Same here. .tk was the only one back then that allowed you to have your own domain name without subdomains. My memory is that:

1. freeserver.com/~userna <- This was the first URl you could have, sometimes with something inside another directory (freeserver.com/users/u/~usernam).

2. username.freeserver.com <- This wasn't that bad but it didn't look professional. Tripod used to do this.

3. username.fs.com <-- A service with a short domain that provided free subdomains. This was similar to 2 but shorter. Some of them allowed you to chose the domian part.

4. username.tk <-- Among all the free options, this was the best one by far.

Then we grew up a bit and started paying domains :')