getting my feet wet...

(picture goes along with title...kind of)

I feel like everyone’s first blog post typically explains why they finally gave into the blog world, or pre-excuses themselves from boring posts of their own rambling thoughts, and sometimes even over-emphasizes their witty yet thoughtful title that they thoroughly articulate how it “oh-so directly” applies to them. Being the very “normal person” that I am, I will follow suit:

“So I decided to start a blog because…”: I decided to blog because being in this dress-pants, high-heeled working world, I sit at my computer A LOT. Don’t get me wrong, I am often times very busy. But reading all of these blogs in between phone calls about full Visa card numbers and missing settlements, I have thought…would people care what I have to say? If you are reading this, you have answered my question. If this is the last time you ever visit my blog, don’t tell me. There are many other reasons I have lent to my conscious for why I am starting this blog but in case they don’t come to fruition, I will leave it at this: I am starting it because I want to and instead of thinking “if I had a blog I would write an entry on this”, I will just do it. So you should too…

“The Typical Pre-apology”: I ramble. I write long sentences. I make grammatical errors. I think I am funny (anybody who knows me, sadly, knows this). I can be fairly cynical. I may write about things you find unimportant. I might complain. I like conversation more than the virtual world of communication, but gave in. I may not post for weeks. I may over post. And for all of these things and more, I am sorry ahead of time. But not that sorry because this is my blog and I, like many bloggers, need to get over apologizing and write boldly. (That was more of a pep talk for myself than anyone else and I feel much better. Thank you.)

“Explanation of Blog Title”: Choosing 3-8 words to characterize your blog just got added to my “Top 5 list of Most Stressful Activities. This particular title came directly from a conversation that I had with my lovely roommate and partner in crime, whom I fondly have come to call “wife” due to our odd marriage tendencies (i.e. calling each other for such reasons as buying 4 boxes of cereal and just needing “to talk it out”). In fact, she will most likely read this before I post it just for the assurance that I can start a blog. Calling her “wife” because of these tendencies really gets at my limited view of marriage. Anyway, back to the conversation I was having with my “wife”. We were discussing the idea that most people are weird and trying to think of “normal people”. A typical conversation, right? All of a sudden, Jolie says, “oh my gosh, you are normal!” I was genuinely confused whether or not to be offended. Being defensive for the sake of sticking to my true character, I interjected, “I’m not normal. I promise!!” (hence the blog title). Why did I care so much? As much as we say “he’s weird” or “she’s weird” as an insult, it is actually more offensive in our day and age to be called normal. That’s why blogs are really around, right? To show people how not normal our own lives are? I don’t want to be normal. I want to be weird. I want to be the girl that can do this well or has that cool thing about her. I want to have things about myself that make them want to read my blog. I just want to be weird, ok? With these confessions, I can see the jokes rolling in. “Oh no, Hayley, you are definitely weird. I am not worried,” (followed by snickers). Or the reassurance (probably from my mother) that, “your blog is the best and everyone will want to read it. You have never been normal because you have always been special, etc, etc.” But when Jolie told me this, despite my mom thinking I am the coolest, I realized that I definitely spend a lot of time and energy trying to stand out. You will probably see this seep through the screen from time to time while reading my blog, if you chose to return, but more than that I hope you see my journey to being comfortable as me. Who knows what this may look like…I surely don’t.