THEN: I had a cat.
NOW: I have a dog. (The cat died a month after I joined. :()
THEN: I was working for a small software company that I loved.
NOW: I’m working for a large defense contractor that I like well enough I guess.
THEN: I’d never had a really serious relationship or lived with a man.
NOW: I moved out of my ex’s house a little over a year ago.
THEN: I was just about to start grad school.
NOW: I’m two years post-MA.
THEN: I was jamming with some co-workers, playing one or two corporate events but mainly having no clue what I wanted to do musically.
NOW: I’m a jazz singer, poised to start performing locally.
Etc., etc. Those are just the big things that come to mind first. How about you?
Then: College sophomore (or possibly junior… too lazy to exit this screen and check my profile)
Now: Not a college sophomore. People pay me to show up to an office now, and I have my own place. Flippin’ sweet!
Then: Still in CA
Now: In flyover country
Then: Whined a lot about dating
Now: Whine a lot about other things
Then: Thought I knew everything
Now: Know everything… took a while, but here we are!
THEN: I had recently started dating my ex-girlfriend
NOW: I have been married (not to my ex-girlfriend, but to another woman) for 4 years.
THEN: I had no expectations of becoming a parent anytime soon.
NOW: I have an eight-month-old son.
THEN: I was working for a software company in Silicon Valley
NOW: I’m working for the SAME company, under the SAME boss! – for much higher pay, and the company has been a part of two mergers since then.
THEN: I was living in a townhouse, and paying a mortgage.
NOW: I’m living in the same townhouse, but the mortgage is paid off.
Then and now: same spouse, same employer (different responsibilities, though), same house. Probably within a few pounds of the same weight, too. Same hair, a little grayer than it used to be. I’m probably about as annoying, irritating, and pedantic as I was back then, too.
Then: no kids. Now: the Firebug just turned 3.
Then: beard was dark brown with red highlights. Now: beard is mostly gray.
Then: one 16 year old cat. Now: three cats between the ages of 10 and 12.
I don’t remember exactly when I joined the AOL board… early 1997 at least, but maybe 1996? Anyway it was while Dominic was still a baby and he was born in 1995.
Then: stay at home new mom
Now: freelancer and mother of a teenager
Then: in my early 20s
Now: almost 40 (38)
Then: married to UndeadDude
Now: married to JugglerDan
Then: psychologically extremely unstable
Now: well treated with proper medication and thus more or less sane
Same house, child, spouse, friends, car, cat, and job.
I have a new cutaway tenor ukulele with shadow electronics.
My mother died last month.
That is all.