I don’t remember exactly when, but it was around this time 20 years ago (Summer 2000) when I launched my very first blog, Fredo Today (or fredo today or fredoToday or whatever random stylization tickled my fancy at the moment). Through a couple of web hosts, a variety of blogging platforms, and a few domain changes (grapefeed.org anyone?), the blog evolved but ultimately fizzled out within 10 years.
The content I generated has just about disappeared from my clutches since then. Now it probably only exists as a series of zeroes and ones somewhere in “the cloud.” It’s probably just as well; I’m sure revisiting the musings of 22-year-old me would be a cringeworthy endeavor at best.
Still, blogging was a lot of fun. I met really cool people, some of them in person. I learned skills that helped me establish a career. Most importantly, it was a way to express myself through writing, even if it landed me in hot water sometimes.
For better or worse, social media has usurped the personal blog’s role. In a perfect world, I’d easily be able to detach myself from these sites that effectively compartmentalize my life, and ultimately rein the fragments into one central location. It’s not a perfect world though, is it? These platforms are ubiquitous and they make it easy for everyone to interact with each other from the comfort of their own hovels. But I digress.
In the years since my blog’s fizzle, I attempted reviving it multiple times, but something always gets in the way. Or I get forgetful. Or distracted. Or whatever. That being the case, I will not definitively say that this is my blog’s rebirth.
What I will say is that this is merely a blip in time when I decided to recognize a fond memory. If that’s all it ever amounts to, then you know what? We good!