I got online in 1996 when I was 32 years old.

I. Fucking. Loved it. Just loved it. I thought it was the best thing since whatever, even though I knew nothing about it at first. Getting used to it was not an issue. I got used to it the same way you get used to anything...by using it.

I think the first thing I did was go looking for gaming sites. Okay, maybe that was second, porn and smut was probably first.

I think Tomb Raider was popular right around then. That game might have been one of the first 3D immersive open-world games out there? I forget now. I found a site for that game and learned some new shit about it. One of those gaming sites had the first BBS style forum I ever joined.

It took a while for forums like this to start appearing, if I remember correctly. I found them to be an improvement over usenet, ICQ-type chats and shit, just because the format is easier to work with IMO. I had a great time talking to people all over the fuckin world. Some of them were/are absolutely batshit fucking insane, but some of course, were/are very cool. And everything in between. I made many online friendships, some of which have lasted all this time.

Did I mention, also, porn? Yeah.

I'm an avid reader in many subjects since childhood, and so of course, the internet is a shiny, irresistible portal to all kinds of information. Yes even then, when all we had was 56kbps modems and Netscape and AOL. (Christ. And, Hamsterdance. I can still hear that fuckin music in my head.) I sucked up everything I could, as if my brain was starving. Science! Technology! Medicine! Porn and Smut! Different cultures around the world! News from around the world! Weird shit by the ton! What a fuckin smorgasbord.

And, of course, porn and smut. Need I say more?