My first blog was a LiveJournal. I lurked around the Japanese street fashion communities and posted cryptic teenager things along with extremely good photos of my outfits, many of which involved tulle and fishnets.

Tumblr came along and I moved my cryptic teenage brooding onto that platform, but after 7 (!!!) years, I lost interest in it. (Tumblrpocalypse has been a long time coming.)

In college, I studied Women’s and Gender Studies and worked at a small design company that was run and staffed by women in an woman-dominated industry. I kind of knew that it wasn’t going to be like that for the rest of my professional life, but I had nooooo idea how good I had it.

Post-college, I’ve landed in a male-dominated industry-within-an-industry (industre-ception?). While there are parts of my work that I really enjoy, I’ve been going through major culture shock. I miss having space that’s feminine and creative, where I don’t need to apologize for being young and excited, where I don’t need to hide my softness or my goofiness or my passion for Feminist criticism in the name of professionalism/ ambition/ sterile corporate persona.

I want to bring sparkle back into my life, to push myself beyond collapsing on the sofa with Chinese leftovers and Netflix for the umpteenth time in a row because figuring out one’s hobbies as an adult is #hard. Is this relatable? I literally don’t remember what I like to do sometimes.

So here I am, starting fresh, in territory that’s both familiar and very much unfamiliar. This isn’t a space for teenage angst or word vomit. In some ways, it’s the opposite: I’m aiming for intentionality over ambivalence, for articulate critique over venting.

Thanks for joining me.