The only reason people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.

I’m a website Nazi. I like eye candy. Web 2.0 graphics and simple design that allows content to shine while not feeling like you are being slapped in the face by a decaying trout. I like different without being tacky. I’ll close a blog simply because it’s header image is a blend of Avril Lavigne from 12 different angles in the same outfit. Even if it’s the most profound, well thought out, earth moving piece of literature, it’s just too painful to have to scroll past that image. The same image I’ve been looking at since 1995 only then it was a still innocent and cocaine free Britney.

And I feel like a hypocritical asswad for writing that given the state that aflux is in right now. There are times I come to the site and am actually a little embarrassed. It’s not that the design isn’t nice because it is. It’s a beautifully coded theme but it’s not MINE. There is nothing original about it at all. You can google the name and come up with thousands of pages of people using it. Yet I’ll sit here and judge YOU for doing the exact same thing.

I guess this is all leading up to the fact that I’ve realized this now and am ready to do something about it. I’m ready to comit more time to making it into something that you, the reader, will enjoy. Before now I’ve always been about me. I blog for me and that won’t change but in the times that I’ve let the site sit idle for weeks between posts and watched the site stats fizzle and comments come to a halt… I really miss you guys! I’m not about having the most comments, or visitors, or how little the number of my technorati score becomes… I miss YOU GUYS. I miss interacting with the people that for whatever reason, seem to want to hear what I have to say. I miss writing. I don’t expect to become the next dooce, or have the following that RSM has and honeslty, I don’t think I’d want that. I’ve only been hatemailed a handful of times and I’d like to keep it that way. I’ve seen the kind of spazzed out cocksuckers that even my tiny little corner of the web can attract and I never want to deal with ALL THAT.

I have a design started. It’s a much bigger undertaking than anything I’ve attempted before and I can’t believe how much things have changed in the world of web deign. It’s been a good two years since I’ve designed and coded something and it actually feels really good to “get my feet wet” again.

This is also me saying publicly that I’m going to try and stop the asswadishness. I’m not going to judge a site based on it’s color scheme or how painful the sting is as the trout whips across my face over and over and over again. I’m going to be better about returning comments. Because if you have taken the time to actually read and respond to me, the very least I can do is take the time to get to know you better and let you know that I care.

PS – Hopefully I’ve kissed ass enough that you don’t hate me for the new text links. I’ll be writing more about them very soon. Please don’t hate me?

17 thoughts on “The only reason people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.

  1. I dont hate the text links, im actually used to them as they are on all the other websites i go on. I cant wait for your new layout!

  2. I know exactly what you mean. I keep saying to myself that I’m going to make more time for my blog but I never do. Lets hope you have better luck than me and I can’t wait to see the new look =).

  3. The layout is going to take awhile. So it will probably be around three weeks to a month.

    And the text links haven’t actually started… yet. I’m going to try them out as a trial basis and see how it goes. If you guys hate them, I’ll get rid of them (depending on how much money they make me. heh ) πŸ˜‰

  4. I do my best to return comments, but sometimes it is just impossible. The layout will be so tacky that I can’t even concentrate on the blog no matter how hard I try. Sometimes, the layout isn’t all that bad, but the blog is. Either it’s incredibly boring, or just really badly written. It’s understandable for you not to return everyone’s comments, but it’s nice that you are at least going to try.

    I’ve gotten a few hate comments in my time. It’s annoying, but they are LOL-worthy at the same time.

    I signed up for text links a while back but for some reason it didn’t work out. I put the code on my site and all, but no text links ever showed up. I don’t know what happened with that.

  5. LOL its ok, its allowed to be purposeful! I really am not offended. I was just like, “Oh sure, she does it the day after I switch to a premade thats all overly trendy..” πŸ˜‰

    But honestly, Miss, link who you want! No pressure!

  6. No, I seriously can’t believe I didn’t have you linked! I think I took it down when your site was hacked. I’ve followed you around the interwebs for YEARS AND YEARS and I’m not about to stop now!

    :heart:

    πŸ™‚

  7. I spent two days customizing the God of Gates theme. And then, this year, I decided I want to go to a three-column format. Gawwwwwwwd. I tried adding a third column but I’m not that web-savvy so I scoured for days until I found a three-column layout that was livable and then I spent weeks trying to get it to work on my testblog and then? When I imported it into my regular blog? All the little kinks and small things that pissed me off? Were fine. ARRRGH.

    Anyway. I can never, ever change my website’s layout because of how much time I spent on it. I’m like that person who still has porn from thirty years ago just because I paid for it, dammit. (And I know people like that, haha.)

    I can’t wait to see what layout you put up!

  8. I use a pre-made theme because my coding skillz are lame and working and going to school full-time just doesn’t leave a lot of time. I’m looking into getting a custom theme, but those are surprisingly hard to find without dropping a lot of benjamins. It does break my heart every time I log onto another website and see they are using the same theme as I do. It’s an icky plagiaristic type of feeling.

    I totally agree with you on skipping out on blogs that use celebrity header images. IÒ€ℒm sure there are a lot of people that would gladly take an Avril header image that is at least unique over my totally-non-unique theme, but when a 20-something uses celebrity images in a non-Perez Hilton fashion itÒ€ℒs hard to take anything they write seriously.

  9. i’m the same way sometimes about other people’s blogs. it wasn’t until i installed wordpress that i realized how much of a pain in the ass it is to create a truly creative design without first looking at other themes and templates and having a few crash and burns. love the blog, by the way. one of my new daily reads πŸ™‚

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