Hello, world.

The view from a new year - Lake Anna in Mineral, VA.

To begin 2013, I decided to start blogging.

I’ve kicked around the idea of blogging before, but I:

   a) didn’t think I would have my shit together enough to blog consistently;

   b) always thought that blogs needed a theme – food, working out, travel, politics – and I didn’t think I’d be interested enough in one theme to continue it;

   c) didn’t think I had anything to contribute that people would want to read; and

   d) wanted my blog to be pretty and organized and awesome but didn’t want to invest the time in making it so.

Then, I realized that most of this didn’t matter and I was just intimidating myself out of doing it, like I do with a lot of things. Generally, I have high expectations for myself and I want whatever I do to be “good,” in my mind (whatever the hell that is). But in order to make something “good,” you have to start first, no matter how imperfect or temporary it might be. I’m increasingly trying to make myself okay with not having everything just so.

There is also the practical consideration that the people I love are scattered all over the world and I am terrible at keeping in touch with them. Hopefully, this is a good way to passively update many people on my life at the same time. (Protip: Anticipated blog topics include roller derby, food, liberal political rants, college nostalgia, roller derby, intense self-criticism, pop culture, early twenties malaise, roller derby, being Chinese, financial regulation, and roller derby.)

However, the main reason I want to write this blog is because I want to remember later what it’s like to be here, now. I feel like college passed by so quickly, and so many things happened in the last year alone: I finished my thesis, I landed my dream job, I finally let go of my first serious relationship, I graduated college, I moved to a new city, I started working, I traveled more than ever before, and I started playing roller derby. Looking back, a lot of it is a blur.

Right now, I feel like I’m between major phases of my life, but have yet to cross over the threshold. I have plans to go to law school in a few years, and I have the impression that law school will send me on a path that has finite options. Even though I very much want to be a lawyer and think I would be good at it, I want to be here for a while longer.  I want to have some kind of record of this in-between time – where I am working at a job that I really like, I have great friends, I enjoy living in DC, I am obsessed with this strange and amazing sport, and my worries and responsibilities are (knock on wood) minimal.

Also, I miss writing. I feel like my non-academic writing muscles have atrophied. I can bang out a 10-page policy analysis with little effort, but the thought of laboring over a piece of writing to make it entertaining or touching or meaningful is kind of scary, even if it’s just for me.

So, naturally, I want to do it. A new year feels like a good time to begin.

2012 was, without a doubt, the craziest year of my life. Bring it on, 2013.