Five Years Unknown

Hey the Unknown turns five years old this week, sort of. We gave our first reading of the hypertext novel on September 5, 1998, at a labor day party that was well-attended by labor activists, at Mike's backyard in Urbana, Illinois. The reading is still online, and I think the RealAudio files still work. Five years, a lot of liquids under bridges over troubled waters, many texts later. And also William is turning middle-aged, like 34 or something so I should say Happy Birthday and also just as a side note I should have said Happy Birthday to Noah Wardrip-Fruin, who just turned 16 last week and finished his third MIT Press book the same day as he got his driver's license (drive safe and remember that the car is a lethal weapon — Puhleese!). But don't expect me to dedicate this blog to Birthday wishes, please. Sorry. That would get insane and I have dozens of friends and relations. Dirk, for instance, is also considerably older now. There's gray in his beard if you look close. Frank is wiser, and I've more or less stayed exactly the same as I was that day. Time flies even faster than hypertext.