It was the year we remembered having been taught Roman numbers, but not recalling enough to decipher Enigma’s album called “MCMXC”, which simply means 1990, the year of its release, and the year when I started this fictional timeline last year.

This is the breakdown of those numbers:
M 1000
CM 900 (1000 minus one tenth)
CX 90 (100 minus one tenth)

Because I’m now in 1991, instead of 1990, I added a Roman “I”, meaning 1.

So welcome to this new year 1991 Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”.

Where an 18 year old Lauren lives her new virgin timeline, breaking with a previous iteration of this project where she had an affair with Bear.

In this new timeline, Lauren has chosen to remain a virgin instead.
She did meet up with Bear 13 months ago in December 1989.
And as far as casual lovers would go, he would have been a great one for her first time sex, but she changed her mind.
And she declined the offer she had largely invented herself.

She simply changed her mind.
Just a good first time sex was no longer going to cut it.
She wanted more.

And now, January 1991, she still stands by that decision, even though it has not been an easy year for her. It’s fair to say not a day has gone by without her reviewing her decision and wondering if it had been worth it.
And if there is a deadline when she will lower her standards.

The answers however, are always the same.

Yes, it was worth it.
No, there is no deadline on which she will lower her standards.

But she has a copy of the 1990 Enigma cd and has realized this is what came instead:
A lover in the form of an all-male Gregorian choir.

She can even hear the electric guitar, because at heart she is still a hard rock fan.

“The principles of lust
Are burned in your mind
Do what you want
Do it until you find
Love.”

 ~Lauren
An unexamined life is not worth living

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The series Harteveld 2026*
And these Behind the Scenes of my 1990 timeline.
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About: the 1991 project

For an indefinite time, I will be moving to the, I assume fictional, timeline of (re-)living 35 years ago.
Making the current year 1991, and I’m switching to a new shorter format:
The number of characters will be my fictional age on this timeline x 100.
This means until summer 1991 (2026), they will be 1800 characters, representing 18 years old.
And after that 1900 characters.

This project has a predecessor, where I wrote as if I was in 1994 – 2000;
But this was mostly a literary (diary) undertaking.
I’m cutting back deeper into time, and do not intend to keep a diary. It is the living in the past itself, that is the art.

In September 2025 I came up with these goals, covering the first 8 years.

My 8 year goals are:
📵 to live a 20th Century life
🎸 to be a 20th century-inspired Rock journalist.
But on the current timeline.
So this means I make money creating content and speaking about rock music and 20th century things 
📚 publish Lauren Harteveld work 2010-2025
📢 to make the Lauren Harteveld legacy visible

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