Back story: places I've been through/been to/lived in, in the United States

It took a long time to color in this map, county by county (and, chances are, I might have missed a space). Of course, it took a long time to visit all those spaces...even if I did start back in the 1980s! :)

In the United States, I have lived in Oregon (for 25+ years), in Washington (for over 10 years), in Montana (for 5 years) and in California for 1 year and in Vermont for 1 year. I think. Living in this variety of places has shaped my views on many things.

I have also lived in Chile for 3 years and in Costa Rica for almost a year.

I might post more about that coming up!

More backstory: when LJ community was real community

Kind of related to that last map:
I spent a lot of my life in Portland, including my 20s. LJ was actually formed in Portland, and incidentally to that, LJ had a big usergroup, called "DamnPortlanders", where we talked about Portland related things, and also non-Portland related things. It had one of the best things about an internet community---some people were just watching, while others were more of the core group---a few dozen people actually became friends in real life. We had monthly meetups. There were also, based on the demographics of the time, shenanigans, with the safety of being online giving people an opportunity to meet.
(Interesting note: there was one woman who I met online on LJ in probably 2005-2006---and in 2023 we finally met in person and went on a date!)

I don't think lightning will quite strike twice as far as how online communities form, but I do know that online communities can become real communities---and there was a feeling, both giddy and cozy, that I associate with the 2000's and LJ.