Thoughts on change and individuality

I am a person who craves change.

It is not something I fear or run from,

but embrace each time it comes around.

Perhaps it is because I am easily bored.

Or maybe it is because I am always

on the lookout for ways to improve things.

Whatever the reason,

change is always a factor in whatever I do.

Take these images of my living room, for example.

Early May 2010

Those of you who have been reading

for a short while may not be aware,

but I am always making changes around here.

The pictures on the side bar get replaced

each time some new and or better photos are taken.

I play around with text, spacing of images

and text, subject matter, themes, narrative tone.

It all gets messed with.

For those of you who like things

to be predictable and certain,

this may be unnerving.

Some of these changes

depend on my mood

at the time the post is written.

Others depend on the available raw materials

(i.e. pictures of my own or in my files)

I have to work with.

Late April 2010

In our society, we are bombarded with

information and auditory and visual stimuli.

This database of images, words and sounds

gets logged in our brains.

It comes to the point where one may begin to quesition

if any thought, idea or creative impulse

is original anymore.

We may think it is at the time it flows through our brains,

but come to realize that we were

unknowingly inspired

by all the sensory stimuli we have taken in.

We tend to emulate what we admire.

Mid-April 2010

In my striving to bring originality to this format,

I try on different approaches

like trying on different hats.

This is only natural for someone who craves change

and is a visual sponge.

Some of these changes may be lasting,

some may be fleeting.

Some may resemble things I have

taken in and played with

in attempt to make them my own.

When it comes to writing,

the words that flow are all my own.

Pictures and quotes may be borrowed

from others sources with credit being given.

Format and special features

can be individualized to some extent,

with the available options and resources at hand.

These qualities, however,

seem to me to be like spec houses.

Each on is a bit different on the surface,

but underneath they are all the same.

Late March 2010

How do you bring uniqueness to a cookie-cutter world?

How do you find a style that represents

who you are without offending someone?

How do you merge the things you find "out there"

that appeal to you

with the things that originate "in here"?

And what do you do if the things you think

are true to you

are perceived to have been

borrowed from someone else,

and you have inadvertently stepped on toes?

Early March 2010

I guess the only answer is

to make changes once again.

As Delores S. Williams wrote,

"I tell my story so that other women

can share and participate."

I write this blog for the same reasons.

And so there will be some changes around here

as I play around with what suits me

at any given moment.

If I have caused offense to someone, I apologize.

No harm was ever intended.


Until next time..

Anne

P.S. Pardon the goofy spacing of text.

As you all know, blogger sometimes

has a mind of its own and will not cooperate,

no matter how sweetly you ask.