Why I Started DEFINING ANGELIKA

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. I’m more of the kind of person that, when I have an idea to do to do something, I’d do it then and there. Waiting until the start of a new year, or telling myself I’ll start it next week (I’m looking at all you dieters out there) somehow takes out the drive I have to do something, and knowing my horrible memory, I’d probably just forget my intentions until I wake up in a cold sweat one day saying, “whoops I still need to do that.” It just so happens that the idea to start a blog popped into my head around this time of the year, I can’t help it. Being on break from school gives me a lot of time to contemplate- and to fill.

Coincidentally, this time last year I also set myself a challenge. The idea was to brush up on my long forgotten design skills from my happy days as an editor in my high school’s journalism club. The challenge was to create a graphic set that matched up with a theatre prompt from a list I had created. The first edit I made was with the prompt “A Song that Describes your Personality.” It was the only prompt where I allowed myself two posts since I couldn’t decide between two songs,”Girl with the Glass” (left) and “Halfway” (right). Clearly, I have always been obsessed with navigating who I am and being introspective. Both songs I chose were from the movie turned musical, Amelie; a story about a quiet girl, who on the course of finding love, opens herself up to a whole multitude of people.

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One year later, I can safely say that I have considerably improved my Photoshop skills from when I first started, but now I have a new longing in my heart: for people to see what I’m creating and to know how I feel about the work. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and from my graphics, sure, you can understand which shows I love or a particular line or scene that really impacted me enough to design a whole picture around it, but anyone who’s met me in person knows I can and will talk about the art I’m consuming endlessly, with my favorite muse being the theatrical arts.

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A set inspired by “Once Upon a December” from Anastasia

So here’s where we are now- DEFINING ANGELIKA just in time for New Year’s.

Here I’ll be talking about all the things in my life that I think define who I am at the moment, while I try to figure out my place in this world.

I will do this by making blog posts about songs, shows, and occasionally objects, that I like, and relating them to the events that are happening in my life.  My “resolution” is to create 50 posts by the end of 2019 in order to improve my writing and communication skills as I did with my design skills this year. I guess if there’s one thing good about New Year’s Resolutions, it’s that the time frame is really convenient.

On New Year’s Eve/Day last year, after all the fireworks and partying when the clock struck twelve, I played a song on my phone as I was getting ready for bed. The song was “The Great Comet of 1812” from Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (currently #3 in my list of favorite musicals of all time). Throughout the show, the titular character and the soloist for the song, Pierre, goes through a tremendous arc facing his inner demons and finding a reason to live again. This is the final song of the show, sung as he walks home after extending forgiveness and professing his love to the other titular character, Natasha. And as Pierre looks up at the sky, he sees this comet bursting through the sky and for the first time feels peace in his life. And as I settled into my bed and closed my eyes, I felt the lyrics wash over me:

“It seems to me
that this comet feels me
feels my softened and uplifted soul  
And my newly melted heart  
now blossoming 
into a new life.”

-“The Great Comet of 1812,” Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812

I could feel in my soul that 2018 would be a good year for me, and it was! I’d like to take this moment to thank the wonderful people who I felt defined the year for me and encouraged me to start this blog. New posts will be posted on Wednesdays. In my next post, I will talk about the things that defined my 2018. In the meantime, I hope all of you reading are having a very happy holidays!

What are some of your resolutions for 2019?