By the end of the 1994-95 school year, I'd decided that online was were I wanted to be and had decided "Multimedia" would be my major. Financial aid, however, had another idea and I didn't return for the 1995-96 school year.

In August, 1995, my original site, Justin's Koool Page, got profiled in NetGuide and the number of visitors per day skyrocketed. I got letter after letter telling me that he thought he was the only normal gay guy in the world but I had shown him otherwise. I realized I was doing exactly what I wanted now. I was changing people's perceptions of themselves and making being gay something easier to deal with.

Yet Justin's Koool Page wasn't a "career." I mean, it took a lot of time, it was changing lives, but it was costing me financially and I couldn't keep up. As usage increased, it became increasingly difficult for me to pay for the site's bandwidth, and so I created the Members Edition.

Somehow or the other, I decided that instead of taking what was on the site and charging for it, I'd create a whole new "bonus" section for people who could contribute. In that way, no one was worse off for having not paid, but those that could contribute and who did would be rewarded.

In the course of all this, I received a letter from a guy in California asking if I had an agent. Of course, I didn't, but the thought of being famous was more than I could resist. Through that and several other happenings, I decided that Boston was no longer where I wanted to be. California, Cement Ponds, and Movie Stars sounded more to my liking, so I applied for admission to the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and was accepted.

In Fall 1996, I began class there and have just finished my third year (with one semester to go before I graduate). My goals with Justin's Koool Page and Justin's Life have changed from back in 1996. The Members Edition no longer exists, and Justin's Life has been spun off into its own more media-friendly entity. Both Justin's Koool Page and Justin's Life are entirely supported by other online ventures of mine and the goal is no longer to make money from them. Instead, I hope to make money through other online business deals to fund Justin's Koool Page and Justin's Life so that they become household names. I want to be able to buy that full page ad that says "It's OK to be gay" with the www.justinslife.com URL at the bottom.

When I grow up, I want to be a household name. I know that'll never get me the Mr. Modesty award, but the idea of celebrity enchants me, and I have to say that I very much enjoy being thought of as a role model to gay guys out there trying to deal with their own sexuality. I want to show the world that you can be gay and just the same as everyone else.

I know I'm still light years away from being a household name, from being known to those without computers, but the fact that I met someone randomly in New Orleans and they asked if I was "the" Justin has let me know that I am having an affect. The letters that come and tell me how I changed the writers' lives let me know that my life matters.