august 25, 2025
1:01 pm CDT
part 1: growing older
Some time before graduating high school, I realized I was growing older. And not in the way one normally concludes this. My health is (knock on wood) stable and this revelation was distant from any sudden life changes. Slowly, time ticked by and I was almost 18 years old. For someone who’s been a child their whole life, this was shocking and confusing.
part 2: what is it I plan to do?
part 3: creating more… with caveats
I have only ever written under aliases (usually my middle name) or, most often, no name at all. It’s somewhat odd to see my creative work tied so closely to my personal identity, especially online. So, before I start posting heavily on this website, I want to add some disclaimers.
I’m primarily concerned about protecting the privacy of my close family and friends, who didn’t ask me to start this blog. I started this project a month out from my return to school and Washington State, so these next few posts will just feature family members, who all support this blog and consented to infrequently appear as the mom, dad, and little brother. But I have considered what I might write about once classes start up again. I want to maintain authenticity and transparency while respecting everyone’s right to consent.
I decided that I will omit peoples’ names entirely, to protect their privacy. They will be referenced as “my friend”, “my roommate”, “my physics professor.” But obviously, and thankfully, I have more than one of all of those descriptors. If, for example, there are three friends involved in a story, I’ll use their first initials. If two+ people have the same first initial, I’ll randomize their referential letter.
I will also exercise discretion in blurring details surrounding a person, location, or event; for instance, in a previous anonymous blog, I’d written that a friend and I went out for dinner where they celebrated recent success on an altruistic project. I went into detail about what that project was and why it mattered to both of us, but I’m highly unlikely to do so here. Randos can easily find who my friend is, and this isn’t Instagram where the follower count is hidden.
Moreover, like many/most college students, I go to parties. I enjoy the social atmosphere and music. But for someone who doesn’t drink, smoke, or engage in otherwise illegal/questionable behavior, I worry quite a bit about future employers seeing things they shouldn’t. I have nothing to hide–starting a blog wouldn’t be the wisest choice if I did–but I am not about to hang my career in the balance because of a random personal project.
I admit I’m sacrificing pieces of my life, but the calculus only makes sense one way. Either I get more clicks or I keep stable friendships. I like Googling my name to yield only the character sketch of my likeness.
here is the majority of the personal information I’m willing to share:
- I was born + grew up in new jersey, lived in austin, texas for two years, then moved to seattle in late 2024
- I am a cisgender, straight, not disabled, woman of indian origin who uses she/her pronouns
- I have a mom, dad, and younger brother. most of my other relatives still live in India.
- I’m doing my undergrad in astro/phys + poli sci at the university of washington