Category: Thoughts

What makes something niche? The fact that there aren’t many people who know about it, or the fact that people don’t know about it yet? Over the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of surveying and research for work, and one thing I realized is that something that seems niche to me might actually be mainstream to other communities. So for example, let’s take this game: Mobile Legends. None of my friends play it. I’ve heard a decent amount about it, mostly through ads on YouTube and people discussing it on Reddit but I had no idea how huge it was until recently.

During some focus group testing we did with local kids, it turns out that a lot of them played the game. Some of them were as young as 6 years old! At an age 9-12 focus group we had today, all of them played the game – girls and guys. Later in the day, I found out that Tony Fernandez just signed an esports team. I initially thought it was a Dota 2 team until I looked it up – it was a Mobile Legends team. Turns out the game is pretty damn big. But because I didn’t know people who played it, the thought never crossed my mind.

The other day, at the smoking area, I heard some random people discussing Fortnite. I only know a handful of people who play it. Turns out, it’s one of the most popular games right now. The other day, I discovered that a friend didn’t know who Jimmy Eat World was and to me, they’re like one of the biggest bands in the scene. How can you not know Jimmy Eat World? It was mostly due to a difference in age. The same friend listed a bunch of bands I had no idea existed either, so I guess it goes two ways.

So now, I’m sitting here thinking – is something niche to me only because I don’t know about it? Or am I just not doing my due diligence to keep up with the times? What defines a niche though? Does it require to be a percentage of a population and if it surpasses that it becomes mainstream? Is everything I like that is unpopular at the moment an example of a niche? Why am I even contemplating the meaning of the word? Google defines it very clearly:

niche
ni??,n?t?/
noun
1.
a shallow recess, especially one in a wall to display a statue or other ornament.
“each niche holding a shepherdess in Dresden china”

synonyms:
recess, alcove, nook, cranny, slot, slit, hollow, bay, cavity, cubbyhole, pigeonhole, opening, aperture;
mihrab
“in a niche in the wall is a statue of St John”

2.
a comfortable or suitable position in life or employment.
“he is now head chef at a leading law firm and feels he has found his niche”

synonyms:
ideal position, calling, vocation, métier, place, function, job, slot, opportunity
“he feels he has found his niche in life”

adjective
1.
denoting or relating to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population.
“other companies in this space had to adapt to being niche players”
verb
1.
place (something) in a niche.
“these elements were niched within the shadowy reaches”

Why am I even thinking about this? Maybe it’s time to update my music playlist and install Mobile Legends and Fortnite. On a side note, Aliexpress is having a big sale now and I ordered a bunch of things last night. Should be fun getting gifts in the mail over the next few months. Woot.

Back when I flew a lot for work, one of the things which annoyed me were flight attendants waking me up before landing to straighten my seat and pull the window shades up. While I knew it was protocol and they were just doing their job, I never understood the reasons for it. To me it seemed like they were being anal about something so trivial because it was never explained to me before. Today, I decided to Google why and according to these articles, it’s mainly for passenger safety. I learned something new.

Anyway, since the frequent interruption of my sleep, I adapted by learning how to sleep in an upright position, and I have a beanie pulled over my head to block out light. Now the flight attendants don’t bother me on flights anymore, unless I put the sticker for them to wake me up for meals.

I still haven’t learned how to not drool during sleep. My only tip is to not wear black so your saliva stains don’t show on your shirts.

I kinda miss flying long distances. Long hours in a cozy seat, while you enjoy old movies, music or podcasts with no interruptions. No texts, emails or phone calls. Just you, alone with your own thoughts, soaring through the sky.

Alone time is good time.

I’ve seen the horrors of hoarders, thanks to all those shows on TV. I’ve always wondered how people can do such things to themselves. Collect so much shit until the point where it’s practically impossible to walk around their homes without tripping on anything. Why do these people want more things than they need?

Today it struck me, I have a similar mentality too. Fortunately for me, I’m mostly limited by my budget so I can’t really afford to buy everything I want on whim. However, my problem doesn’t lie with physical goods. Beyond the countless books I have waiting to be read (thanks Big Bad Wolf!), I have more digital content than I can ever hope to finish consuming in a lifetime. I’ve got tons of music. Every time I fall in love with an artist, I tend to download their whole discography so I have access to it anytime. It just annoys me to know that I don’t have the complete collection of an artist’s catalog even if I’m only a fan of a couple of albums or songs.

At first I thought, maybe I’m some sort of completionist, but then I realized I’m far from it. Especially when it comes to video games – I don’t really care about collecting all the achievements or getting every item in the game. I enjoy games pretty casually – as long as I finish the game and get to experience the story, I’m satisfied. I don’t need to do anything extra to enjoy it.

I’ve got enough movies, TV series and cartoons to last a lifetime if I played them continuously nonstop. When will I find the time to watch them all? I won’t. Yet they sit idly on my hard disk drives, metaphorically collecting dust, until I decide to watch them. Same thing with all my ebooks and digital comics.

Computer games – I’ve got a few hundred games in my Steam library, many I know I’ll never touch (titles I’ve obtained from bundles) and yet many more in my wish list. I bought them all because I was interested in them and they were available at a cheap price. I would love to play them all, but I don’t have the time to do so. I have more guitars and keyboards than I need, and god knows what else that’s hidden in the back of my shelves.

And all these things I’ve mentioned have only been acquired over the past decade. There’s a whole lot more than I can’t recall at the moment I’ve been collecting my whole life. I used to keep empty alcohol bottles when I first started drinking, but I got rid of them in January. I know I don’t have any problems throwing out things I don’t need, I just need to find out why I wanted to keep so many in the first place, and stop that problem before it starts. I don’t want to end up on TV with a crew of people trying to coax me out of my room and clearing out my house because it has become hazardous to live in. It’s time to stop.