WordPress

27 September 2014

I broke a promise to myself.

What is more: I can’t remember when and where I made this promise. I’ve just spent a frustrated few minutes quickly sifting through my social media platforms for the promise. I couldn’t find it.

This is extremely frustrating. I do not like not remembering things.

*harrumph*

I also don’t like breaking promises. Which is why I make very few promises. I hardly ever promise anyone anything. If I promise you something, then you can be sure I’ll give my head to make it happen. Metaphorically, of course.

Now that I’m writing this, I’m not even sure if it was a promise. Maybe it was a resolution. Nah. I think it was a promise.

Damn.

This is really frustrating. (Not the breaking of the promise. But the not remembering where I wrote it on social media. And the not being sure whether it was a promise or not.)

I can be a maze of confusion and contradiction sometimes.

*sigh*

Curious observation: being in a state of frustration drastically reduces my attention span. However, it also produces a strong burst of energy and really concentrated focus, with which I am (rapidly) producing this blog post.

Interesting.

I can already feel my interest in finishing this blog post waning. So as a pre-emptive act, I’m going to finish this post now.

Love,

Frustrated Val

p.s. A note on the aforementioned search for the promise. Twitter is great for that. Facebook, however, is not very search-friendly. Come to think about it, it’s not very anything-friendly, is it?

p.p.s. I should also probably tell you what this promise-breaking act was.

*guilty pause*

I started another blog.

*clears throat*

Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking. *cough: serial blog starter!* But I can justify it I swearrrrrrr… And not just with the pleasure of customising a new theme, which will probably take up my whole morning tomorrow… *mental jumping up and down with hands in air*

p.p.p.s. I am heading towards a life enslaved to WordPress aren’t I… Ah well!

26 September 2014

I have a problem.

I don’t know if you as a fellow blogger are familiar with this problem. It’s getting quite serious in my case and I’m wondering if I should start worrying.

I was customising the theme on this blog earlier and couldn’t help feasting my eyes on the various themes (the free ones, of course) on offer. And it was all I could do not to start a new blog there and then. Just so I could use a new theme.

I’m starting to think I’m a serial blog starter. Not a serial blogger. A serial blog starter. I am addicted to the kick of seeing a new blog go live – shiny new theme, shiny new font, shiny new colours, shiny new content, shiny new functions, so on and so forth.

SO SHINY.

As of present, I have 3 blogs: 2 live ones and one in the incubator. And I don’t think adding to that number is the optimal course of action. I can barely keep both sites alive as it is.

BUT LOOK AT THOSE THEMES.

*mental salivation*

So far, I’ve been able to contain my blog-starting urges. I expect this urge to weaken as I become more busy with things that make money. I’m not money-obsessed by any count, but one must earn one’s living. Especially at the ripe adult(?) age of 25.

I’ve even turned this urge into a blog post! I consider that an achievement. A small one, but one nonetheless.

Please be happy for me.

Love,

Suspected Serial Blog Starter

 

 

 

 

13 August 2014

I’m not loving the new WordPress interface. 

There, I’ve said it. I really don’t like it. It’s too… blue. Not that I have anything against blue. I just preferred the white of olden days. (Was it even white? I’m not sure. It could have been grey… But it most certainly wasn’t blue.) 

Apart from being too blue, the interface has also gotten more complicated. If you’re going to give the blogging experience a makeover, you should make it more simple. And I think using the drop-down feature on the options (on the right hand side) has made it anything but. 

My biggest gripe with the new interface, however, is with the removal of distraction-free writing. I loved that mode. I want it back. *sniffs*

Is there a way for me to get the old interface back? I’d really like that.

I’m sure I’d get used to the new interface eventually, as one does. But in the meantime I feel so powerless, and that’s not necessarily a nice feeling. 

O WordPress, hear my prayers.

I’m going to go sulk some more in private now.

Apologies for being such a bore and complaining about everything. Well not everything, but you get the idea.

Take care!

Val

 

17 March 2014

Note: as a result of WordPress unceremoniously ceasing to work mid-post yesterday (17 March), I am obliged to continue the rest of the post today (18 March).

I don’t know if it’s just me or if it’s the case for everybody, but every day spent at home feels the same to me.

Today was one of those days.

Knowing that I have at least two 5am mornings coming up this week, I permitted myself a lie-in. Which means I got up at 9am which, for me, is a real treat.

A lot of my day hangs on when I get up. And to me, any time between 7 and 9am is just right. When I wake up after 9am, I get the feeling that I’ve wasted half my day. It’s completely irrational. And this irritation with myself (for having wasted half the day) then stops me from enjoying the other half of the day I’m actually awake to enjoy. I know. I should really do something about that.

And if I wake up before 7? Well, that usually means I’m low on sleep, given that I hardly ever go to sleep before 11pm.

How many hours of sleep do you need? My magic number is 7. Which is why I have a real issue with 5am mornings. Let’s do the maths. Getting up at 5am means I must be in bed well before 10pm (accounting for staring-at-phone-on-bed time). The thing is, I never am.

And for a reason completely out of my control: traffic.

(OK. Sometimes it’s just me being glued to the pages of a particularly gripping book or the screen of my not-so-gripping-yet-addictive phone, but that doesn’t throw a good light on my self-control, so yes. Traffic.)

I know. It sucks.

So yes, knowing that I have to wake up at 5am tomorrow (and the day after), I decided to get up at 9am – not so early as to prematurely deprive myself of sleep, not so late as to prevent me from getting sleepy at a suitable hour.

It is now 8.39pm. So, ideally, I should be in bed in less than 90 minutes. To get my 7 hours.

Will I be in bed in 90 minutes? I highly doubt it.

First, I haven’t had my dinner. Now that I think of it, I bought too much food, but that’s too late now. Wait, I can just ration off a portion and… throw it away? Nah. That’s no good. Must be considerate to those with no food to eat. (Though I’m not sure how what I do with my food surplus affects them… better not get into that.)

I’m not going to go straight to bed after eating this excessively large portion of food, right, so I’m going to be doing stuff. Most likely continuing to watch an episode of HIMYM (that will accompany my dinner). And what usually happens (when I watch an episode of something) is that I start wanting to watch an episode of other things (maybe New Girl). So on and so forth.

You get the picture.

And this is where WordPress decided to bail on me. How rude.

On the bright side, writing this ex post allows me to tell you what happened last night, and to remind myself to never, ever underestimate the power of a book.

So, this is what happened:

– I discovered that the latest episode of HIMYM was actually due to air yesterday, in the US, which meant – of course – that it was not yet available to watch on the GMT++ side of the world.

– So I watched New Girl over dinner. Just one episode. Because the Internet was really slow and attempting to download another would have just reduced me to a pile of frustration.

– Without blog or series to distract myself, I decided to go to bed, with a book. This was probably about 10pm.

– Lo and behold, I couldn’t stop reading the book. Ended up finishing it. And went to bed well after midnight.

– Woke up at 5am this morning extremely undecided about whether to wake up or lie in.

In the end, the better me won and here I am, awake and writing. I even managed to throw in a 5.7k outdoor run this morning. I’m extremely proud of myself. As you can probably tell.

Now, I’d better go. Revision calls.

Until later,

in this case, tonight,

Val