Right now, the overwhelming mass of work I need to complete for school and college apps, ALONG with the stress that comes with dealing with some health issues has been driving my mind into the gutter. 

As I wrote in my first blog post, I spent a lot of time on the internet as a younger kid, so today, I’ll write about some of the phases that I went through that contributed to where I am now. Honestly, I really miss these phases because I was really happy. I had absolutely no worry about being cringy or being judged, I was happy and excited to pursue what I loved. I wish I could go back to that, but school allows me 4 hours of time to myself after school, all of which I need to spend on schoolwork haha. 

 

I’ll start off with Ninjago.

I rate this one a 7/10.

This phase lasted from around third grade to 5th or 6th grade. I watched the show religiously. There was even a year when I skipped trick or treating to watch an episode because it aired from 7-8. 

 

This one loses points because at this point I really wanted to be a ninja, so I pretended to be one. I definitely embarrassed myself, and I’m still embarrassed thinking back about it. There was a Ninjago book that said something along the lines of “ninjas don’t get to take hot showers or sleep on comfortable pillows.” For the next week or so, I tried to “toughen myself up” and I slept without a pillow, and I refused to take hot showers. Not my proudest moment.

 

Ninjago redeems its points because it did me into storytelling and world-building. Little me wanted to create a story that made people feel excited as I did, so I started writing and creating comics. 

 

Winx Club + My Little Pony

8/10

 

I put these together because they were in the same pirate website rotation. My old sketchbooks are filled with drawings from both of these shows. I barely remember this phase, but I do know that it introduced me to pirating websites. I learned how to deal with pop-ups without getting a virus at the ripe age of 9. Winx and My Little Pony also got me into character design, with their bright colors and unique outfits. 

 

Hamilton

9/10

My friend introduced me to this musical, but I wasn’t really interested in it until I saw an animated music video for it. These fan-made animatics got me into animation. I got my first art tablet during this phase, and digital art changed my life forever. This pipeline led me to make a lot of friends in the YouTube animation community. I also earned a lot of money by building an online following and selling art. Hamilton was also the first Broadway musical that I saw live!

 

Overwatch

6/10

 

I made a lot of friends playing Overwatch. It started in 8th grade, and I bonded with a lot of people over the game. 

 

I ended up joining the varsity Overwatch team for our school and oh my goodness. I was so stressed over a video game haha. I kept making friends over the game, and I got a free trip to California to play at nationals. 

Overwatch was also the gateway drug into gaming for me. I can’t tell if this was a good or a bad thing. (Video games are a really easy way to bond with people)

 

Miraculous Ladybug

4/10

 

Like all of these phases, I made friends who shared their love for this show. This show also fuelled my drawing inspiration, as well as brought me an unreasonable amount of joy. This was a phase in which I was just really happy with everything in my life. 

This earns some points also for the Chinese main character. I feel like a lot of mainstream shows don’t have a Chinese main character. 

 

Critical Role

7/10

The voice actors/players on this show are so unbelievably talented. I got into Dungeons and Dragons over quarantine, and it was the perfect form of escapism in a tense world. I got close with a lot of my friends over this game, and the character creation and story fuelled my inspiration for art. 

 

I miss having the time to indulge myself in art and world-building. A lot of these phases contributed to my love for creation and drawing. I hope that soon I will have the time to find what I love again.

 

P.S. sorry about the image quality! I guess moving them from google docs is not the way to go. Just pretend the graininess adds to the nostalgia!