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I've lived in New York for 10 years. Last month was my 10 year New York anniversary. How I've lived in any one place for 10 years is odd to imagine. I'd lived in eight different houses by the time I was 14. I guess that's not a lot, but at the time I saw myself as a young kid forced into the unstable, schizophrenic life of a gypsy-whore. No place to call home. Damaged goods. Little Orphan Annie without Daddy Warbucks. And without the orphan part. I was the star of my own "ABC Afterschool Special".

Ten years ago I didn't own a computer. Ten years ago there was no such thing as an iPod, a metrocard, or a Starbucks in Brooklyn. Ten years ago was pre- Napster and Nerve.com. Ten years ago there was no "Six Feet Under". There was just "ER". Ten years ago I'd just bought an album called "The Bends" by some band named Radiohead. Ten years ago I didn't have a very nice boyfriend and I wasn't a very nice girlfriend and I can pretty much say that I hated him and him and me together and, really, me. I was basically having a nervous breakdown.

A blog ten years ago? Hello. I didn't even get the http-whatever part of the informations super highway. Netscape Communicator. Bill Clinton. Alanis Morrisette. My stupid office job and my hippy boss who used to stand over my desk combing her ratty split ends and my boss's boss who refused to buy us a computer. I was still friends with my best friend's ex-boyfriend and I wasn't even best friends with my best friend then. My other best friend was also the best friend of my then boyfriend and couldn't be best friends with me anymore because of all the relationship drama we'd subjected him to. I didn't have an email address. I read Harper's Bazaar. I had a futon. And Fila sneakers.

Everything is so much better now. Except for the Bill Clinton part. Things haven't been going so well since he did the cigar trick in the Oval Office (that is such a good trick!). And, also, could stand to see some of New York's hard core, self-important protestors (heretofore known as "SiPs") go bomb a Starbucks every once in a while.

Where were you 10 years ago?