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7 years ago today I started this blog.

Considering I'd never kept a written journal for longer than 2 weeks, that's quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself.

I still need to get my remaining archives posted here...the external hard drive where they're saved (the ones I managed to retain after the Diary-X crash) has gone bad, and I need to get a new drive and get the data off the old one if I can. I hope so...there may be a book in all this material. perhaps not a good one, but...

Here's where I was when this started, and where I am today:

OUR STORY THUS FAR

My name is William...Bill for short.

Now, of course, I go by Will. Except by those who have known me longer than 10 years and can't change. Or by those also named Wililam who want to avoid confusion.

I'm 34, a grad student pursuing my PhD.

Now I'm 41, have finished my PhD, and taught at a university in the meantime.

Washington, DC is home for me.

Washington is still home for me, though since starting this I've also lived in Alabama and Colorado, then returned here last year.

I'm dating a wonderful guy named River (who, sadly, is in Dallas for a month)

Well, River made it back from Dallas. But three months after starting this, we broke up. We remain very good friends, though, and he works less than a mile from me now, so we meet up for lunch pretty often. He's still very cute and very sweet. Soon after that breakup - 10 days, actually - was when Adrian and I met.

I love to travel.

No change there. Except now I've gone beyond Europe, which was my main destination at the time, and have had 3 trips to Southeast Asia and a few to Canada, as well as one trip to Russia. I've also been to a couple wars. Those were not so fun.

I'm an eclectic Wiccan, practicing as a Solitare rather than part of a coven.

Though I still believe in the philosophies of Wicca, I haven't been actively practicing for years. For me, it was always more of a philosophy than a religion, and it remains a factor that shapes my actions and my life. I think, at the time, I was looking for some more structure in my life, and Wicca provided it. Also, I look good in black.

As I re-read the first month's entries today I'm struck by how many of the people I mentioned still play a key role in my life. The bloggers I mention in there I have now mostly met, and one of them has become a very dear friend (hi, Scooter!). The friends in Dc are, for the most part, still here, and they are all still friends.

In the intervening years I have made a number of new friends all over the world...at the time, I had a philosophy that I wouldn't bother getting to know people online if I didn't think I would meet them someday. That philosophy has been good because it kept me from going overboard with online-only friendships, it encouraged me to get to know really good people, and it led me to make the effort to meet these people, which has thoroughly enriched my life, something as true during the last month as it was all those years ago. Most of those folks linked over on the left are people I've gotten to know since starting this...my life is so much better for knowing them.

Back then I seemed to be a much happier, much more relaxed writer. Certainly a bit funnier. I think part of it is, I had more to write about. The nature of my job now doesn't lend itself to much detail in a blog like this, and I also fear that I'm doing the very thing I tried hard not to do: falling into a boring, predictable pattern in life rather than experiencing lots of new things. Of course, I say that, then think about the trip I just took, and realize that can't really be the case.

Naturally, I had more time to write in school...I'd be working mostly at home so it was no problem to jump onto my blog site and write an entry. Now, I get home from work after sitting in front of a compuer all day and it's hard to take the time away from other things to write.

And of course, I am not the same person I was then. There have been some improvements, I've learned to relax a little bit, but on the whole, I'm not as happy with the person I am today. The changes that have occurred in me come from a variety of sources, some in my control and some not so much, but regardless of the reason, I don't like myself as much now as I did back then. Thinking about today's anniversary has given me a chance to reflect on why that is and consider what I might do about it.

One of my reasons for starting this journal of my life was I thought it would be cool to go back and look at old entries every now and then. I was right; it is. I can see what I was thinking all those years ago and trace the fun currents in my life ever since. I can see how I thought things would go and know how they really did. I can reflect on decisions and look at their results, unpredictable at the time but all too well-known now. I like that guy from 7 years ago. I think you would have liked him, too.

So...

Happy Anniversary to Me
Happy Anniversary to Me
Happy Anniversary to Wiliam/Bill/BillinDC/Will/BluDragon/'Tater Tom/Wei Lian/Doctor Goodenbed
Happy Anniversary to Me

I hope you'll stick around for another 7 years. I know I plan to. Thanks for reading.

Labels: Blogging, Friends, Life, Relationships, Wandering Mind, Website