Back in September 1998 the antiquated computer I was using bit the dust. I found myself effectively barred from Cyberspace for the foreseeable future. At the time I had no money that I wanted to risk on getting the system repaired and I didn’t want to throw more money out the window. So I waited.

In the mean time I purchased a WebTV just to stay online and access my email. I had computers at work, that’s what I do for a living, but I couldn’t really use them fully for my own interests. It was March 1999 before I had a new computer and was back online. Thinking about it now, I realize that was close to six months!

During the time I was offline I had a chance to think a lot about what I missed and what it really meant to be part of the new Net Society. One of my fondest memories was of a beautifully designed website called Dreaming Among the Jade Clouds. The website has an online journal written by Gingko, the webperson at Jade-Leaves. I downloaded the Easter Egg image to the left from her site. In many cultures the egg is a symbol for ideas, new beginnings, the seed that germinates something new. I thought it was appropriate here since Jade Leaves had that effect for me when it came to web design.

On her site there are also links to other “Diarists” who maintain online journals for netizens to read. Many of them are very creative people with artwork and web design included in their diaries. There are a number of webrings for diarists that many of them belong to.

Now that I was back online, I wanted to expand my personal website. I have never valued “Under Construction” statements on websites -- other than the neat graphics and the fact that they emphasize the idea of a “Site” -- because to me that was stating the obvious. Websites are always an ongoing, never-ending process. They have to be, that’s the nature of the net.

Then it occurred to me that a Journal is also ongoing. I have kept paper journals in the past. They are a good way to practice writing skills and learn what it is that’s hiding under the surface of your mind. I came up with a design for my website that would allow me, hopefully, to use a journal to integrate all the parts of the site.

The things which intrigue me the most fall into the following groups: places and sites on the Internet; images, artwork, and graphics; important, timeless words and sayings; and music of any kind that is “good” (I’ll have to define “good” some other time :). This is to be the stuff of my online cyber-journal. The site is divided into Places, Images, Sounds, and Words (at least at the time of this writing). Each time I add something to those sections, I’ll refer to them in the journal. Whatever I write about in the journal, I’ll add to the other areas. We’ll Have to see how it goes. :)

For more online journals, check out my Diarists page or follow the Open Pages webring links on the main page of my Journal. The journal also has an alternative index based on the general subject matter of each entry. You’ll find this on the Themes page. The past is always part of a Journal so I created an “In Memorium” page, a place to remember those no longer with us.

Thanks for stopping by my website.
-- R.K.Foster