History
2000: High school was all about web design for me. I was a lonely girl back then, so I had nothing else to do. I made odd little pages on a free servers like Geocities or Brinkster (weren't they all?). I started exploring fanpages more, especially at the Anime Turn Pike, and seeing so many great designs around sparked a desire to improve my skills. I bought a cheap copy of Paint Shop Pro and started studying HTML from viewing page sources and using tutorials.
2001-2002: My first decent website my Rinoa shrine. I loved the game and that character, and strived to make it content-oriented, since I didn't have access to scanner, a good computer, or anything needed to provide good media. It, and my other websites, were generously hosted by people with domains for a couple years. I saved up money and bought my first domain, Bevelle.Com. It was fun, but I wasn't completely happy with it as it had much bad luck with hosting.
2003: I bought Heavenly.Nu and I loved it. This is the time period when I expanded my network to include more websites. I also owned Eyes-on-me.net. The first people I met online were Sessy of Wing-Heart.org and Ellie of Marvolo.Org (now defunct). I also became an avid frequenter of forums, including #Unreal, Digital Flare, Dodo's Message Board, Lumi, Metropolis, Shumi, and Smack.
2004-2008: I became disillusioned by the realities of my isolating hobby. No one except my distant online friends shared in my passion. A domain was nabbed by a cybersquatter. Anonymous people left harassing comments on my blog, and some visitors stole my written content. I spent all my free time playing games and posting messages, but still felt like I had never been in genuine contact with a person at the end of the day. Thus, when college came around, I gained a more active social life and left my websites at Heartilly.Com like ghost towns as a sad tribute to a teenage obsession.
2009-present: I worked as a webmaster at a non-profit organization. Making the organization's website reminded me of how much I loved simple coding. After a 5 year hiatus, I returned. Thankfully, the fanlisting that I adopted from Nell of Darksparrow.org years ago had forced me to keep renewing my domains. I bought Aftercolony.org in 2009. Then moved to FaintSmile.org and Wild-Seven.org in 2010.
My modus operandi is now to no longer let my websites be dictated by obligations, or aesthetic insecurities. My time is valuable, and I will use what free time I have to create sites I truly adore, and avoid the addictive pull of MMOs, online trends, and internet dependency.