Two things were set into motion on Saturday, August 26th, 2000 that would forever alter the life of one jobless young Los Angeles area gaysian twenty-something named Ernie Hsiung.

The first was an ambitious little lark called SurvivorBlog, a somewhat nepotistically cast venture that featured some semi-regular Little Yellow Different linkees such as Kevin from Fury, Asian journalist du jour Min Jung, and hottie among hotties Gerard Reyes.

The second was an aimless little lark called Crushing Krisis – otherwise known as my blog.

I’m not sure what the true aims of either project were at the time, but i could venture a guess. SurvivorBlog was an attempt to pair the red-hot Survivor phenomenon with weblogging for fun and profit. Crushing Krisis was meant as a way to participate in the personal publishing revolution, and for me to have a place to bitch and whine on a regular basis. As luck would have it, both Sblog and CK were added to Blogger‘s directory sometime later that week, and the rest, as they say, is history.

(History being that we were deadlocked as #1 & #2 on PowerBloggers for almost all of our second week of existence, which was totally ridiculous, because i was trying to outblog 10 people all by myself. And, even more ludicrous i mostly won. Ha! Now, back to our story.)

Such was my introduction to Ernie and his addictive string of web reality games, which have brought him hundreds of adoring daily fans even more dedicated than myself. Of course, I despised him and his unholy creation with a passion throughout its entire original run because it represented something that i wasn’t yet a part of – something i never thought i’d lay hands on: relative blog-fame and a semi-attentive semi-regular audience. However, by the end of it I had stopped by so many times to check out the competition that I was thoroughly hooked, and so when SurvivorBlog2 rolled around I sighed a deep sigh and submitted a submission, and so began my entanglement with Ernie.

I don’t think i ever seriously expected to be cast on SurvivorBlog2, but somehow Ernie thought i’d push someone’s buttons, and so into the mix i went. And, out of the mix i came with double my normal visitors, having been cast as that annoying self-righteous boy who did nothing but write moody songs and talk about his girlfriend. After i got the boot life went on, i broke up with the girlfriend, and Ernie was off having fun as a nominee at SxSW along with various other sBlog cast members. I relegated myself to the background, content to post on PSB2 and occasionally commenting on Ernie’s site with the hope that people would recognize me and that Ernie might appreciate my contribution.

That all changed less then a month ago when i casually asked Ernie if he had any commenters lined up for his newest web-venture PuppetMaster. In that month i have seen Ernie procrastinate, speculate, celebrate, and hyperventilate while i’ve had some of the most fun i’ve had in my entire year of blogging. And that brings us up to the present: i would’ve never met Philo had i not hit on him for an entire month of PM and, somehow, when he decided to give Ern a little helping hand, he decided i was someone who should represent the cause.

August 26th is a less than two weeks away, and in the intervening year i went from knowing Ernie only as the creator of my most despised enemyblog to an actual friend who i’m planning to visit sometime in the near future. When he blogged about losing his job i was aghast, hoping that it was some kind of wicked PM crossover stunt, but alas it’s the god’s honest truth. In the wake of this news Philo has created a funddrive called ErnAid. It might seem like a bit of a light-hearted little lark, but know that this little lark really does come from the heart. I consider myself a fan and a friend to Ernie, and as such i didn’t hesitate at all to give a few dollars. If you consider yourself either of those things, think about doing the same.

For more reasons to donate (including exclusive photos and a new song), check out my stint as guest-host of ErnAid tomorrow @ East/West.