Been a while since I've written a blog post, huh? Two years, I think? Well, reason for that was that my website before now was kind of a mess, and awfully annoying to work with. As you can clearly see now, that's no longer the case! I've spent a couple days reworking my whole site with a new template that I like much nicer, simplifying some of the pages, and adding some new stuff too! If you're curious about all the details you can just go check the new Changelogs page.
Anyway, there's still some parts that aren't quite finished, which are marked with a nice little "Under Construction" blinkie on their pages. Those two being the new additions, my writing hub and character repository. I decided to add these two sections because I found the templates made by 44x50, and thought that it'd be fun to try out! Sure, I do have a Toyhouse account I could use instead, but if I'm being honest, I haven't touched that account in years, and don't really want to in the first place. It was always annoying to use, especially if you ever wanted to be fancy with your pages, and requiring a subscription to change any CSS stuff was just, kind of shitty. I might end up hitting the Neocities storage cap of 1GB, but if I do, I'll start paying for Supporter, it's a worthy cause and gives me plenty of extra space and some nice new features, too!
Other than the new website update, uh, it's been a few years! A lot of things have happened, some good, lots bad, the usual, it feels like. At the start of 2025 my mother ended up contracting breast cancer, right before we were planning on finally selling the house and moving, so we had to cancel ALL of that. She's recovered now, but still has plenty of lasting health problems from it, as well as new medicine she has to take for the next 5 years or so. Otherwise things have returned to normal at home, other than my brother getting a job, and going to college soon.
In my case, I'm still unemployed. Been putting out applications near daily for years but, nobody will hire me. I think I'm just doomed to live off disability income for the rest of my life. Probably always have to depend on someone, too, whether that be mom, or a close friend, as someone to help with paying bills and all that. It's kind of depressing, and the misery factor of being like this is really starting to kick in as of late, but that's just the hand I was dealt in life, so I just have to take it and do what little I can to try and be happy.
What I've been doing to stay happy has basically been, well, sort of a technology detox? I haven't cut myself off from technology, obviously, but I'm becoming much more mindful of how I use my technology, and I no longer rely on just a few devices to do everything for me anymore. Sure, I still have my phone and computer as my main devices I use daily, but I also now have a small bag of things I carry with me while going out that serve all sorts of purposes! The biggest one is my e-reader, a Kobo Libra Color! I've been wanting to get back into reading books again, so I bought that, and then got a new library card, and have been using it to check out books to read on there, and if I really like it, I buy the book so I can read it anytime without limitations! Other than that the bag just has some chargers, a small first aid kid, flashlight, and my keys. Used to have a small journal but I just use my e-reader for that instead, much easier to organize.
I've also bought a camera! I got the Campsnap Pro, and it's my favorite thing I've bought in a long time. It's always in the outer pocket of my bag so it's easy to pull out for taking a photo at any time, and it's the perfect resolution to capture those 2000s era vibes I love so much from older digital cameras, without having to buy a genuine one off eBay for god knows how much! Has a couple filters too, love the vintage ones it has, both warm and cold temperatures, great for different seasonal vibes.
To top all this off, and to have an ending to this blog, the last thing I bought and am currently waiting on arrival is a Pebble Time 2. It ships in April and I'm really excited for it! I've always been fascinated by smart watches but they all felt like they were trying to do too much, and I didn't want another screen to stare at and destroy my eyes even more. So, since I already got an e-reader with an e-paper display, I figured a watch with one would be perfect, right? Thankfully Pebble makes those, and they have some minimal smart watch functionality too! Perfect for someone like me!
That's about it for life updates that I'm comfortable sharing online. Hope you enjoyed reading, and hope you like the new website design! If you like, you can sign my Guestbook before you leave! I read all of the messages left there and love seeing people care enough to leave one. Thanks for stopping by!