HELLO (AGAIN) WORDPRESS: Summer in Present 2015

Blogging101, Day 1:

So, I’ve recently signed up for blogging101… which first task is to publish a “who I am and why I’m here” post, introducing myself to the blogosphere. MAN, if you know me, this is not going to be easy for me… to be straight to the point without being overly repetitive…

I will be introducing myself, a bit of background information as well as addressing some of the helpful prompters by blogging101 about my blog and blogging style in general.

What is blogging101?

“Blogging 101 is three weeks of bite-size blogging assignments that take you from “Blog?” to “Blog!” Every weekday, you’ll get a new assignment to help you publish a post, customize your blog, or engage with the community.”

This little course could not happen at a worse time… as I am at the end of my one-year placement (an internship which is tied into my University degree), July is the time where I have tons to wrap up in order to pass down to the next placement student. I also have a presentation to prepare for my university’s tutor who will be grading it… as well as a final report! NOT TO MENTION, I REALLY have to finalize my plans (accommodation, transportation etc.) for my Europe trip with my mum in September. STILL, I will try my best to stick to this course. Hopefully it’ll make me a more consistent blogger after!

Who Am I?

I’ve adopted the blogger name – Summer (Sum for short) ever since I’ve started my blog. Perhaps I’ll shed some light on why I chosen Summer in a later post 😉 My real name? Let’s say I prefer having some anonymity for security reasons. 

Nice to meet you all!

I am a Malaysian-Chinese girl from a vibrant island called Penang, in her early twenties, and now reside in United Kingdom (since 2012) for my tertiary education.

I am an international student in United Kingdom, pursuing a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering. Currently, I am based in Cambridge working on a one-year engineering placement as a research assistant . My placement ends at the end of this August and I would be off to resume my final year of my undergraduate course.

how did I get into blogging?

Although I am an engineering student (the more practical choice esp to Asian parents), I have always been more drawn to all things creative – arts, fashion, photography, videography and much more. My initial aim of blogging was to share my creative side, in hopes of motivating me to broaden my creative work and possibly engage with the creative community to gain feedback and more.

Why did I choose to have a blogger name? Well, I set up my blog when the blogging hype first came up – I was in high school at the time (circa year 2008). Almost anyone cool in school would have a blog, however most of their blogging content really is just a long form Facebook update! Whether they were partying, eating good food, fan-girling over celebrities… that was pretty much it. Viewers of their blogs were really just friends and peers. I wanted to steer clear of that. I never even promoted my blog to my friends or such… I wanted to blog about things that would touch others, relatable issues… not an embellished version of my life to instill envy.  I wanted to connect with people who weren’t my peers who would not sweeten their criticism and that would comment truthfully. I also wanted to broaden and share my creative work (as mentioned above). Perhaps to some degree, I did not want my peers to know the real me until I knew who that was. I always felt like I’ve unconsciously suppressed parts of me with other people. I thought blogging would be a nice little sanctuary for me to truly be me without the pressure of conforming my thoughts to my peers.

My Blogging History

I created my blog on WordPress as oppose to the popular choice for teens at the time –Blogspot– because it felt like more professional with a community of more serious bloggers.

I started off blogging with mainstream content – parts of my menial teenage social life and such, slowly seeping in some posts on my photography, restaurant reviews and my fashion styles.

Most recently, I have been blogging about TV shows, Music and Movies. This is because in the late days of my adolescent, I was somehow drawn into the world of TV shows – really, I watch too many TV shows for my own good. I thought it would be nice to blog about episodes of TV shows which I felt had content worth discussing (mainly about relatable feelings and situations). In an attempt to rediscover my love for fashion, I also did blogged about the styles and fashion on these TV shows. I also had an in-depth recap/review on Project Runway works on every episode (which I unfortunately stopped before the season finale as I started my engineering placement! KICKING MYSELF.).

Right now, I blog really about anything: Man Crush Mondays, Woman Crush Wednesdays, travels, food reviews etc.

It really does not look like I’ve accomplished much of anything I set out to when I first started blogging… but it is still nice to be able to look back at my thoughts and moments from the past to reminiscent and see how much I’ve changed (or not).

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?

As I’ve previously mentioned, I want to take my creative work (whether it is arts, craft, photography… I am still finding my calling) seriously and possibly turn it full time. I felt blogging is a good platform to share with people of that community which I could discuss and gain valuable comments and insight from.

I’m also interested in sharing my honest and detailed reviews on restaurants, music and such which might seem insignificant (with various sites dedicated to this purpose such as trip advisor) but I personally feel it would be still helpful for people who prefer more detailed reviews (as I).

Besides that, I have recently been through some of my own personal struggles (mentally and emotionally) which I would like to share to hopefully help others who are in similar predicaments.

What topics do you think you’ll write about?

As much as I know a blog with more focused content is likely to be more successful… I am going to write about what I want to write.

I was at the lowest point of my life and lost myself in that downfall. As cliché as this sounds, my blogging journey will be my journey of self-discovery, to be whole and sure of myself again .

To really narrow down topics I think I’ll write about:

• Travels
• Uplifting and Optimistic Words
• Thoughts/Questions about Life and such bigger issues
• My Personal Experiences/Predicaments
• Self-Help
• Food Recipes and Reviews
• TV, Music and Movie Reviews
• Health and Fitness
• Fashion and Style
• Arts (and craft)
• Photography

Does that help? As I say, I am on a path of rediscovery, so… my blog content will certainly reflect that. As much as it seems like a lifestyle blog, I would like to be a more… down to earth one which shares with you the good, the bad and the ugly.

Who would you love to connect with via your blog?

Anyone and everyone!

Really! Since I’ll be blogging about an array of my interests (Music, TV, arts, fashion etc.) and my personal experiences, I hope to meet and engage with people of those interests AND people who relate to my personal stories.

If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

• To have gained a fair amount of viewership
• Bring together a community of similar interest who openly discuss and comment on my posts
• Engaged with other bloggers (and possibly make new friends!)
• Helped someone (ONE is all I ask!) from any of my post (reviews and especially posts about my personal experiences!)
• Be content
• Evolved in my thinking and writing
• Improved my writing skills especially how to be concise on expressing my thoughts without being long-winded
• Find my calling, what I am truly passionate for
• Be driven by my new found passion

There you go! I think I did a pretty good job of not going off track here (which I often do)!

I hope this post helped you understand me better as a blogger and that you’ve found a reason to keep reading my blog from here on! My many facets should fascinate you rather than confuse/intimidate, I’m hoping!

*Comments are much appreciated! Whether you’re a fellow blogger on the blogging101 course or not! 😉

Resurrection,
Sum.