Introspection
This blog isn’t what I wanted Blackened Sun to be. It should be my personal “brand” and a portfolio of work that I’m actually capable of showing. The blog was going to be a part of that, not the primary focus. I figured the sooner I can get the site up, the better. The portfolio will come, eventually, especially once I actually manage to create some works that I’m allowed to show off. My current job prohibits that, and I’m not all that proud of my earlier works (I know I could have done them better than I did), especially considering my current works, and how much I have improved over the past 2 years. Not to mention the dark and gloomy aspect of the previous versions of Blackened Sun no longer fit who I am, and I wanted to change that and break away from the colors. I even thought of changing the name, but Blackened Sun has been with me for such a long time already (bought the domain on July 28, 2006, but I’ve used the name since before 2003).
I feel that I have really changed in the last 6 years since I graduated high school, for better or worse (I think for the better) and I wanted my website to finally reflect that change. The depressing “blackened sun” and black colors of the previous versions, which did indeed represent (in some extent) my inner turmoil, didn’t represent me anymore. I have finally broken away (I think) from that, and I have certainly become better because of it.
The past couple of years, due to a few circumstances I shall not discuss, I have really changed in how I perceive myself online. The once insanely public presence I kept online had turned out to be flawed, and I was reeling from it, and I completely shut down my two major active presences online (Facebook and Twitter) to private only. It really made me wonder about my presence on the internet. I cleaned up my presence, and made them public again, at least in part.
A couple months ago I went through my friends list on Facebook and removed all of those “friends” that were simply “oh, we went to school together and I said hi once… FRIEND” and never spoke to. They didn’t care about my life, and I don’t care about theirs, so why keep that connection active for absolutely no reason? I still add some of those, as I meet people, but this is as we expect to talk. In 6 months if the conversation dies down to absolutely nothing, I’ll probably remove them again.
I also decided last week to remove my accounts on a couple of websites. Shutting down the excess that have no effect on my life. I really don’t need all those pointless “What [something] are you?” apps on Facebook. I don’t need my Myspace account anymore (almost every important friend is on Facebook, too). I’m really turning into how I always felt: Cut out the excess that have no true impact, and only worry about the big things. Forget the minuscule, pointless things. It’s stupid to argue over the meaningless.
It’s a philosophy so many people tend to completely ignore. Drama and gossip is prevalent in high school. People complain about the small things, and bitch and moan, and all it does is get them stressed. Unnecessary stress. Even when a big thing comes your way, take it with a grain of salt. Don’t immediately assume the worse… It may turn into a small issue after all. When my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, or even when she was in the big motorcycle accident with her fiancé, I didn’t let it get to me, because we certainly didn’t know how bad it was going to be. Giving up when you’re diagnosed (“oh, well, I have cancer, guess I’m going to die”) is not a way to live, not to mention I do believe in the power of good thoughts, and if you give up on your will to live, you WILL have a higher chance of dying.
Don’t be disappointed that the reservation didn’t happen. Just shrug it off, and go to a different restaurant. Take every moment as it comes. Sure the future is important, and you should plan for it, but don’t stress yourself over it. I keep a good eye on my future, but I don’t plan my present 100% to get to the goals I have set for myself in the future. This allows change, allows you to “so, ok, I guess this path won’t work, and I’ll have to take another one” without freaking out over the fact that it’s not happening as fast as you want it to. Pixar’s movie Up has a great intro that does something like that. It involved a couple of characters saving money for a vacation, but they had to keep breaking into it to afford issues with their house, and life, that got in the way. But they never got sad over it, because “hey… that’s life… c’est la vie”… Sure, it sucks that you can’t do what you want to do, but at least you’re still healthy and alive, and in their case, still happily in love.
The population needs to start noticing the things that matter, and focus on the things that really deserve their attention. They need to understand that those small things are so minuscule compared to the larger picture, and aren’t worth fretting over.
I certainly think I have moved beyond that. I may have moments where I do get frustrated over the small things. If that ever happens while I’m around you… Please smack me and point it out. It’s so weird to put things in such a perspective where you realize that half of the stuff that you do on a daily or weekly basis truly have no impact on who you are and who you should try to be. You realize that you really have been wasting your time over such simple things.
Aaaaaand I’m sure this turned into another rant that makes no sense. Comments about this are appreciated!
A Collection of Thoughts.
Well. I purchased my first home on Friday. A nice two bedroom townhouse in North Tampa. Man, do I feel overwhelmed though, now that I’ve spent a couple days wandering around the place. I’m looking at what needs to be done, what needs to be fixed, where I need to paint (uhh… EVERYWHERE, almost?). I’m just realizing how big of a job I have ahead of me. I really have no motivation to do it, and that’s my problem so far, lol. I should just take the next month off of work (wouldn’t that be nice) and start taking care of everything.
I noticed that one of the toilets doesn’t work (the stopper when the toilet is refilling isn’t cutting off the water flow when it should be.)… and that I have a ceiling fan in the living room that is running for the foreseeable future until I get a step ladder so I can actually stop it…
Walking through the community on Sunday, however, I’m definitely very happy with my purchase, though. It’s very nice! I think I’ll get along well with my community, but we’ll see 
I’ll need to socialize! *gasp* I spent some time around the community pool with my cousin, he was my first “guest” to the house, even though it’s still empty. Hanging around the pool was great.
My trip to Canada and Massachusetts was absolutely awesome, and relaxing. Canada was so much fun, and so beautiful (I really do love Magog, just a small quaint town that’s still large enough for my tastes). My time in Massachusetts was basically read my books all morning, then go out during the afternoon/night. It was definitely relaxing, and much needed, especially since as soon as I got back into Florida it was running around while I closed on the condo and went to work. All over the damn place!
I really did have to go Cold Turkey when it came to technology while I was up in Canada. There was no way I wanted to accrue international charges. At first I was going to turn off my phone for the entire 3 days. But then turned my phone onto Airplane mode so I could at least play with the games on it, lol…
Of course, the running around is only getting worse as I realize everything that I have before me. I still have to make sure multiple places have my new address, not to mention some of those places I don’t even think have my new phone number (changed that like a month ago)… My old job in MA never contacted me back about my 401k, which is annoying, so I’m not too sure what to do there. But I guess it’s something I don’t need to fidget with right away.
I’m very relieved to finally have this blog back up and running, and I don’t believe any of the styling is out of place anymore. We’ll see how it goes. I HAVE noticed that the images from the previous blog posts are missing, so I know I need to figure out how I want to upload those again to make sure everything is back to normal.
So… How about them Red Sox? I am absolutely appalled by the sudden disastrous loss to the Yankees (we were SWEPT in a 4 game series???? WTF!)… What went wrong? What is Francona doing to remedy the situation? We need a turn around, and SOON. I could not believe the Sox went from 8-0 vs the Yankees this year, to 8-4, so quickly… JEEZ.
Guess that’s all I have in my mind for now.
Business Cards
Blackened Sun Business Card (June 2009)
Back in September, I had a concept for my website that I was planning to follow through on, so I designed a business card to go with it. I ordered 250 of them and handed out the majority of those business cards at SxSW Interactive. I actually didn’t make them for the event at all, but it turned out to be a blessing to have (though I wish I knew Twitter was going to be such a massive part of the event, or else I would’ve put my Twitter name on there as well). I certainly don’t need that many cards typically, but going to an event like that, you certainly hand out a lot of them. I was throwing 30-40 cards into my backpack every day and probably going back to the hotel with only 5.
Actually, prior to attending SxSW, I didn’t even know Twitter had truly made it to such a large audience. I was still “ignorant” to the force that Twitter had become. That’s probably another post, though.
Meanwhile, my website continued to say “coming soon,” and I never did get around to designing a website to match the card. I couldn’t get past what I want the site to function as, and I kept changing my mind on how the design would end up. I finally decided (as you can see with the site) to go with a complete change around, and got away from the dark and gloomy aspect of “Blackened Sun,” as that mindset and what the name originally represented, is far from who I am today.
Of course, with a new website, a new business card should follow. It certainly helps that I decided to finally move the last of my remaining “chains” to Massachusetts to Florida (my phone number). I needed a new card to display the new number, regardless.
I’ll probably make another post showing the cards when they come in. The card design shown with this post, however, does not have rounded corners. The actual business card will.
Styling Complete!
I always suck with titles for blog entries, so I don’t know how well that’ll work. I never know how to word it, and I also tend to use the same title for multiple posts.
However, regardless… I am quite positive that I am done styling the website. The menu might still be tweaked a bit, but I’m very happy with the colors.
All that’s left now is content. I have nothing to show for any kind of Portfolio right now, I don’t think. Atleast, nothing that I feel is worthwhile to show, or I’m not allowed to show (contract at work prohibits me saying any association I have with what I’ve done). My about page will come in time as well, as I never know what to say about myself. Contact information will probably end up on the About page. What else can I really show on here besides those two things?
I am trying to figure out this Twitter plugin for Wordpress so I can use it… I’m checking out Shorten2Ping right now. Does anyone know about how that one works? I don’t even see any reference anywhere on HOW to tell it to use Twitter (instead of Ping.fm) and Bit.ly (instead of tr.im). It’s actually getting rather annoying. If you can help, please do. Or atleast point me in the direction of a better Wordpress plugin for it. I want my blog to update my Twitter when I make a new post…
I may eventually put my Twitter up on here (latest twitter posts to show up on the site), but as my account is currently private, it’s rather pointless to even attempt it.
…I’m just glad I finally got around to redesigning my website… New business cards will come soon to match it.
Site is under production
Hey everyone, this is the newest version of my website. There will be multiple sections.
However, the site is FAR from complete. The template will change drastically, and other things will change as well.