248/365

To all those who believed in me, I apologise. 

248 People.

I made it more than half way.

—-

There was bound to be a no sooner or later, and from that first no, and the no’s after that I wanted to give up. One month into the project, I’m cycling in my local gym, eyeing the next person I’d ask, who they’d like to meet and why. I walk up to man standing around , ego filling up to his head, proud of the 16 reps he just did. Nervous, I go straight into my routine,

“Hi/Hello, my name is Anna.  I’m doing a project where I go around meeting 365 people asking them who’d they like to meet and why. I’m wondering if you have the time for me to answer the question and take a photo of you?”

Depending whether I was slurring my speech in nervousness, I’d either be asked to repeat myself , why I was doing this or if I’m lucky a simple yes, otherwise I was brushed off like I was a hopeless beggar.

After my routine, the man pauses and gives me a no. From that moment I felt like giving up. Sitting around thinking for almost an hour, I opted for SOS and called for the voices I knew would nudge me back into it. I’m glad I had these voices. 

Twohundredandfortyeightpeople later, I’m trying to figure out the purpose of this project. To be honest, I really didn’t have one. Maybe it was the usual - personal growth, being able to finish what I start, to become the ultimate people master. Whatever it was, It was the best choice of January 2010. 

The usual comes after, Meeting people, becoming really good friends with some. One, even more than friends. I heard stories, short and sweet ones, long and detailed ones, ones that made me feel good after taking a snapshot of them. 

Each person I came across, the few seconds or even hours I had with them, I had the pleasure of knowing them and letting them know who I was. It’s kind of nice to know that they’d go home, tell their families, friends, dog that their was this  girl who came out of nowhere to ask them who’d they like to meet and why. They’d probably go on about how the project was interesting but irrelevant, a time waster. 

This post may just be a disclaimer to convince myself that it wasn’t any of the above. Whether it was or wasn’t I’m still glad I met twohundredfortyeightpeople, and more. Those who didn’t want their photo taken, those who just said no but gave me a chilling smile. Sometimes I do just want to take Mr Fufu out when my eye catches a person. Is picking up the project from where I left a valid thing to do? It probably wouldn’t be the same, but for me it may just do. I’ll just have to see. 

Whether or not I meet an extra 117 people, I promised I’ll come out with a print out of all the people I met. It should come out in the next few months, before the end of 2011. 

Again, I send all my apologies to those voices that supported me. 

Thank you. 

- Anna Saguinsin