Picos Gemeos

I've started reading my Livejournal from the start, warts and all. Every day I read a few posts, get through a few months. Sometimes I do an entire year. There were so many comments back then under most posts - I skim through them (most of them were just chattering that happened on LJ as if it were instant messaging. Emoticons before there were emoticons.) So many LJ friends who have now deleted their journals, so many people who I'd forgotten about.

I joined LJ in 2001, under commonpeople. The journal belonged at first to myself and colleagues from an ESL school I worked for in Londrina, Brazil. We used it to slag off the school and we constantly worried that the school's owners would find out. I then slowly took over the journal and became its sole owner by the end of 2002. Then, in 2014, I decided to conclude that journal and start this one.

Visiting a previous version of yourself is illuminating, funny and cringe-worthy. It's like looking through old photos and being reminded you once wore a mullet. Still, you are smiling in those yellowing photos. Old LJ posts also remind you of so much your forgot. Old work colleagues, doubts about your fledging career, fears about the impending war with Iraq, but also which Lord of the Rings character you are based on a short questionnaire you filled out online.

I was a temp back then, often had very little to do at work, and I was also recently arrived in London and had few friends. It made sense to spend my time on LJ, connecting with people. Many of them would become lifelong friends who I'd eventually meet in real life. Reading back makes me realise why I spent so much time on LJ back then, and so little time now.

I'm grateful I wrote all those posts and I'm reminded of the importance to keep writing, for the pleasure of one day reading back through it.