Journeys of a thousand miles always begin with a single step. No matter how sophisticated or advanced a page looks, there has got to be a starting point. A first. An origin.

But seriousness doesn't really become me, so I'll stop the flowery language right now. ^_^;;; Welcome to a scrapbook of my baby's firsts! I hope you enjoy reminiscing with me...

Main Page

The first main page I ever made for LOI actually carried the name "amimain.html", until my helpful cousin Ruk (who helped me more than anyone in making this page) told me that it was supposed to be named "index.html". I can even remember the disheartening work of changing the links on each of my sections to fit the new name of my index page... ;_;

When I got it up, it proudly displayed the banner Ruk-oneechan (again) made for me and the open sections Ami-chan In: Depth, Unaccessed Files and Ami Over A Cup of Coffee. It promised more sections to come, namely Ami and Zoicite (which eventually evolved into A Moonlight Rhapsody), Ami's Closet (now dead), The Men In Ami's Life (now Equation for Romance) and The Water Slide.

Section

The first section my page ever housed was Ami-chan: In Depth. It was the first of my sections I wrote, and its first HTML version was made in Microsoft Word. On its debut, it contained a table on the meaning of Ami's name and its phonetic spelling (Which I omitted on my first major revamp). I wasn't able to save any file from the first version, but if you look to your left, you will find the very image that I used as the background of "Indepth".

Banner Promotion Spree

This isn't really a formal first, but I'd just like to tell you guys about it, anyway... ^_^;;;;

Back then, I didn't even know how to place my banner into a guestbook, so what I did was to copy the HTML fragment on Apatt's Sailormars Zone for his banner and replace the URL's in it with mine. I then signed the someone's guestbook afterward (it's a shame I don't remember who it was), and I was so proud of myself for doing that successfully. So I called cousin Ruk and excitedly and proudly announced that I had posted my banner into someone's guestbook! What a feat!

(But don't get me wrong, minna--I don't paste my banner in guestbooks because I still don't know how, it's because of sheer laziness...)

Major Revamp

My first major revamp was in June of 1998, at the start of my Sophomore Year. I remember that I used border backgrounds, bold size 10 arial fonts and images not bigger than 10Kb on each of my pages. It looked terrible, but I loved it still. ^_^;;;; My index page was in an organized table layout, looked a lot like a newspaper, I think.

It was after this revamp that I got a consolation prize from The Needleleaf Society ^__^.

Guestbook Entry

My first guestbook entry was made by Ruk-oneechan, of the famed Turbulence, then known as SkySenshi@TheRacetrack. She made it after setting up my guestbook for me at Lpage, even before I had made the Lake of Illusions. This guestbook entry was made way back in the days of Icesenshi's Little Bubble Aquarium (see Obscure Droplets to know what I'm talking about), where the guestbook was first used. It's just a shame that Lpage deleted all my early guestbook entries when I reached about 250, so it's not available for viewing anymore...

"Okay ba?"

Award

My first award came from no other than dear Apatt of The SM Zone! He gave it to me on the very first day I uploaded my page, April 1, 1999. ^_^ It marked the start of a beautiful friendship, and now he's one of my best Net buds...

"If you have a shrine page which consist entirely of the dreaded "fave food" stats and some pix thrown in your should first be ashamed of yourself and second make a beeline for their page! Winner of the Deep Thought Award (inspirer of it, in fact) "

Award from a Review Site

My first award from a major review site came from The Needleleaf Society. I was awarded the Consolation Prize for the month of June 1998. The first person who knew about it was Nao-oneechan of Fire Senshi's Realm, and she told all my cousins first before I even got wind of the news. ^_^;;; Ruk-chan told me over the phone, but only after everyone knew about it. I was so happy, I could remember, and it was all I could think of all day...

Flamer?

Flamer? I don't think I have ever had one yet... oh, except for that idiot who didn't leave his/her email address, signing my guestbook as "mercury hater" and telling all the people in the world that I'm babbling about some "weakling with a dorky haircut", and that he/she'd rather much learn about Steve Urkel. Jerk.

Person Who Greeted Me When I Reached 10,000 Visitors

She was the 10,003rd visitor, but she was the first to sign my guestbook and congratulate me on my milestone. Who is she? None other than Mooch, the webmistress of Reflecting, then known as Mooch's Sailormercury Shrine. Arigatou, Jen-chan! ^_^

Person Who Greeted Me on My Anniversary

How can I forget Safox-chan, of Glitter!, who was the first to greet me a very happy anniversary on April 1, 1999? *hugs* Thank you so much, dear Safox, for being the first to share this happy event with me! She even gave me a pretty, pretty drawing as an anniversary gift, which I will display with much pride and happiness: