Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. — Soren Kierkegaard
The older one gets the concept of change becomes less daunting and more understandable. In the last few months change has started coming over me like a slow running stream, affecting various parts of my being, my thoughts and my world. These changes take various forms, and among them is this blog. My online persona and virtual world.
Diago.co.za is now happily living on Google’s Blogger platform. The maintenance and costs of a virtual server for hosting the sites has not been viable for a while. In all honesty, I can come up with various reasons why hosting the site on a virtual server made sense, except none of them are valid. The money can be spent in much better ways, and since online blogging platforms provide all the required features, for free, the move should have happened a while ago. The process also provided an opportunity to clean up some out-dated entries. It is interesting when deciding what to keep and what to remove can also make one realise how much they have changed, even over a short period of time. It is however, not the first time the blog has been cleaned up, and looking back, Diago.co.za has a long history.
According to the WayBack machine the first recorded appearance of Diago.co.za was Oct 18, 2000. The name however had been around for longer. The first few versions of the site was never in the form of a blog, but rather a learning platform to understand technologies like HTML, ASP and even JavaScript. For a period of a least 3 years the site was fairly dormant, with no real purpose, and definitely no content. The biggest change was Diago’s Domain becoming Diago.co.za as the name of the site.
The first appearance of a blog entry was in 2004. Under the name Diago’s Diary a new entry appeared every day. Encouraged by an old roommate and friend, Jonathan Scott, to write to deal with my divorce, the power in the visibility of the entries became clear very quickly. For the next 2 years, friendships ended and relationships where destroyed because the realisation that entries could invoke reactions from the people reading them became and addictive, and very dangerous drug. After a period of time every interaction with others became a reason for an entry, and in doing so, push them away. Age at the time made it difficult to see the important lesson being taught, one that only truly became valuable in the last few months.
The opportunity arose to move to Kwazulu-Natal, and for a year the blog was dormant. In 2007, heavily involved in the local development community, the blog’s focus changed again, becoming more technical in nature. During this time a lot of posts where made regarding community activities and technology, and over time it became the only entries regularly featured. Over time, as I settled in a new job and with life, communities became less important. Lately spending less time online, and in front of a computer, posting technology based entries seem less important, since the internet is flooded with competing information.
Today is the start of another change. Where in the past my blog had different meanings and purposes, its new goal is to be the collection of my thoughts and feelings. It is my place to reflect on my life, without the intention of invoking reactions, or hurting feeling. My blog should be therapeutic, written to understand and reflect on who I am, and what I am feeling or thinking. It is a reflection of me and my life.
And to you my dear reader, your just along for the ride.
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