Soul of the Seasons turns 18

My fansite Soul of the Seasons turns 18 years old today. I try to imagine back to the beginning when I was in college and first started the website, under a different name, on Geocities. I think it moved to a different Geocities 'area' before moving to Roninweb, then my first domain cakuni.com and finally it's own domain name.

My first ever image from the series was made possible by a digital camera. This was mid 90s so they were bulky back then and expensive. I remember the square memory card you had to use. And you had to put that in a card reader on your PC or connect a cord from the camera to the PC to access the pictures. So yup I froze screenshots on my VHS tape and then used the camera to get a digital copy to upload. Mostly if I wanted images back then, it had to be artwork that I scanned up on one of the few scanners my college had. (In a special small computer lab no less.)

I kind of miss the days back then. I would chat on IRC with other fans. I would print out fanficiton to read. (Because I got eye strain from reading from the monitor for too long.) Once I got real lucky and met a Ronin Warriors fan in person who was also at the time running a fansite for the series. These days, alas, the fandom has shrunk drastically and it's left me feeling very lonely. I miss all the online friends I had to chat with back then. I wish I knew what to do to engage what fans are left, to try to return some of that old spark I miss so much. Heck it would be nice just to have more people to chat with even on a weekly basis.

But I best not dwell too long down that road or I'll get depressed. And this is a day to celebrate, to be nostalgic, and remember all the years fondly.

And I decided to wear gray and black today as a subtle nod to the Dark Warlords/Mashou. (That's the colors of their armor symbols.)

-Christine

P.S. Does this mean at year 20 I finally get a shakujo? (Please don't say I have to wait for my 25th year. :/)

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