post the first & some expectations
hi. you have most likely stumbled across my little cozy corner of the internet and thought to yourself, "what the hell does field notes & flea markets mean?". honestly, i'm not 100% sure either and to be perfectly honest i had my pal claude ai help me brainstorm some names. i'm in school to become a scientist (the more fun way of saying i'm a glutton for punishment and love school to the point i figured, why not get a phd at 32?!) and i freaking LOVE nature, so field notes fit. and i posed this initial question: "because i don't have enough going on i decided it would be fun to start a website about all the things i research not just my stuff for school. for example we went antiquing today and bought an old clock and i'm having a lot of fun finding information on it, cleaning it up and learning how clocks work! i'd love to do this as a fun little blog but i need a name for my site. what should it be?" so in their all knowing way claude knew i'd love some alliteration and bam flea markets fit the bill quite nicely so here we are.
that takes care of the name, now i guess let's get into the idea behind the why? like most cis female elder millennials i was diagnosed at about 30 with adhd. i just thought brains never turned off and that was normal. supposedly that's not the case. neither is running into shit, forgetting what you're saying mid-sentence, picking up and putting down about 10 different projects a day, or telling long-winded stories. apparently that's not what "they" deem "normal" either. speaking of long-winded... that's my brain's way of explaining why this little blog will basically be informal brain dumps about what is going on in my head and what I'm hyper fixating on at the moment. it's part journal for the public's eye, part scratch notebook of interesting bits, part resource share, and part who the hell knows.
i'd like to set a few expectations early on, though.
brain not brand. i hate the monetization of people's eyeballs. i hate when i'm trying to research something and have to reject cookies only to have 9 ads pop up wanting to sell me shit. i think capitalism is pretty f*cking evil (no clue really what the "right" choice is, but this ain't it honey). enter this cute little bearblog platform. i did some research and this is what we landed on and i think it's quite cute and seems to align with these principles as well.
feels and honesty. i want this to be fun, light, really casual, and maybe a little inspirational. i don't want to have to stress about grammar, spelling, structure and all that too much. this is going to be very free flowing throughs and bits from my garbled brain. now, am i writing this as we speak into claude so i can make sure it isn't complete garbage first? hell yeah, i'm human. do i sometimes preach about slowing down and going back to basics while also relying on ai to help me proofread? absolutely. again, i'm human and therefore a hypocrite. do i need this right now to get started and build community? you bet your ass. i'm hoping using a little light grammar help and very very very mild structure adjustments (and i guess initial blog title generation) will get me started. once i get more comfy i'll hopefully be able to tell my 4th grade english teacher that lives rent free in my head, that she can politely go away.
she sure has mentioned ai a lot so far... i don't know man. i see the pros, i see the countless cons. i'm on the fence. like i mentioned, i'm human and therefore hypocritical. i literally study ecology and evolutionary biology and have been in the environmental sector for years. I have a basic understanding about the water use and the ownership of information and the theft of art and the homogenization of ideas and on and on. it's new. i'm still learning. i have crow brain and like shiny things so i use it from time to time. am i trying to reconnect to my own brain, slow down, get off the screens, leave the machine in as many ways as i can? of course. do i live in the year of our lard (intended, hilarious i know) 2026 and struggle with existing a lot of the time let alone trying to weigh the ethical implications of this often evil seeming technological marvel? yup. i just wanna be honest and upfront with you: i'm an occasional user of artificial intelligence for cleaning up the structure of my rambles, fixing some grammar, and doing coding and research from time to time. i'm hoping to build that community like i mentioned in the last expectation, and the feeling of needing to run posts through a quick chat to "clean up" some stuff (and not be so scared about posting shit to the very cynical and sometimes horrible place that is the internet) honestly helps. i'm trying my damndest to not use it frequently, but this is where i'm at. i'm ethically confused and fragile. please be nice and I'll always be honest when i use it.
i cuss. i do not in any way want to offend or upset anyone so i'm letting you know up front.
fragility and kindness. remember that fragility i mentioned in #3? (i hope so, it was like 2 sentences ago but girl i get it). let's just be nice to each other please. i love 99% of the human population and try really hard to be kind and respectful and create safe spaces for curiosity, learning, and fun. i know some people have unfortunate histories and sometimes have fun being mean, but please just go somewhere else with all that. that's not to say i don't want feedback. if i write something offensive please let me know in a kind and gentle way and i will try very very hard to learn from that experience.
alright i think that's probably a good starting point. i hope this page makes you feel like you're at your cool fun great aunt's house and you've simultaneously fallen into a 90's i spy and dk encyclopedia book while kermit the frog's "rainbow connection" scene is playing in the background.
field notes & flea markets (fn & fm)
love, alanna