Isn’t New York along the coast? Thought weather in the coasts was more mild compared to the interior of the continent, where it has very hot summers and cold winters.
Yeah. The summers here can be hot and humid (not unbearably hot but it can still be pretty hot in some days) and the winters are also pretty cold.
Toronto might be similar since it's by the coast of Lake Ontario and it's at a lower latitude. I know Montréal has harsher winters due to being more up north and inland.
I had the same thing with America. Most Jews also live in America, but I never really knew about that or cared. For me, America seemed like the central place in the world, because American media dominates so much (as well as Japan). I’ve gone to America many times, but because I stayed in the west coast I didn’t see any difference in the climate, geography, housing, people or wildlife (trees and stuff). I recognized early on that Americans are pretty much like Canadians on the other side of a fence.
The thing about Americans is that we suppose that everyone wants to come here because "we're the best country in world". Everyone wants to be an American and everyone should be proud to live here, because to us every other country are third world tyrannical shitholes riddled with political oppression and poverty. You don't see too many Latinos in other first world countries like Canada or Europe even if those countries offer similar opportunities and quality of life as the U.S. And America being the dominant cultural force, you already used to what's like to be here and not anywhere else.
Also, we Americans take the idea of democracy and being a republic and our Constitution too seriously as try to claim that we are some perfect utopia who rejected British monarchism as tyrannical and that's why we were able to triumph economically and politically, and that we claim that we are the leaders of democracy and the free world, and even surpassing Europe (which during the 19th and 20th century wasgoing through wars, nationalistic revolutions and dictatorships) and the waning British Empire (which became the UK and the Commonwealth) as the world's superpower despite being a young republic born out of an experiment. That America has the most civil liberties, the most wealth, and the least amount of problems. Even when the Soviet Union was a competing power, they eventually fell because they were ruling with an iron fist and Communism was bad and unfree. The good guys are always the victor.
And given that we claim that the U.S. with its republican and representative democracy as laid down in its Constitution which also protects citizens' civil liberties is the best system that exists, we always think that America could never one day suffer poverty, mass corruption, censorship or dictatorship because we think that our system of government aren't as flawed as other countries even if those countries are also run as a republic. That we will always honor the Constitution and our democratic process that our democracy is fair and that our government will always serve the people, and that justice will be always be served.
So looking at countries with a different system of government like Canada who still has a monarchy, for us it seems that your system is archaic and anti-democratic which is why we sneer at Canadians for being less prosperous, less dominant, less successful and less free (especially regarding freedom of speech, right to bear arms, British and Canadian nationalistic propaganda dissuading them from Americanization, the fact that Canada wasn't allowed to industrialize as much and remained mostly an agricultural colony, more socialist economy i.e. public healthcare and Crown corporations, the CBC being owned by the government, etc.), and for Canadians choosing to live under such system instead of moving to the U.S. as being the far superior neighbor. For us we say why would I want to be in Canada if I already got what I can get here in the U.S. and there's more econonic opportunity and liberty here.
So since I'm not used to seeing other first world countries and since not a lot of Latinos don't go to those countries, I've always wondered to myself why don't we move to those countries? Why do we have to move where everyone else moves because that's what everyone else does? I of course don't believe in the fairytale of American exceptionalism and that these other countries seem to me as an alternative to America with a different way of doing things yet they have modern cities and interesting English accents. It's like an uncanny valley that they are a first world Anglo country like America and they speak English, yet have a different system of government and accents. Also different demographics since you don't see many Latinos or people from my country in those places.
So, I've never been to Canada and the only other country I've been to was the country where I was born. I've always wanted to be in the UK because it also had an interesting mix of modern and Victorian, especially London with its skyscrapers and castles. Canada to me seems the closest thing to being in the UK while still being able to drive there. Would like to visit and bring my Nintendo DSi with me to make some Flipnotes before the queen dies because I still want to feel like I got to be in a kingdom as a subject of the queen.
Damn, the nostalgia of being a kid is amazing. Everything felt better, life was enjoyable and fun, relatives weren’t dead, and the brutality of the world didn’t completely mentally destroy us. I heard meditation can help feel like that again, so I’m gonna try coping with that.
Yep. The only time I was really happy was when I was a toddler, before I started to school and going through a lot of the abuse I've went through.
Back then you didn't think the world was as fucked up as it really is, when you're new to this life you explore how your body works and your surroundings, playing with mirrors and trying to figure out why when I turn my head sideways it still looks rightside up but when I'm upside down it looks upside down. I remember spending most of my time building blanket and pillow forts and burrying myself under them because it felt so comfy. Back when I had all my toys and my video games. Back when I used go out with my mom and my aunts and cousins to go shopping at the mall and listening to house and techno music.
That's also the reason why I romanticize the '90s and the early 2000s. It feels like home and a time of innocence. That's also why I like to listen to the music of those times and why I like playing video games of those times too, and why I like the aesthetics of the technology back then. The staticness of old VHS tapes and CRT televisions. I have an old computer with Linux and I use old window managers (Window Maker, Motif WM, IceWM) because I like the old aesthetics of computer interfaces back then. I really like KDE 1.0 because of that. Also FaceandLMS videos give those vibes too.
Johto is one of my favourite regions, but I don’t like the theme song as much tbh. The Hoenn and Kanto region had the best songs imo. The one I sent or this one, pretty hard to choose:
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ATPpDbRVc
Yeah, gen 3 was also pretty good and that theme song is my second favorite in the Pokémon anime. In term of graphics and gameplay, Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald were better than Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal and imo the best gen in the Pokémon series.
But there's something about the gen 2 games that I really like, especially with Pokémon Crystal in the fact that for a GBC game it was ahead of its time (improved sprites compared to gen 1, sprite animations, the graphics for the time look really good in color and had really good music, and in the Japanese version there was an
accessory made for it where you can connect a GBC or GBA to a mobile phone and it will allow you to play battles and trade Pokémon via the Internet).
About the anime, I remember watching the Pokémon Advanced series when I was a kid (I was like around 5 or 6 at the time) and I had a crush on May. Like I wanted her to be real so that I can be with her. I also remembered watching Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea which featured her a lot. Then when Diamond and Pearl came out I stopped watching because Dawn doesn't interest me that much.
The 2000s were also a pretty good time. I remember those old Nextel flip phones that you can change the theme color and play brick beaker on. Britney Spears, and those live action shows from Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel like iCarly, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, My Suite Life of Zach and Cody, Wizards of Waverly Place, etc. Would be a good time to be in high school in an era and chat with friends on MySpace and AOL and MSN.
I also have a bunch of tech from that era. Got an old Windows XP machine and an iMac G5, a flip phone, a Nintendo DSi and a PS3.
