Has it *really* been that long?

Looking at the calendar this morning I was amazed… Truly amazed.

I’ve been blogging (or, sharing my life in a digital capacity — It wasn’t called blogging then) for EIGHT YEARS, as of today. September 30, 1997 was an interesting day. I remember thinking that evening that it would be really great to be able to let my friends in on some of the adventures and decisions I was making…

As the years went on, and I became more proficient with the web world, “onlinechick.com” became my place to share my words and my webcam. I garnered a great deal of support during the difficult times, and also shared many laughs with new friends. Before my “onlinechick.com” presence became “netchick.net”, it was a place to keep my friends and family posted about my many adventures in LA. Here’s one of those posts:

Tuesday, March 6, 2001 2:35am

Loud music is blaring… as I take in my surroundings, which are now so comfortable and recognizable to me — I still feel like I am, at any moment, risking an alien abduction. I am sitting in my favourite obscure, off-beat, coffee place. It’s more than a coffee house, it’s a mecca for those, like myself, who cannot sleep and have an urge to surround themselves in the bizarre and the unexplained. The name of the joint is Nova Express, and the atmosphere is unique to say the least. As you enter, you quickly realize this is no ordinary after hours place, but a strange, surreal place with loud, electronique music droning, lava lamps lighting the scene, and off-beat articles exclaiming such amazing claims as a woman of 98 that just had her third two-headed baby, hanging about the walls.

I have spent the evening by myself. Or, at least, I tried to spend an evening by myself. I drove out to Santa Monica for dinner, and then walked along the Third Street Prominade. All the stores were, unfortunately, closed, but that didn’t stop me from window shopping. After this short walk in the rain, I decided to hop back in the car, and drive back to West Hollywood the long way: along Santa Monica Boulevard. I figured this would allow me to listen to “Love Line” which is a really entertaining radio show that deals with all sorts of relationship and life issues. I find the show amusing most of the time, and tonight was no exception. As I entered West Hollywood, I passed by one of the bars that I enjoy, and decided to stop for a glass of wine instead of just heading home. The Normandy Room, although pricey for a glass of wine, offers a relaxed, cozy place to work with my laptop, where the music isn’t usually too loud, and the place usually provides some interesting soap operas as a side benefit. It’s halarious, because I have noticed this bar is basically a lesbian hang-out, and if you watch out of the corner of your eye, there’s all sorts of crazy scenarios to take in.

Tonight however, my quiet time with my laptop wasn’t meant to be. As I was sitting there typing some emails that I have neglected to write, I was approached not once, but twice by men wishing to spend some time with what looked like a single chick in a bar. I actually found one of them somewhat interesting. His name was Gregory, and he was a road manager for several bands. He asked a few times if I’d hang with him this week while he was in town, but I made it very clear that I wasn’t single… I don’t think he believed me. I guess I did bring it on myself, as it was late, and I was sitting in an intimate bar by myself. Luckily, he got the picture, and we were able to talk of other more interesting things than the fact that I wasn’t wanting to embark on a casual relationship with him. =) Actually, I know he got the wrong idea at one point, when we were talking about training on a specific application on the PC, and I described my rates… I know he thought I was soliciting something besides a training scenario for Act!. Again, I was able to clear this up in a hurry when I exclaimed that although my rates are high, it is only because I am very proficient in PC WORK.

The other guy who approached me was not as social… he was displeased with my negative answer to his pathetic pick-up line. Geez, all I wanted to do was drink a glass of wine in peace, and catch up on some work. Perhaps next time, I’ll choose my venue more carefully.

I am not sure what Keane was up to tonight. I know he had some banking to do, and wanted to go and read a book somewhere. I hope that he got some quality personal time in, and took some time to recover from a stressful, unhealthy time from the previous week we’ve finally completed. He’s been unwell, and I believe that has a lot to do with our overworking ourselves with freekinmedia stuff. This, I hope, is now changing, and this week will see a more equalized and balanced schedule.

I am going to head home now. The music in here is finally starting to give me a headache. That’s usually a good indication it’s time for bed.

Reading that post brings back a lot of memories. I am really glad I’ve detailed my recent years in a blog/journal format online, that I can look back on! I’ve lost some of my archives, but most are still available online somewhere.


Here’s to another 8 years of sharing my adventures, or mis-adventures as they may be!