Explorer of the World

Hi. This is my blog. (There. I typed the first sentence.)

I don't even know where to start. I've been staring at a blank screen for half an hour and I'm really not sure which words I should begin with.

For starters, we'll use Elissa Elliot's. Because they illustrate what I'm intending to do here.

"You are an explorer. Your mission is to document the world around you as if you've never seen it before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document your findings. Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn to." (Elissa Elliot, How to be an Explorer of the World.)

My friend Stephan (upon my telling him of my plans to start this blog) asked me why exactly I wanted to do it. That's the answer.

This is my documentation.

 

I think people are wonderful. They are swirly, messy mixes, like carousels, like constellations. 

I think a lot about that when I look at the kind of person I am and how I am perceived, especially when I start trying to compartmentalize those things (Is good, tulip-loving girl my jam or am I the person who laughs at inappropriate jokes and then reblogs them on Tumblr? For the record, I am both of those people).

But we don't have to worry about those things. We're already all of them, all at the same time. We are friends and people's children, and we can have A's in the arts and C's in math and science and be really bad cooks that sometimes do yoga but mostly just wear sweatpants. We can love fast food and eat it whenever we want (waffle fries, you know it) and also workout and eat healthy breakfasts every morning. We can be people who like peace and happiness, and yet, we can cry over spilled broccoli (me, yesterday, on the hardwood floor).

 

I think the reason we try so hard to put ourselves into one category is because we are always doing it to other people, trying to understand them. Lately, I've been trying to find contradictions in others instead of trying to make sense of them by restricting them to one thing. My friend Kate is a fierce feminist and also loves cute dresses and accessories and anything she deems "kawaii," which I'm still trying to figure out. She can also cook anything perfectly if she's seen it before, and she has a passion for sewing. I think she'll be an attorney or some other big-shot job, making 6 AM calls to Japan while she crotchets in a cafe. My sister is a vegetarian, and I don't think I've ever seen her eat a vegetable. She has always cursed the ground that our school sits on, but yesterday, she had a panic-attack moment of not ever wanting to graduate from it. (She'll still be doing so in two days. She's great. She'll be fine.)

What I'm saying is that I am full of contradictions. As such, this blog will be.

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself." - Walt Whitman

And since I love quotes, here's where the blog name came from.
 

"A life lived in love will never be dull." - Leo Buscaglia

 

I hope my documenting is worthwhile.