The Millionaire Waltz — An Introduction
Here I am again, faced with a blank space to write what I may or may not be feeling. Seems familiar.
Though I have no real way of introducing this blog, I’ll start by saying that this is a *secret blog*. Open to the public, yes, and free to share — of course.
To the ones I know personally, however, this project of mine is secret in that I’m not telling anyone I know about it — not my acquaintances, boss, clearly deserving, everyday friends — not even my mother or my brother. I won’t be posting about it on social media or sending it out on some ridiculous e-mail chain. That’s part of the project.
This may be tricky though, as I logged into this site via my Facebook account. I’ll try to keep this under control. If my friends find out, they find out. If I mention it in the journal (more on that very soon) and someone reads about it — fair game. I just won’t be posting about it or telling my friends to read it or to share it.
The other thing about this blog is that it is going to be based off a journal that I’m keeping. I’m a keeper of several journals (I’ve been writing down what I do everyday for a little over 3 years, have a daily planner I update to keep me on track etc.), but this one is my only hand-written, one-page-per-day, stream of conscience-style journal. I started it a few days ago. Photos to be added soon. You’ll see what I mean.
I guess I’ll start introducing myself…
My name is Alex, and I’m a fourth-year student at Indiana University, currently studying abroad in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It’s an international school here, and people often ask where I’m from, to which I respond with something along the lines of “well, I was born in France, grew up near Philadelphia, went to high school in France and now go to college in Indiana”. Two passports, two mother tongues, a parent from each side of the pond — I don’t know how I could ever decide where I’m “from”, but I know I’m lucky because of it all.
I’m not a writer (my handwriting is proof enough), nor a drawer (…my handwriting is proof enough), nor a philosopher, nor someone with all the answers, not any kind of intellectual, savant or sage. I’m just some guy, but the way I see it and have always seen it — everyone we know or could ever know, knows something we don’t.
To any Queen fans out there (and I mean fans who know their lesser-known songs), you will see the title borrowed from a track off of 1976’s A Day at the Races. I happened to be listening to that song on the first day I started the journal. It seemed like a good title, and I doubt I would have been able to think of something better, so it stuck.
The journal is going to be unpredictable, partly because I let my own mind wander its way through the pages, but also by allowing friends to join in on the writing as well. It also starts backwards, meaning the “back cover” is the front.
Here’s my front cover as of Thursday, February 23rd, 2017:
I thought that the cover could and should be moldable, so I’m having everyone I know of different nationalities write “Hello!” on the front cover in their native languages. Pretty clever, right?
Here’s my “inside cover”:
And my “back cover” (the original front cover):
And my “inside back cover”:
There you are. You now have all of my contact information. Please go easy on me (and my spam folder). Also, I will sincerely hold true to me owing you a beer if you find the journal. If you can’t tell, this is important to me.
This isn’t your standard journal. As you can see, the inside back cover is just drawings (my friend Pin added the Jean-Jacques Rousseau bit) and I let people add to it. I won’t always be writing in English, from left to right, follwing any kind of logic…It’s up to you to decipher. I don’t mean to be cryptic whatsoever, but the mind works in mysterious ways.
For those who want to read what I end up saying but can’t read the handwriting, I’ll transcribe what I write. I’ll try to keep it word-for-word though, so it still won’t be easy ;).
I’ll make day 1 (and other days!) a separate post. If this intruigues you so far, at least think about continuing your reading. If not, send it off to someone who you think might care. Again, being a secret blog, I don’t actually expect anyone to read this. Keep in mind what I said earlier, though, and remember that everyone we could ever know, knows something we don’t.
Here’s to me telling the world what I think I know.