today bluishorange is five years old. i looked through my archives and decided that the best thing i ever wrote about my web anniversary was from 2002. this is rather interesting in light of something someone said in the comments recently:

“I’m struck by a difference in your writing style from the 2001 bra-cookie entry to now. Your writing then seems to me somehow more breezy and breathless and more full of optimism.”

i don’t think the comment was intended to be disparaging, and either way that’s not how i’m going to take it. but it’s true, isn’t it? i’m a little bit harder now than i used to be. maybe it’s because of all the things that have happened to me since i started this website:

dogs: 1
cars: 1
broken bones: 1
surgeries: 1
secret-at-the-time websites: 1
college degrees: 1
nervous breakdowns: 1
awards: 1
nominations: 2
webhosts: 2
apartments: 2 ½
cameras: 3
jobs: 3
anti-depressants: 3
therapists: 4
foreign countries: 4
sxsws: 4
long road trips: 5
breakups: 5
boyfriends: 6
hair colors: 6
flat tires: 6
20×2s: 6
email addresses: 8
designs: 11
haircuts: 15 (four of which were self-inflicted)
u.s. states: 15
hours in jail: 16
friends lost: 18
college courses: 26
hours of community service: 40
photo essays: 59
daily photos: 178
friends gained: hundreds
hours spent on this website: thousands

i’d say more, but as with any birthday or anniversary it’s best not to sour it with too much evaluation. happy fifth, bluishorange.