history of the girl, part one
March 16, 2003 07:57 PM

Call no man happy, unless he be dead. (Herodotus)

In thinking about an assignment for On Display some time ago, I came up with this idea.

I would write my own history. In a somewhat cliched, textbookish sense: some dates that matter(ed). For good or ill.

I can't exactly define why I feel a need to do this. But it's somehow compelling. Why do people take those thousands of quizzes to learn which Smurf they'd be? Why do bloggers sit down and write lists of fifty, a hundred things about themselves?

Everyone has a reason.

Those of you who have known me will, not surprisingly, come up during the telling of this history. I will remember things badly, or too well. Don't worry. Knowing me, the telling will be highly abstracted, rendering your role in things entirely unrecognizable. Should you recognize yourselves looking foolish or otherwise coming off poorly, just know I'm glad you were there, and mean no offense. Only to record what I recall.

From a purely mechanical perspective, historical entries will be back-dated to some time vaguely approximating the date of occurence. Some of my already written entries that deal entirely in memory (they're more rare than I thought) will be woven into my history. And of course, regular (inasmuch as a such a thing exists here at the edge) journalling will persist. [Though taking time off from blogging to write my memoirs sounds temptingly pretentious, my self-involvement only goes so far.]