I just went down the rabbit hole of reading old notes I’ve written in Evernote. Over the years, I guess it has become my digital commonplace book; a place where I’ve gathered quotes, notes from books, recipes, snippets of conversations, observations, ideas, and all sorts of things that seemed interesting or meaningful at the time. It’s a little chaotic.

Reading through those old entries felt like opening a series of letters from former versions of myself. I came across thoughts I had completely forgotten, and ideas that I apparently thought important enough to preserve. Some notes made me smile, some made me cringe, and others made me wonder why I ever stopped pursuing certain interests. There’s something strangely comforting about seeing the trail of curiosities and concerns that have occupied my mind over the years.

But I haven’t used Evernote in a while. I think the latest I have on there are my notes on the book, Alaska by James A. Michener. Some of the notes I have written make no sense at all, and I wonder what my thought process was when I wrote them. Part of me feels I should write down some of the notes and delete them from Evernote since I don’t really use the app anymore. I now use Apple’s Notepad app on my phone.

It also made me wonder whether I should continue keeping a physical commonplace book. I do have a physical notebook around here somewhere, though it has been neglected for quite a while. Lately, I’ve been thinking about starting a new one. Not because I want to discard what I’ve already collected, but because there’s something appealing about beginning with a blank page. A new notebook feels less like an ending and more like a continuation. And I have a pretty, blank notebook that I’d like to use.

Did you know that the first computer virus was created in 1971? It was called Creeper, and unlike the viruses we worry about today, it wasn’t trying to steal your passwords or encrypt your files. It simply displayed the message, “I’m the Creeper, catch me if you can!” Another program called Reaper was created to remove it, making Reaper the world’s first antivirus. Back then, even the viruses seemed more polite.

When I was first learning HTML and building websites, I found some code that would pop open your computer’s CD drive. Naturally, I thought that was the coolest thing ever and briefly included it on one of my pages. Fortunately, before I unleashed chaos upon unsuspecting relatives, I came to my senses and deleted the code before publishing the site!

My first website was Karissaonline.com. I created it so the family could see pictures of Karissa without me having to email everyone separately. Remember when sharing photos meant uploading them one at a time and hoping nobody picked up the phone and disconnected the internet? Of course, Karissaonline was on the internet after dialup, but it was still a lot of work to upload pictures.

After Kevin passed away, I stopped updating the site and eventually let the domain name go. Then, around 2008, I created Desertkitten.com, which is still going strong today. It’s funny to think that some websites have outlasted floppy disks, dial-up internet, MySpace, and a few of my computers. My first computer cost me $2000, which I took out as my first loan when I lived in Germany. Kevin and I custom-built it.

And speaking of the passage of time, today is Tommy’s birthday. I’ve been reminding him that he has finally reached my age. Of course, that will only last for ten days before my birthday. For this brief window of time, we are officially the same age, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it!

I made Tommy’s lunches for the rest of the week and also prepared some matcha tea. I believe we’re having orange chicken for dinner tonight, so Karissa can take care of making that. With most of the day’s tasks out of the way, I’m planning to spend some time reading. I’m currently reading the last book in the Prydain series, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the story concludes.