Five years

Five years ago today, I started this blog.

You'll note the URL is JoannaL.blogspot.com... at the time, I only had been dating my now-husband for a few months, and I guess the URL choice wasn't very forward-thinking. My last name no longer starts with L. I've left the web address mostly to not break links here, and because I think joannal kind of looks like journal, which is what this is... so it has stayed.

Besides my name, what else has changed in five years? Well, five years ago, I was a sophomore in college, living in a dorm, and spending most of my time in computer classes or programming for a project. I couldn't cook, I had only been doing my own laundry for a year and a half, hadn't even dreamed of knitting. I worked hard to be proved competent among the guys in the computer science department, and most interests much outside of "computers" made me lose credibility. I was coming off probably the biggest spiritual struggle I've had to date. Most my posts are about computers, faith, or just what-I'm-doing.

Now, my five-years-older self spends her free time cooking and gardening and taking care of her house, trying to prove myself as a competent homemaker who works. If there's free time beyond that, I'll read or knit or play board games. My posts reflect my interests- I work on computers for my day job but have a policy of not talking about work here, so technology isn't mentioned as much. Faith, current events, and my day-to-day all still matter to me.

But who woulda thought? That I'd keep writing? Heck, engineers aren't supposed to be able to put coherent sentences together, nevertheless enjoy it! But I do. I love writing. These last five years on the blog have allowed me a somewhat-creative outlet to get my ponderings out of my head. Where you have interacted with those thoughts, I really appreciate it. As I said in my very first post, five years ago today:

I imagine, if I keep posting, it will be my musings about life, the universe and everything. I like musing. I also like feedback. I may be way off in left field with my ideas. Let me know. Play devil's advocate with me. I love lively discussions. I dare you.

(* I'm obviously not Kevin. Kevin's my 6 year old nephew- this is his birthday cake from a year & a half ago.)