That ten years in review meme; now is as good a time as any

[afuna]

(I may have some exact years wrong. Not very good with those)


1999
I graduated from elementary and entered first year high school. This involved a uniform change: from short-sleeved with visible buttons to long-sleeved with pleats and a tiny tie.

2000
First year high school. My ditsi (second sister), ahia (older brother) and shoti (little brother) graduate from college, high school, and elementary, respectively.

In the summer before second year, I went to Canada on a study tour along with my ahia and my shoti. Vancouver was gorgeous and clean. I got to see the Vancouver public library from the outside but never managed to get in...

Played in snow for the first! (Only?) time when we went to Whistler. Stayed in an outdoors camp, too. I've forgotten the name, but I would go to those woods again if I only knew what they were.

2001
Second year high school.

We got cable and broadband, which led to my hanging out online more. I got into my first fandom, Slam Dunk, via the Slam Dunk Babble Club (SDBC). Learned about IRC and hung out in #yaoi (which rarely talked about yaoi), my first IRC home.

Met juin (<333). Almost everyone else from those days, I've lost touch with: Sol, Lalee, chibi angel. I still see pastles, hanase, jaayx, and silencestation around, and occasionally rukiyo and kendappa_ou.

Got involved in lots of fandom-related drama. I was such a *young* teenager *g* Most of those days are gone now: archives are no longer available since the service provider TOSed the forums for copyright violation.

I also met three of my best friends (we formed a group of four). These are the ones I can let know about everything. We no longer are as much in touch as we used to, but I can still turn to them when I'm in trouble.

2002
Third year high school. Still in SDBC. rukiyo gave me an invite to LJ so I could move over from Blogspot/Xanga/someothersiteIwason. I remember that I wanted on LJ for two reasons: lj-cuts, and that cat mood theme.

The rest came later.


2003
Senior year of highschool. I was trying to juggle my academics and three? four? different organizations plus pressure to get into a good college. I was all over the place and I burned out bad: went from being one of the top students to middling or just barely passing in many subjects.

I made one good decision, I chose CS as one of my preferred courses. (My actually landing in that course was chance. My other choices were in scattered fields, including sociology and anthropology, and business administration).

Went to Taiwan in the summer before uni, at the height of the bird flu scare.

2004
First year of university. Adjustment to the greater degree of freedom was very rough. I wish I could have done so more gracefully, but I guess I turned out all right in the end :) Joined a couple of organizations, but I was never very active in them, because I conscious of the risk of burning out.

Got sucked into Ragnarok Online. For at least one semester, I calculated my class schedule so I would have better RO-playing time. Grades still managed to be mostly okay, somehow.

2005 (I THINK)
I met murklins <333333. I learned HTML and CSS and S2 all because of s2flexisquares.

I got my first laptop \o/ (Was this second year or third year? I remember the class with Sir Wayu was when I got the laptop, but I don't remember which year this was). I decided to learn Dvorak to go along with my new laptop and OS.

I stopped playing RO after I got my laptop, because it didn't run on a Mac. I was actually relieved because I couldn't have stopped myself otherwise. Briefly tried out WOW but I was too much of a cheapie to pay.

Started mandatory Theology and Philosophy classes; mostly notable because of how frustrated I was, and how much I wished we only had one or two, instead of four each.

2006
Gradually got burnt out on S2flexisquares because of IE issues. Got into Support, gained a family. Started picking up how to read Perl.

Got introduced to another online game by blockmates, but it didn't pull me in completely.

2007
Graduated from uni. Had an almost boyfriend from uni. It didn't work out, mostly because of me. Had a boyfriend, who I met via Support. Went to China to study, meant to be for four and a half months but I cut it short and came back after one. Ten year anniversary of my Atsi's (oldest sister's) death. Shoti got into an accident. Shoti died.

Got my first job.

2008

Lots of grieving, didn't have much emotional energy to deal. Broke up with my old boyfriend. Drifted in love (and into a relationship with) with my current boyfriend.

I wandered away from LJ and Support. I poured myself into work and building Dreamwidth.

2009

Dreamwidth! :) Dreamwidth has been fantastic to me. I feel safe and secure and I love being part of here and I love being part of building here.

Celebrated my one year anniversary. Took up knitting. Learned jQuery. Started delighting in figuring out clothes other than a shirt, jeans, and sneakers (which I still love). Gradually came out of what felt like a chronic exhausted / worried state and back into my natural state of curiosity. I'm needing to be more careful to maintain balance, but I'm getting there. Stupid robber stole stupid stuff from my room. Stupid. Made myself spend money when I really, really want something (as opposed to not spending money for something I need, even when I could afford it. Old habits).

In love, alive. Eyeing this next year with curiosity.