Welcome to A-Z, a new mini series at Daisybutter, a fortnightly series that takes a letter from the alphabet and where I aim to introduce the many facets of myself to the blog.
The A-Z of Michelle is a 26-part series on Daisybutter. Once a fortnight, I'll be introducing a new 'thing' about myself or an opinion that I'd like to share or a short story snippet. You get the gist. And each will hail from a respective letter of the alphabet. I've become quite enamoured with the alphabet as of late, even renaming my magazine to A for Aesthetic (oh so creatively from its former Aesthetic Magazine), heh.
Although I officially finished education an insane four years ago, one of my secret not-so-often-documented quirks and traits is that I love to research, to learn, to try. I fully champion curious minds and curious brains and mentioned here that, most weeks, I find myself a topic or issue and throw myself wholeheartedly into learning all about it. Last week was mostly about packing for my trip but the week before, I spent at least 3 hours reading about the multiple varieties of cherry blossom or sakura.
For example, did you know there’s one variety, the Kikuzakura, that produces over 100 petals per bloom, creating a pastel-hued chrysanthemum effect? I, very proudly, spelt chrysanthemum in one go without autocorrect by the way, because that was another of my previous research topics! Previously covered topics of mine? The misconception that lobsters are immortal, the history of Hong Kong’s women-only prisons and also the dwellings offered to employed police offers back in the 1940’s. I’ve read (with Rachel’s inspiration!) all about passports and discovered the ranking and design of each one. I spent many hours, once, reading about the designers behind Japanese labels sacai and kolor, discovering that they’re married! Sometimes I spend hours learning a new photography technique to further my blog, other times I’m in a rabbit hole learning about the origin of the cashew (not a nut!).
But what to do with this wealth of nonsensical random facts? Well, I don’t know. I work in editorial copy and produce freelance articles, as well as run my own magazine. I’d like to think all of these eclectic facts help to shape and inform my work, lending a new edge to my writing. You never know when you might need 10 fun facts about the Royal family! And, if all else fails, they make excellent conversation fillers too. Honestly, ask the girls, they receive one fun fact almost daily to start their days! I think it’s important to keep the mind ticking over with newness all the time. Some people find it odd but I wholly embrace learning new things all the time, you’ll never know it all but you can try.
C is for curiosity, one of my favorite traits. There’s always more to learn.
