My Internet Addiction Began When...

1996 -

• signed up for email and online access at Northern Illinois University's Founders Library computer lab in the Spring
• *first website I visited was X-Files related, and learned there were 1000s of fans like me in the world
• created my first e-mail account (outside of school's Eudora) via hotmail
• signed up for school internet access from home...using a dicey dial up connection...proceeded to rack up the highest phone bill for a particular week, in our family's history before and since
• first e-mail went to looking up my best friend in Mexico, Nancy, with whom we'd been writing letters (through postal service) since 1989 after I moved away
• finally connected via email with Nancy in the Fall of 1996
• signed up to studentnet.com a student chatting and social networking site, met a really cool Russian guy in Seattle through this, good philosophical friend

1998 -

• signed up for an HTML class August-December
• October 30 1998 I signed onto GeoCities.com to start my first website, logged onto chat to obtain clarification on some questions I had about the system. Happened upon GeoCities en Espanol chat room...oh oh
• Reconnected with some people via e-mail in Mexico, from school. Went to visit my friends in Veracruz in December of 1998
• Began visiting GeoCities en Espanol chat daily and began befriending people from all over the spanish-speaking world...noticed people coming online in something like shifts, depending what time zone they lived in

1999 -

• by then I had acquired EVERY instant messenger available (Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, ICQ) and IRC chat software - 100s of contacts
• began downloading music and programs (warez, codez, etc.) using Napster and another download manager (Gozilla?)
• completed my certificate in Multimedia and Graphic Design, began taking online classes in Internet programming, PC and file maintenance, PERL, Java, JavaScript...realized I had no skills whatsoever in programming ^_^
• spent approximately 20 hours a day online on GeoCities en Espanol and IM
• GeoCities en Espanol chat was shut down by Yahoo when they bought GeoCities
• the chat room moved to Yahoo! en Espanol, but many didn't want to ordidn't know how to sign up to Yahoo!
• we moved to Latinchat.com/verde and elistas.com
• became a shut-in hermit during the Summer and early fall of '99... most times I woke up at 3-4 pm, went to sleep at 8am
• got my first online hacker and stalker victim experiences...not fun, not many LOLz on this side of the fence
• made some amazing online friends w/ whom I'm still active with today (luv u guys!)

2000 -

• decided I needed a job and a life ^_^
• woke up at regular, grown-up hours
• got a job, and began making friends (got a life)
• signed up for Yahoo! Personals (more friends and life)
• e-mailed online friends vs. going into chats, made more use of IM now (balanced friends and life)
• got another job
• moved away and started fresh