16 January 2011

Happy birthday WIBN, or, why I don't publish my blog archives

I started this blog nine years ago today. Nine years! I was only... okay, how old was I? Sixteen. I had to count on my fingers for that one. To give you a little context, this is me in January 2002:


Things haven't changed much.

Anyway, I always remember the date because it's also Andrea Edmonds' birthday. (Happy birthday, Drea!) I'm not exactly sure what the motivation was to start a blog, but Blogger was a relatively new application and my friend Nicole had just started a blog, so I thought, "Why not?" My sister Eliza was away at BYU and I missed her, and blogging was a fun way of communicating with her and Nicole in the days before free long distance calls on cell phones. And then my family and friends started joining and comment boxes became standard (seriously, Blogger didn't use to have a comment option... what is the point of not having a comment box?) and it's just a lot more fun now. (Although for the first time in nine years I ran out of free photo storage on Friday. I guess it's been a while.)

This blog has mostly been an outlet for my frustrations, a place to laugh at myself, to cry about boys (I actually had to go to my archives a while ago and remove some last names of boys I used to like when the internet became more searchable), to keep in touch with my family, to make new friends, and just to indulge some of my narcissistic tendencies. It hasn't really changed much since I was sixteen, except for my obsession with "Which John Mayer song are you?" quizzes and my overuse of the phrases "lol" and "flippin' cool." Embarrassing. There are some really great gems in there though, like an account of when my dad built a handcart and decided our family should go camping in January, or any time I live-blogged an episode of "Days of our Lives."

Here's part of what I wrote in my first post, to give you a taste of teen Hannah:

"Guys, GET READY. The movie of the century comes out next Friday. Yes folks, "A Walk to Remember". I'm so excited. And I mean come on... it's PG. I'm so thrilled."

It can never be said of me that I didn't care about the issues. You know what I'm saying?

16 comments:

  1. this post is mint. happy birthday, bloggy!

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  2. Hey thanks Hannah! And happy bday to your blog! It remains one of my favez. Keep up the good work!

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  3. If it makes you feel any better I bought A Walk to Remember on VHS the day it came out.

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  4. please please start a hannah from the vault series. or at least can i read your live blogging of DOUL someday?

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  5. This REALLY makes me what to read your archives now. :)

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  6. I am so glad you started this so I could stalk you. Oh, I mean read your entries.

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  7. Where was this photo taken?

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  8. Congrats! I am so jealous that you still have your OG blog in all its glory. Love those memories!

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  9. Thanks for the best morning laugh!

    You should make your archives into a book. It will be highly entertaining to your future children.

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  10. 9 years, 9 comments--or, make that 10 now. Happy birthday to your blog! I'm glad it's hung in there for so long; in fact, I think it's gotten even better (judging from the quotes posted about early blog entries)!

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  11. i am laughing so hard. lol, if you will. that walk to remember comment is killing me! bu really, let's be serious, i still love that movie.

    way to be ahead of the times. i think i need to take a little trip back to your archives now.

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  12. So I lay my head back down...and I lift my hands and praaay...

    I still remember a line I read in a review of that movie (Kenneth Turan probably): "Rarely has leukemia looked so shimmering and benign. Teenage girls will float up the aisle saying 'That's the cancer for me!'"

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  13. i've loved haner since before 2002!
    im really grateful for WIBN. it has so much goodness to offer.
    also lots of juicy details on the life of haner and her sidekick melanie?! i just love that i am mentioned in the archives!

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  14. Literally laughing out loud. Walk to Remember... hehehe :) Happy 9 Blogging years!

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  15. love me some colonial cola

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  16. oops i meant to post that last one on a previous post wow 9 years ago i didn't even know the word blog existed...you were so in the know

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