Steve the Fish, circa winter 1996-97
Steve the Fish, circa winter 1996-97
This room was my shelter, my place of refuge. It's where I spent most of my time. Perhaps an unhealthy amount of time, I might admit. But for an introvert like myself, this room was not only the place where I went to be alone, but it's where I went to meditate on the nature of my loneliness. Being an introvert, I needed a quiet place to recharge my soul's batteries, which could quickly become depleted from socializing---even spending time with friends I was comfortable with would drain my energy. I had everything I needed: a TV, a VCR, a Super Nintendo game system, a stereo with a tape deck and multi-CD disc changer, my music collection, and a humble science fiction book collection.
I poured out my heart writing that Megazord-sized, epic Greg's Life essay #127: "Memoirs of a painfully shy, lovesick nerd" and this photo gallery will give you a bit of a setting to several of the events of that essay. This room was an extension of my very essence, and I was so proud of how it represented my unique character. It began while I was in high school, but especially in college I would just listen to some peaceful music, relax, soak up the ambience I'd created in that room, and just train myself to appreciate myself for who I am. In college, I shared this room with my beloved pet fish Steve and my cat Agent Cooper.
One prized possession of mine was a blue neon telephone. I believe I got for Christmas while I was in high school. If I recall correctly, I saw it at Spencer's Gifts at the mall and I asked my parents to get it for me for Christmas. It had a switch to turn the neon on and off, and when the phone rang, it would flash. If there was ever a call late at night while I was asleep though, that phone would startle me as it was like a flash of lighting in my room! Back in the mid-'90s, while we did not have an answering machine, we did have a caller ID unit in the kitchen. I typically did not like telephones because they were a constant interruption at my parents' home, but of course I was happy when friends would call me. That telephone was used to call girls that I liked. "Look, when she gets back, could you tell her I called?" Or I'd see that a girl called on the caller ID, so I'd call back, and nobody answered the phone. Phone tag is something youth today have never experienced, I imagine. These days, teenagers have smartphones and instant messaging, and a phone call is always within reach. But back in the mid- to late-'90s when I came of age, I had to call my friend's home, ask whoever answered the phone if my friend was there, and if not, I'd try to leave a message with that person and hope that they would relay it properly. Good luck with that. Furthermore, if you were supposed to meet a friend somewhere at a certain time, you would have to make it there on time because once you both left for the agreed upon destination, neither of you could contact the other to find out why they weren't showing up on time. You'd just have to wait for them to show up, or hope that they were patient with you if you were late. If people were busybodies and had the money, they could own a pager, though. This was also the telephone I used to call Mayu for the first time, using an international phone card to contact her. The first time I tried phoning her, I had to deal with her impossible-to-understand grandmother who was incapable of speaking slowly and clearly, even when repeatedly asked to do so. Moreover, connecting to a BBS and later the internet meant that the line would be busy if you dialed the number preceded by *70 to disable call waiting. I remember all too well being on a BBS and the screen would become a jumble of characters, then my mom loudly apologizing from another room of the house for picking up the phone and ruining my connection online.
I had wooden shutters on the big window, as you'll see in these pictures. It was best when sunlight would filter through the tree outside as the breeze blew its branches, causing shadows to dance along the wall and my bed. When Dad would come into my room to spend time with me, he would often tell me how this was the most peaceful room in the house. He said that the peaceful atmosphere was the result of my placid, laid-back attitude. I spent a lot of time laying on my bed with friends and cousins, just enjoying each others' company, listening to music, playing video games, and watching stuff on my TV. It was here in this room where I introduced my cousins Brandon, Todd, and Justin to anime, as well as my dear friend Lisa's little brother Steve. And of course, I would stay up late listening to music and talk with my precious cousins Bethany and Shelby in this room when they would come to stay with us. I loved it so much when they came to stay and each time I'd wish they would never leave! I feel so much nostalgia looking through these photos. If only I could go back in time...
My family first lived in Phoenix, and then in 1980 we moved to this house in Glendale. When my 2-year job in Himeji, Japan ended, Mayu and I moved to Arizona in August 2002 and we lived with my parents for about 10 months. We occupied my sister's bedroom as well as my old bedroom. Eventually, this old room of mine was turned into a sewing room for Mom. Unfortunately, Dad sold this house after she died in 2012, so I will never be able to step foot into this room again. I guess the house had too many memories of Mom and filled his heart with sadness, so he wanted to move closer to where my aunt Kathy and uncle Gary live in Surprise so as not to feel alone. It makes me sad to think about that. I really loved this room. These pictures were taken in winter, either 1996 or '97. I think perhaps it was January '97. When I picked these pictures up from the photo shop and showed them to my wife Mayu, I said, "Look at how nerdy I am!" She replied, "How did you get so nerdy?" Let me show you my old room. It was such a wonderful room.
(Note: you may click on these pictures for a larger view.)
To the left I am standing next to my door, looking into my room, next to my X-Files poster on the door. Above the X-Files poster, that 's just Chinese gibberish that is supposed to be my name. If I was a moron, I would have had that tattooed on my back or something like too many idiots do.
To the right you'll see my computer hutch at the foot of my bed. Dad was a carpenter and he made that computer hutch himself. From the ceiling hung a Japanese paper lantern with the character 福 ("blessing"). On the wall is a Chinese calligraphy art scroll I bought in L.A.'s Chinatown in '96, a mini Blade Runner poster, and some color prints of Bubblegum Crisis and Kimagure Orange Road anime art. On my computer hutch you will see my neon blue telephone, my TV, VCR, Super Nintendo, and my old 486 computer I used to log into BBSes and the internet(with an old '80s ZOIDS toy on top of the monitor). Check out the 5 1/4" floppy drive on that computer! Under my TV you'll see my stack of journals (I count five journals, so I can tell about when this picture was taken), my stack of letters from my pen pal/future wife Mayu, and my audio cassette collection.
When the lights were off, the ambient mood lighting came from the red Japanese lantern, my blue neon telephone, Steve's aquarium lamp, and an ornate Chinese lantern which hung over my desk counter on the other side of the room (which I neglected to take a photo of). The result was a surreal experience, and friends would compliment me on having such a cool, relaxing room. Just light a candle and bliss out. I accomplished this without even owning a lava lamp! I never did manage to smooch a girl in my room though, as I was always so hapless when it came to girls until Mayu became my first girlfriend and I married her. (Although after we were married and Mayu and I lived at this house with my parents for about 10 months, we managed to put the room to good use for smooching and such. Tee hee hee.)
This is just a horizontal shot of the same scene above. However in this picture you can see a bit of my computer on the floor and and a bit of Steve's aquarium on top of the hutch.
To the left I am sitting at my desk. I had a long counter that Dad made for me. Next to me is my stereo. This is where I would study, do homework, and work on plastic models. On the wall behind me you will see my Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2 posters. Atop my stereo you will see the crappy MPC snap-fit Return of the Jedi X-Wing model, my Bugs Bunny action figure, and the Exo Squad-reissued Robotech Destroid Tomahawk from Macross. Barely visible in the top right corner of this photo, atop my bookshelf, is the black music box that my pen pal (and future wife) Mayu gave me for Christmas once.
To the right I'm sitting on my bed. You can see my Dirty Pair, Gundam: Char's Counterattack, and Bubblegum Crisis posters behind me.
Left: me. Right: it's Billy Corgan, the singer from Smashing Pumpkins. Ha ha, just kidding. It's me again. What's that? You don't think I look like Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins? Good. Neither do I, so shut up about Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins already.
Alright, so this photo was taken by mistake, but it is still kind of cool, so I will include it here. This is the lamp atop my book shelf, which was on my counter. You cannot see the Robotech, Star Wars, and other SF novels on the shelf, but you can maybe barely see my V Gundam and Gundam F-91 action figures I'd bought at the Starlog store at Arrowhead Mall. What you can see is the Bandai/Imai 1:72 scale Macross Valkyrie plastic model my friend Ry helped me build, two Chinese incense burners, and a Chinese cork carving featuring a panda inside. I bought that cork carving at the Chinese New Year in '96 and had bought a similar one for Juliet, a girl I was in love with that year who broke my heart. You can't tell, but the posters on the wall are of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back.
Lastly, these negatives we had sent to a company called Seattle Filmworks, a company where you would send your film to have them develop it, digitally scan the images, and mail your developed photos to you, along with digital images of your photos on a 3.5" floppy disk. This was back when scanners were very expensive, so we had sent this roll of film to them so that I could have digital photos to use for my website. We had sent these photos to them in February 1997. I saw that there were photos of my beloved fish Steve, so I had these developed as well. The images from Seattle Filmworks were low resolution and frankly the color had been washed out. I used these photos of Steve way back for Greg's Life #2, "A Fish Called Steve." I scanned these pictures and replaced the old ones for that essay, and I'll repost those images above here. I had originally written that essay in May '96, and I added those images nearly a year later. The color in those original images was rather washed out, so these above really show the color of the beautiful fish. I named all of my betta fish "Steve."
Alright, so this page needs a song to set the mood. Here's what I'd often be listening to in my room that year: LUSH, featuring the vocals of half-Japanese Miki Berenyi and her Crayola-red hair.
Next: Ermahgerd! Mah fervert berk!
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Turn your 486 into a Gameboy: type OS2 at the C:\ prompt.
mail: greg -atsign- stevethefish -dot- net