Pretty silly if you ask me

February 26, 2003

so, it turns out i’ve been doing this for four years. four. i remember when one year was a big deal, two was pretty impressive and three, three was like, oh my gosh, i have spent a lot of time on the internet, haven’t i scary. but four? four is just pretty darned silly.

four years is the standard length of time for a solid education and for all this work to be worth it i sure as hell better have learned something. something, but what?

well:

1. this is just a website. so is this and that, his and hers. sometimes the people behind the websites are exactly how you imagine them and sometimes they’re nothing you ever could have cooked up in your mind. that’s what makes them so beautiful.

2. what you see on these people’s websites is only what they choose to show you. so-and-so may have told you what he ate for breakfast, but afterward, he might have had five more donuts and you would never be the wiser. you may read all about a horrible day i had, but i might neglect to tell you how the following night my friends rescued me with pie and cocktails and stories that made me laugh so hard i couldn’t breathe.

3. people who make websites are crazy. (yes, mom. me, too.) it takes a certain kind of person willing to document their lives and throw them on the web for all the world to see. but it’s a good kind of crazy. the loveable kind.

4. if you write it, they will listen. if you photograph it, they will look. if you ask someone to tell you how to play heads-up 7-up, or you wonder aloud if anyone else was obsessed with Degrassi Junior High, or you ask complete strangers to leave guestbook messages for your dad because you think it will be funny, somebody somewhere will respond.

5. there’s something for everyone. the web is a big place and there’s enough room for us all. yes, even bacon!

6. it takes a lot of time, patience and vision to keep something like this going. also: an endless supply of caffeine and music.

7. this personal website business is a love/hate relationship: we love to hate it. but if you stick with it, if you pour some of yourself into a project that matters to you, if you just have let go and fun, it will be well worth the one, two, three, four years of bleary-eyed mornings, raised eyebrows from family members and self-imposed guilt for not updating often enough.

 


  • I'm Christine, and this is a slice of my life—a sweet, rich, wildly indulgent slice that would taste really good with a scoop of Breyers vanilla bean ice cream. Read more >>


  • I run a darling, friendly, little graphic design studio.
    I look on the bright side.
    I take photos. Lots of photos.
    I wish on stars and on websites.


  • I built my first web site 7 years ago and got 15 seconds of fame. (It changed my life.)
    I launched, then relaunched, an online magazine.
    I admitted to several embarrassing crushes.
    I consumed more bacon than any human should and lived to tell the tales.






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