In which I reveal that the idea for this blog was stolen from my 14-year-old self

While shelving some books on my bookshelf this morning I (re)discovered my 9th grade current events journal from the fall of 1995, and I immediately abandoned my tidying task to peruse the little time capsule. Reading through the current events I chose to chronicle, I (re)realized that the journal is basically a paper version of this blog.* Take, for example, the following entry from 10/26/95:**

Each of the entries in this journal end with a paragraph about how the story affects me, which was clearly part of the assignment. I often interpreted this part of the assignment as "this affects me because it could happen to me and I could die."

It's like I set the stage for this blog 17 years ago! It's nice to know I still have a teenage enthusiasm for the world.

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*I had had these epiphanies for the first time last December, when I discovered for the first time that I had this journal in my apartment. I read aloud many of my favorite entries to Jessie and Evan, who were visiting me at the time, and we all agreed my 14-year-old self was pretty much a direct predecessor of my current self, but also a cheeky little bastard. That last part didn't stick with me over time. Ahem. Right?
**Sorry about the somewhat low quality of the pictures. I took them with my new cellphone (!I am finally free from my old crappy phone!) under sub-optimal lighting conditions.