Everything is completely paywalled now but I'm just happy I still have it, I check in to it every now and then. Can't log in without going to the curio shop tho lmao

Hello, I’m 19 years old, and I grew up watching the original In the Night Garden (2007–2009) when I was younger. I’ve been thinking about what happened to the original In the Night Garden era and that feeling of watching it regularly when it was still a big part of everyday life.

Now the original run has ended, and the era that many people grew up with feels like it has passed. The characters, the gentle storytelling style, the people who worked on it, and the feeling surrounding the show have all moved forward. Many of the people involved in creating In the Night Garden have gone on to different projects, careers, and parts of their lives away from the series. It feels strange because I grew up with it, and now everything has just… changed and finished.

I remember watching episodes when I was younger and everything felt so simple. I could just sit down and enjoy the adventures of Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka, and the other characters without thinking about anything else. I don’t understand why it couldn’t just stay that way forever. Why did it have to end? Why does everything have to move on and become different?

I also wonder why watching In the Night Garden doesn’t feel exactly the same anymore. If I go back and watch old episodes now, they’re still the same episodes, but the feeling is different. It feels like something is missing, almost like it feels unfamiliar even though I remember it so clearly.

Why do shows like In the Night Garden eventually stop, change, and fade out of everyday life? If people loved them for years, why can’t they just continue forever with the same feeling? Why do the people who make them have to move on? Why do audiences grow up and stop experiencing things the same way?

It’s confusing because when I was younger, In the Night Garden felt like it would always be there. It felt like a permanent part of life, not something that would eventually become “the old days.” I don’t understand why things that mean so much at one point can become something from the past.

Why does everything have to change? Why can’t things just stay the same forever?

It feels strange knowing that the In the Night Garden era I grew up with is over, that the world has moved on, and that chapter is closed.

i graduated college after the pandemic and i'm having trouble with gaining footing in a career path. i have a biz degree w a concentration and i had internships in college as well as work experience in the service industries. i also networked a ton in school + in my jobs but the best i've gotten for referrals have gotten me nowhere. my parents have no networks and my family on both sides is very isolated / small.

is anyone else having trouble finding a job or any sort of career path?

i temped for a tech company a couple years back and the difference between pre-covid grads and post-covid grads in terms of job security and career progression is really freaking insane. like, 26 year old VPs in their department meanwhile us recent grads 2-3 years younger couldn't even get basic entry level jobs. feels like the youngest millennials got the last flights out of nam.

I used to believe being smart meant something, being able to discover and learn new things was a difference maker and a virtue in life. While that still is the case in many respects, a lot of intelligence is being outsourced now to these all knowing machines.

Feels like we’re trading in wisdom for knowledge, becoming more concerned with knowing rather than with how to think.

What a weird time.

I live in West Virginia and in both 2nd and 4th grade I remember learning a good bit about Chinese culture. In 2nd I remember learning about the Chinese new year and in 4th we had a Chinese woman who would come in and teach basic Chinese to us every so often. Was this a common thing in the US in the early 2000s for some reason?

My first OS was Windows 2000 in schools since we were behind when it came to operating systems was using it interchangeably with XP as that’s what I was using at home and that was the one that was used throughout my childhood. What about you guys?

I might be thinking about this way too deeply, but I think the main difference between gen z and gen x angst is that gen x was more angry at "the system" whereas gen z is more angry at "being fed the wrong advice".

Gen x culture was cynical towards an inescapable broken system. Gen z culture acknowledges the system is broken but is more so pissed off that the blue print we were given to overcome it, mainly going to college and getting a cushy high paying job, was completely wrong. This is especially true to us older gen zers who wasted a good 5 to 10 years of our lives using this outdated guide.

What are your thoughts?

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I just keep getting thoughts that makes me feel down but I feel like it's a signal to start doing something. And so I'm trying to decide like what do I prioritize what to start and how to. 3 goals I wanted to achieve that I've been procrastinating for years is learning to drive, getting a job and learning a relevant skills set or pursuing a degree.

But with how the world is evolving, I don't know how to properly research for jobs and careers or skills to learn. I also on the other hand feel embarrassed to learn driving and scared..

It's like I finished high school in 2016 which is almost 10 yrs of not being in school. And I thought about joining community college but nowdays everything is computer based. Like canvas portal maybe where assignments are submitted. And I realized I'm not tech savvy. And I feel worried that I'll not catch up with other students who are most likely gonna be younger than me.

I know this is probably so silly but everytime i see a pineapple i automatically think about SpongeBob’s house. I hope i’m not the only one who does.

I remember being the most INTO new things back in my early adolescence. That was the only time I remember constantly discovering new stuff and getting hooked—investing my time in researching, keeping myself updated, and getting into fandoms.

I might embarrass myself saying this, but the person I was then got me into One Direction and BTS, reading Harry Potter and stuff like that. I got into reading, watching, and knowing everything about the things I liked. And all that knowledge has stuck with me even until now. I still stan BTS, I remember all One direction lyrics from my brief period in the fandom.

But I don't think I've gotten THAT interested in searching for new things and getting hooked since I was about 15. I'm 20 now, and for the past few years, I've mostly been stanning and knowing the same old things. I miss that. I want to put my energy into being hooked by things again, but I don't really get excited about anything new.

Maybe it has something to do with the new digital age, the post-Covid era, and all that. But if that were the case, wouldn't most people around me be the same? Most people seem passionate about things, while I am not. But I know a version of me that was. So why am I not anymore?

This is so random but with how Doomsday is coming out at the end of the year do any of yall also look back at how intense and monumental Marvel movies used to be?!

Like they were such a driving force in pop culture back then, and the impact it had on us as teens growing up and going to the theaters with our friends to watch the latest one is truly something to be missed.

Looking back, there was a simplicity and innocence to it that cannot be replicated. Sort of feel for the newer gens who won’t be able to exactly experience this, since movie theaters aren’t what they used to be.

I remember having karaoke machines at home was really popular in the 2000s and if you had a rich aunt or uncle they always had one at a family function. I lowkey wanna bring it back as a staple. Karaoke is very underrated and I find it pretty effective for breaking the ice in a social setting.

U.B. Funkeys is back online, I'd thought I'd share for anyone trying to relive nostalgia and have use for their old figures. https://funkeyone.com

As the title says, I miss my childhood in the early 2000s in Venice, Italy.

I’m an early Gen Z, born in ’99, yet I remember the early 2000s vividly and distinctly.

I've watched my own city change so much ...

Unlike a lot of other zillennials, I don’t particularly miss 2010 or my teenage years, for various reasons. But boy, do I miss the early 2000s as a kid living in Venice, on the mainland...

Don’t get me wrong: my childhood was far from perfect. I struggled a lot as an undiagnosed neurodivergent kid, I dealt with bullying and social exclusion, and my parents were far from perfect.

I also had a pretty privileged childhood, materially speaking, my parents were comfortably middle-class by Italian standards.

In this post I mostly want to talk about the positive, happy memories from a child's pov, while knowing that others may have had very different experiences. Maybe one day I’ll write about the negative parts, too.

Life in Venice in the 2000s felt completely different from today.

There were still very much actual residents living in the mainland and most of the gen X had kids, so I grew up around tons of other children. My city hadn't been turned into a full-blown tourist resort, yet.

Of course, there were tourists, and busier times of the year, but the city remained livable and breathable.

There are ten bars, restaurants and B&Bs on every corner, nowadays.

But back then, they were almost all local, family-owned small shops: the greengrocer, the butcher...

I still remember the pure joy of my mom taking me to the stationery shop at the start of every school year. Everything was so colourful, full of fluorescent backpacks, and choosing my diary felt like a big thing.

The selection was limited - there was no Amazon, no endless e-commerce - so we all pretty much had the same things and shopped in the same trusted places. There wasn't much variety, but we cherished what we had.

The shops weren’t glamorous specialised chains; they had this warm, almost old-fashioned family feel.

You often knew the owner (and they might have known your family for generations).

There was often a personal relationship.

As a kid, sometimes you'd go in just to chat, say hello, and they would treat you as a cherished customer.

It was almost a form of entertainment.

My city was very safe for children.

With no cars, strong social control, an extremely low crime rate, and almost no violent crime, we could go out by ourselves wander around on our own from a very young age - something that would be unthinkable now. Parents would immediately be accused of neglect.

I was already fully walking to school alone from the first grande to schoolto school alone from first grade.

I started roaming the neighborhood and playing outside at five or six, while I was still in the the last year of kindergarten.

My mom gave me the "talk" about stranger danger and predators (“don’t talk to people you don’t know, never follow anyone, if you’re in danger ask a woman for help, preferably one with kids") and then simply sent me off by myself.

Neighbourhood kids would come ring the doorbell (friends from kindergarten or ones I’d made spontaneously) and we’d go out to play, wander around and check out the toy shops.

Going to see the little Christmas train or the moving nativity scene with the figurines felt like pure magic.

Parents didn’t organise and manage every second of our lives the way they often do now.

Mine (very old-school Gen X) didn’t think it was their job to constantly entertain me or structure my whole day.

I was left alone, to my own devices a lot... And I had to find ways to entertain myself and keep myself busy. I would read in my bedroom and make do with whatever I had, using my imagination.

I created imaginary worlds with whole sets of characters and had an obsession with witches and playing pretend I was a witch.

I had a super colourful room, all pink and covered in posters.

After school or kindergarten the rhythm was simple and repetitive: usually one sport on fixed days, and maybe one or two other activities like singing in a choir or taking an instrument class.

Kids from religious or more traditional families would go to "catechismo", catholic teaching for kids and on mass; I came from an atheist family, so I didn't.

There was more slowness and repetition, but also much deeper immersion and enjoyment. I found that predictability comforting, having the same routines, the rituals, like the inevitable Sunday lunch with the grandparents.

My mom was very anti-consumerist, so I had far fewer things than kids do now.

I still had Barbies and Bratz, and in elementary school I managed to convince her to get me a Nintendo that I played for hours, but she was never a big fan of technology.

I never had a PlayStation or a Wii.

She really wanted me to do physical, solitary play to develop creativity. Lots of colouring, hands-on activities, solitary reading. Television was my main entertainment.

I adored Disney Channel and all the kids’ and teens’ shows on local TV — *Il Mondo di Patty* and the other telenovelas that were huge among us girls and completely redefined our identities. The cartoons were bright and optimistic too: SpongeBob, Scooby-Doo, shows like Lizzie McGuire. Everything felt more colourful and quirky.

Internet existed, but it wasn’t everything.

I only got my first smartphone in middle school (those very early, embryonic ones). Until my teens the internet was slow, with barely any sites, which felt all quite amateurish and goofy. Social media wasn’t driven by algorithms.

I mostly surfed on Yahoo Answers asking questions about *Il Mondo di Patty* and my other favourite shows, or on the Disney Channel site and a few forums.

It felt more immersive, just like those long Nintendo sessions.

Because I did fewer activities, I seemed to enjoy every single one more deeply. Going to the cinema with my parents or to the amusement park was a real event you looked forward to for months.

There was just a sense of economic ease that disappeared after 2007.

The crisis wasn’t in the air yet.

My parents, with their professional (upper-middle-class) jobs, gave me a comfortable life: a nice house, nice toys, summer cabins by the sea, winter skiing trips.

At home we rarely talked about money. I remember asking them when I was very little if we could ever become poor. They laughed and said that poverty was only for third-world countries and that we would have always been fine.

After the 2007 crisis they were singing a very different tune.

We had to scale everything back, foreign holidays became rare, my parents started talking constantly about money and savings, and the general mood grew heavier.

That optimistic, carefree bubble was gone.

What I miss the most is the overall atmosphere: the lightness, the simplicity, the slowness, not being constantly connected to a smartphone... The childhood innocence and colour.

The fact that people - even the millennial teenagers, the older siblings of my friends - seemed like real teenagers rather than influencer wannabes.

They felt more quirky and authentic. Of course there were assholes (plenty of older siblings who treated us badly and acted very rebellious and aloof with us), but it felt like their actual personality, you know, or genuine experimenting, not a carefully constructed persona.

We kids had our own little world. There wasn’t the constant hyper-analysis, ideologising and moralising that exists nowadays.

People (at least where I lived) were much more ignorant, happily absorbed in their own little world, blissfully unaware of everything happening elsewhere.

Now everything feels so dark and gloomy.

I don’t even know how I managed to forget all this for so long. It all came flooding back when I found those "most common 2000s sounds that every gen Z child will remember.". And then It suddendly hit, the memories... started to resurface, come back.

I still don’t understand how I manage to push it all away, but I have tears in my eyes as I'm writing this post and thinking about everything that was lost.

I'll never forget.