It's Weird How Fast The Time Passes. I Was Busy Being... Well, Busy, And Life Went By Me.

It's weird how fast the time passes. I was busy being... well, busy, and life went by me.

Summer nights. I never put together why I felt so nostalgic about this specific time of the year, even though it's not my favorite season. Now that I think of it, it has more to do with television and wattpad.

You see, growing up I wasn't allowed to go out of my house unless it was for school. So television became my only source of happiness. I was very drawn to cartoons and kid's shows, especially the one's from Japan. Shin Chan, Doraemon, Ryukendo, Beyblade, you name it. While I'm aware that it's supposed to be called anime, it's considered cartoon in my country because of it's dubbed version being widely known.

I lived in small towns for most of my life so this atmosphere was mostly peaceful. I would sit out near the grass before my bedtime to feel something. The chirping of crickets and the soft breeze eased my little heart that longed for friends. Not that it matters now, but not being able to interact with my friends during vacation made my feel like a frog in a well. A frog who knew how the life outside the well looked.

When I turned 12, I got a hand-me-down phone from my mother. I quickly opened a Facebook account to connect with my friends after school season ended. It didn't do much since my friends were busy hanging out with people, in-person. I was still a kid obsessed with a fictional character so I took quizzes online and eventually it led me to the world of fanfictions.

I swear to God the fanfictions back in the day were different. Those still has sex scenes but it was a result of several cute interactions and awkward sexual tension, not the dominant, angry alpha, arrogant ceo bullshit you see these days. Even the Alpha characters in old fanfictions used to be cold but empathetic, unlike the uncontrollable monsters of today. The old ones were only misunderstood to be monsters, the ones these days are actual monsters.

Anyways, it all led me to the peak era of wattpad (2014-2017). I became obsessed with fanfictions and read around 20000 words per day. I would've read more if my internet access wasn't limited. I would read it under the stars while sitting out near the garden or in my dimly lit room with my windows wide open.

I could go on about these forever but I won't. One thousand or more words aren't enough to share the impact of Japanese children’s shows and anime on my childhood and the longing for to relive the lonely but simple past every summer night.