👀 Throwback Thursday

#10 | One archive to bind us all

I thought the hardest thing about writing a newsletter would be writing the first one. Turns out I was wrong. The first piece I wrote came out of me just like that. Then I spent the next couple of days obsessing over what to write about in the next one.

A lot of my ideas were too complicated. And some downright ridiculous. I consulted friends and family – some gave me workable ideas. Others wasted my time (to them: do better!). Eventually, I gave up. I waited for divine inspiration to strike, as I often do when the creative juices just won’t flow. Not that I’m a big fan of the divine. As a kid, I wanted to become a Buddhist when I grew up. Now that I am a grown-up (on paper, at least), I am not as keen. My agnosticism notwithstanding, the question still remains. What do I write about in my second outing of Whatsitcalledagain?

The answer echoed in the corridors of my memory (if you remember my first email, I’m a sucker for flashbacks): back when I was a 12-year old, there was a ‘computer room’ in our house where I spent my afternoons “dressing” digital avatars of celebrities (don’t ask), writing imaginary diaries posing as an American schoolgirl (I was one of Disney’s most devoted consumers), and going to a site called Bee MP3.com (foreshadowing much?) to download Avril Lavigne songs.

That computer room is now my 22-year-old brother’s room (which I am rarely allowed to enter).

The internet has changed a lot in the 14 years since then. But if you want to take a trip down memory lane with me, try the Wayback Machine. You go over there, type a URL or some keywords, and access long lost webpages as they’ve been saved over the years. It’s like a slot machine for a past that’s not toooo much in the past, but still in the past. Dive in.

Proiti

P.S. Although I didn’t end up becoming a Buddhist, I still try to practice one of its most basic tenets - compassion. You should too, which means you should share this with the people you love. (A Buddhist would have found a wiser and gentler way to tell you this, but then I’m not a Buddhist!)