Sorting through the archives

As a result of the closet cleaning and sorting, I've discovered a lot of pictures from my first couple of years here in Seattle. I've found pictures of dochyel, early shots of time spent with the_monkey_king, selinker, brumbjorn, kijjohnson, e_bourne, markbourne and even pictures of my lost, beloved cat, Flatbush. Wonderful stuff.

Back in New York, I kept meticulous photo album/scrapbooks. When I moved to Seattle all that scrapbooking stopped. I was too busy, too focused on other things. I'm using some of this time off to start scrapbooking again, putting these pictures in order, getting things together, making it so the photos can be shared. I'll most certainly scan some of them to share online.

I've always been an archivist; my mom was and I very deliberately followed in her footsteps. That's why--as neutronjockey knows--I have photo albums of hers from as far back as World War II and beyond. My own go back to junior high school, though I have the baby album my mom put together of my earliest days, too. Going through these pictures from 15 years ago brings back stuff I'd forgotten, old loves, parties, images of friends who--back then--had more hair, less stress and lots of optimism. I was slimmer. Good times.

Yeah, if I get ambitious enough, I'll scan some of these things. They're worth sharing.

Personal history on the hoof

Through the good offices of e_bourne, this week I received e-mail from a friend I haven't seen or spoken with in years. The timing seems in keeping with the personal excavation I've been doing (five bags of paperback books are going to some used bookstore this week). Hearing from this person, looking at all these old pictures: It's all pretty potent stuff. It's not as if I'm not introspective by any means, but this all adds a new (or maybe an old) layer. More grist for the mill.

So far? It's been a pretty interesting life.