On this day in 2003, I first stuck my toe in the murky waters of livejournal. In the intervening years it has become the major engine of my social life, bringing me friends, role models, lovers, teachers and co-conspirators of every stripe.

It’s been the major repository for my writing and in the past year has been the forum for me to reconnect with my photography. It’s provided me with a consistent discipline for reflecting on my life and been an often breathtaking view onto the lives of others. At times it has felt like pernicious addiction. At others like a welcoming meeting house.

I never thought I’d get so much out of broadcasting my navel-gazing. Or that I would know so much about which Thundercat so many people were.

Bless the pointy little programmers that made it! And bless each one of you who continue to make it interesting!