11111001111

This is my personal blog, at the URL http://www.blacksunn.net/11111001111/. '11111001111' is binary for '1999', the year I started blogging, which places me on the early end of blogging, but not a fore-runner. My blog actually pre-dates the Receipt Site by a few months. The blog was originally published using a Perl CGI online journal program, which I re-purposed and altered to create the first version of the Receipt Site's software. When I wrote a dynamic CGI program to better organize and load the blog's content, those original flat-file text files created by the journalling software were left behind -- which is why there are no posts going back to 1999 on the existing blog. I've been tempted to remedy this by moving the content over to the new format, but it hasn't seemed that necessary. Those original posts were more like essays than blog posts, and the more interesting of them have been moved to the Essays category on the Infomercantile.

First Post

Because of the incongruity of the various software used to compile the site, the first post no longer appears on the website. The original data is there, it just isn't referenced in the current structure. The first post was made on 9/30/1999, and read thus:

Here is my first entry. Who knows how often it will be updated, but I'll try to do it often.

We shall see.....

Second Post

Full of twenty-something, post-divorce angst, came the second post on the next day, 10/1/1999:

Well, I think I've picked a proper word processor now to create the files with. The word wrap doesn't work right, but it breaks each line at the right point, but it doesn't rewrap if you go back and edit. Well, I guess that it means that I better write the correct things the first time.

I decided to create this journal as a reason for me to start writing again. I used to be pretty good, nothing great, but not horrible. I've fallen out of practice, other than official documents at work (which are no fun). I think it's partly due to me no longer looking at the world around me in a creative way. I've always been more practical than original, but it's no reason for me to give up on creativity all together.

I picked this word processor because it's DOS, it's text mode only, it's freeware, so it should be an ideal candidate for using on my LTE/286 laptops. Typing on a laptop may not be as comfortable as typing at a desk, but it can be more convenient. The more I force myself to sit down and write something, the more often this will be updated and the more often I get to release some words into textual format.

Don't get me wrong -- don't expect these entries to be all artsy and full of crap like some with "the tears streamed down my face as I tried to hold back the salty torrents..." and all that. Yes, you may gather from my personal pages, that I've had some personal problems lately, a painful custody battle and ongoing financial issues, but I'm trying to get myself beyond that. It takes all my effort to continue with life, and I don't think that taking the time to type those feelings in an eloquent manner will solve anything. By taking the time to write about other things, observe the rest of my life, I can put things in perspective. Turning back into your emotions and holding them up for all to see only distorts them and ruins your own perception of them. There are a lot of people that would argue against me, but that's how I feel right now, and that's what I'm doing. So there.

Oh, and don't complain about my spelling. It's hard to type on laptops, and my brain works much faster than my fingers. "by" may come out as "by" and so on. If you don't understand, then let me know, but if you can get what I'm trying to say, then don't complain.

You find me bitter, huh? Well, fine...I'm not always pissy, and I don't think I'm particularly pissy tonight. Anyways, onward we go......

Further Posts

Most were uninteresting and opinion-laden, so I won't say much about them, but the better ones ended up in the Essays category.