Current Mood: bored & angel & numb

Long story short, I broke resirem.com. I had to wipe everything off my domain (or, that’s the method I chose). I think the only good thing about this whole ordeals is that I finally get a WordPress on my front page, something I’ve been wanting to have for eons, rather than having a general front page.

Sigh. I’ll be slowly piecing the wreckage together.

So I was sitting here thinking about web design. I have been working on websites and graphics for somewhere around 9 years. I’ve seen a lot of websites, and have been disgusted by most of them. I’m known for my strong opinions, so I figured I’d just toss my opinions out there for you to chew over. Having all this experience as a browse-aholic and- webmistress ought to help give you an idea of what is generally acceptable and what is not.

The DO NOT’S:

- Teeny tiny fonts are bad, even on your stupid little pixel graphics. If you don’t want us to be able to read these things, I suggest you don’t put any font there at all.

- While we’re on fonts: Font color is one of the most important things in web design. What I see on a lot of these cliquey, pretentious websites is, oh I dunno, a purple background with lavender font. Um NO. This is the first thing that usually makes me hit my back button. You should be using WHITE or BLACK font, depending on your background color. There’s other times you can get away with other colors, but generally speaking, you can’t. And I don’t care if that particular shade of purple matches the little hearts in your Brittany Spear’s header graphic.  Just NO!

- Pop up ads. Need I say more? Well I probably do… not only are these annoying as fuck, but some of them carry things like, oh I dunno, VIRUSES! And maybe even a TRACKING COOKING or 3. Apparently some people say they are making $50 + a day on pop ups.  Who in their right mind is going to be clicking around on “YOU’VE JUST WON A MILLION DOLLARS!” These are badbadbadbadbad!

- Hidden navigation. What the fuck is the point of someone going to your site and reading through it if you’ve got your navigation hidden? You know what I’m talking about. Do you know how long it took me to figure out that those 3 x 3 pixel, unlabeled squares were actually part of the navigation? I found that out by accident, people!

- TyPiNg LiKe A MoRoN. It makes you and your site look stupid and un-cool. I’m not an elitist, but I’m also not an easily amused, single minded 13 year old giggling girl that thinks its cool.

- Stolen/Unoriginal Content. A few weeks back from the date of writing this, I discovered glitters. Then I figured out what glitters were for. Yay, cool! How neat is that? I found a butt load of said glitters at a website and that was all fine and dandy. Then I got stuck in this loop of websites who also offered glitters. I ran across 5 or 6 sites that had the same- exact glitters. Who stole from who? Does the original creator of these glitters even know that they’ve just been ripped up the ass? The same goes for everything else. You’re all ripping off of everybody else. Stop it.

- Stolen/Unoriginal Layouts. Basically the same idea as the stolen/unoriginal content. One you start traveling that loop of cliquey Glittery/pixel sites, guess what? They all look THE SAME and they all have THE SAME kind of stuff. I know it’s hard to be original sometimes these days, but that doesn’t mean you should -try- to look like everybody else. God/Goddess/Whoever made us all different.. right? RIGHT?!

That’s all I have to say for now on this matter.

I’ve been busy.  And tired.  And irck.  Stupid cold weather.  I’ve never been in cold here in Oregon like it has been lately.

But besides that, I’ve kicked my art mojo into gear, and switched my crafting to something else for a bit.

<strong>Behold! The latest craze! Artist Trading Cards!</strong>

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But yeah, that’s enough of that.  If you really have to see more (you do, right?) just Google ATCs, or visit <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=259.0″>Crafter’s ATC</a> section, or the <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.atcards.com/”>ATCards</a> forum.  Or, better yet, check out what I’ve been making at <a target=”_blank” href=”http://resirem.com/funky/?p=120″>Funky Cat Studio</a>.
The ATC Shiz: Basically, they’re tradeable art, in a mini form.  As a general rule, they’re free.  And I think they just  might be addicting.  Like crack, for artists!

<strong>Panties!</strong>

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I’ve started in on sewing panties.  I bought stretch, cheap fabric, and basically cut around an existing pair I liked.  I “finished” them off by just doing a straight stitch around the perimater (yay geometry!).  This resulted in loss stretch, to help hold things in place, and it worked out like I planned, but depending on how I sit (I’m a pretzle) they kinda cut into places.  I’ve had undies that did that before, so no biggie.

I started a 2nd pair today, but they turned out disastarific indeed.  There may still be hope, but I think I’ll start fresh tomorrow.  I think I know what I did wrong :)

<strong>FFXII!</strong>

Iiiiee! So addicting.  Its lacking the personable characters that I so do love and the nifty story line… but how the FUCK can they follow up on FFX, really? That was the best game in the universe, all around, and makes everything else those people make look like a rap video.

The new battle system completely rocks, though!

And, thats it from me for now.  I hope somebody out there decides they’d like to jump into these ATCs with me.  I’m getting sick and tired of being alone in my hobbies :-/

Okay, I forgot to post this.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Last year, Mollie’s group of ladies that meet up here at the house every Wednesday for whining and cupcakes (oh yeah, meditation, hugging and naughty jokes!), we decided to go on a bit of holidayish break and meet up again after the new year.  So the last meeting of ‘06 we decided ho do a white elephant gift exchange.

I’d never heard of this before and thought it would be a cool idea.  So when the time popped up to put our names in a basket and pull someone random out to give our gift to, I panicked, realizing I’d forgotten that we were going to do it.  So I ran to my room in search of something to give.  I had no clue what it would be but I knew that I would know it when I saw it.  This story isn’t about the present I gave, but the present I recieved, so I’ll skip to that.

Louise drew my name, and I got some fudge (goodgawdsdrool it was GOOD), and a little book of quotes.  Inside she had written a note to me.  ME.  She KNEW she was going to get my name, randomly drawn from the basket, and had written a memo to me in the book ahead of time!

And I Love quotes! This book, she said, she had for 30 years! O.o Its love related quotes, something I would have never bought for myself, even if it were a penny, or taken home if I found it laying on the side of a street.  But coming from her, it was a priceless gift.  So I’m going to keep it for 30 years then pass it on to the next one who needs it.

Doesn’t it make you wanna go “Awwww!” or maybe just “meh”?

*edit*  I forgot to say that every lady that night seemed to get exactly what she needed at the time.  It was such a nifty feeling.

Everyone agrees! So, you have to admit it, too. 2006 was the Year of Suck.

Anyway, I didn’t personally do much for Christmas/Yule/stupid holidays. Mollie wanted a hat, so I made her one. And I made Jay a birthday card, and bought him some popcorn-in-a-bucket, ’cause he’s a Christmas baby. And I STILL haven’t finished Whitey’s scarf. but that’s what he wanted. But I got him a watch to hold him over til I finish the scarf.

I was interviewed for the local paper about National Novel Writing Month! It should be in the paper this Thursday, I think?

I’m also half-looking to give my ‘keets away. If they continue their good behavior, I might keep them. Vash’s constant screaming has been causing me a great deal of stress, and it can be heard throughout the house most of the time. I just HAD to get the one ‘keet that was a screamer! >.<

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I sought help at the parakeet forum I frequent off and on, but they mostly say I’m not giving them enough attention. WTF? If I paid any more attention to them, I’d have to strap them to my face. But, I’ve tried to kick it up another notch or two, and finally added those manzanita branches, and loaded one with toys. They love the branches and I even half-taught Vash how to ‘whistle’. So for a couple days now, it seems to be working. But if it stops working, or if I just go into a coma from paying too much attention to them, then OUT to the curb they go!

But really, who knew that trying to ignore the screaming would make it worse? Seems to me that would give them the clue that they don’t get what they want when they’re doing that. Apparently with cockatiels, ignoring makes them stop.

Ah well.

Oh, <a target=”_blank” href=”http://resirem.com/funky/”>Funky Cat Studio</a> is being redone a bit. A friend sent me a camera so I can start selling my stuffs online. I started taking pics of everything I’ve made since my other camera died. I’m only writing this right now ’cause my batteries are recharging.

Speaking of photography. I did photos at HASL’s New Year’s Eve party. Photo Den donated the camera and equipment so I could print the photos on-the-spot. I want one of those photo printers! Iiieee!

But anyway. Here’s me, and a certain someone. I blurred her out ’cause its none of your business :-p

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