My name is Karen Datangel (Pronounced ‘Duh-tan-jel’—trust me, it’s not that difficult to say yet everyone thinks it is). I’m a 20-something trapped inside a 14-year-old’s body, in terms of how limited I am in some life experiences (Have yet to drive a car on my own, tiny dating history, not so well-traveled yet), in the things I adore (Taylor Swift and her music) and my semi-intense degree of fangirling (Baseball players), and in what I find hilarious (Farts). I still live at home with my family in San Francisco, where I was raised in its suburbs, but it’s not because I’m that immature—I simply can’t find a full-time job I can stay in for a while and support myself.
I majored in Journalism at San Francisco State University and graduated in 2011, and I’ve built a pretty solid resume for myself. However, I’ve gone from interview to interview trying to pursue my love for writing and online media to no avail. For the money, I’ve done it all, from cleaning popcorn machines at the movie theater and measuring customers’ bust sizes at Victoria’s Secret, to going door-to-door during election season and wasting away trees at a law office. Currently, I work in customer support and operations for a company called Cardpool.com and I still do some writing on the side as part of the contributor staffs for Audrey Magazine and The Hudsucker.
Aside from all things Internet and writing-related, I like to sleep…a lot. But when I’m not sleeping during ungodly hours and taking naps, I’m watching films, Netflix, a concert, or a musical, losing at poker with my friends (but getting higher scores than all of them on Magic Mic karaoke) or at a beat-em-up video game against a CPU, eating at some totally random joint with my brother and sister, or exploring new things to love about my city. I live for everything about the sport of baseball, but most especially my San Francisco Giants and the real happiest place on Earth, AT&T Park. Football is probably my second favorite sport. I love to laugh a lot, troll the Interwebs sometimes, and have a lot of alone time. I’m the kind of girl that would rather dress up in a hoodie, T-shirt, and jeans than shop for the latest trends (And yet I want to write about them!). I eat a lot of terrible food. A small part of me is still in Los Angeles and another part of me thinks it belongs in New York, but I know I will always come back to San Francisco.
Basically, I’m just a dork and a dreamer—a weird girl trying to find her place in this crazy world and own it.
I started Karen On as an entertainment blog in March 2010, as an outlet and portfolio for offering my thoughts on films, concerts, and American Idol performance shows I watched and albums I listened to. Sprinkled in was celebrity news, features on the film awards season and red carpet fashions, stories from conventions and meet-and-greets with stars, and exclusive interviews with indie musicians and reality show contestants. Once I became a regular contributor to Medium Rare in the summer of 2012, I started writing all of my film reviews for that site and strayed away from the blog. I began to realize that I wanted to come back to it, but something needed to change. I was already feeling more distant from writing about and reporting on film and entertainment and wanted to expand my horizons in writing about life, style, and sports. I also wanted to blog and not just write—I had tried doing so with another blog called A Professional Dreamer, but that venture never quite took off the way I wanted to. However, after being inspired by so many real bloggers, I felt revitalized and wanted to recommit to sharing my experiences, thoughts, and insight on everyday life and all the topics I’m interested in, as well as show some personality and not sound so damn analytical all the time. After a few months of not updating Karen On, I decided how I wanted to bring it back to life—relaunch the site as a personal and lifestyle blog, no longer with a sole entertainment focus but on everything that shapes who I am.
As I’m writing this, I still don’t know what kind of things you’ll find here. You’ll probably find a lot of rants: about dudes that cat-call, about my social media pet peeves, about my annoyance with shopping for clothes, and about the ways I don’t like my pork cooked if I absolutely have to eat it. You’ll probably find updates about my seemingly never-ending hunt for my breakthrough job in the media field. Maybe I’ll share what mixed drink I whipped up and served at my last get-together with my friends, or stories and fabulous finds from day trips to one of San Francisco’s fine neighborhoods. I’ll likely jot some thoughts on abstract concepts like romance, loneliness, and confidence. I’ll write letters and make declarations of love and other feelings to people who may or may not exist—my besties, my parents, some gorgeous guy I eyed from afar, my future ex-husband, and hell, maybe even Santa Claus. I want to do some weekly series where I share some old photos and memories from different points of my life (Throwback Thursday?), or pull out a random DVD, CD, or movie/music poster from my offbeat collections and share random facts and personal anecdotes associated with them. I’d like to do some commentary on my Giants or about issues that really affect me, primarily human equality. Also, you never know when I’ll go back to reviewing films, albums, and concerts and productions in super long and thorough detail. We’re just going to go with the flow and see how things go, but I can assure you that it’s going to be an exciting ride!
You can find out more about me and my budding media career at Karen-Datangel.net. Please feel free to comment on these smartass musings, email me, subscribe, and keep in touch with me on my social networks. I am grateful for your readership and feedback. See you on the blog!
(PHOTO CREDIT: Nicole Abalde)
