Creativity and enjoyment in blogging

I set out to build a blog that feels alive—something that sparks creativity and invites curiosity. I broke it into three sections: Projects, Moments, and Versions of Self.

Projects is where machines meet memory. I started with the cars I’ve owned—past and present. The name elevenjunk comes from my current car, stamped with personalized plates: 11 JNK. Over the years, I’ve gone through about a dozen cars, each one tied to a different version of my life. I thought it’d be interesting to revisit them—dig into their stories, add a little research, and even use AI to generate blurbs and, in some cases, digital renderings. It’s part nostalgia, part experimentation.

Moments zooms out. This is the timeline of how I’ve spent my time here—school years, from grade school to university, my work life (including internships), places I’ve been, and the hobbies that kept me moving—mostly sports. I went back through old photos and pulled in snapshots that capture those chapters. Nothing fancy, just real fragments of a life in motion.

Versions of Self is more personal. It’s a look at the different sides of me—health and wellness, career aspirations, pets, and the interests that don’t always fit neatly into a category. These are the layers that make a person whole, even when they don’t always make sense together.

At some point, I had to ask myself: why do this at all?

I’m approaching 50, and it’s hard to ignore how quickly time moves. Life feels shorter than it used to—less like a long road, more like a brief stop. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. This blog is a way to leave something behind beyond social media—a more intentional record. A place where the pieces of a life can sit together in one space. There’s something grounding about that.

Now it’s back to the work of filling it in.

The “junk drawer” is where I’ll keep the deeper writing—the story underneath everything else. I’ve been through a lot, and at the same time, there’s still so much of life I haven’t touched. That tension feels like a good place to start.