I joined in 2004, but I'm pretty quiet these days and I've mostly been a lurker here anyway. In my first post here, I wrote about my obsession with learning everything I could about PO. I'm still keeping up with the news to a certain extent, but I'm not obsessive about it and I'm no longer trying to "spread the word" - most people I've encountered don't seem to want to know about it anyway. I'm still a doomer, albeit an older and somewhat more jaded one.
The biggest changes for me since I joined are 1) the intentional community/homesteading effort I was involved in collapsed, and 2) my beloved partner of 14 years dumped me for a woman he met in an online game, and then moved across the USA to be with her. Both were huge losses, and the grief I've experienced has changed me in ways I'm only beginning to understand. Turning 40 and facing some chronic health challenges has changed me profoundly, too. The theme of my recent past has been Loss with a capital "L."
I don't spend much time focusing on PO anymore, even though my views on it haven't really changed. I certainly don't regret any of the prep efforts I made - storing water and food, learning to shoot guns, etc. And I'm even more glad to be a non-parent who's debt-free, frugal, and also car-free (I'm in Portland, OR, a great city for car-free living). But I'm a city-bred geek and academic; I'm really not cut out for the homesteading, farming, or intentional community life, and I've made my peace with that.
My post about the story of our "escape effort" that collapsed on the launching pad can be found here:
http://www.peakoil.com/post280058.html#280058.
Great idea for a thread, BTW!
-Thora