もういちど: しけん、しゅくだい

Hilarious~!

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:06:57 GMT

It's been a while sine I've written on this account. Mainly because I've been too busy doing everything else that I haven't paid attention to this account or online journals altogether. No offense, I love writing... just that I usually have to be in the mood at the right place/time to post nowadays.

So to pick up from where this account was left off (apparently April 2012). We end up getting the townhouse of my choice (the one mentioned in the last post that we were going to the open house for) and I'm very glad that my husband end up liking this one more than the one that was pulled off the market. Overall better neighbourhood and closer to amenities. I also like the fact that it has more avenues to travel... whereas the other place only had one exit to town, the current home is nestled between two main roads.

Surprising to think that we have lived in our new home for about 11 months now. It still feels like yesterday when we acquired the place but I really haven't looked back since. This home is milestones better than the previous apartments where we lived, and I like the sense that we have much more flexibility and freedom while still having the strata to look after basic maintenance. I would say money well spent.

Looking back to this account, I still like the layout of this very much. Honestly, I like all the layouts to my online journals more than my personal website. Yes, I could change it but... what's the point. I'm not really into web design as much as I used to, and it's getting to the point where I think journal designs define aspects of me better than what I can personally code. The website reflects the true me outside of the internet: simple, obscure, maybe not entirely quiet but otherwise fairly private.

Journals pull out different traits of me, whether it's my happy journal, the angry venting journal, the home improvement journal... the list goes on. All I know is that they all point back to my fairly boring website which is my hub. If I were to be retired, yes... of course I'll go back to designing anime pages like I aspired to do so when I was in my late teens/young adulthood. For now, I really don't have the time and energy to do so... and if I have the inkling for both, it's usually spent trying to improve my home and garden or be with my family; basically improving my life outside of the world wide web rather than in it.

Besides, websites will be around when I expire from this world... not so much with leaving impressions with my beloved husband and my two cherubs known as my daughters.

Purge and organize

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:24:10 GMT

So today was the first day off after dealing with a long six-day shift with extra overtime on the first day. I managed to change the sheets and did all the laundry, folding that batch away. Unfortunately, I still have a long way to go as far as donating more clothes away to Salvation Army thrift shops. However, I've made very slow progress since the last time I posted on this journal. I have donated my used clothing away, a pair of shoes, a few college textbooks to Salvation Army. Magazines were donated to Royal Jubilee Hospital patient cart for inpatient use. I still have a long way to go as far as cleaning; I am planning to vacuum, throwing out that old bag of trash, and make a recycling run.

I'm slowly organizing my entire wardrobe in case if we find the ideal home to move away from the apartments. Downsize is the key, and honestly for me the thing that takes up the most space are my clothes. I have to figure out which to keep and which ones must go (either worn out, unfit, or little use). As far as other piddly items, they can be boxed away. Everything else is just mop and vacuum.

Honestly I am uncertain how this home search is going. I can't quite say what's going to happen until after Saturday. One house and one townhouse I want to take a close look at. The one townhouse that my husband wanted got pulled out of the market to pending status. Sucks to be him for not being serious about it until it's too late. I have zero sympathies for his loss, however if I ever want to be out of this rut, I need to show a bit more compassion and pray he will either like my two choices or else wait further for heaven knows what. I think as far as the real estate hunt goes, I'm really starting to lose my patience.

Guilty as charged?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:04:48 GMT

Finally, I have three days off where I could breathe and get some organizing done. However, I feel that today was not accomplished to my complete satisfaction. Sure, I washed three loads of laundry, folded two loads of that and put them away in drawers, spend time with my kids, did all the recycling runs, threw out a bag of trash, turned some overripe bananas and slightly expired milk into a pitcher of milkshake I downed, scrubbed the toilet, seat, and lid sparkling, vacuumed the hallway, kitchen, and bathroom, sorted all the soft plastic and Styrofoam and had that bagged for a recycle drop off tomorrow, made an awesome rice cooker's worth of black bean fried dace & Shitake mushroom congee, washed all the dishes... somehow I feel that I could've achieved much more today. Perhaps I'm being too hard on myself, but it feels like the home is still in a complete mess. I know that the Great Wall of China wasn't built overnight but I really want the place to look nice, not like if a bomb hit it. Oh well, another day I suppose.

Minor accomplishments

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:25:01 GMT

So it took a bit of work and lots of configuration but I'm able to redo the color scheme of the journal plus add my custom mood theme in. I don't mind the service's existing Sailor Moon mood icons but I already have that set going on my DeadJournal account. So I decided use the onigiri-themed icon set that I once used for either GreatestJournal, uJournal, or ParaJournal? I don't remember specifically, least it's one of the defunct LJ-code based sites I used to have. It's a shame those services disappeared. I used to have beautiful layouts for them. It's all gone but it's still in my head if I want to reproduce them. Thing is that I am pretty happy with the current layouts so I can't complain.

Speaking of complaints, one of the many reasons I wanted to get back to online journals is the fact I'm getting completely fed up with Facebook and the amount of garbage users in general have to put up with. Sure, it's convenience but not even good convenience at that. The security settings are flawed especially with each devolving update. Ads are everywhere but what pisses me off to no end is the endless data mining. Even if you don't put much detail into the Facebook profile, it still queries for all sorts of personal information to use the service. It's like, "Eww... when did it need that much information?" I can see the new owners of LiveJournal are trying to head in that direction, but thankfully no such luck. However, their introduction to the exact same games on Facebook is an impetus for me to one day close that account if it gets out of hand.

Speaking of home organization, I have been good until this week when I am feeling a bit slothful. I feel bad because ever since my husband bought that nice Zojirushi rice cooker, he's becoming a much more productive spouse by cooking awesome food, washing dishes better, and cleaning a bit more after himself. I can see he's starting to penny pinch more and eat right. I didn't necessarily gone worse but I have become less productive in the cleaning this week (perhaps because I'm not used to having nearly four days off in a row) but I'll get better. I have to, or else I'll lose face as a part-time housewife.

Test first public entry

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:39:58 GMT

Checking this service out because it seems like a solid LiveJournal code-based journal service with userpic options comparable to the former GreatestJournal before it went defunct. 50 userpic for an early user status is fairly solid as I used to upload that much on GJ; only problem was that huge avatar set I had then in the early 2000s probably went MIA because I had several rig changes and I know some of my files were not backed up correctly. Well, that and usually the other current services don't allow that quantity either. My LJ and Blurty only allowed 6, my DJ about 15.

Template selection is very limited (I didn't have to customize one in my LiveJournal account) but at least it allowed S2, which I cannot say the same for either Blurty nor DeadJournal. So I hope this will suffice for now. Full credit of the header image of course goes to the talented fan artist Ryutaro Hino. I've been a fan of his work for over a decade now.

Now the question is what would I use this journal for? Both my LiveJournal and DeadJournal are long-time private accounts (the former a positive one and the latter very negative). My Blurty one seems like an old public catch-all account, by which I may end up using more frequently if I decide to purge the devil social media which people call Facebook. I honestly wouldn't be using that service if it weren't for certain unnamed individuals who are adamant that my presence needs to be there, ugh! So this account might as well be a more progressive journal... but what of? Well, how about home organization? Since 2011, I have been on the continuous battle of declutter so I can reach towards a more minimalist lifestyle. Less doesn't have to mean more, especially if things just sit around and collect dust. So there you have it. It has been decided!

That and for others who want to reserve this username, dream on. You already have your Xanga, MySpace, Dreamwidth, and InsaneJournal whoever you are. Not my fault if you leave those accounts to rot and collect cobwebs.