Complex Numbers

Hindsight

No external link today, just some personal reflections on 19 years of Writing.Com.

The problem with having an account creation anniversary today is twofold:

One, it falls close on the heels of WDC's Birthday Week celebration. On this site, that's rather like being born just after Christmas in the US: everyone's burned out on celebratory cheer, and ready to go back to being their usual grumpy selves. Or, possibly, gearing up for NaNoWriMo (shameless plug for "October Novel Prep Challenge"  [13+], which is taking signups and looking for more Contest Round judges).

And two, it coincides with another anniversary.

That other anniversary was very fresh in everyone's minds back in 2004, when I signed up here. This year, I haven't seen any mention of it at all, and I follow the news cycle pretty damn well for someone who shuns popular social media (RSS is still around, and it's easy to set up your feed the way you want it; it's just not as easy as getting it spoon-fed by the algorithms on Xitter and the like).

But it wasn't supposed to be September 11; it was supposed to be the 10th. As I recall, I had some problems getting registered way back then, and it was only about 2am on a Saturday that it finally worked. That's also the reason for the annoying 02 at the end of my username; earlier attempts to register as just cathartes failed, but locked out that option. I keep meaning to change my username, but after 19 years, it seems like that would cause more problems than it would fix.

I've told that story before, but who could read all the entries here? I sure haven't.

For the curious, I'm pretty sure this was the first thing I posted in my port: "Ghost Poem #1"  [ASR] Considering my evolution since then, it's strange that my first bit was a poem, and a serious one at that. I still do them occasionally, but I'm more tuned to comedy, these days. At least I'm not embarrassed by that poem, which is older even than my account. Not embarrassed much, anyway.

I barely remember last week, let alone 19 years ago, and I don't know a way to view one's portfolio in chronological order. So I could be wrong about that being my first item. Doesn't matter; close enough, as it was the same day I joined. That, of course, made me a Registered Author. I don't remember when I became Preferred. I also don't remember the exact date I got the blue case, but it was sometime in August of 2006... probably. Like I said, my memory sucks. I still think of myself as one of the newer moderators, when that's objectively not the case (pun intended).

And I started this blog the following New Year's Day. I took a years-long hiatus from it, but decided to keep going with the same item rather than start a new one, mostly because come on, the name is awesome.

Unfortunately, it's now almost full. Around 95% by byte size, and 82% by number of entries, not counting this one. I doubt it'll last another year at the rate I post (daily, relatively long entries), so this might be my last anniversary retrospective here. I won't delete entries, and it's unclear to me whether I'd get more space in the blog if I switched to a Premium Plus membership.

I'll design that bridge when I get to the chasm. Right now, just let me end by thanking everyone who left me anniversary notes and done Anniversary Reviews, including one of that ancient poem of mine I linked above. This is not me begging for more, only acknowledging those that have done these things. It's been a great community, and I've made a lot of friends I never would have otherwise met, both online and in person. You know who you are. While I doubt I'll be around for another 19 years, as I'm pretty sure I'm not an immortal, I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. So you're stuck with me... unless, of course, you put me on ignore.