Digital Timecapsules
I recently rediscovered my first attempt at a homepage. It was something I made several years ago, 1999 maybe, when I was home sick... something to pass the time between coughing and sleeping.
I rediscovered it the way families rediscover photos in dusty boxes in attics - an attempt to clean something turned into a humorous romp through the past turned into some quiet reflection turned into a cherished possession. It was a series of pictures and thoughts that took me back to a time, and a person, who seemed so very alien to me.
Within two years of writing that homepage I had left my parent's house, lost my father, did some serious personal reflection-transformation, changed jobs twice, dropped about 80lbs, changed cars, bought a townhome, discovered and developed my work ethic, and met the girl I would marry.
It was hard to make a personal connection with the person on that homepage. That person is, now, closer to a nephew, or an acquaintence, than my former self. Tom Wolfe was right, you can never go home again.
Part of me wants to write to that person on that homepage and warn them "sharp learning curve ahead, bucko! You are about to merge onto life's highway whether you want to or not, so hit the gas a little." But youth *is* wasted on the young, and I was very young for a very long time. Of course a 24 year old Ed looks young to a 30 year old Ed. Just as I will be young when a 36 year old Ed looks back on this blog. I just hope, when he does, he says something closer to "good job, old bean".
At least one sentiment on that dusty homepage still rings a true chord with me, albeit at the time I could only express it through someone else's words:
From my creative interests page:
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering... These are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life, but poetry, beauty, romance, love,...these are what we stay alive for!
To quote from Whitman 'Oh me, Oh life, Oh the questions of these recurring of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, oh me, oh life? Answer...
That you are here. That life exists. And identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse!"
--Mr. Keating, Dead Poet's Society
I imagine much of what you need to know about life is embedded there, if only in its most generalized form.
-Ed
I rediscovered it the way families rediscover photos in dusty boxes in attics - an attempt to clean something turned into a humorous romp through the past turned into some quiet reflection turned into a cherished possession. It was a series of pictures and thoughts that took me back to a time, and a person, who seemed so very alien to me.
Within two years of writing that homepage I had left my parent's house, lost my father, did some serious personal reflection-transformation, changed jobs twice, dropped about 80lbs, changed cars, bought a townhome, discovered and developed my work ethic, and met the girl I would marry.
It was hard to make a personal connection with the person on that homepage. That person is, now, closer to a nephew, or an acquaintence, than my former self. Tom Wolfe was right, you can never go home again.
Part of me wants to write to that person on that homepage and warn them "sharp learning curve ahead, bucko! You are about to merge onto life's highway whether you want to or not, so hit the gas a little." But youth *is* wasted on the young, and I was very young for a very long time. Of course a 24 year old Ed looks young to a 30 year old Ed. Just as I will be young when a 36 year old Ed looks back on this blog. I just hope, when he does, he says something closer to "good job, old bean".
At least one sentiment on that dusty homepage still rings a true chord with me, albeit at the time I could only express it through someone else's words:
From my creative interests page:
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering... These are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life, but poetry, beauty, romance, love,...these are what we stay alive for!
To quote from Whitman 'Oh me, Oh life, Oh the questions of these recurring of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, oh me, oh life? Answer...
That you are here. That life exists. And identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse!"
--Mr. Keating, Dead Poet's Society
I imagine much of what you need to know about life is embedded there, if only in its most generalized form.
-Ed
posted by Ed at 11:12 AM
1 Comments:
I used to occasionally log in to the old Loyola VAX and "finger" old friends to read their .plans, which was much the same experience, since most didn't change after graduation. Perhaps that's for the best.
In other news, your old site had me laughing, if nothing else, because I followed a link to comsat.com. :)
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