So, I spent yesterday evening watching episodes of That 70’s Show on Netflix (THEY ARE STREAMING ALL 8 SEASONS!!!) when I decided to check my AOL mail. Since it was my first e-mail client when I started using computers frequently (back when I was about 13), I’ve amassed quite a collection of now interesting ‘saved emails.’ One of them was a comment from a friend on one of my livejournal blog posts from about 7 years ago. Baffled at the still present existence of my livejournal page, I excitedly went over to the LJ site and attempted to access my account. It took about ten tries to realize that I’d forgotten my password and after sending myself a reminder e-mail to AOL, I was back in! The rest of the evening was spent retracing my steps from the beginning of my LJ experience all the way to the last post I made in 2008.
I can definitely say that it was a fascinating experience: going through the old (and quite prolific) journal entries from 2003 to 2008. I was shocked at how diligent I was at keeping the blog updated with the happenings of my life. I remember the function for me was as a catharsis, particularly from those early heartbreaks from the first year or two of college. I appreciated reading through it again and gaining an outsider’s view of a person who was reaching out for guidance. I remember wondering some days why I was writing in the journal, but now I can say that I’m truly glad I did. It’s like a little catalog of my life, an encapsulation of my college experience… and even though I didn’t put as much in there for the last two years, I still had enough in there to get a sense of what was going on.
I moved on to this account for a short time and thought I would keep up on it, but I left the blogosphere back in 02-2009. I hope that this is going to be a solid return, because I remember that using the journal to document my life, interests, and feelings was always refreshing and a great way to contemplate something, document it, and move past it. Guidance from friends and strangers is always appreciated, as are kind words.
One thing about last night, though… after finishing my reverse-chronological review of the journal, ending at my first posts from college… I was unable to sleep. My mind was racing and it felt as though I was sitting in a circular room surrounded by doors and those doors each opened to a different memory in fast motion… like I was fast-forwarding through my life. Even though I was unable to fall asleep until 3am, I am surprisingly awake right now.
I’m also glad to see that some of my more responsive LJ friends have kept writing in their journals as well, which gives me something to look into when I get home. A way of catching up on the lives of friends from a distance.
Sincerely,
Raf of 2011.
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