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20th Anniversary
Sep. 2nd, 2025 08:55 pmYesterday I got an automated email from LiveJournal congratulating me on the "achievement" of my LiveJournal's 20th anniversary. Turns out that TODAY is the anniversary. My first entry was September 2, 2005! So I figured I would write a commemorative post.
Yes, I still have my LiveJournal up on their site and have NOT deleted it like I said I would (probably should). While I have posted exclusively on Dreamwidth since March 2018, I did port over everything I had written on my LJ before then and consider my Dreamwidth journal a continuation of that LJ that I started...20 years ago??
I know the phrase has become cliche, but it's hard to believe it's been 20 years since I started this journal. At the same time it feels so long ago because my life was so much different back then. I was working at the public library in my hometown and was looking to apply to library school. For a long time, I used this LJ to meaningfully connect with my friends. We would write entries, sharing what was going on in our lives and we would respond to each other's posts with thoughtful comments. None of this "thumbs up" button...!
I really love having this Dreamwidth journal and continuing to write on it...even if it's very seldom. But honestly, with pretty much all my friends having long abandoned their journals, it's not the same. We have succumbed to the social media platform and trying to go against that is like trying to swim against a whitewater current. I have written about my frustrations with the Peach platform but at this point, the connections I've made on Peach are the closest thing to the connections I created in the early years of my LiveJournal.
Personally, so much has changed: I was so excited and optimistic about the career I was embarking on and now I feel so burnt out. But as I write this, I am reminded to be grateful that I made something of myself and got out of my hometown. I embarked on not just a career but a whole new life in Pittsburgh that I love. I will always treasure the many entries in that first year or two that detailed all the adventures in moving to Pittsburgh and going to grad school.
20 years later I feel so tired but outside of work, I love my life. I just need to figure out the career stuff (or just stagnate and moulder in this job...I guess either one). Either way, I want to remain motivated and optimistic.
Yes, I still have my LiveJournal up on their site and have NOT deleted it like I said I would (probably should). While I have posted exclusively on Dreamwidth since March 2018, I did port over everything I had written on my LJ before then and consider my Dreamwidth journal a continuation of that LJ that I started...20 years ago??
I know the phrase has become cliche, but it's hard to believe it's been 20 years since I started this journal. At the same time it feels so long ago because my life was so much different back then. I was working at the public library in my hometown and was looking to apply to library school. For a long time, I used this LJ to meaningfully connect with my friends. We would write entries, sharing what was going on in our lives and we would respond to each other's posts with thoughtful comments. None of this "thumbs up" button...!
I really love having this Dreamwidth journal and continuing to write on it...even if it's very seldom. But honestly, with pretty much all my friends having long abandoned their journals, it's not the same. We have succumbed to the social media platform and trying to go against that is like trying to swim against a whitewater current. I have written about my frustrations with the Peach platform but at this point, the connections I've made on Peach are the closest thing to the connections I created in the early years of my LiveJournal.
Personally, so much has changed: I was so excited and optimistic about the career I was embarking on and now I feel so burnt out. But as I write this, I am reminded to be grateful that I made something of myself and got out of my hometown. I embarked on not just a career but a whole new life in Pittsburgh that I love. I will always treasure the many entries in that first year or two that detailed all the adventures in moving to Pittsburgh and going to grad school.
20 years later I feel so tired but outside of work, I love my life. I just need to figure out the career stuff (or just stagnate and moulder in this job...I guess either one). Either way, I want to remain motivated and optimistic.
