Backdated journal project

Thus I inaugurate my journal backdating project.

I have not changed any names - and I will leave the names intact for as much as I can, in future postings. Some of the details in other journal entries are very sexually explicit, and I may have to anonymize those ... but, frankly ...

1. all this stuff happened ten years ago.
2. I am no longer in contact with most of the people involved.
3. The ones I am in contact with wouldn't care.

So why am I posting it in public? Because in between the mundane bits, there is what I believe to be some very amusing and heartfelt autobiography.

This first entry is from my orientation days at UCSC, almost 10 years ago. It's pretty mundane, but it's one of those days where the most minor decision completely alters my life for years to come. In particular, I decide NOT to walk back to my bike and ride home, but instead turn around and continue mingling with the attendees of the Provost's Dinner.

And:

This second back-posted piece is not written by me, but is in fact a message from Zoggo, written near the same time.

Dec 14, 1997: The worst ideas for computer games EVER.

Backposting dilemma

I woke up about an hour ago with my mind awash in memories of my UCSC time, and now I can't get back to sleep because I've run into a dilemma:

I asked myself: why would I post these old entries into a public journal? And I got back two answers:

1. The other people involved might enjoy remembering these past events I shared with them,
2. The material itself is an interesting story

But here's the problem. The portions of it that make the most interesting reading in hindsight are also the portions that are potentially the most embarrassing for others to have made public.

So why don't I simply ask the people involved in the potentially embarrassing bits if they mind this public posting? Because it'd be impossible to locate those people today, and in some cases, I don't even want to locate them. Nor they me.

I could try to have it both ways and half-anonymize the writing, but it would get confusing, and anyone directly involved would probably be able to decipher who is who anyway.

So that means I'd have to anonymize the whole thing, change the names around completely, and even obscure details that would identify the participants. This would cease to be a "trip down memory lane" for anyone but me, and the only reason that would justify posting it publicly is it's appeal as a work of fiction.

But you know what? As a work of fiction, it lies mostly between boring details and explicit erotica, like some overlong Archie & Pals fan-fiction. Sure there are a few keen observations and a few jokes, and some nice descriptions of breasts, but seriously, who'd want to wade through the rest of this tripe to find them?

I don't know. I've got this huge mass of writing and some of it is very good, but I don't know what it's good for. Maybe ten years isn't long enough. Maybe it will all have to remain buried.

What are your thoughts?