The lost Xanga diaries 2004-2007

"Myspace sort of starts to take over your life after a while" - Me, 2006

Welcome to today’s Friday evening edition of Nicstalgia! Today’s newsletter includes my literal Xanga journal entries from 2004-2007!! If you found Nicstalgia on Substack and are not already subscribed, please do so!! 💃🏻

I’m excited to be included in Nicstalgia guest/friend of the letter

Adryan Corcione

’s latest piece, Before the Social Feed: Personal Homepages and Profile Customization. I’m quoted about coding MySpace layouts, profile customization as identity expression rather than performance, the end of the glory days (Facebook’s Bumper Sticker and Picnik apps), not liking being put in a box – or in the case of Instagram, a square – and how the internet shifted into a vehicle for commerce more so than connection:

Before the Social Feed: Personal Homepages and Profile Customization

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Downloading my Xanga blog archive from 2004-2007 in February 2023 was a delightful and nostalgic experience, and I’m shocked that I at least vaguely recognize the inside jokes and references from the code language I shared with my friends. I’m limitlessly intrigued by digital confessions, the time capsule of content they create, and the emotionally loaded memories they carry. I’ve always been an early adopter of social platforms, and we were really out there with virtual public diaries before there was any kind of understanding of digital reach and connection.

Time has shown that what you post online is not forever, contrary to warnings from teachers and parents saying we’d never get jobs because there was a beer can in the background of our Facebook photo. (We didn’t get jobs because we entered the workforce in the aftermath of acute economic crisis, but that’s another story.) We were warned about the supposed permanence of online content, but we were blindsided by the fact that much of it could – and would – disappear without a trace. Xanga and MySpace have a special place in my heart, because they were the digital platforms I enjoyed before we all got too self-conscious and performative on the internet.

My main takeaways from revisiting this archive:

• I’m very grateful that my introduction to cell phones as a teenager was through the lens of practicality and responsibility. My phone had one purpose: to call my parents so they could pick me up from dance or the mall. Now, cell phones are used for entertainment, numbing, distraction, or surveillance before any practical function.

• I mention how Photobucket hopefully doesn’t have a data upload limit. This concept is still hard for internet users to comprehend. In order for sites to maintain their original form, or at least stay active, the data has to be stored somewhere and paid for by someone. Otherwise, the shock of alteration or deletion comes into play.

• I could already sense in 2006 that social media demanded quite a bit of time. Mind you, this was when we still “went” online as opposed to existing online 24/7. The extent to which social media would absorb, distort, disrupt, and define our sense of time is chilling.

• “I really hate reading my old xanga entries because things are unfortunately so differnet now. I wish they were as easy as they were last year” speaks to my recency bias theory, aka. Nearstalgia, where pre-Chasm adolescents and young adults uniquely have nostalgia for the very recent past.

• I’ve always been an early adopter of social media platforms, enjoy it for a while, then inevitably get bored. I could already sense some kind of performative element to social media. I don’t think I ever wanted to be “internet famous” because I already wielded attention in my offline life. But there was absolutely no way to anticipate the extent to which The Attention Economy would redefine human relations online and offline.

Enjoy this selection of some of my favorite Xanga posts.¹ Unfortunately, all of the original formatting was lost. I wish I remembered what my layout was! Just imagine that my page looked something like this:

dancerbaybee4273 Sat, 25 Dec 2004
ohh ps. i got a cell phone motherfucker!

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 27 Dec 2004
its a bad idea to play soccer in old navy. i have a dentist appt. in like 40 mins

dancerbaybee4273 wed, 19 Jan 2005
[Friend’s] last day is friday :( im going to miss her a lot. who else is going to do the TEAM BACKWARD roll with me? streak in the library? *sigh*

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 31 Jan 2005
sometimes i wonder whats wrong with him sometimes, even though he looks remotely like ben affleck.

yesterdays word of the day: meteorological optimism. good times good times.

dancerbaybee4273 Sat, 05 Feb 2005
my horoscope is right again. you know that it predicts my life!! AHH my future depends on the stars!

dancerbaybee4273 Wed, 16 Feb 2005
Excerpt from [my best friend’s] Xanga: First we went to Hot Topic and we bought earrings and Nicole had to use self control which she sometimes lacks in the shopping department.

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 14 Mar 2005
that moose mix from harry and davids is so f/ing awesome!!!

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 28 Mar 2005
i made a photobucket account *crosses fingers* hope this one works, unlike picture trail which gives a limit. PSH.

dancerbaybee4273 Sat, 02 Apr 2005
i looked in the newspaper and read the special horoscope and i had no idea what it meant.

dancerbaybee4273 Wed, 06 Apr 2005
ooh! dinner time! PASTA! i think ill go on the trampoline later. or paint my nails. or decide what im wearing tomorrow, or something like that. hmm choices choices....

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 18 Apr 2005
today was just filled with wonder and excitement. the morning was filled with confusion and grouchiness because of the lack of planning ahead of time. but today was pretty fun. i went to NYC with the fam. i SWEAR TO GOD that i saw Flava Flav at a payphone!!!!!!!!!!!

i hate when people buy their entire wardrobes from hollister.

dancerbaybee4273 Tue, 19 Apr 2005
today was shoe shopping day. fun fun, i tell you. i was tired and i got bored when i was in the furniture store, but all was good. the entire day was centered around me. i love being a spoiled brat.

dancerbaybee4273 Wed, 20 Apr 2005
AHHH MY LIFE IS AWESOME!!! you will NOT believe what has happened in the past half hour. I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH [MY BEST FRIEND]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dancerbaybee4273 Tue, 03 May 2005
as if you couldn't tell, i'm grounded from the computer.

and i have to make a myspace sometime.

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 16 May 2005
Excerpt from [my best friend’s] Xanga: Nicole got a Blondie shirt just because it was pink and had sequins.

dancerbaybee4273 Wed, 18 May 2005
ok im tired and cant think of anything else cool that happened. i liked [my best friend’s] shoes and shirtand i must go to hollister!!!! polka dotssss!!!! and i HAVEEEEE to get that bag at hot topic!!! its sooooo cute!!! only 12.99!!!!! mmmmmm YESSSSSSSS!!!

dancerbaybee4273 Mon, 30 May 2005
ive had dunkin donuts twice this weekend. i rarely go there because it sucks

dancerbaybee4273 Thu, 18 Aug 2005
thursday-is today. i dont have completely set plans, but i will. its one of those things you have to wait until the last minute for. but i watched some degrassi and some laverne and shirley that i havent finished yet. what is laverne and shirley without shirley? i mean, come on! i have to redo my nails. am i the only idiot to do her nails 5 minutes before going out?

well tomorrow is the outlets, thank goodness. not only do i get my phone back, but i get to go to one of my favorite places on earth---DELIAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaah! im very excited for that.

dancerbaybee4273 Sat, 20 Aug 2005
We went to Borders. They didn't have like anything. No Pete and Pete. :(

dancerbaybee4273 Fri, 26 Aug 2005
Today. It's 10:34. The season finale of DEGRASSI is on. Last night I was watching Rock and Roll High School and singing all the songs. and SOMETHING BOUT THE WAY YOU SHINE. that is one of the BEST degrassi songs, period. i like scream whenever i watch it, its so great.

I am going shoe shopping today. yessss -ish. I really want to go to Sephora and get Lip Venom, finally.

dancerbaybee4273 Sat, 27 Aug 2005
I really want to see The Brothers Grimm with my lover Heath Ledger.

dancerbaybee4273 Sun, 11 Sep 2005
I watched Degrassi and had some mac and cheese.

dancerbaybee4273 Wed, 14 Sep 2005
The only thing that went wrong today was when I read the Degrassi: The Next Generation bulletin. Spinner and Jimmy aren't going to be at the mall tour, TOBY AND LIBERTY ARE. This totally sucks. We'd actually rather meet RICK. And his character DIED. When he shot JIMMY!!!!!!!!! I'm freaking upset. But what can you do? Atleast DELIAS is in Natick Mall.

dancerbaybee4273 Thu, 02 Mar 2006
I NEVER write in this thing anymore. I haven't since September. Myspace sort of starts to take over your life after a while. Well, it's March. A lot of things have changed since then. I really hate reading my old xanga entries because things are unfortunately so differnet now. I wish they were as easy as they were last year. This sucks. UGH, there is like a million inches of snow on the ground. I don't know what else to say. I've got to sing the Genovian National Anthem as I watch the Princess Diaries 2. Too bad the upstairs DVD Player is totally screwed up. Maybe I'll write again later and start getting back into this. All these people are starting to get Xanga's. I've had mine for about a year and a half so it got boring after a while, knowing the only people that read this are [friend] and [friend] or anyone else that happens to stumble across this.

dancerbaybee4273 fri, 02 Feb 2007
I want to go roller skating so badly.

dancerbaybee4273 Wed, 07 Feb 2007
I've watched like 10 hours of the OC this week. Actually, since sunday. I dread going to school, and I always look forward to the hours I will spend vegging out/fantasizing about Adam Brody (we all do it, don't lie to yourself).

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Physical Media Treasure Hunt 01

Physical Media Renaissance™

Let's get some shoes...let's party

1. Names are obscured, but if [best friend] I’ve since lost touch with happens to see this, I miss you, will always love you, and am still down to rewatch Degrassi anytime!!