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entry 2500

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

I've been writing this journal for more than ten years, now. The first post dates to January 1, 1997.

Naturally I let the ten year anniversary slide right by unremarked. So, too, the date two weeks ago that marked the fifth anniversary of this journal's new home on a new domain. And I missed the 2000th journal entry. That's a lot of misses. But I figure that's also a lot of journal entries, and that's a long time to maintain a public journal. Time for some remarks!

First, I acknowledge that there have been holes in the record, such as when my original web server equipment was taken offline by the fellow who was hosting it (2001). And then there was a huge 18-month hole starting in late 2005, when I went through a very rough patch. Suffice it to say that when the journal hiatus ended, The Boy was already en route. Sorry 'bout the gap, future kids, I trust that I restarted at the right time. Even that's been 2 1/2 years already!

I've since started writing a lot about parenting, and simultaneously about living in Japan (and dealing with the Japanese language). I've also thrown in a few odd entries about creating a business in Japan, and on becoming a writer and a photographer. And I've started a spin-off, how many journal-keepers can make that claim?

It's become a busy journal, with the early one sentence off-hand comments stuff gradually giving way to something hopefully more worth reading. Complaints about vendors aside. When tracking down the switch to the new domain five years ago, I found some posts about a repair shop that was in the process of wrecking my wristwatch; it reads much like my complaints about the vendor that sent me shoes I can't wear.

I wonder if I'll carry on with this journal for another ten years? The Boy will be half-grown by then! Will I still be writing from east Asia? At both five and ten years ago, I lived in Toronto, but nine years ago it was Sydney, eight years ago it was Vancouver, and six years ago it was Halifax. Will I have written another 2500 entries before this thing is done? Will I be writing in English?

がんばりましょう。

[edit: 2021.08.03. You would indeed keep writing, young Michael. You would indeed.]