Anniversary Entry

My year in J-land

It has actually been quite a strange 12 months. Northern Trip started life on 8 October 2004, as I was nearly 2 months into my private northern trip. At the end of each day’s travels, walks, what have you, I would sit down at the first available PC with Internet connection and jot down the day’s diary.

After settling down in Stornoway in February 2005, things carried on in much the same vein. By then, I had taken to writing the diary on paper following a lengthy spell of no Internet access in the local library. From April 2005, I had the use of a camera and began to include pictures on the blog. One or two people were commenting at the time. I should note that up to that point, I only had 60 minutes’ worth of Internet access each day.

From October 2005, this was limitless, thanks to the kindness of Mrs B, with whom I’ve been staying all those months. She allowed me Internet access through her broadband connection, which gave me more time to follow up other people’s journals.

It wasn’t until I started using the AOL Alert function that things began to broaden.

From that point onwards, Northern Trip was no longer a litany of daily diary entries: I notice I average 4 to 5 entries a day since May this year. I have tried to get involved with J-land and its anniversary, which we are celebrating today. With people’s trials, tribulations, joys and sadness.

The sadness of the passing of Pam on Easter Sunday this year showed me that AOL Journals was a real community. I have been having fierce arguments about the veracity of persons on the Internet. I have seen repeated examples that there are people who pretend to be several totally different people. I am aware that this can have very serious consequences.

In spite of these exceptions, I have found the bloggers in J-land a genuine lot, whose company I have grown to enjoy in a strange fashion. I admire those who put the most fantastic graphics on their journals. I admire the courage of the many who describe their illnesses, or those of loved ones, freely and graphically on-line. There are some in the community at large who say that people on-line are not real. But they are - real people, if sitting behind a keyboard and staring at a computer screen. Real people, with real emotions and real problems.

Two people, among many, deserve a special mention: Peguera1 for constructive comments and offering support; Sugarsweet056 for opening the door to the wider J-land community. But there are many, many more.

J-land: God Bless.

Guido aka Pharmolo

Tag: AOL Journals Anniversary