What's in a name? As I mentioned in my "About Us" page, the origin of the name, Project Kaleidoscope, was birthed in the shower. But weeks before that lightbulb moment, I had actually been contemplating about a name already. Months prior to that, I had made a new friend whom I connected to easily on a very spiritual level. I had just moved to New York City in July 2003 and he was one of the first new friends I made that time.
One day, while he toured me around Manhattan aboard a Metro Bus, he asked me what my biggest dream in life was. At that time, all I ever really wanted to become was a Screenwriter, in spite having no knowledge about Screenwriting at all. My friend then turned to me, looked me in the eye, and with words I will never forget till this day, replied, "Janice, the only way for you to see your biggest dream fulfilled is if you give it a name. Don't simply refer to it as, 'my dream.' Give it a name."
At first, I couldn't understand why the need for semantics, but as he explained further that giving my dream a name would connect me to it more closely, then I began to grasp his meaning. By giving it a name, it meant ownership of my dream, thus, I would strive as hard as I could to see it come to life. I agreed with my friend and then set out to find that one perfect name.
Thankfully, it didn't take me that long to discover what that name would be. At that time, in the Fall of 2003, I was working as an Accounting Assistant temp for a boutique jewellery maker in the SoHo district and a block away from our office in Mercer Street, there was the most beautiful toy shop that sold handmade toys, vintage dolls, and painted books called The Enchanted Forest. I visited that toy shop a lot during my lunch breaks, just tinkering with all the fun and amusing merchandise.
One day, I discovered that there was a little shelf in the back, partially hidden by the stuffed animals, that contained old-fashioned kaleidoscopes. I was so blown away by them. I knew what a kaleidoscope was back then but I had never really gotten around to playing with a real one, much less one that was handcrafted in the 1950s. I tinkered with each kaleidoscope on display and actually enjoyed what I was doing. When I realized that it was time for me to go back to work, that was when I saw it - signage on the top layer of the shelf with the words: D-I-Y Project: Kaleidoscope.
The very top layer of the shelf contained kaleidoscopes that you would have to assemble yourself. It was such a cool concept. Anyway, I didn't think much of it at that time, but I went back to work and went on with my day. It was only a couple of weeks later, when I was having a hot shower that it finally hit me, "That's it! That was my dream's name - Project Kaleidoscope!"
I also realized that looking into a kaleidoscope was pretty much like looking into a camera - an implosion of colors, metaphorically, would come alive depending on how you handled the camera. I realized that the name can be a mouthful, and lots of times, other people have told me the word, kaleidoscope, is so hard to spell (and it's true!), but I adore the name very much and I always knew that moment I thought of it in the shower that I was meant to find that little, tucked-by-the-corner shelf of that magical toy shop.
By next year, Project Kaleidoscope will have been with me for 20 years, and I cannot be happier to have given my life's greatest dream a name, which, thankfully, has started to come true day by day. I realize now that my friend was absolutely right, giving my dream a name has motivated me to really keep pushing until it comes to life. I'm not fully where I want to be yet, in terms of my dream, but at least the path has been blazed.
As for Project Kaleidoscope's logo, that story deserves a blog post of its own... *tee hee*.
*Janice
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