A Second a Day: 2017 and then some

A Second a Day

It was Thursday, September 8, 2016. I met Julie and Liam for an afternoon dip in the Amstel. I dried off, attempted to run my fingers through my hair and quickly cycled back to the center for an all-you-can-eat sushi date on Reguliersdwarsstraat. I drank too much wine and clumsily put myself to bed. Anxiously, I woke hours before my alarm, somewhat ready for the interview. The one I never thought I would get. The one I spent hours preparing for. The one my friends kept asking about. The one that meant staying in Amsterdam or returning to America. The one I wanted more than anything. 

At 5pm I walked out of the Booking.com office in utter disbelief. I got it. 

For the following 1 year, 4 months and 23 days I recorded a second a day. This project has been time-consuming, tedious and often a pain.

Much like my year, there were ups and downs. After recording all of August, I accidentally deleted every single second. Devastated, I spent countless hours Googling how to recover permanently deleted videos. Turns out you can’t. I blamed Apple for making it too easy to delete things. I shamefully explained to my friends that no, I don’t have iCloud, no I don’t have a backup drive, and no, I do not know why. I begged the same friends to smile at selfie sticks in public, wave like maniacs, do something cool, laugh out loud, redo the toast. I spent lots of late nights editing in the dark. I earned myself too many cramped fingers and screen exhausted eyes.

All of it was totally worth it. 

The last year and a half has been a dream come true and I’m so excited to share it with you. Thank you to everyone who has made it special, both featured and not. Here’s to 27, a lot more glitter and plenty more seconds.