Will I always remember...
The events of that time?
Below is a very shoddy description of how I got into web designing and what brought me to where I am now. My memory is really bad when it comes to remembering things like this, so please bear with me.
In the beginning
When dinosaurs roamed the...OK, not that far back. Some time in 2004 I was deeply infatuated with Kouga from Inuyasha, and after much Internet browsing, I decided to start up a shrine of my own. I hit freewebs as my first host and quickly set up an 8-page tribute using the site builder. I worked hard to promote Wolf Dreams, and went crazy applying for awards in various places. For awhile, life was good.
In 2005 I realized the site was in desperate need of expansion. I begged one of my friends at Anime-Forums to teach me HTML and CSS, which she did. Shortly before I could get the revamp underway, my computer conked out and all of my data was lost. My memory gets fuzzy as to what happened when after that, so for sanity's sake I'll just say my friend made me a layout, I finished the revamp, and somewhere along the way I picked up a Mac Mini.
And then what?
I'm embarrassed to say I don't know when I let go of Wolf Dreams. Gradually my Inuyasha fandom died away, and has never been revived since. At this...transitional time, I worked on my CSS skills at AnimePaper doing layout customizations. I got pretty good and ended up with some pretty eye-catching layouts, or so people tell me.
My interest in web design rapidly grew in 2006. At first, I wanted to get up a graphics site, but that has become an unrealized ambition. Instead, I came up with UVERlove. With my strong fandom as my motivation, I completely re-taught myself HTML and learned new PHP tricks to ensure my website was efficient and modern. UVERlove was very popular for quite awhile, but when uverworldORG rolled around I ended up "merging" with them. (More details here.)
The now
In late 2006, I developed a yearning for my own domain. These feelings were left unrealized for almost a year, and I would constantly spam my LiveJournal with posts containing my desperate feelings. Finally, in July 2007, my dreams came true.
I had been pestering my parents about the domain for as long as the yearning existed, and only received their approval in mid-July. I was supposed to join them at StartLogic, when something happened. Two of my friends, Eve and Corina, took the liberty of purchasing the domain for me as a birthday gift. I found out about the purchase before they could surprise me, and was left in utter shock.
As to what happened after that, well, you're looking at it. I'm very happy you actually made it to the bottom of the page.