From the file cabinet: A blog before I knew what blogs were

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Well, it wasn’t technically a blog, but it was close. Until I stumbled across a trio of misplaced floppy disks, I had completely forgotten about my Princess Letters, a weekly-ish e-mail newsletter I sent out to close to 100 people from June 1997 through October 1998. The Word document that contains all of the letters is nearly 500 pages long, and consists predominantly of brief introductions followed by numbered lists of random thoughts and shout-outs to my friends at the time, including such winning excerpts as these (edited to remove info that would identify people mentioned in the letters, but otherwise untouched):

14) A wonderfully memorable quote straight from the mouth of [redacted] the Anal Retent. “None of the smart girls are hot. Um, oh yeah, except you, Kristen.” Oh, right. Great save. Hope he didn’t think to hard to come up with that one. He might have hurt himself! What a pity.
15) I’m nobody.
16) Who are you?
17) Are you nobody, too?
18) Then there’s a pair of us. Don’t tell!
19) They’d banish us, you know.
20) Ok, who exactly is “they,” hmm? THEY always say stuff, but who are they?
21) That nobody thing, btw, was by Emily Dickenson. There’s more, but I can’t remember the rest. Oh well.

and

Hello, my little peasants! How are you all on this fine evening? I don’t know about you, but the Princess is rather chilled, sitting here by the open window. But alas, it is the servants’ night off, so her majesty must freeze or close the window herself. She wishes to freeze.

Oh, my, speaking in the third person is fun! But it’s also a challenge, and quite difficult for Her Highness to get used to the change, so she will, sadly, return to speaking in the first person.

Although I know it is late for a thought for the day, but what the heck, here it is anyway:

To have joy, one must share it. –Lord Byron

Yes, my pretties, and actual quote from some famous dead guy. But it is definitely up for debate. For example, [redacted], my dear, dear friend, argued that the quotation says that one cannot be happy by oneself, and must have others around to lead an actually happy life, but I think you’re more able to live life to its fullest, and therefore be happiest, when you have someone with whom you may share the love and joy life brings to you. Definitely something to think about, don’t you think? I think so.

“I think, therefore I am. But I ask you this: If I think not, am I not?” If anyone can tell me where that line, lines actually, came from, I’ll give them an extra big hug and be thoroughly amazed and impressed. ([redacted], you can’t play this game, cuz I said that to you a bunch of times, and we had a lot of discussions regarding that particular TV show HINT HINT EVERYONE, so you have an unfair advantage over everyone else. Sowwy.)

If anyone’s wondering, the “I think…” line was from a Saved by the Bell episode. Amazingly, I remember that but have no idea who more than half of the shout-out people are. Evidently we were all the best of friends, but seriously, who were these people?
At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed that little trip down memory lane, and I hope you did, too. I also find it amusing that my 15-year-old self reminds me a little of Miss Snark, what with the whole playing-a-character thing. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.
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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

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  • Dec 12, 2006 Link

    Sure was entertaining!

    I sometimes wish the Internet had been more prominent when I was in high school– it wasn’t until around my senior year that I even got an e-mail address, and I checked it at the library (public computers). My former classmates didn’t have e-mail addresses to exchange and keep in touch with, but we’re now finding each other on MySpace. LOL!

    It’s strange to me that only a few classes behind, kids had such access to the Internet, and I feel so estranged from teens today because we didn’t have MySpace and the like when I was their age… and I’m not that much older.

    :o)

  • Dec 14, 2006 Link

    I know what you mean. The internet was still kind of a newish thing when I was in high school, but my dad was always really into computers and stuff, so we had access to a lot of stuff that folks my age are still getting the hang of. For instance, because of my dad’s home office and all of the associated goodies, I’ve been using MS Publisher for more than 14 years! Weird to think about, huh?

  • Dec 14, 2006 Link

    Correction: The internet wasn’t new then (after all, I’m pretty young), but its integration into daily life was still nascent.

    kk