Since migrating the last parts of my Gmail account into MobileMe, I’ve been spending what little free time I have rereading old e-mail. And I have to say, it’s fascinating. A few things I’ve learned about myself through old e-mail:

  • The oldest message in my Gmail account (though by no means the oldest e-mail I’ve sent or received) is a message my middle school Spanish teacher forwarded me with the subject “Words women use… men don’t understand!!” This, of course, is further validation that everyone in my life knew I was gay before I did. Moreover, the person she received the e-mail from — an assistant principal at my school — included a personal note when she forwarded the message: “I can’t believe I’m at work this morning!! My nephew and his bride were at my house until 2:00 this morning. I am still drunk I think!!” Quality role models.
  • I sent a number of e-mails regarding an upstairs toilet in my parents’ house that, apparently, made a “really loud whining noise.” I can’t imagine why this was such a huge part of my life, but it even appeared in my 15th-to-16th birthday FutureMe letter to myself.
  • Speaking of FutureMe, I found it (and a ton of other links that I liked to e-mail around) on this website FAZED that used to be relevant before all the other link-sharing websites (eg. Digg) became a “thing.” High on my personal list of other websites that used to be the shit and are now totally inconsequential: Plastic and everything2.
  • Someone I think I went on a date with in 2005 — and who I also exchanged a number of very lengthy e-mails with, on the subjects of: Best Buy, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the movie), and Ben Folds — recently resurfaced, in the form of a close friend running into him again. Small world. Also, I signed one of my e-mails to him as “One whose eyebrows wave every which direction,” which, huh?
  • A lot of people used to get very upset with me for not replying to e-mails promptly enough. For that matter, they still do.
  • Lurking in the not-so-distant past was a message asking me out on a date with the subject line “wraps for dinner?” which sounds sexy but totally wasn’t. Bonus points for anyone who remembers the failed relationship in question.
  • Oh, and there was this old photo that I found back when I worked at FAU scanning books that I e-mailed to myself, which remains one of my favorite images:

Any further e-mail gems will be posted as they come up.