things, like the occasional times my speech therapist let me play games on her desktop. Can't remember them all by name, but there was a Pajama Sam game, SpyFox ( Operation Ozone ), some point and click puzzle game for older kids, and some activity center game.
There are plenty of memories of me playing video games, either by myself or with my brothers or friends ( mine and/or theirs ). Hell, my earliest memory is a bit of a toss up for me, but it was either me playing a Tetris like Egypt themed ps1 anime game ( that I already forgot the name of despite finding it a few days ago ), Yoshi's Story on n64, and some pirate themed edutainment PC game.
I also have a lot of memories of watching an absolute ton of cartoons growing up since our cable package had Cartoon Network, Dosney, and Nickelodeon available. Watched all the new shows coming out on CN and Nick, mostly. Alongside all the 90s reruns and a ton of the old Turner Classic stuff CN shoved onto Boomerang before basically getting rid of those shows. Can still remember the channels were the 170s and 181 for a second CN that for some reason ran the exact same programming at a later time than the other CN channel.
As an adult, I don't try to chase the same high as some of my childhood memories. I don't know if it's an autism thing with me or what, but I am not huge on chasing after nostalgia, despite still watching a lot of the old cartoons of my past. I still look back with nostalgia, but like the life I currently live, so I'm fine not completely turning around for that nostalgic blast from the past.
Edit:
Though I'm not huge on being super nostalgic, I wouldn't mind getting a set of the plastic marble trick whatever track thingamajigs ( things like a funnel, wavy half pipes, etcetera ) just to try and pair it up with other things to create a Rube Goldberg machine to do something in the least efficient manner, just for fun.
but I am not huge on chasing after nostalgia
Lol, me on the otherhand... I get obsessed about my childhood and think about it everyday... like obsessively...
currently dealing with depression and I'm trying to think about the good stuff more and maybe the depression goes away? idk
I’m assuming drug use does not count as wholesome?
Um... 🧐
Bruh, y'all got wild teenage years. I still haven't ever tried any drugs to this day. 😅 (Am Asian, drugs are very stigmitized in Asian families)
Ah yes, must’ve been those hard right religious values my family instilled in me that let me use drugs.
And to be clear, you asked about adulthood happiness too. I wasn’t doing that as a kid
Sorry, just to clarify, I didn't mean to mention the drug use thing as an insult lol. I just kinda admire that Americans (and Westerners in general) are kinda rebellious, like in a badass kinda way. I personally kinda never dared to do that stuff.
Our first shrooms trip was great wholesome fun!
My friend got the shrooms and wanted to put it on a pizza. He worked at a pizzeria and bribed his boss with a slice of shroom pie to bake it for us.
Tasted great, didn’t trip (dose too small), still had fun
I’ve always heard to put them on top of an already cooked slice, don’t cook them at pizza oven temperatures. That might be why you didn’t trip, but it might also be an old wives tale
Tons, my favourite is being very young and having my Nana read me thomas the tank engine stories on a bench in the garden.
Nobody ever read to me 😥 lol
But I did remember reading this kids science book all by myself. Like just entire pages of Chinese characters, and I understood most of it (well... it is made for kids).
I never really did the "parent/guardian read to me" thing, I never asked.
I don't read Chinese characters often now in an English-speaking country, but I still recognize the basic characters, enough to watch a tv show. Its always interesting when Chinese scenes come up... like in Three Body Problem (the Netflix Adaptation), I felt like that show was made for me lol. Like just very immersive for a polyglot like me.
I had a fairly rough time at school, so the holidays were the highlight of my childhood.
We'd go to this holiday village once or twice per year, which had this central building that was themed in a very maximalist way, with lots of little nooks and crannies to discover. It felt like an adventure. I'd laze around in the big swimming pool all day, or pretend like I'm a pirate in this big pirate ship prop they had. It still exists, but I'm a bit afraid that it won't live up to my childhood memories of it.
During the summer my family and grandparents would go to this kinda run-down recreational domain around a lake. Swim all morning, then eat something in the shoddy cafeteria. They put red cabbage in all their sandwiches for some reason! I'd give a fortune to experience that again, but alas, my grandparents are long gone and the domain's been turned into an upscale glamping spot (where you can't even swim).
Of the things I have re-experienced as an adult, building some LEGO sets has been great to do again. And I'm also getting to experience things I wanted to do as a kid but never had the opportunity for.
All the time. Thats why I keep old game systems and laptops. And my old ipods.
I had very few happy moments and those that I did have are now tainted from knowledge I have gained through my life into adulthood.
though, the happiest times I remember were times when I was alone.
Hiking the grand canyon was lovely. We sang we are climbing Jacob's ladder while...hiking that portion of the trail. We were around six when we did this.
We visited dad at times Square while he worked on the nye ball drop, and got to see inside the the...command center. Small but neat.
I remember both family reunions, one on each side. One was in the middle of Montana and we drove over grandfather's foot while using a little kid car thing. It stopped working and we popped the hood to figure out what was wrong like daddy did. The other was on long Island with so many people in a tiny house. Loved it. Warm and cozy.
Speaking of Time Square. I remember one time in Manhattan, like somewhere near 42 st, but maybe not that close. There was like a big toy store, Toys R US maybe? Forgot. They had this weird paper plane thing constructed from I think cardboard paper. Dude threw this paper plane and it kinda "bommeranged", looped back back to the man and he caught it. I kinda wanted that thing, never got it.
I remember having a toy helicopter thing as a gift. Broke it during first flying attempt. If it were a modern DJI, it would never have crashed, that thing sucked, but I kinda got sad about it.
Also, I was in, well... not Long Island, but I've played at the beach in Coney Island. It was a fun beautiful memory. I think every time I was at the beach, I always try to make a model NYC Subway railway with the tunnel things, or it's an amalgamation combined with a castle, or something... forgot...
I also rode the ferris wheel at Coney Island... Every been there? There was like the ones that move and the non-moving carts. The moving ferris wheel carts were in red or blue or something, the non-moving ones where painted white. The non-moving ones ends up higher at the top, so it was scarier for my fear of heights, but its non-moving so its less scarier in thay regard. My entire body shaked during the ferris wheel ride, so much heights. I remember riding the Q train (or was it the F train?) when we used to explore NYC, that coney island railway segment was layered on top of the F train, like taller than 5 stories of a building, and it was so high, I got scared that the train would fall off. I think they even paused the train when there were storms, perhaps it is possible for those trains to fall off?
Oh yes they had a Toys R Us in times Square. We actually went there that year we visited dad. We all had walky talkies with us from his work so we're using them. A guy comes up and asks where the bathroom is.
"No idea?"
"But you work here!"
"No I don't? I'm a kid?"
"Oh. But the walky talky-"
"Oh, no. Family has them"
He grunted and left lmao.
Clearly, they hired kids as unpaid interns xD
To be fair to the guy, the workers also did have walkies, but a different type. Also they were all wearing that vest toys r us use to wear. But I was a kid, and a short one!
It was also Christmas eve. The place was paaaaaaaaacked.
Speaking of Holidays, I remember during the first Thanksgiving Black Friday, we were at the Bayparkway (Brooklyn) Bestbuy. A whole line of people lined up there. We didn't have a car, so we basically just walked there, like 30 mins away. We got a cheap tv and some budget laptop, forgot how we got it home, but I assume one of our relatives came by and helped us move it home.
My aunts and uncles who lived around there said people would set up tents there the night before lol. Wait in line felt like 1-2 hours, maybe 3 hours, forgot. That was insane, but you kmow... poverty and people want cheap stuff.
Home would've been so much sadder without these stuff. Never had laptop before coming the US, new stuff, the novelty... it's useful to look up a lot of unanswered questions kid-me had. Like space stuff, planets, looking up stuff was magical.
Like this was 2010s btw. Nowadays I think people just do online shopping.
Well, we had a huge wooden playground that was my fave spot as a kid and the fave spot of everyone else who grew up where I live over the last 25 years.
Unfortunately I can't go back to it now because it was recently torn down in place of a modern plastic playground, and even if it were still up, I'd look weird AF hanging out at places like that now that I'm older anyways.
I loved that place when it was still wooden, though.
As for recently, I've been pretty happy just doodling lately.
childhood was kind of lame, don't miss it much, i am more melancholic about early adulthood, i revisit those pictures more
Yeah I didn't know it at the time but my childhood sucked and pretty much my entire adulthood has been happier.
I do miss the naivete about being a young dumb adult and living in the moment without a thought about my future. Life hasn't gotten worse since then. It's arguably gotten better. I just miss that specific kind of fun.
