ARCHIVES - 1996 to FOREVER

Nine years gone.

Nine years ago, with many trepidations, I wrote the first entry in this journal.

At the time, there were fewer journallers that I knew of than I could count on one hand: Jessa, Sage, Diane and CJ.

There were actually fewer than I could count on both hands, just barely. But they were there... but google wasn't. It was hard, in those early days, to find another journaller.

And then... slowly, O so slowly...

It started.

More journallers. And more.

Open Pages WebRing sprung into being, created by the second fake journaller. Jessa (Shelly) was the first, Ophelia the second.

I didn't care... I liked the writing, the ideas, the... freshness... that these on-line journals had.

The early years were rough... we were decimated, by the identity crisis, and again when another ring was launched that was... rather exclusive... but we arose stronger.

Open Pages grew to the thousands, so unwieldy that only it's progenitor Ryan could keep up with it.

On-line journalling then went big-time.

But no... it didn't.

Not really.

Blogging went big-time.

I must admit that I didn't pay much attention to bloggers at first, and I still don't.

To me, the thing was pretty simple: you had to understand a printing press to have a paper, right? So, you had to understand HTML and the ins and outs of internet publishing to have a journal online.

And I was spectacularly wrong about that.

The content, yeah, that is the thing.

Most blogs don't have that....

Over the years, many journallers have gone by the wayside. Some just disappeared, some left remnants of their passing, some... went to blogs.

I'm afraid that I will never go to blogging... too much of my writing is tied up in the ritual of writing, maintaining the indices, making the HTML. Building a web page for each entry.

Enough history and crap.

I'm still doing this 'cause I still love doing this.

And I'll do it 'til I can't handle a keyboard any more. Then, maybe, I'll go to a blog, set up and maintained by my caretaker, who will transcribe my tapes....

Nine years in a long time, internet-wise. I'm proud of persevering, perverted though it may be. I can't imagine a day when I wouldn't write, at least in my head.

And my faithful readers? I bless you (god isn't up to it, really...) and I appreciate you. Without you, I wouldn't still be here... o'wait, maybe I would... but thank you anyway!

And back to today....

Today was fun. Got up around 09:00, showered and was ready to face the day!

Did some cleaning up and piddled around, mostly, and then I got a call from Brother Dan about noon... the flight had been delayed by an hour, at least, and they were also having trouble in Atlanta, one of the stops on the flight.

So I decided that maybe instead of leaving at 14:00, I would leave at 15:30, which should be about right. Pulled the flight up on the web and it still had the original arrival time on it.

Goofed around for a while, and Karen and I went to eat at Taco Villa.

Came back, checked the web again. Yeah, the flight was now due in at 18:17.

So OK, I did some stuff, and Karen went to pick up the kids at school.

Before she got back I checked again... now the flight was due in at... 17:16!

So, I thought, they'd made up some time somewhere.

So I left for the airport about 15:30, which should get me there around 17:00.

Nice drive, got there right at 17:00. parked, went in and found the arrivals on the screen.

The flight was due in at... 18:17.

No problem. Sat down with my PDA, thinking that I could get web access. Guys all around me with laptops were getting it... but my PDA? Nope. O'well... there was still solitaire, heh.

Dan got in right on time, surprising me. He looks good, and I was *so* glad to see him!

He was famished, of course, so we stopped at a McDs on the turnpike and ate.

Talked all the way home, of course... and then talked a bunch more when we got here.

However, he's a lightweight... in bed by 21:00, he was.

I saw that JD was on soulseek, so I messaged him, then called him. We had a nice long talk... love that boy. He and Tyler are going to join me when I visit Dan in baltimore next time... not too long from now, I hope....

And the next few days will be fun... but I gotta share Dan with Mom... we'll all be having a good time, I'm sure!

Thanx to y'all for putting up with me for nine years....

You've only got another 20 or 30 to go!