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4:54pm 01-04-2023
Jeff
Hi! I just came across your site today. I really like it. I think I should make a neocities too.
Replied on: 8:25pm 01-08-2023

Hey Jeff! Glad you liked my website. I do implore you to make a Neocities page if you love having pure creative-control over your own place on the internet. Feel free to follow me once you make yours! ;-)

9:54am 12-02-2022
Jorge
I agree with what you said about people opting out of social media just to basically "live" in Neocities / Indieweb / etc. But it's like replacing smoking with drinking. I'm old. I was on the old internet. Had my website in Geocities (with a G!) in junior high (1997!) and pirated games from Usenet forums. I downloaded KoRn mp3 on Napster and spent my nights on IRC. And I tried to replicate that feeling using Neocities and playing old games... but it turns out it was the fact that I was a teenager that made all of that magical. I also ended up working in a radio station back then and took on photography. That's why I decided to write to you, it was very funny to read that on your blog. It was photography what "saved" me because it showed me the way to graphic design and illustration, which eventually became my profession. What I wanted to say is: good luck. Keep going against the grain and creating stuff. Just don't fix on how you felt before and don't try to change how you feel now. If you feel shitty, feel shitty. Read a book, go on a date, sit down alone for a while. Whatever. The day will be over before you know it. You'll be fine. Just keep talking to people IRL. Don't isolate yourself and you'll survive. Anyway, thank you for your writing. It made me think. Have a good life.
Replied on: 1:31am 12-03-2022

Hey Jorge!

I do very much agree with how you put what I said about Neocities. How using it can be like replacing smoking with drinking, especially with those given mindsets, and seeking out a greater good in this world. Getting it from your perspective, someone who pretty much lived through the Internet's "wild-west" days, those types of eras are purely based on circumstances, just like how I believe that a lot of music was purely based on the circumstances of when it was released. We cannot really replicate an old internet world like the time you experienced, and it does suck! We're all lamenting about an era we want to relive or be able to live from days bygone. That's how I see a lot of media produced that tries to replicate older music genres from the days they peaked.

I try to set these feelings of lament aside and just appreciate what I have in the present moment, because it's this lament I feel that's what's giving me a lot of depression.

I do feel like I dwell on the topics said in "What Exactly Do I Want?". In the middle of writing it, I thought to myself, "Man, maybe I'm sounding really crazy about this." So I ended it off with a personal reflection, "Maybe I just need to stop caring about what I don't like about the world and live." It's those feelings that I, in regards to some of my disdain, which make me feel a bit isolated, like you said. I think letting my thoughts out on that page kind of hit me... but I do not regret writing it.

On the topic of interests you mentioned... I'm actually so surprised on how much it seems I share in common with you. I have an incessant love for art, so I focused on photography and became enraptured with the medium, both artistically and technically. My technical love for photography came when I was really young, and my artistic love came much later. Music was a passion for me, so I joined a college radio station. Getting involved directly with music, meeting bands in the local scene, and just meeting people on the basis of music is what I've been pining for my whole life. On the topic of Napster... I actually do use Soulseek to get my music! I'm a DJ that doesn't use streaming services pretty much at all so I'm always seeking out music that I can burn to a CD to play on my shows. Soulseek's a great place to find otherwise unheard-of music and it's been (totally legally) fun. I love the feeling going against-the-grain in terms of what I create and how I portray myself.

I know this is long, and I do apologize... but thank you so much for your kind words. I'm very glad you enjoyed reading my blog stuff. Take care my friend!