Six years of being Lost and Found

The header of my Multiply site -- http://neenerish.multiply.com.

I started my Multiply site in 2004 out of a fascination for the concept of having a social networking site where I could actually have my own website--posting my own content for the entire world to read, and at the same time keeping family and friends updated without having to email all those bulky pictures and articles every time I had something new to share. At that time, only Friendster was big, I was writing freelance for a couple of publications, and the thought of having an online audience where I could write about the work I did both for travel writing and a community-based environmental NGO was like a whole new world of possibilities. Eventually, I decided to name my site after one of three columns that I had in Sun.Star Cebu, Lost and Found, which I started later that same year as a way to share my discoveries and rediscoveries on the endless journey of gathering fragments of my soul that I had forgotten in the business of living and growing.

My Multiply site allowed me to reveal more of my inner world that most people--even those I work with on a daily basis, or my family--rarely get a glimpse of, and which forms a much greater part of my reality than everyday living. It allowed me to share myself in ways that I otherwise would have and could have not and, in the freedom of sharing, enriched myself, as sharing one's self often does. Beyond being a way to get my thoughts, words, music and images out there, Multiply also became a way to take a dip into other people's lives and meet kindred spirits, many of whom I am now friends with offline.

Unfortunately, as I got "busier" starting in 2006--quitting my job, starting my Master's (and ending up with 1.5 degrees), moving to a different city every six months and having more adventures (physical, emotional, etc.) I never even thought I'd experience--I could no longer document my life as fast as it was happening. Until very recently, I have to say it's been one wave of adventure after another, that I've seldom had the time to stay still and reflect and THEN write something about it before another one comes along. Also, of course, whenever I've had anything of significance to share in words or pictures in the last year or so, Facebook has become the preferred medium. And so most of my Multiply entries are around 2005 to 2006, with only snippets of those adventures popping up whenever I had some time to actually write about them.

Yesterday, Multiply was supposed to have closed, and so to keep all my stuff on the web and not to waste all those hours uploading them, I decided to try Blogger for the first time and export all my stuff here. The photo albums, audios and videos were not fully exported, so I still have to upload them one by one whenever I have time, but all the text is here, including entries that previously only my closest friends and family had access to. I've also found that when you click on the pictures, it takes you to the original albums on the Multiply site.

It has been amusing and sometimes touching to reminisce the person that I was in that season of my life. I hope you find something of worth here, too, or at the very least something entertaining. I hope to start a new blog for this new season of my life eventually...once I'm really able to settle into a routine, since this week I just marked two years of living in the same city (an accomplishment!). Please do send me a note if there is anything you feel you can connect to in these pages. It would be heartwarming to find kindred spirits again--just like the old days on Multiply.