Aerobics.: Preface + Pt. I: My Year in Photos

Allow me to preface this sudden "urge" to blog. I've been meaning to put something online for some time now but wanted to avoid simply babbling about my life. As much as I hate to admit it, I do better with structure, with a defined set of parameters to explore and maybe, when the time is right, expand. Luckily for me, a good friend of mine (here's your shout out, Christine DiGangi!) suggested the Think Kit writing challenge (courtesy of Small Box). It sounded like a good way to at least get something started, even if the blog will be more personal than I'd probably like. "A journey of a thousand miles..." etc., etc.

Thank you for reading my blog. Let's begin.

Around the time I started documenting my life on Facebook or, perhaps more accurately, around the time I started following other people's lives on Facebook, a lamentation began, though admittedly trivial and infrequent, for the lack of photographs I have documenting my life. Through Facebook, I came to realize how few pictures I take (or perhaps just upload) and how few pictures are taken of me in relation to many of my friends with active profiles on Facebook. Maybe we all feel this way, but like everyone else, I think my situation is unique.

I haven't done much to quell this problem. It doesn't bother me that much, I suppose. And I don't really like taking out a camera every time something "eventful" happens. But it has made this first prompt a little challenging. In order to "document your year in photos," one would ideally have photographs exemplifying the key events or feelings that emerged over the year. I don't have many that do such a thing, and this has been a particularly eventful year; a year in transition for sure. I spent the first three months living in Chicago, the next four exploring Portland, Oregon, and the last four trying to ground myself a bit in Bloomington, Indiana. But even if I had been avidly capturing my life in ones and zeros (sorry film!), I'm not sure how accurately they would reflect the confusion that, for me, defined 2013.

I was tempted to add a caption to each of these photos, but I think I'll just give the time and place and let the photo do the rest of the telling. I've become of fan of the "soft sell" this year.

Additional Notes:
-Soon after I started posting these pictures, I found that I wanted to create a narrative with them. It was difficult, not only due to a lack of quality pictures, but also because I felt I had to sacrifice the funnier or more interesting pictures for the ones that actually told a story. On another day, I might have chosen differently.
-A number of my work pictures couldn't be posted because I work in elementary education, and I could get in trouble if I posted pictures of the students without consent.
-When you live with a cat, your photo album gradually because more and more about your cat.