Four Years Ago Today...

"Ok, a Blog for my musings. I have been thinking about doing this for a while, but wasn't sure how I felt about exposing my thoughts to the public forum. Oh well, I figure that probably not that many people will read it anyway!"

And with the above words, this blog was launched, exactly four years ago, in a small corner of a boring office in Baltimore.

I'm still not sure how I feel about exposing my thoughts in a public forum, a forum which has become more and more public throughout the years. What started as a semi-anonymous secret that I told no one about has become a big part of my life and the way in which I have met many people, lots of whom I would consider friends and many who really have been embedded in the fabric of my life (how's that for a nice metaphor?).

Ok, so here goes the compulsory "things that have changed" list:

In the past four years:

I've gone back and finished my Bachelor's degree.
I've moved to the NY area.
I've finished 2/3 of my master's degree.
I've learned how to navigate the subways in NY (most of the time).
I've looked at people standing on 34th Street and scoffed, "Tourist."
I've built a long blogroll of fellow bloggers whose writing and thoughts I enjoy.
I've inspired a couple people to start blogging (at least, they let me take credit).
I've developed a strong affection for purple and glitter.
I've learned a drop about HTML and how to make my blog look kinda cool.
I like to think that my writing has improved, and I've learned a bit about myself through introspecting my way through posts.

I keep telling myself I'm going to quit this blog. Walk away and never look back. It could happen any day, but I think I'm gonna try for a nice, round five years. Hopefully, I have enough more thoughts in me to last one year. And I am quite sure that my internship this coming year will provide some interesting anecdotes, stories and learning experiences to share.

Ok, I'm trying to come up with something profound but it's not really happening. Basically, I just want to say that four years of blogging has given me more than I ever expected it to - it's taught me about myself, about people, about stalkers (I'm not the only one out there!), about writing, about being open (and when not to be), about building a community based on thoughts. And that's way more than I ever expected. Here's to four years!