blogging – Enchilada Sunrise

Here’s the Thing

Some time ago, I hit the point where I just don’t like the theme I’m using any more. In fact, it’s now gone all the way past “don’t like it”. I hate it. H-a-t-e it. I’ve been away from blogging for, you know, years. I have a stack of draft posts I’ve written over that time (some no longer relevant, of course). The main reason I didn’t publish them was, ridiculously, because I don’t like the look of the site. Ewww, can’t put my shiny new words on that thing!

It’s not like it’s difficult to change the theme, either. But using a pre-made theme means it’s not going to be to my exact specifications! Whatever those are. Ugh. So I’ve been meaning to make a new theme, but I haven’t been well enough, and blah blah blah. I may as well just slap a pre-made theme on and deal with it. And if it’s near enough, make a child theme to tweak it. I can’t hate it more than what I’ve got right now, right?

Teenage Dreams

It’s my blogoversary (or my blog’s blogoversary, or whatever) today, and slightly scarily it’s now 13 years old. I’m expecting hormonal tantrums with it banging around the house and yelling that it hates me any day now.

They grow up so fast!

And now that I’ve remembered to post here again today, I shall have to make some effort to blog… well, if not regularly, then at least more often. I’ve had quite an eventful few months, so I dare say I’ll be rambling on about that.

Seven hundred and twenty

Yup, this is blog post #720, believe it or not. Mind you, if I manage to keep this daily blogging lark up, I’ll be cracking on for 750 by the end of the month. On the other hand, that is over the space of 12+ years, so it’s not that much really.

So what was I going to ramble on about today? I don’t exactly remember, which isn’t very helpful. Umm. I’ve been playing around some more on the Javascript track at Codeacademy, which is fun. I’ve done some terribly exciting filing and paperwork, and some even more thrilling housework. I’ve also changed the plugin which auto-posts to Plurk when I blog. Go me!

… oh. But I forgot to hit the publish button on here. Oops! That generally helps.

Stuck already!

Or, How To Be Extra-Specially Rubbish at Blogging, by Lou.

Oh dear.

So, it’s all of day two of this challenge thingy, and already I’m kind of stuck for what to write about. So I’m writing about not being able to decide what to write about, mainly so that I’ll have something posted today at all! Also, in the hope that if I keep typing, my fingers will come up with something that my brain has stalled over. Or something like that.

Actually, I think it worked. Because it’s not so much that I can’t think of anything to blog about, as that I have several things, but can’t decide which to start with. So instead, I’m going to ramble about WordPress plugins. Fascinating, hmm? Specifically, it’s the plugin that autoposts to Plurk that’s giving me trouble – yesterday it did a weird triple post with the temporary page preview address in it instead of the address for the published post. When I had a look on WP.org, I discovered that the plugin hasn’t been updated for ages, so that’s likely the issue there. There are some new ones that should do the trick instead, so I’m going to install one of those instead. Although since those also post to Twitter and FB (which I’m currently using the Jetpack module to do), I think I’ll swap over for those as well. Assuming the new plugin works the way I want it to and all that. /ramble.

In other news, I really want to go to the Nine Worlds con. Really really really really really. That would, of course, involve me Leaving The House and Going To London, and hard stuff like that. Not to mention paying for the ticket and hotel, so. We’ll see. But I wanna!

The Good, The Sad, and the Dusty

I know, I know. It’s been ages. Again. I won’t try to update on everything that I’ve been up to, so here are five things: three good, one sad, and one dusty.

The Good.

1. I have a new blog! What on earth for, when I hardly ever post in this one, you may ask? Well, this one has kind of got too unwieldy for me, so I’m taking out the ‘Review’ categories that I never use, and narrowing the focus of this blog to be… well, what I actually do post about, which is knitting and bipolar, for the most part. So no real changes, except to how I think about it. Never mind, it helps in my weird brain. So the new blog, Frozensoul.net, is my review blog. So far it’s all book reviews, but it’s for whatever I feel like reviewing. TV, movies, music, podcasts, gigs, events, stuuuuuff. I’ll probably go back to posting general life stuff and fandom rambling at Dreamwidth / Livejournal, as well. There may be some crossover there, though.

2. I’m going to be an auntie! My brother and sister-in-law are expecting a little girl this summer. Yes, I am knitting. Mwahahaha!

3. The doctor (psychiatrist) reckons I’m well enough to start back to work gradually! So I’m going to be looking into the Permitted Work scheme, and speaking to the Bridge-builders worker at Together, as she has info about all of that. So far, the vague plan is to get back to freelance web design part time, and see how that goes. Fingers crossed!

The Sad.

My lovely fuzzy Xandermog has moved on to hog the big sofa in the sky. He was really ill last year, and he never completely got back to full health, although he was happy and active and pesty up until he got ill again last month. It was all very quick, and he went peacefully – lovely Adam the Vet did the necessary while I was stroking Xander. It’s very strange and quiet to be mogless, even though he wasn’t a noisy cat most of the time. But I’d had him for over 11 years, so I spose I was used to his presence. I shall probably find a new furry dictator to arrange my life fairly soon.

The Dusty.

I’ve been spring-cleaning. Or really, I spose it’s getting on towards summer cleaning by now! It’s an ongoing project. My allergies aren’t impressed, but I’m sure they’ll be happier with the final result. I’ve sorted out a whole load of things that I was hanging on to for no good reason – hairbands and scrunchies when I’ve had my hair short for over a year with no intention of growing it again, and so on. Old make-up, random bits of paper and fabric… so much clutter! I seem to have all manner of things that I’ve stashed away “just in case” they might come in handy some mythical day. But no! I need to get rid so that I can do the re-organisation of my living room that I’ve been planning for months. I will get it done!

It’s my Blogoversary

It’s my blogoversary today – eleven whole years since I started this blog! It’s gone through some changes in that time, of course. Webby tech has advanced and all that. And of course I haven’t been able to blog steadily throughout the whole time. But the last eleven years have been fairly definitive for me in a lot of ways, so I’m glad I never seriously thought about closing the blog down.

So, happy birthday, blog, and here’s to many more years… but first let’s see if I can re-establish the blogging habit during 2012!

Time to Talk

I’ve made a pledge on the Time to Change website:

“I pledge to help end mental health prejudice. I will talk about my own experiences with bipolar disorder and anxiety to help break down stigma.”

The project is not only for people with a mental health condition – it’s for friends, family, professionals, and anyone interested in the issues, really. So check it out!

In which I have a revelation

It has just occurred to me that when I’ve been working on a post for this blog (on and off, but still) for nearly a week, then that post is probably really too long and it’s time for me to stop and think again. I mean, really. So, I’m going to break it up into two or three posts instead, and be much calmer about the whole thing. It’s only a blog! And that’s my little bit of life perspective for the week. You’re welcome.