Finally managed to do a little maintenance and updating on my music site, Mellifluous, and my ASMR site, Unwind. Mellifluous now boasts 5 “hot new” songs from my collection, audible through YouTube videos, and Unwind has 67 new featured videos! Wooo!
In other news, I am still hard at work on my Seto Kaiba fansite and hope to release that later this year if time and health permit. (I’ve been facing possible surgery so things have kinda been crazy around the house :/ )
WOOT! This is a momentous day for WithinMyWorld.org–for the first time, she’s sporting a mobile-friendly and responsive PARALLAX layout! (If you don’t know what parallax is or why anybody would geek out over it, let’s just say parallax is the reason why my site looks so sleek and scrolls so pretty with all the different images. LOL!) I am in love with it and can’t stop scrolling up and down, thinking, “OH WOW I HELPED MAKE THIS???” (If it hadn’t been for that demo I found, I would have never gotten it to work!)
The network page has received a matching facelift, though it was a bit rushed–I couldn’t figure out how to make the silly divs obey me, so I had to use the trusty table tag again. (Hey, if it ain’t broke in most browsers, don’t fix it, right? ROFL) Also, I added a page about this new design over at Disguises, my layout archive.
Y’all, I am SUPER EXCITED about finally being able to make this work! As always, let me know if a few code bugs slipped out while I wasn’t looking, and I hope you enjoy!
Tomorrow’s Calling
about the world of Animal Crossing
This site was a HUGE challenge for me to accomplish, especially with all the heartache of my mother’s worsening illness over the last year, culminating in her passing in April. I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever feel like making anything creative ever again. I also struggled with HOW to do this site; it kept suffering from “wiki-itis” as I simply retyped horrible boring lists of basic info I found in my research. I often felt trapped somewhere between “informing viewers ABOUT the world” and “using the info to ANALYZE the world.”
Thus, this little site would not be possible without the aid of these fine folks:
With their help, I was finally able to break out of “wiki-itis” and create a fitting tribute to the world of Animal Crossing, with full-bodied descriptions, analyses, and even the use of music in unexpected ways. It blossomed nearly overnight, from an embarrassment to something approaching a magnum opus. It’s not just a site about Animal Crossing’s world anymore, but a site about our OWN world, too, by extension…I’m still amazed that any of this came out of my head when my brain cells have been so scattered! But as with most of my sites, this was truly a group effort and I’m so happy I tried this. ♥ ♥ ♥
I know WMW.org has been quiet for the last month, and there is a reason for that. My mom passed away on April 25th, 2017, after a very long and painful battle with multiple illnesses; the last eight months of her life were misery and agony, and she wanted to be with her father, brother, sister, and mother again. I prayed for her to be healed and whole and happy again…and she is now. Even though I miss her terribly, I would not wish for her to be imprisoned in her injured and ailing physical body again. But it was very hard to work on anything site-related when I pretty much knew she was not going to be here much longer, as you can imagine.
I don’t know what I will be able to get done here throughout the rest of 2017…things are still strange and empty here at home, and grief is a weird ebb and flow of tides in my head. But I did want to share with you the playlist I made for Mom’s Celebration of Life–I wanted others to know my mom through music, because she loved music. I hope you enjoy it. <3
Hey, cool, I did manage to update again before the end of the year! LOL
After scanning through the Visionary Sphere Network, I’ve come up with a list of things I’ll be doing (hopefully) in the coming year. Doing this month-by-month list really helped with motivation this year, so I’m counting on its continued success in 2017!
Overall 2017 Goals
Month-by-Month Goals
Twelve years ago, I bought a domain for myself, not expecting much more out of myself than to create just a few fansites in one fandom, plus maybe a domain hub like so many of my fellow mid-2000s webdesigners. How wonderful it has been to see this little place grow to become a haven for all my various interests, plus a few informational/educational advice sites as well!
2016 especially has been productive and accomplished, with several new and relaunched sites; November 2016 itself became busy as I started my November Nouveau program of random productivity (LOL). Though I don’t know quite yet what I will be able to accomplish in the last few days of the year, I look forward to what 2017 has in store for the Visionary Sphere Network!
(Bonus: happy birthday to me! 😀 )
My December plans are a bit more scaled back due to some unforeseen circumstances (see below), but I still hope to finish Absentia. Let’s just say it was a good thing I had so much energy and got so much done in the early parts of November!
I am, however, on the mend now, and I’m looking forward to completing the site for my favorite Doctor before the end of the year. I actually have a few new articles I’d like to add, too!
As for what happened to me these last couple of weeks:
Trigger Warning: Health stuff, possible grossness
Starting on the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, I got hit with terrible jaw pain…which evolved into terrible tooth pain on Saturday…which turned out to be a severe abscess in my left bottom jaw, finally discovered on Sunday morning. A cracked tooth that had been heavily filled and rebuilt in February had never been quite right afterward, and unbeknownst to me, decay and infection had continued under the filling. Despite this, the tooth had suffered in silence before the infection finally spilled out into my face, swelling my cheek and jaw and making it impossible to eat or even clean the tooth without stabbing pain. Neither cold nor heat would soothe this pain; only 800 milligrams of ibuprofen would even begin to handle its throbbing.
I thus spent most of the Thanksgiving holiday cradling my face, taking obscene amounts of Valium and Advil, and sobbing/screaming my head off, especially at night (occasionally contemplating whether bashing my face against the doorjamb would help anything). But thankfully, after 2 (TWO!!) trips to the emergency room, I finally got antibiotics enough to start easing my suffering, and got a root canal in the tooth two days later. The panic I felt at having to have a dental procedure done was eased much by my awesome dentist (and his suggestion to take a couple Valium before the appointment); even though I hate having dental work done, I wanted to be free of the pain more than anything. The procedure took 2 hours and 15 minutes (the poor tooth was apparently very bad off), but after the numbing shots I didn’t feel a thing! (It’s oddly great to say the numbing shots were the worst part LOL)
Now I am about 6 days post-procedure, and I am able to eat almost normally again, brush my teeth without yelping, and able to sleep on my left side without discomfort! Whee! (And it’s SUPER nice to not be restricted to pudding, soup, and mashed potatoes LOL)
Whew, it’s November already! I still have a couple of projects in the hopper for 2016, but here’s what I’ve accomplished this year so far:
Wow, I didn’t think I’d accomplished QUITE that much this year, but it’s been a busy 10 months at WMWorg! March was my most productive month, though–weird!
Looking ahead, this is what I plan for November and December:
Whew, looks like a lot of work (and it probably will be, not going to lie), but I’m excited about it too–I’m not going to actively build any new sites or do any huge revamps in November, so I’m going to be able to do more little tasks around the domain. Check back for updates!
In the days since the release of Version 15, I’ve gone back and edited a few things here and there, such as:
Ahead for WithinMyWorld.Org during this summer (time permitting):
Stay tuned right here or at @wmworg for the upcoming changes!
HOORAY!!! After months of puttering around behind the scenes, Version 15: Passionate Light is ready to view and explore!
Here’s some of the new sights to see:
Let me know what you think about version 15 in the comments or the guestbook! I’m really happy with it so far! (And as always, if something is displaying strangely on your machine, it’s a good bet that I have no idea it’s happening!! Currently v15 has been tested in the Windows versions of IE, Firefox, and Chrome.)