Installing Windows 98
Setup is copying files to your hard drive. Please wait while Windows configures your new system.
Copying SYSTEM.DAT...
// 1995 — age 5½
I was five and a half when I started using Windows 95.
Not just casually using it — obsessing over it.
I was fascinated by operating systems before I even understood what an operating system actually was. There was something magical about clicking something on a screen and watching the computer respond to intention.
It felt like entering another dimension. A hidden world behind the glass.
↖ open the other icons, then run Install Win 98 when you're ready to upgrade.
_
> PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED
> LEADER SERIES v3.0
> ____________________
> SELECT ACTIVITY:
> 1. TYPING TUTOR
> 2. MATH ADVENTURE
> 3. WORD GAMES
> 4. SOUND EFFECTS
> ▌
Before Windows, there was the VTech PreComputer.
Big plastic keyboard. Pixelated graphics. Robotic voices.
My first introduction to cause and effect.
Clippy and BonziBuddy: AI before we called it AI.
The Recycle Bin is empty.
(Nothing has ever been thrown away.)
my name is joshua and i like making websites!! this is my first one. i learned html from a book.
my favorite stuff:
🔥 AOL.com
🔥 Yahooligans.com
🔥 Candystand.com
🔥 Disney.com
🔥 Neopets.com
© 1998 joshua_e ✉️ joshua_e@hotmail.com
Status: Connected at 56,000 bps
That sound is burned into my memory forever.
The hope that nobody would pick up the phone and disconnect the internet.
// 2000 — age 10½
<html>
<head><title>Joshua's Site</title></head>
<body bgcolor="#000000" text="#00ff00">
<h1>welcome</h1>
<marquee>under construction</marquee>
</body>
</html>
By 2000 I wasn't just using the computer — I was making things with it.
Paint. HTML in Notepad. The first time I realized I could put something into the box that came back out as something other people saw.
Burning: Mixtape #14 → CD-R (700MB)
Track 7 of 18 · 4 minutes remaining
Please do not move the computer.
01. Track 1 ............. 3:47
02. Track 2 ............. 4:12
03. Track 3 ............. 3:33
04. ↗ Recorded from radio
05. ↗ Recorded from radio
06. Track 6 ............. 4:01
07. ↗ Recorded from radio
…
Burning CDs. Recording songs off the radio. Trying to hit record at the exact right second before the DJ interrupted the intro.
untitled.bmp · 240 × 130
// 2002 → 2008 — age 12 to 18
XP was the longest stretch. Middle school. High school. The start of college.
AIM became MySpace became Facebook. iTunes made every memory portable. RealPlayer. Burning CDs gave way to playlists. Limewire (we don't talk about Limewire).
I learned to make and ship — websites, video edits, mixtapes — on a machine running this exact theme.
This is where curiosity hardened into craft.
JoshuaE ✨
Mood: 😎 chillin to mr brightside
Status: in a complicated relationship with photoshop
* yes t-pain accepted my friend request
Video production became one of my deepest passions at a young age.
Editing became emotional engineering. Music syncing to visuals. Creating feeling through pacing.
"Most people saw software. I saw worlds."
RCT taught me systems thinking before I knew what systems thinking was.
Flow. Experience design. Economics. Human behavior.
Needs:
The Sims taught me how environments shape emotions and behavior.
// 2008+ — the shift
I switched to Mac and never looked back.
This is where the work matured: design, video, music, code. Adobe suite. Logic Pro. Final Cut. Xcode. Terminal.
Not just consuming the box — building things that lived inside other people's boxes.
Then something started shifting. I stopped only being fascinated by external operating systems. I became fascinated by the internal one.
The human one.
↖ open Notes.app to read more. Or run Update Internal OS when ready.
The two operating systems
Technology isn't neutral.
Every interface changes behavior. Every notification affects attention. Every algorithm shapes identity. Every platform trains consciousness in some way.
That realization changed my life.
I became obsessed with building technology that helps people reconnect with themselves instead of disconnect further.
in… out…
The new stack:
☑ Breath
☑ Attention
☑ Emotion
☐ Habits
☐ Identity
☐ Presence
☐ Nervous-system regulation
External tools. Internal practice. Same operator.
NOW · 2035
My entire life has been the evolution of two operating systems happening simultaneously.
Most people experienced the technological revolution passively. I experienced it intimately. I grew alongside it. And now, after watching technology evolve from dial-up internet to artificial intelligence, the question I care about most is the one above.
Meditation apps. Breathwork. Gratitude systems. Kindness platforms. AR photo experiences. AI-guided emotional intelligence. Micro-interventions that help people pause and reconnect.
Thanks for taking the long way.