Bitter Pills, Breathing Spaces

At last, finally. The end (almost) to nearly a month-long journey of deciphering which HTML codes to customize. My new blog theme is up. How do I look? XD

I find that I'm happy with the finished product despite having to download a packaged theme as my jump off point (credits can be found at the end of the page). Customizing it -- changing the banner, removing the navigation tabs, adding more gadgets, expanding the main page -- was the hard part. Among all the things I customized, the banner is what I'm most proud of since it features some of my favorite photos that I've taken using my trusty 5-year old digital camera, Sue. I didn't create it in Photoshop; ol' PowerPoint was there to lend me a hand. Good thing that my layout skills are still intact. Several years on working on presentations became helpful when I took this task. The current layout will serve me for quite a long time -- unless I decide to change it again. However, I need to take my HTML studying down a notch. It's time I laid it to rest for a while. It's not my bread and butter anyway but hopefully, the rest won't be too long. I just need to work on the other facets of my life.

Anyway, here's hoping you'll get used to the new face of my blog. While I admit that it still requires a bit of tinkering, it is intact nonetheless. I'm happy that I've accomplished something. A little goes a long, long way.

I previously shared that I plan to do some changes for my blog. And I did one just right now: putting an Easter Egg in one of my previous entries.

I learned about the concept of virtual Easter Eggs from a friend of mine, Jacke, who at one point commissioned my services during an online game within another community she's part of. The online game was like an Easter Egg hunt: you need to find clues within a stage of the game, solve the riddle presented to move on to the next round. There weren't any points for winning: you only get dibs for solving the whole riddle first. When I was helping her out, we were both scrambling for the answer to the riddle. Although her team didn't win (sad), the experience was a fun thing and that became one of the major inspirations for the developments I plan for this blog. Even for my LJ blog, although my current layout is a keeper.

There are times that I recommend certain things when I blog. The most recent is about my entry regarding Sara Bareilles. Now, I've decided that if and when I rave about something -- whether it's music, books or movies -- I'll put out a download link within the post. Files will be random: I will not say what it is. To add to the challenge, I will not make the link too obvious. Like an Easter Egg, you need to search for it. My only clue: watch out for my post labels. If the phrase "Easter Egg" appears, that's your cue to search for the download link within the post and enjoy what I shared. As my first gift, perhaps you should look a few posts down to my Sara Bareilles entry. If you find the link, lucky you. It may take a bit but I hope that when you get the Easter Egg, it will be worth it. Cheers and happy hunting! =]

Or so I think... Hopefully, maybe...

Like the turning of the new year, you stock yourself with new things: clothes, shoes, bags, books, etc. Sometimes, you fix or alter stuff like an ill-fitting office ensemble (which reminds me, I need to have some of those brought to the shop). Even your hair-do and kikay kit would need to be updated.

Having this in mind, I'm thinking I'd go be a girl on my blog and change its layout. The task alone is not going to be easy for me, as I plan to make/experiment some minor edits with the template(s) that I plan to download. The aim: to make it a bit more personal. Good thing, I have a brother who's a programmer. He taught me a tool that I would need to understand and make the necessary customizations: Firebug! The tool may be passe for some but not for me. Goodness, that's how late in the game I am. Why? Ridiculously long story. I was under a rock for quite sometime that I lost a good portion of my cyberlife. Anyway, moving on...

Amidst my excitement, I am actually daunted by my own aspirations on how my blog should look like. Now, after understanding the benefits of Firebug, not so much. So if you start seeing something strange on my blog, I'm sorry. My bad. Think of it as my fumbling attempts to bring out the mad scientist in me. I just hope my blog won't look as bad as Frankenstein once I'm done. And I promise to post once I'm out of my laboratory. XD