Articles/Weblog or something

Articles

Welcome to my Articles page, which will be used as something of a blog/journal/personal thoughts-type page. Here you'll find my writings about things I like, don't like, or just find plain interesting. Read away!

October 15, 2019 - What have I been up to recently?

Wow, I must be the record holder for 'least blogging twenty-something ever', huh? My friends have even bestowed upon me the 'Boomer' title, due to rarely Tweeting, my straightforward '80s clothing and hairstyle, and my penchant for yacht rock and malaise-era cars. For someone who until very recently used a flip phone, I can say that I am the poster-child for failed millenial.
For a while now, updates on my site and blog have been somewhat few and far between. During the past few years, my life and self have changed significantly. Following my graduation from high school in 2015, the break from the stress, drama and peer pressure finally allowed me much-needed time to come to terms with myself as a person, and things that I had long kept suppressed from myself and others. When you have no one to show off and tryhard for, you have less reason to put up a front about who you are to keep up appearances. I began gender transitioning in June 2018, and in September of that year, I moved by car across the country to Los Angeles, California.
The difference in atmosphere and culture was immediately apparent as I drove into the city for the first time. Street performers serenading enthralled passers-by. Vivid storefronts with quirky signage and alluring neon. The streets were lined with people in abundance, unabashedly sporting their colorful hairstyles, as rainbow flags waved with pride overhead. For someone from a town of less than 3,000 people, a long dead cotton mill, a main street flanked by shuttered businesses, and Confederate flags flying from every other house, trailer, and pickup truck, for once in my life, I truly felt at home. Since arriving, I've made so many wonderful friends, whose support I couldn't have done without. Transitioning, as well as living in the city aren't always easy, but they were the best decisions I've ever made, and I wouldn't change a thing. So far, so good!
As for my site, I plan to update more often, and though I can't promise anything, I am in a much better state of mind and motivation than I was over a year ago, and will be working on things with a greater frequency. I've been on NeoCities for almost 6 years now, and I plan to stick around for many more years to come. And as usual, my website is always Under Construction!

October 31, 2017 - Halloween 2017

Missed my last chance to dress up and lie that im 14 to get free candy, once you get around 20 everything starts to go...then again, dark circles from perpetual existential stress and sleep deprivation negate the need for spooky makeup. Maybe I'll go as an 'edgy depressed millennial'. lawl.

P.S. I often forget this page exists

October 12, 2016 - Has it been a year already?

It's been a year to the day that I posted my first article on this page, and roughly a year since I created the Articles Page itself. As you can guess, it takes quite a while for me to figure out what to write seeing as this is only my second article post after a year. My life isn't really especially interesting, nothing really "daily post worthy" occurs in my day-to-day life, (it doesn't help that I live in a rather vapid small town of less than 3,000 and have few friends ;_;) so don't be suprised that I rarely update this blog. I guess I could update the site more, like post some more art or something, but then in addition to writer's block sometimes I have artist's block....I've been thinking about putting some animated works on the site in the future, but that's halted until further notice until I can get my animating setup completed...which I'll detail later in another article that certainly won't take as long as this one to come up.

October 12, 2015 - Color isn't "tacky"

I've heard it said about websites, clothing, and interior design, that somehow, use of assorted colors is "tacky" or "gaudy". I disagree with this. Color is beautiful, and adds an element of attractiveness to its applications. Since the past decade, I've noticed a trend in many websites where something previously vivid and eye-catching would be replaced with something vapid and neutrally colored. A good example of this is YouTube's channel layout, which before 2011 was fully customisable, with the option to change text colors, border colors, font styles, and background images and colors freely to one's liking. In early 2011, a new Channel layout was introduced, consisting of a far less customisable layout, with a permanently grey and white color scheme spanning all personal channels, with the only visual customisation being the ability to change your personal avatar and background image or color. I don't hate minimalism, or the use of neutral colors; in the right applications, it looks sleek and clean-cut, but its overuse is off-putting to me, especially when the color is stripped from something once vivid. A local example of this is the Eden Mall in Eden, North Carolina. Having been built in 1980, it was decorated with vivid paint schemes, a popular element of '80s interior design. After the recession, the mall was left nearly barren, and a remodeling process began sometime in the early 2010s, where several colorful elements of the mall were painted over. Here are some pictures, the first one from 2011, showing the original colored skylights, and this one taken by me earlier today.

It somewhat irritates me when cool-looking old websites are called "eyesores" because they use a lot of colorful elements, or someone is derided because their clothes don't match, or any bright-colored buildings/interiors get painted some boring color. I know this might seem like something weird to be peeved about, and I'm not sure I'm that great at writing articles, but that's just how I feel about that.