Since a young age, my existence was often defined by superficial markers: Asian, Yankee, tomboy, hippie, nerd, geek - the list goes on.
I was a foreigner in America, and somehow, still a foreigner back home in Korea. I was framed as "different" or "abnormal" simply because I refused to follow the socially mandated consensus for my gender or age. My life didn't tick to the same rhythm as "the others," and that was enough to make me a target for judgment.

Having experienced various social labels being forced upon me against my will, I’ve grown to dislike categorizing people with specific words.

Even so, the reason I deliberately use the term "anomaly" is not to define myself or others. Rather, it's because I’ve spent a great deal of time reflecting on what being "normal" even means.

Describing one as an anomaly could be misleading as an attempt to be special, peculiar, or just plain odd.
To me, an anomaly isn't a state of being or an identity. It's an attitude.

The world is multifaceted. And so are we.
Our inner worlds are far more complex than they appear on the surface, and we constantly evolve through time and circumstance.
Yet, we relentlessly create averages, baselines and standards, to group and categorize everything and everyone around us.
Because deviating from the norm can make life quite troublesome in many ways, we more than often try to fit in, whether by choice or by force. (In Korea, where I am from, those baselines are exceptionally rigid.)

The collective effort of those trying not to fall out of that invisible line solidifies into an unyielding mold.
These figments constructed by statistics, customs, and convenience pressure us to conform whether we believe in them or not.

This is why I consider "normal" to be an illusion.

I call the attitude of pausing to question the illusion rather than accepting it as the default an "anomaly".
It is a lifestyle of questioning the given answers we abide by as a society.

I’m not sure where this space will lead me.
To what thoughts, questions, or people and events it will bring into my life.
But whatever happens, I hope it will be full of fun and anomalies.