Weird Name, Same 00s Girl Energy

(Or: Just because I’m called Asten doesn’t mean I didn’t live for Top of the Pops)

So maybe I didn’t have a name you could find on a glittery pencil case or a Love Hearts necklace.
Maybe I had to explain it, spell it, repeat it, and then still get called Austin.
But don’t get it twisted — I was, and always will be, a full-fledged, high-kicking, MSN-melodrama-having, British 00s girl.

💻 MSN Messenger = My Social Life

I had a display name with alternating caps and a ✨random lyric✨.
My personal message? A dramatic song quote or a passive-aggressive jab.
If you blocked and unblocked someone to get their attention: you are my people.

Daisy says: You once signed in and out 12 times in a row just so a boy would notice you. That’s not embarrassing. That’s strategy.

🎧 MySpace Top 8 / Piczo drama / Bebo Luv

I was out here designing entire websites with glitter cursors and auto-play JLS tracks.
My friendship status changed more often than my ringtone.
And I gave out my Bebo luv like it was currency.

🎀 The Accessories Were a Lifestyle

Butterfly clips. Jelly bracelets. Those belts that didn’t hold anything up.
If Claire’s sold it, I probably wore it to a Year 8 disco.

📺 TV Raised Me

Tracy Beaker taught me emotional regulation (badly)
The Sleepover Club was basically my dream life
SMTV Live was my Saturday ritual
I still fear the Budweiser frogs ad. Don’t ask.

🧃 Lunchbox Royalty

Capri-Sun. Frubes. A Penguin bar.
If it wasn’t in a pink lunchbox with stickers, I was not interested.
And God help anyone who stole my cheese strings.

🎤 Popstars Were My Religion

I had favourite JLS members.
I made up dances in my bedroom.
I cried over CD:UK endings like they were breakups.

Daisy says: You absolutely had a fake microphone and rehearsed your BRITs speech. Don’t lie.

💬 I Was Online Before It Was Cool

I was creating fan forums, updating glittery “About Me” pages, and living in digital chaos before the influencers showed up.
I was cringe.
I was chaotic.
I was chronically online before it was a trend.

So yeah — maybe people didn’t know how to pronounce my name back then.
But I was still there.
Living the 00s dream. Dial-up internet. Mood ring on one finger. Popworld on the telly. Hiding behind my fringe. Texting on a Nokia.

Weird name. Same 00s girl energy.
And honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way 💖