I'm Welcoming Myself Back To Blogspot

Despite the fact that at 23, I am apart of the first generation to have grown up with the Internet, I found growing up I participated in it very little. A main reason for this was pure economics. I am the son of a single mother, and though I never went without the necessities, we couldn't afford the Internet, much less a computer capable of navigating it. So my experience with it was limited to school, friends and families accessibility. I was at my grandparents the first time I browsed the net, with my Aunt Karin. We were looking up STAR WARS sites. The amount of information I was suddenly privy to was overwhelming.

I began to resent it though, or rather, I resented my lack of participation with it. There were always limitations. Time limits at school, lack of a computer at home, and I dare say, the 56k dial up modem that even then tested the limits of my patience. As time wore on and my peers became more engrossed, more knowledgeable than myself, I felt like I had missed the bus. At this juncture, as with many things denied to one in youth, I began to denounce it. If I could not use it, I did not need it. If I did not need it, well it was superfluous to me. So for many years and several expired hotmail accounts, I did not participate. Once an email account expired, I did not create a new one. Unplugged and off of the grid, I survived that way until I was 21.

After a certain point, I admitted that my animosity towards the net was ill founded, a smokescreen for an actual and true desire to participate in the burgeoning global dialogue. But still I waited. I was waiting to see a need. I had already begun to see friends gobbled up by WOW and AIM, more a novelty than a tool. Then something changed.

All of a sudden, almost overnight it seems that the Internet became utilitarian. Wikipedia sprang up, Google began to assert itself as more than just a search engine, etc. I am a layman, I can only speculate as to why this occurred. Perhaps it was artists, the dreamers that crossed over to the digital realm. Or perhaps those people were always there, and it was the technology reaching a point that we could finally make our dreams a reality. Whichever it was, for whatever reason it happened, the Internet began to hold some promise to me.

The past two years have been exploratory for me. I got a GMail account, then Flickr. Suddenly people weren't giving me there number when I met them, they were directing me to Myspace, and then Facebook. I must admit, I ventured into social networking sites VERY sceptically. Myspace left a bad taste in my mouth, if anything I look at it like a Beta SNS. Facebook showed me that I could have friends on the Internet and not feel...dirty about it, something I appreciate immensely. Flickr has in turn led to some of, if not the most memorable experiences of my life, events I never thought possible least of all being facilitated by the Internet. There are still things to learn. Its hard to know what is and isn't proper etiquette. Do you poke people you don't know? Is it okay to send messages to strangers because they are interesting?

I find that despite having the relative anonymity the Internet provides, I still behave in a similar manner to real life. I don't want to embarrass myself, even if "myself" is nothing more than an avatar. Its still connected to me, failure and awkwardness transcend the medium by which they travel, they are still deeply effecting as personal constructs. Which brings us back to the title of this blog. I have accepted the fact that I not only like the Internet, it is an important part of my life. I write, almost nonstop when I'm not drawing. So, as apart of a conscious effort to participate more, I'm bringing The Chris Hunt Experience to Blogspot. I'm not laying out a plan, or even giving you a theme. Its all fair game. I might try and tell you to read a comic I'm writing and drawing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lazzyfair/sets/72157604103935332/) or, I might go on endless rants on economics or philosophy (no link available, but just you wait) WHO KNOWS...WHO-HONESTLY-KNOWS...

I sure don't.

So strap in party people, I promise you will not be disappointed.

mr hunt