August 23, 2009

Windmilles V4.3

So I finally decided to upload the template.

It's still a little buggy and not quite complete yet. There's more work to be done.

I haven't been able to fully dedicate myself to developing the new template so there are still a lot of touching-up to do. The sidebars' backgrounds aren't set yet and I still need to fix the CSS codes for the widgets.

The background images also load with delay, so there's just text and black background at first before all the images load. I'll either have to optimize the images or find a better place to host the images.

Give me another month or so and I should be able to finish the temple... though, by then, I probably would have another design in mind...

August 17, 2009

Windmilles V4.2

Windmills of the Mind version 4.2 is almost finished... almost...

This is roughly how it should look like. Of course, it isn't complete without the text and all, but that's how the layout's gonna be.

I wanted something uncomplicated at first, seeing that version 4.0 was a little too grungy, dark and a little bit crowded. I ended up creating something a lot brighter, a little less grungy, but still quite complicated. Although it felt pretty okay so I decided to go on with this version.

I'm doing the design section by section and widget by widget, simultaneously editing the images while coding the CSS template then testing it in seven - yes, seven - different browsers (IE6, IE7, IE8, Opera 9, Google Chrome, FF2.5 and FF3). I'm still not sure how it would work out once I upload the template to blogger, though.

August 13, 2009

Angst: Part 2

Like a lonely child lost in the wilderness, I wandered wary, ever watchful. This world, though I have walked for years, felt new and raw to my senses. The air I drew into my lungs, the sights that fed my eyes, the constant shifting of cold and heat on my skin, and the bittersweet taste in my tongue were not the same as the ones I had been used to. It all felt so new because for the first time I walked this earth and I was complete, my feet on the ground feeling its coldness against mine, my ghost at last in my shell.

Gingerly, I took my first step. The earth felt cold beneath my feet and the coldness swept to my spine making me shiver.

Shivering from the cold? I asked myself wryly, how could a soul as cold as mine shiver from the measly cool of the earth?

Yet, in all truth, I knew what the answer was even before the question was asked. The answer was something I have always tried to deny, a fact that I tried to escape. The answer was the reason why I built my sanctuary and stayed in that limbo. The answer was something more than I was able to admit to myself because it meant opening up a world of possible pain and suffering, of sadness and hurt... a world of reality.

Still I continued to ignore the ever-whispering truth, denied the nagging fact and dismissed the answer I had always known as foolery.

I took my second step, more gingerly this time. One toe landed first, testing to see if another shiver will run down my spine. The ground was still cold and the chill still had the undesirable effect. Still I went on...

Feet flat on the ground, the cold travelling from my heels to my spine, reaching my head, I felt nauseated. I never realized there were too many sensations a simple walk on this earth could bring. I felt the tingle of dust between my toes, the roughness of the earth beneath my feet, the silky caressing of the breeze on my skin. There was a plethora of intruding sensations and I felt them all and then some.

The sudden surge on my senses was astonishing, it made me want to withdraw... run back to my sanctuary. Only there was no sanctuary left for me to return to. I had no choice but to face the new world I have braved to enter.

Quitting...

I'm exchanging my Marlboro's for Chupa Chups... gawd! I still can't believe I'm doing this.

August 11, 2009

Windmilles Version 4

I've decided to, once again, change the whole theme of the blog. I've already created the header but I have yet to complete the other design elements that I'll use.

This is going to be Windmilles Version 4.

I know the design might be a little passe, the grungy victorian look is already a couple months old, but I've been seeing a lot of these themes lately and I thought it looked quite nice.

August 10, 2009

Of Moods, Inspiration, and Blogging

I know there's a lot to blog about lately. With all the many things going on around the world, one'd think I'd have tons to write about. So why the hell have I not been updating this blog of late?

Why? I don't really know. A lot of things have been keeping me quite busy; work, friends family, etc. While I've been able to keep my online self alive through social networking sites, forums, instant messenging, blah... blah... blah... I haven't been able to keep this blog alive! My last post's over a month ago and that wasn't even a full blog entry but just something I posted at random.

Why haven't I been updating this blog despite the fact that there's been a lot going on?

Alright, let me muster some excuses... err... answers...

In no particular order:

  • I started this blog not because I wanted to rant and rant and rant... This blog was supposed to be my lab for experimental designs... (Yeah, right! Who am I kidding?)
  • I've been too busy with so many things to have the time to write anything meaningful... (Heck! I have the time to go through Facebook, chat with friends through YM, get my post count to more than 12,000 posts in my favorite forum, but I don't have time to blog?)
  • My job is using up my braincells that I don't have enough creativity left in me to write about anything. (This has probably got to be the lamest excuse I have thought of!)
  • I haven't been in the mood to write about anything. I seem to have lost my connection to the world and I couldn't care less about what's happening around me. All I seem to have been thinking about was me, me, and me! (Now this is one good excuse...)
  • Lastly, I haven't been feeling inspired lately.

Notice the period in the last excuse? That's because I feel that that's the real reason for all this nonsense... I'm not inspired...