five alive. i've been doing this for five years, this blogging thing. i started blogging post-college in 2000, on october 4th to be exact. at the time i was interning for a-magazine (now defunct) and in the middle of a one and a half year existence in new york (fine, new jersey). since then i've started probably a dozen blogs and semi-blogs. most of them died but i always had my personal one. and that one has evolved from a conversation with myself, to an incredibly boring record of day to day events, to whatever this has become. and through it all, my dedication to blogging has never wavered. if anything, it's been the one constant. it's saved me during horrifically boring times and it's kept me occupied/distracted when i needed it to. i would say that my blog has been my best friend, but that would devalue the humans in my life, and it might be an offensive statement to my sidekick.

i wrote in june of 2001 that "i'm not really sure why i spend such exorbitant amounts of time doing all this webpage stuff. i'm not getting skilled at it enough to actually land any jobs so basically i'm doing it for my own amusement in the hopes someone will enjoy it." i guess that doesn't hold true anymore, since i've got a semi-job doing this stuff, and it's no longer just for my amusement. which means in the big picture, i've come pretty far in life, and with this hobby. i think to some people, i've pretty much become synonymous with the word "blog."

which is strange to think about because it's hard to remember what my name was synonymous with before that. imagine if blogging had been a big hit during my college years and that i was blogging then. i would have liked to have a record of my college years, instead i've only got pictures and sporatically clear memories. at this point, college was so five years ago -- i'm a super senior in life now -- isn't it time to let college and times in college go? never i say.

i've watched my personal blog community dwindle down to a few hardcore bloggers, and most of my friends' blogs have long since died. which is fine i guess, but i can still remember the glory days when blogging was the thing to do among the bored and recently graduated demographic. i've stopped trying to get everyone around me to blog. i've seen too many enthusiastic bloggers fall to earth in a few short months. by now, i figure people'll gravitate to blogging by themselves. no sense pushing them. okay, maybe a little.

the blogs of random people i follow are, for the most part, still around. so i've essentially been stalking these people for four to five years. i don't really feel like i know them, but the ones that i still read, i feel like i'd want to know them. but only from afar.

somewhere along the way i lost interest in talking about religion.
somewhere along the way i got more detached, but more amusing.
somewhere along the way i became less of a phone whore.
somewhere along the way i got more self-conscious.
somewhere along the way i acquired a persona and a caricature.
somewhere along the way i started and stopped writing.
somewhere along the way i stopped buying k-swiss shoes.
somewhere along the way i've passed up all-nighters.

i've toyed with the idea of making this blog more personal, or taking it in another direction; less observation, more insight. but then i realized that insight and personality are not my forte. but then i start to run out of things to say. and i have to wait until i read something, or meet someone, or watch something, to become flooded again with things that need addressing. i'd like to be able to document growth or a journey of some kind, but apparently this isn't one of those stories.

and many of the same issues, good or bad, that concerned me in 2000 are still there now. nothing has drastically changed about my life in the intervening five years -- even though lots of things have happened. you know what i mean? i've shifted some, but my lifestyle and general attitude have not. and i'm not the least bit disappointed. in fact, i'm pretty delighted at how things have worked out for the most part. i've always preferred stasis over growth anyway.

since oct 2000
1 - knee surgery
2 - girlfriends
2 - fantasy sports championships
2 - jobs that paid money
3 - deaths in the family
3 - drunk/puked times
4 - cities lived in (even if briefly)
4 - babies from peers
5 - important friends lost/diminished
5 - people i've made cry
8 - classes taken to finish up my degree
9 - weddings attended
27 - new friends
6,070 - songs

i feel like five years of anything should be a significant milestone. five is traditionally a very important number. so i feel the need to acknowledge five, even if i'm not entirely sure what the point is. so yeah, five acknowledged. moving on.