Letter to Self

Taken on a Connectix QuickCam 

One summer, 23 years ago, I was sitting in my bedroom, at my computer wondering how to fill the time. It was my summer vacation from high school. I was about to start my senior year in 12th grade.

With the windows open, I filled the summer air with a vast library I'd built of MP3s using, of course, WinAmp.

With both parents working, no one was home. It was too hot to go outside, and for one reason or another, I wasn't out with friends. On those typical summer days, I'd usually work on a variety of coding projects. Video games, websites, applications. But on that lazy summer day, nothing really captivated my attention.

Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the tedium, but I decided it was time to look for a new WinAmp theme. And, as I scoured the theme library, I came across a skin that did something completely new. Instead of the typical volume slide that all other skins had, this skin had a volume knob. A rotating knob like a real stereo. How were they pulling that off?

Downloading the skin, and unpacking the file, I was excited to find the volume slider consisted of a series of images, with the slider at a slightly different level of volume. In the case of the knob, nothing was sliding - the knob's position remained fixed, and instead the graphic was just rotated by a set increment.

It was so obvious, but also so ingenious.

And suddenly, I was motivated to make my own skin and use this technique.

I finished the skin, uploaded it, and watched over the years as it reached over 20,000 downloads. Ultimately, the skin met its demise just as WinAmp did. And I thought that's where the story ended. Just a fond summer memory.

Fast-forward 23 years and I came across a blog post by Jordan Eldridge, about all those wonderful WinAmp skins of the late 90s/early 2000s. It's a fascinating post - having salvaged so many skins, Jordan shares some interesting Easter eggs he founded embedded in the skins. Photos, games, and more. Who would have thought - WinAmp skins could one day become a beautiful little time capsules of the past.

It made me wonder: had I ever stuck something within my own skins? Being one to write letters to myself and then hide them with the intention of finding them years later, it was entirely possible. But, then again, given it was something I was publishing...maybe not?

Looking through those salvaged skins in the WinAmp Skin Museum, I was excited to find my own skin was part of the ones saved. I quickly downloaded the file and unzipped it with excitement.

No strange Easter egg, no memento. But a simple readme.txt with the lines: 

"Skin created by Alishah Novin on a sunny July day, when noone was home, and he was bored."

Reading those words, I traveled back in time. I am back in my high school bedroom. 17. About to wrap my final year as a kid before becoming an adult. My last carefree summer (though, it wasn't carefree - I was anxious to get good grades, submit my college applications, and nervous about all the uncertainty that would follow.)

23 years. I want to say it went by quickly, but it honestly feels like a lifetime (in every positive sense of the word.) I wish I could reach backwards through time - send a readme.txt back to 17-year-old me.

"Skin downloaded by an older Alishah Novin, on a sunny July day, 23 years later. It may not have felt like it mattered back then, but it matters to me today."