In the past year or so, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon taking place: The interests I had at a much younger age are coming back to me, sometimes after many years not being part of me.
I don't know if it's an effect of not having had kids of my own yet, or if it's just some cyclical mental thing that would have happened regardless. My early teens are coming back to me.
First I began wearing similar clothes to what I wore back then. Luckily, those clothes are appropriate on an adult. I feel VERY comfortable in those clothes, I realized.
Then it was movies. I was always a movie lover, and I loved Return of the Living Dead, Big Trouble in Little China, The ‘Burbs, and the Friday the 13th films. All of these films have returned to my interest lately, and I’ve watched them all regularly in the past couple of years. I noticed that a LOT of the movies that still matter to me are ones I watched right around that time.
Some of the music I loved has come back, too; I was a huge Alice Cooper fan back then, and bought the whole box set last year after having little interest for many many years. A lot of the other music I loved then still makes me deeply happy when I catch it on the radio or online.
Of course, comics are a part of my life, since joining Drunk Duck a few years ago. That hobby has been back with me for several years. But the comics and books I read back then are coming back to me. I've even hunted down some of those books and bought them again.
I wonder if it's just a quirk of the brain doing this, or just random recollections of old pleasures that I'm wanting to revisit.
But it is interesting how a lot of it is centered around what i loved at 14/15. For me, that was about the time that puberty hit me in full force.
I'd liked girls before that, but not with the consuming intensity that hit me at 15 (I think kids grow up earlier these days; for me that was the age). So maybe the stuff that filled my time and thoughts before puberty is what I'm returning to lately.
I was just reading the Martin Short memoir and at one point he theorizes that the interests we have up to age 15 or so are the interests we spend the rest of our lives processing and mixing together and playing with in our minds. I don't know if that's true, but it sure feels that way to me right now!
Does this ring true to anybody else? What did you love at 14? Have those interests left you? Stayed with you? Or are they due for a return visit?
Happy Thursday to ya!
Take care,
Banes, 14 (again)
14
Banes at 12:00AM, July 14, 2016
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bravo1102 at 12:07AM, July 16, 2016
I like a lot of stuff now that I didn't at 14. And I understand a lot of stuff I did like at 14 on a whole new level because of the experience of the intervening years. And not a few things have fallen off the radar completely.
PaulEberhardt at 12:52PM, July 15, 2016
Yep, it's funny how things come back to you. I keep finding myself watching children's TV every now and then and enjoying it. I can't really recall what I loved at 14, except drawing, taking photos, doing stuff outdoors - girls, of course - and none of that has ever gone away, even if it has advanced to whole different levels.
ashtree house at 10:24PM, July 14, 2016
I agree with Plymaker, I see many things mentioned here that I also loved at 14, No wonder we get along so well! I was actually about 13-14 when Pokemon got big in Canada and so with all this Pokemon GO talk, I feel myself getting really re-interested again ha!
plymayer at 9:55PM, July 14, 2016
Sounds like we had/have a lot of things in common. As do many of us on here me thinks.
Ozoneocean at 9:34PM, July 14, 2016
Let's see... what did I love at 14? Cats, fantasy, porn, Robotech, comedies, swords, archery, horse riding, warships, hats, drawing, making things... Not much has changed except I swapped fantasy for Scifi and then swapped Scifi for historical non-fiction and detective books. Oh and now I collect antique costume stuff hahaha!
Z74 at 8:43PM, July 14, 2016
I know what you mean , I have been going through the same thing . I have two kids so I don't think that's a factor . chalk it up to either mid life crisis or wishing for a time when the world was exciting and full of possibility instead of frightening and full of dread as it feels now .
Mika_yi at 8:17PM, July 14, 2016
@banes: thank you so much, I'm happy to be on this site, I need to try and be more active on this site. you all are so kind. :)
Ozoneocean at 7:57PM, July 14, 2016
I could reread Xanth... I started those late though, when I was lying in bed deathly ill with severe chickenpox at about age 20. Sickest I've been in my whole life- you can die from it at that age. I go into Xanth and Flashman. The books from my early childhood are all fantasy- Lord of the Rings, the hobbit, CS Lewis etc. I tried going back to those a few times and just can't now though, movies have ruined them a bit for me, but mainly you have to have a LOT of patience for their slow pace and a big sense of child-like wonder to really get into them.
Banes at 6:43PM, July 14, 2016
@bravo - Ha! That's right! I didn't even realize that! The maturity was very short-lived, eh? What you say about resetting yourself after a trauma makes a lot of sense, man.
Banes at 6:40PM, July 14, 2016
@kawaii - I have tried rereading some Xanth books, but they've lost some of their charm to me. I didn't read them early enough, maybe. I think I was in my late teens/early twenties when I found those.
Banes at 6:39PM, July 14, 2016
@BrunoHarm - Of COURSE it counts!
Banes at 6:39PM, July 14, 2016
@Mike_yi - thanks for sharing your experiences, Mike. Sorry to hear about the challenges. It must be a difficult transition. Glad you're here on the Duck!
bravo1102 at 6:02PM, July 14, 2016
At the turn of the 21st century I had an emotional collapse. So in some parts of my life I purposely went back to doing things like I did "once upon a time " to simplify my life after reassessing my priorities to reduce stress.
bravo1102 at 5:57PM, July 14, 2016
Funny how one week you cover maturity and a few weeks later you're 14 again. Chronological elevator like I said in the maturity thread.
kawaiidaigakusei at 4:06PM, July 14, 2016
I totally get this. Lately, I have been reading the Harry Potter books again and I picked them up when I was 14. I have once heard, "At the end of the day, we all revert to our seventh grade selves."
Mika_yi at 2:33PM, July 14, 2016
@bruno: the US does take some getting used to. I manga though although I don't typically like how hot it gets in this area it's always 110 because of the humidity in the summer. x.x but I'm glad to find people on places like Drunk Duck that have similar interest in comics and all. so that's a plus. I am glad I still can get pieces of home here and there through music or movies.
Bruno Harm at 11:32AM, July 14, 2016
@Banes: Does playing in a punk rock band count as being a musician? @Mika_yi: Sorry your having a rough time in the States. I was living in Olympia Washington, and I had a lot of nerdy Gamer friends. Then I moved to Virginia, and everyone is in the military or into surfing or fishing, and it's been tough, like you said, to find people with the same interests. Of course, the culture shock on top of that must be extra tough. I get homesick pretty quick when I'm abroad.
Mika_yi at 8:52AM, July 14, 2016
I was actually in Japan during those ages. I listen to Japanese music, but also Korean because I am Korean . We did a lot of karoke watch anime, study for test and buy erasers, pencils ect with our favorite band names on it. Video games were always a big hit for us. We used to walk around all over the place to get to where we needed t go. I think what I miss is basically everything I used to do in Korea and Japan. I moved to the US a while ago and it's not the same, it's harder to buy things over seas and I miss being able to just walk to a store with friends. But I do love comics still. And drawing I am happy the Internet allows us to still mingle online with each other so we can communicate with more people with the Same interest. I still listen to Korean music watch Korean shows thanks to Roku device. I do miss my friends and even in the states they live far away and it's harder to find people with all the same interest that I have. At least in this city.
Banes at 7:39AM, July 14, 2016
Bruno Harm - Awesome! Yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about! Bass guitar, eh? Another DD musician!
Banes at 7:38AM, July 14, 2016
I'm getting older. Okay, now I'm freaking out a little bit...
Banes at 7:38AM, July 14, 2016
Ironscarf, you're surely correct! And you're right about the elderly having vivid memories of the past. I love your story about the memory of the billiard ball.
Bruno Harm at 7:38AM, July 14, 2016
This is so true! When I hit 15 or 16, It was all about girls and punk rock music. Going to shows three nights a week. Parties. All of that. But by the time I was married, I was back into Dungeons and dragons and all the geeky stuff I learned from My uncle when I was in my tweens. I haven't played my Bass guitar in probably over a year. I still listen to a lot of Bouncing souls and Bad Religion though ;)
Ironscarf at 6:28AM, July 14, 2016
One of most most vivid early memories is of toddling out back with an ivory billiard ball in my hand, feeling the weight of it and then dropping it repeatedly onto concrete slabs to see what would happen. I still have that ivory ball. It's usually within a few yards away. From time to time I pick it up, close my eyes, feel the weight and shape of it in my hand and remember exactly what it was to be three years old. Nobody knows where the ball came from.
Ironscarf at 6:19AM, July 14, 2016
For me, it's all the way from age 3 to about 13. Those experiences and influences are the most vivid, because you're experiencing it all for the first time. These things will shape you and affect the way you experience everything else for the rest of your days. Martin Short is absolutely right, but it's no theory. Walk into any old folks home and you'll hear detailed stories of everything they did 70 years ago, with all the names, times and places intact. But some can't tell you where they are now, or who with, or why.
Banes at 6:18AM, July 14, 2016
Well picking up new things sounds like a much better way to go! I don't think nostalgia has much to do with it for me; maybe a little, but i don't yearn for those days at all. Going back almost never crosses my mind. But now I wonder if it's a sign of not moving forward strongly enough! Could be!