2/53
I posted this yesterday celebrating my 600th spout (missed 500 lol) and promptly nuked it after a few technical difficulties (and a crippling sense of self-indulgence). But, new year, new me, new post. Going to try this again and not lose spouts along the way.
03:51 PM - Jan 01, 2024
4/53
So, this was all inspired by a recent conversation with a friend I met on ICQ(!) back in the 90s.
Listen, I'm not promising it's worth your time. It's long AF, still very self-indulgent, and likely not interesting to most. It's been a fun trip down memory lane for me, though! So here we go.
Listen, I'm not promising it's worth your time. It's long AF, still very self-indulgent, and likely not interesting to most. It's been a fun trip down memory lane for me, though! So here we go.
03:52 PM - Jan 01, 2024
7/53
My mom worked for a tech company, and every year, employees could buy their fancy but obsolete-to-them computers super cheap. I was fortunate to get my first computers that way at a young age (Commodore64/IBM PC 350 in grades 5&6); otherwise, we would have never been able to afford one.
03:54 PM - Jan 01, 2024
8/53
One of the kids in my grade 7 class (let's call him Alex) also had a mom who worked for the same tech company and had the same rad computers I did, so we were instant friends. His older brother had some computery job so he was up on all the cool new shit and was teaching him how to "hack"
03:55 PM - Jan 01, 2024
9/53
Naturally, hacking sounded rad and I needed to learn more. I convinced my mom to get me a 26k dial-up modem from work. Alex got me on his Bulletin Board System (BBS) where I could download some instructional stuff, and message back and forth with people on it—craazy shit.
03:56 PM - Jan 01, 2024
12/53
I didn't mind; it was my first taste of power at a young age. It was mostly just a group of boys hitting puberty and sharing blurry XXX pics that would take a whole day to download. I didn't do much, but the title earned me street cred and confidence beyond my years.
03:57 PM - Jan 01, 2024
14/53
After that, I smartly opted to abandon the hacker lifestyle path I was tip-toeing down. Alex was no Johnny Lee Miller and I was not about to go to jail at 14 for our computer crimes, even though I was all #HaCkTHePlaNeT
03:58 PM - Jan 01, 2024
18/53
Instant messaging with people from all over the world! Holy shit, what a crazy time to be alive. It was the brief period in my life (...up until Spoutible came along, really) where I found it fun and exciting to befriend and message with randoms from all over. The farther, the better, even.
04:01 PM - Jan 01, 2024
19/53
I had a friend from Sweden I talked to all the time, often up until the wee hours of the morning because of the time difference, and for years we would chat and shit talk each other if our countries were facing off at the Olympics or for whatever hockey shit was going on.
04:01 PM - Jan 01, 2024
20/53
My oldest random internet friend (the one who inspired this essay) messaged me from the other side of Canada (NB) one day on ICQ in '98. We clicked immediately and we've been good buds ever since and still chat often, even though we've -still- never met IRL.
04:02 PM - Jan 01, 2024
23/53
I was incredibly fortunate to be young and connected in Toronto when the scene was at its prime. It was one of the best places to party in the world for the kinds of music I was into, especially jungle/D&B. It was a really special time.
04:04 PM - Jan 01, 2024
32/53
This is another story for another time, but I did the drive across Canada with him when he moved out there the next fall and hung out for a while
I also fell in love with Jasper instantly, as one does (and maybe him too) and eventually went back home to T.dot pretty bummed out.
I also fell in love with Jasper instantly, as one does (and maybe him too) and eventually went back home to T.dot pretty bummed out.
04:11 PM - Jan 01, 2024
36/53
Facebook was starting to blow up, but the last thing I was interested in was talking to people I barely knew anymore from high school days. I held out for many years before finally succumbing because I was missing out on a lot of shit that was going on with my friends from back home.
04:13 PM - Jan 01, 2024
37/53
I always kept a private account and my friends list suuuper small. It became a place to communicate with friends through a collection of dank meme treasures we'd scuttled around the darkest depths of the internet to find and come back and share, along with cat pics.
04:13 PM - Jan 01, 2024
38/53
It also was a place, however, where I could follow many of the scientists, researchers, therapists and educators posting info I was interested in for sports rehab and pain science info for work. This was new; normally, you'd have to attend expensive seminars and courses to get this kind of info.
04:13 PM - Jan 01, 2024
41/53
I also avoided Twitter at first, uninterested in the snippet-style restrictions on posting until all of the science/med people I was following transitioned there. So I went too, but was still very uninterested in creating content or having a presence there.
04:14 PM - Jan 01, 2024
42/53
I've been on there for several years now but still have 0 posts. It was an awesome place to info-gather and was essentially the new microfiche for research for me. Right around the time I was thinking, hey I should start posting there more often, Elon took it over and fucked it all to shit
04:14 PM - Jan 01, 2024
44/53
I admit that what I was hoping for was different from what I got. I didn't come here looking for a social place to hang out with randoms and shoot the shit. I was hoping for a Twitter replica where I could just consume info and content without participating much.
04:15 PM - Jan 01, 2024
45/53
But as it turned out, the randoms here were rad, smart, interesting and hilarious weirdos, just looking for a fun, safe space to hang out and share the cool stuff they're into while navigating the ups and downs of the crazy world around us. Oh, also cats. Lots of cats.
04:16 PM - Jan 01, 2024
47/53
Though they were not the droids I was looking for, they were the droids I needed. So many amazing, smart, talented people with lots of great stuff to learn from, way beyond what I was looking for. I'm a better, more informed person from the things I've learned spending time here.
04:16 PM - Jan 01, 2024
48/53
The first days of Spoutible, adding anyone and everyone reminded me so much of the early ICQ days. The way people are comfortable sharing the random day-to-dayness of their lives with others here and pulling shenanigans and hijinks takes me back to the earlier message board days.
04:16 PM - Jan 01, 2024
50/53
So even though 600 is a low # because I have a job where I can't post when I'm working, and I'm also in school on the side, it's a lot for me considering my avoidant habits in the last decade, and wild that I'm back to communicating on social media in a way I haven't in many years.
04:17 PM - Jan 01, 2024
In response to TinaG.
Well done…53 seemed daunting…but alluringly bold…that’s was a good read/journey :^]
10:17 PM - Jan 26, 2024
In response to Build the Future.
😅 thanks for the kind words and your time! it's definitely a gamble if it's going to be worth it lol.
10:22 PM - Jan 26, 2024
In response to TinaG.
I really enjoyed your trip down memory lane. Thanks for sharing.
06:00 PM - Jan 03, 2024
In response to TinaG.
You say meat pie!
Your fingers must need a rest after these holidays.
Your fingers must need a rest after these holidays.
12:53 PM - Jan 02, 2024
In response to TinaG.
I enjoyed your thread very much 🙂 it brought back a lot of good memories — my specific historical niche was a little different, but I had many wonderful early internet experiences (compuserve at a friend’s house
in HS, bbses/IRC in college, craigslist forums in the early 00s…)
in HS, bbses/IRC in college, craigslist forums in the early 00s…)
08:41 PM - Jan 01, 2024
In response to TinaG.
Thank you so much for doing this. Similar online experience w/Icq & bulletin boards. Still friends with some of them to this day ❤️🌀 BRBGGP. IYKYK 🙃
07:22 PM - Jan 01, 2024
In response to Resident_hippie.
lol I almost missed this
BRBGGP !! hahah whoa what a flashback. had totally forgot about that, thanks for the reminder.
BRBGGP !! hahah whoa what a flashback. had totally forgot about that, thanks for the reminder.
07:40 PM - Jan 05, 2024
(Edited)
In response to TinaG.
My grandfather was a young boy when he saw his first car, plane & phone ( wires strung along a fence) Electricity in his home was one lightbulb hanging in the middle of the room. He never had indoor plumbing until he went to college.
I enjoyed his stories.
I enjoyed yours.
Thanks for sharing.
I enjoyed his stories.
I enjoyed yours.
Thanks for sharing.
06:41 PM - Jan 01, 2024
In response to TinaG.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your journey from the beginning days with computers to the present. 🙂
06:22 PM - Jan 01, 2024
In response to TinaG.
Me? I can’t for sure recall when I first accessed the internet. My idea of tech is to write a macro that drives something in MS Word or Access.
05:29 PM - Jan 01, 2024
Only followers of this user (CarolineCalcote) can see their posts
In response to TinaG.
This is super. I should do similar. Probably won’t though.
04:46 PM - Jan 01, 2024
