Hi hi, sorry for the long hiatus, but I’ve been gone on a holiday in Ireland. I should have some videos about that coming out soon. But here is a recording where Will and Erick joined me in a conversation about growing up in Visalia as nerdy hoodrats. We talk about what it was like in a multicultural community, racism, economic disparity, being nerds, finding anime, and being hoodrats running around the ghettos of the Central Valley.
If you have your own stories about growing up in Visalia or being a nerdy hoodrat, comment down below!
Link to the second part of this recording (the realllll weeby anime stuff) Weebthusiast EP12 | https://youtu.be/ksyWX87ffGA
Timestamps 0:00:00 – The Oh Wow Nickel Arcade 1:10:48 – Skipping School to Eat at Gumbo and the Buffet at Adventure Park 1:20:41 – Being First-Generation Kids without Adult Supervision 1:31:48 – Rebelling Against my Asian Parents and Finding my Crew and Avoiding Gangs 1:41:44 – How I found Anime and The New Generation of Kids in Visalia 1:51:55 – My DDR Story and the Beef Between Fresno and Visalia Nerds 1:04:23 – I Love Growing up in the Central Valley and Bless Nobles Mom’s Heart
It’s no secret that getting older sucks. Having already survived a year or two as thirty-year-olds, we all know that the memes of random aches and pains are true. However, one of the things about growing up is that we have come to learn that the things we learned while growing up turned out to be not true…Whew, that’s a mouth full. What I meant was: as we got older, we realized some of the things we learned turned out to be lies.
In this video, Salutationsandgoodvibrations, Brooke, Juju, and I discuss some of the things we had to unlearn as we got older. Of course, all of this sounds pretty gloomy. But don’t worry, our (or mainly mine) cautionary tales are wrapped in a blanket of warm laughter. Cuz, you know, the 30s are supposed to be the best years of your life…or so they say.
So let’s have some fun and complain, like the old souls we are. For there is no better time than now to channel our inner “ I am too old for this shit” Roger Murtaugh (from the Lethal Weapon movies) and poke fun at our decaying bodies.
ALSO!!!! I have corrected some of the information I said in the video. On the screen will be some CORRECTIONS THAT I HAVE MADE.
If you’ve ever laughed at a Life Alert meme but then felt like it hit too close to home, then feel free to share your story below.
Timestamps
00:00 – Cold Open
00:34 – Introductions To Everyone
01:43 – Ted Cruz Memes And The Movie Titanic
06:00 – When We Realized We Aren’t Young Anymore (MILF AV)
16:45 – High School Friends, And Xanga, And MySpace
28:00 – Being Immature In High School
30:24 – Don’t Creep On Girls On The DanceFloor and Going To A Gay Club
35:02 – Disadvantageous Expectations For Our 30s (And D!cK Pic Rant)
46:10 – Blame It On Society, Sexuality, And The Gay Agenda
51:28 – Is Technology Catching Up To Hate In America Or Is This A New Movement?
55:15 – American Dream? Model Minority? Us vs Them? Unlearning Racist History
1:13:21 – Oh Visalia, We Talk Smack But We Still Love The Central Valley
1:21:12 – Thai Music Looks Like A Slowmotion Lightshow
1:25:19 – Dating In Your 30s And Kids (Recommended Tinder/Bumble Settings)
1:37:04 – Juju Love Story, Blackout Wednesdays In Visalia, And Hangovers In Your 30s
1:44:46 – Closing Remarks And Saying Goodbye
On this segment of SorryAsianParents, Kevin Chang will be joining me in my tiny apartment to catch up. He is one of my longtime friends from high school. We played football together and raised a little hell: disappointing our Asian parents one party at a time.
In our conversation, Kevin will tell me what he’s been up to, a bit of Hmong history during the Vietnam War, and about his family. We will gingerly touch on his relationship with his father….and you know how we Asian kids be with our Asian fathers. I want to thank him for sharing his family’s history with me, and now with you. Despite how many of us (first-generation Asian Americans) share the same story as Kevin and I, we are reluctant to talk about these small incidences that have shaped our lives. So let’s try and normalize it!!!
I’m honored he agreed to share his story with me and allowed me to post it on my passion project. If y’all have any stories to tell about Laos, people from Southeast Asian, immigrant stories, or any tales of trying to live up to an Asian father (or mother), feel free to comment below and tell us. I know Kevin would love to hear other people’s experiences.
ps. I’m sorry for some of the framerate dropping here and there. I am in the process of getting new hardware soon so fingers crossed the next videos will run smoother. Bye, bye!!!
#SorryAsianParents 