Hello and welcome back to Thought Bubbles! This episode is an update on Kaytie's "Stepping Away" experiment. Long story short, it was difficult to stay off apps like Tiktok when scrolling has become a long-standing habit in regular environments, such as the train. After reflecting on what went wrong and what could be different, Kaytie decides to delete Tiktok for good and see where that goes. 

Tune in next week for the results!

Welcome to the first mini-episode of a subseries called Thought Bubbles, where we record and collect some of our thoughts and opinions.

Often fueled by random bursts of energy, these recordings can vary from unpolished rants, scripted writings, or one-sided conversations.

Context for this Thought Bubble (recorded last Friday - which was the last day of instruction for UC Berkeley): While cleaning and scrolling through Instagram stories of graduating seniors who are celebrating their last day of instruction EVER, Ellie reminiscences on memories she made at the beginning of the school year and the past few years of college. While she isn't graduating yet, she's already starting to miss the college life and the social aspects of school. Listen to her takes on what nostalgia means to her.

Feedback: forms.gle/SntvLDwGbGk799zcA

“Hello everyone, and welcome back to Basically Gen Z!”

Wow, haven’t heard that for a long time. Today, Kaytie and Ellie revisit their earlier podcasts, think out loud about future plans, and go on multiple tangents spanning K-pop and economics. Did you know that Chanel bags are veblen goods?

0:00 Hello again!

2:00 Story around our very first podcast + beginner mistakes we made

3:20 K-pop Big Bang tangent

4:46 Re-introduction (no doxxing allowed on this channel!)

5:30 SharSharBinks88 and “veblen goods” tangent

7:42 How did we meet?

8:40 Conception of our channel

11:07 Re-invention+future

11:58 Vlogbrothers tangent

12:00 Wrap up

Prelude: Summers are always such turning points and times for reflection, reinvention and redirection. I’ve always wanted to capture the essence of that grueling yet exciting feeling in some form of content, so here it goes. 

Note: This is not a romanticization of not making decisions. Committing to something is always better than being frozen in the task of choosing.  

This episode is Ellie and me discussing whether or not I should move back to college for the fall or take another leave of absence. Rather, I contemplate my decision out loud while Ellie adds to it by asking me questions about myself. 

There is always the question of time and opportunity cost; is going back to school the best thing I could do for myself right now? What is the next best thing? Is school better than the next best thing? 

I admit  that COVID has allowed me to try all of the things that I could not because of school-related time constraints: work at a mall, start a business, start this podcast, etc. During this time, I was able to explore who I was outside of school. 

Although  this was freeing, I found there to be so many roadblocks to the things that I wanted to do, and it made going back to my institution for more education appealing for the first time in a long time (I was on the verge of dropping out). 

Annnd...there is also the apprehension of going long-distance while being one half of a budding relationship that stops me from making a split second decision. More on this subject will follow in later episodes. 

Anyways, I do reach a decision at the end of the episode. I’m sure it is already obvious which path I am going down ¬‿¬. 

-Kaytie 

Hello! This week we are talking about all the shows, videos, and movies that have kept Kaytie and Ellie amused over their years of growing up. Tune in to find out why Kaytie woke up at 5 am to watch someone drink water on live streaming and the new Kpop reality show that Ellie can’t get enough of.

It’s getting hot in SoCal, so let’s talk about all the things that are ~fire~. Welcome to Kaytie and Ellie playing meteorologists for the first half of the episode (explaining heat waves and Socal) and then pivoting to Kaytie’s personal issue with her AC. Ellie talks about food that “cool” people down in the summer, and her much anticipated reviews of various Asian desserts. 

Oh and btw, there are other things that are fiRE: Kai in the mhm music video and Financially Independent Retire Early. 

Links to references in this episode: 

CA heat waves: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147256/california-heatwave-fits-a-trend 

Taehyung and Jin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4mZQkR62EI 

KAI 카이 '음 (Mmmh)' MV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc-fa6cAe2c 

FIRE reddit thread ;) https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/