Hey there! How’s it going? I hope you’re doing well.
I’m not exactly sure how Substack works. I kinda just started using it because Caleb recommended it to me when we were driving to church. So bear with me as I figure this out.
Within my past three years at Cornell, I’ve strived to find a fun and creative outlet to express myself. In high school, I did competitive dance. In college, I’ve drowned myself in a compilation of academic and pre-professional student organizations. I always wanted to join a fun club, but I never found time.
The idea for the blog sprung about this week as I crammed an essay for a class I genuinely could care less for. As I was writing four pages double-spaced of nonsense, I realized that I am decently okay at essays.
After my freshman year when I took writing-heavy classes, I promised myself I would never take an essay-only class again. I thought this was a great decision as I watched my political science major roommate, Cassy, write her 30+ page papers. However, after taking exams for 10 weeks straight last semester, I decided that I wanted to end Cornell with some easy essay classes. So here I was, bs-ing this paper last minute. Despite finding all the content boring, I was reminded of how fun writing could be.
Figure 1. I love writing essays!
I have a good friend named James Kim. James and I met freshman year orientation week, and he was one of my first friends at Cornell. We ended up joining the same Christian fellowship, but our friendship drifted due to being different majors and in different social circles. However, we make an effort to catch up once in a while. One thing I always admired about James was that he has a blog where he writes the most sentimental short stories about his family with the cutest baby photos. I remember reading one about his dad over the summer, and when I finished the piece, I put my phone down and sobbed because I resonated with his appreciation for his father. James’s blog always makes me cry. He hits the right soft spot when it comes to talking about how grateful he is for his parents.
James has been quite inactive on his blog since then, but he recently uploaded one. I was so excited when I saw him repost it on his Instagram. Immediately, I opened the link and read the article on my phone during class. Once again, I cried over his sweet anecdotes about his parents.
Figure 2. After we both turned 21 this year, James and I went to the bar. If you couldn’t tell, it was his first time…
As I wrote this horrendous essay, I was reminded of James’s blog, and I thought,
“You know what, I’ve been looking for something creative to do, and I never considered writing as a possibility. What if I started a blog like James?”
This wouldn’t be a bad idea, since I do a terrible job updating my friends from home and my family about my life. The blog would let me express myself creatively while also publishing life updates online.
Sunday morning, Caleb picked me up for church. Caleb is my next door neighbor, and he graduated in December. Since then, he’s been hanging around in Ithaca, also looking for new hobbies. I told him about my idea for starting a blog, to which he said he also has been thinking of starting one. As we went through our weekly routine of picking people up for church, we told more people about our idea to blog, and they all affirmed us. This ride to church was keeping me accountable… I actually had to start a blog.
I considered what I would focus my blog on. James’s blog was centered around the photos he takes, which makes sense because he captures the best candid photos. I don’t take enough photos compared to James, so I needed a different focus.
What do I have a large collection of? Big enough to describe my life? My first idea was songs: I like building playlists based on my mood or a life event. For example, one of my most favorite songs since coming to college is “Growing up is ______” by Ruel because it perfectly describes how fast life has changed since moving out.
Growin' up is weird, sleep with friends, break a heart
Question everything you thought
Split a pill, smoke a dart
Growin' up is weird, fall in love for a year
And then I disappear, wish that you were here
Growin' up is strange, get too close, push away
Thinking you would do the same
New regrets, new mistakes
Growin' up is strange when the one who's to blame
Is lookin' at the mirror, wish that you were here
Growing up is
The title is unique in that it includes a blank. Ruel does this as he inserts different words to fill the blank, like “weird” and “strange”. The things I’ve experienced in college has been so odd: I raised and accidentally killed a pet fish in my dorm, unintentionally became the president of an organization that I thought about leaving the day before I ran, and made so many new friends. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and I’ve changed a lot as a person. Therefore, I wanted to write a life-update blog and relate it to a specific song or lyric.
In class on Monday, I told Gary about my idea to start a blog. He asked me what I would name it, and I thought about it for a second.
“Maybe Grace’s Bites of Life?” I randomly suggested.
“Oh, because you’ll write about the things you cook?” Gary asked.
Not what I was intending, but it wasn’t a bad idea. I was also texting Sami that morning, and I also mentioned the idea to blog. She also thought it would be a cooking blog.
It makes sense though. Ever since moving off-campus and not being on a meal plan, I’ve developed an interest for cooking, and I’ve always loved baking. I post pictures of my food online, and I bring my baked goods to share with friends. It makes sense that people thought I was starting a cooking blog.
Now, I was conflicted. Should I do a song-based blog or a cooking blog?
I realized later that day that I could do both. Duh! I thought I would need to change the title, but then I came up with the most epic pun: bites and sound bytes. It would work for both!
Therefore, this blog is titled, Grace’s Bites of Life, where “bites” holds a double meaning: bites to represent the articles I write about the things I cook or bake, and sound bytes to represent the articles I write about the songs that describe my life or mood. For “bite” articles, I’ll attach the recipe or a photo of the dish so that you can visualize it. For “byte” articles, I’ll link the song and provide some lyrics, and I recommend listening before/while/after you read the blog.
Figure 3. Blurry photo of the curry I made last night
But anyways, that’s the story of how this blog came to be. I want to thank James for inspiring this whole thing. Maybe we’ll do a collaboration article, idk. I want to thank Caleb for driving me to church every Sunday and encouraging me to write this blog. I hope you also start your sports blog, Caleb. I want to thank Gary and Sami for inspiring the cooking part of the blog, and I want to thank my brain, or God (not really sure who did the work there) for giving me the bite/byte idea.
Hope you guys stick around for the journey of my life through food and music!
P.S. I assume you already know who I am, but if you don’t, there should be a quick bio about myself in my profile.
yay
hi grace