Starting

In May last school year, I received promotional mail from Dell that enabled me to create a website easily for free. I was hoping that it would gradually sort out my cluttered identities on networking sites (facebook.com, abandoned Xanga sites*), through virtual communication (AIM, MSN, emails, phone calls) and in real life (social circles in boarding school at Exeter, family/ old friends in Hong Kong). However, my lack of technological savvy limited how/ what I could express efficiently and stunted my motivation. And here I am to try anew.

My goal is still the same. I want to chronicle, linearize and expand on my flashes of fluttering thoughts. When I went to rural China this summer, I realized that a place keeps us sheltered from other aspects of ourselves that are attached to other places and people. As the blog becomes a record, I could piece together my different aspects and my motives to change how I present myself (or perhaps I change less than I think I do?). Continuing with the idea of change, in reality, everything happens in a *bang* and roll into blob. It is difficult to capture those moments in a fashion that is accessible. In writing, I unfold and layer the milliseconds of these moments to translate the effect. I linearize when narrating, and, in the process, mix in my perception. Often, perception is formed in retrospect, thus writing articulates the bangs/ blobs, while re-framing and re-molding them into something of their own.

I could do all this in a word document, but writing for an audience is meaningful. I feel more connected, and if I'm lucky I could hear from you. :) Having lay low and gone blog-hopping, I have learned a lot. Now it's time to not only take from this rich community but also contribute to it.

P.S. A relating quote:

"the 'I' who writes here must also be thought of as, itself, 'eunciated'. We all write and speak from a particular place and time, from a history and a culture which is specific. What we say is always 'in context', positioned ."

-- Cultural Identity and Diaspora, Stuart Hall

* Why did I abandon Xanga? 1) I grew out of the name of my first one, called "blazingpurple." The second one was better,"SariRewrites," but the double "ri" are confusing. 2) I came to boarding school, and Xanga is not so hot here. I still subscribe to check up on my friends at home though! 3) I lost interest in posting/ propping. It felt too much like a journal, and posts are expected to be quick accounts. I did not have the energy and determination to continue such a precedent. (I have for a while used the site to save private bits and unrefined pieces -- but this role has now been taken up by Gmail. Hmm.)