At the beginning of November 2005, I joined this website where you could create a time capsule of sorts to be sent to you a certain amount of time later. I filled mine out, and set it to three years; it would come to me at the end of October 2008, a date that seemed so far into the future that I was sure to forget about it. Well, I did. Thankfully, though, the email I used for mine is one I still use to sign up for things so I don’t get a bunch of spam in my normal email. I needed to duck into there for a confirmation email one day, and saw this sitting up near the top.

Today I opened it. I’m not going to post the entire thing because some parts are kind of personal, but a lot of it was a pretty interesting look into who I was and to who I hoped to become.

Current
Age: eighteen
height: five six – ish
status: single and not looking… too much.
hobbies: web and graphic design, blogging, writing, crochet, sewing, DANCE

The basics haven’t changed, except now I’m 21 and don’t have time for the crocheting and the sewing very often. I don’t dance as much as I think I used to, either… which makes me kinda sad.

Well. I’m writing to the me three years later. I’m currently eighteen, and stuck between high school and college. I graduated last spring, and I’m planning on starting at the University of Central OK in January. Major? German Education.

This depresses me, because three years later, I’m still stuck. UCO never happened, and I’m more rusty in my German than ever before. And  now that I think of it, I remember making a New Year’s Resolution this year to really get with it when it comes to school… and I haven’t.

I still live at home with both of my parents. Tegan is thirteen and is a complete tomboy. She has a “significant other,” as much as you can at that age, and his name is Caleb. He’s fourteen and goes to the congregation we recently left: B’nai Shalom.

Still living at home, and Tegan’s still a tomboy. Caleb’s just a friend now, and I can’t believe how old we’re all getting. Thirteen and fourteen seems so LONG ago!

Stephen is seven and in second grade, and Abby is five and in kindergarten. Steve is generally quiet, sweet, weird, and more cautious; Abby is loud, bouncy, intrepid… and also weird.

The kids are in fifth and third, respectively. They seem to be still the same kind of people, except my brother has simultaneously grown a little cooler and a little… girlier simultaneously. Abby’s grown a flair for the dramatic, being the baby of the family.

I have three cats and a dog: Zoe, Chloe, Tia, and Dixie… respectively.

Zoe and Chloe are still here. Tia gave birth to Jack, Jamie, and Mouse before she went to live elsewhere. We got another dog, Tobey, and later Dixie ran off. We never saw her again. Most recently, another dog Duke followed my sister home as a puppy and here he stays. Three cats and a dog to five cats and two dogs!

I’m definitely single, and while I have my eyes open, I’m not really looking. Perhaps that’s because I’m not really expecting anything because I don’t want to be let down later. So goes life.

Nothing’s changed here one bit.

My favorite music is anything you can dance to, as well as a lot of christian music. And my Newsies soundtrack.

Now this has seriously changed. I’ve really branched out, musically, in the last three years, and I’ll pretty much listen to anything that doesn’t have awful lyrics. I listen to a lot more mainstream alternative than anything else, and my favorite groups at the moment are probably Breaking Benjamin, Lifehouse, Coldplay, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Shinedown. Dance music is still good, but just for dancing, and lots of the Christian music has taken a backseat; while I still listen to it, it’s nowhere near my top ten. I’ve realized my love for techno/electronic music to an extent, and while Newsies is still on my iPod, it’s mostly played when I’m desperate for sleep.

As for my friends… my best friends as of now are Becky, Lisa, and Ann… followed by (in no particular order) Amanda, Hillary, Jessyca, and Caity. (Sidenote to Me In Three Years: has Caity gotten herself married yet? And has Amanda? As of now, Caity has about three years until marriage and Amanda is waiting for her proposal).

Becky and Lisa still, definitely. Lisa’s actually married now… I guess I never thought that was coming so soon! Ann’s gotten busy, and so have Amanda and Hillary. Amanda is married, by the way, and I think Hillary’s engaged. Jessyca I haven’t heard from in a long time, and same goes with Caity (who is not married, as far as I know). Other than becoming pretty good friends with James, that’s pretty much the friends I have.

A typical day right now is spent scouring the internet for scholarships, working on my yet untitled story, and goofing around with webdesign and such. I love forums; I’m part of too many to think about.

Yikes, I sound so very lazy. I still spend a bit of time on the Internet, but the time is mostly spent running my own forum (though I think I was probably running Hitherston at the time? Was I yet?), procrastinating on redesigning my portfolio, and blog-hopping. That’s still kind of sad, though. Just think… I probably hadn’t heard of YouTube yet. The story, by the way, had been titled soon after, but still isn’t finished… and I don’t think that I ever will.

Now, typical days are spent mostly at work, some Internet time, and whatever comes my way.

That’s really all I can think of right now. I’m sure there is so much more I will have wanted to remember, but it’s so unimportant right now.

Where do I expect to be by the time I read this email? Most of the way through college, pretty much. Still single, of course. How old will I be? Twenty one. Yeah, still single as… well, a lost penny. Or something.

The weird thing is, I do remember writing this last line. I sincerely hoped, as I wrote this, that I would be looking back at my old, single self, thinking “Mel, how could you ever doubt?” in my non-single, smug way. Ha!

More head-shaking on the “most of the way through college” line. I’m kinda disappointed in myself. I thought I would go so far, and here I am standing in the very same place. I feel like I’m mostly the same person, looking back at this time capsule, and that’s really a let-down. I don’t want to be! If I don’t do something drastic and soon… I’m going to be stuck like this forever!!

I’m going to see if that website still takes these time capsule submissions, because I want to do this again. I want another email in 2011, when I’m 24 years old, and this time, I want to be able to blog about some real changes. I want to look back at 2008 me and laugh. I want to think “wow, was I ever there?” instead of realizing I still am.