In Japan, it is custom (after the polite bow) to offer your business card as your presentation on first time meetings. Thus, the introductory ceremony begins. Now all parties know the other person's full name, work title, and contact details, and they officially become acquainted.

Sometimes I see a ritualistic parallelism between Japanese business cards and our iPod (*).

(*) And when I say iPod, I'm not trying to shamelessly promote an inexistent alliance with Apple. I'm talking about your music taste (and wherever you might store it, be it folders in your computer, media players, CD cases, vinyls or phones).

For our generation, a generation of blog-reading and internet-sailing, your music taste is a statement. It's something that defines you. It is often used to label you.

"Simply handing over your iPod to a friend, your blind date, or the total stranger sitting next to you on the plane, opens you up like a book. All somebody needs to do, is scroll through your library {...}, and musically speaking, you're naked. 

It's not just what you like –it's who you are."

I was reading through Steve Job's latest biography when I stumbled upon this statement. And I found it interesting. It is true that iPods were sort of revolutionary –music is important for human kind since forever, and with that invention, people were able to select and take with them what spoke to their soul.

But how does this make you feel? Would showing your IPod (*) to someone mean a sudden shiver? Would that be getting too personal for your own comfort? Maybe you'd feel indifferent about it?

And can you say that, if you grabbed your iPod (*) right now, it would mirror who you are well?

When I first got mine, I had recently entered the adult world, and I felt I had to fill up my iPod with what was hip, because it would be expected of me to be like that. And so I started filling it up with music I didn't quite enjoy. One day I came to the realisation that I was being stupid. And I started a musical purge. I deleted music I wasn't even listening to, and left the good bits in. Since that day I've been really critical and selective every time I sync it with my media player.

I guess that gesture in itself explains a bit of who I am.

And on that note, I will leave you with the latest addition to my iPod. In case you're curious.

I guess the first post to christen a new blog is the most awkward to write and/or read. So let's do as painless as possible.

I've been reading blogs for the last 6 years, and so they've played an important part in my life. I'd been motivated to start my own for a long time, but, I guess every time I would try, I'd realise that putting yourself out there is harder than it seems.

Another thing I should explain is that my long-term memory is rather terrible. A few months ago I had a chat with my dad. I was just trying to explain (again) to him that I couldn't remember much from when I was little, and then he said something that left me shaken up.

"The beauty about life is being able to relive it as many times as you'd like just with your memories. It'd be really sad just to live it once"

The irony is that I haven't been able to forget that.
What he said eventually brought be back to the idea of having a blog. A place to be used as a visual diary. A medium to express thoughts, ideas, inspiration and memories. A home with open doors, where I can capture who I am at a specific moment in time. A moment I'll be able to relive.

So here I am.

My name is Ana Allan and I'm a journalism and film graduate living in Australia. I love expressing myself with fashion, analysing films, discovering inspiring music, hoarding pretty pictures, travelling, illustrating, clouds, God, and earl grey tea.
Let's enjoy the ride together.