back in the habit
So I recently got into an icon-making mood and the results of that bout of inspiration are here. Mainly just wanted to see if I've still got it and, well...I think I do. And although the number of icons in that post doesn't seem to show it, this sudden resurgence of icon-making creativity wasn't a wholly joyous event because I was almost immediately reminded of the negative effects of indulging myself in anything Livejournal- or icon-making-related: procrastinating, staying up and sleeping late, smoking more than usual, eating junk food instead of a full meal or not eating at all, allowing daydreams to take up all of my mindspace making me distracted, etc. and it didn't feel good. At times I felt this is how it's like to relapse into an old addiction. I still can get very obsessive over the littlest of things because that's just who I am.
At the same time, however, I enjoyed it a great deal, too, and want to make more icons and whatnot whenever life allows it because I truly do miss it: tinkering with things, creating things, learning things, having a fun, creative hobby. That's what got me into Livejournal in the first place. To compose, put things together, to create, to exercise the mind and be inspired. To have full control over something. Plus those negative effects I mentioned above weren't as bad as before because this time around I have a job that helps bring me back to my senses and balance everything out. What also helped was the fact that I'm now slightly more confident about my icon-making/Photoshopping skills. The trick I've realized is to not make a big deal about it and just have fun, which quite obviously can be applied to almost everything else in life and I really should always remember that.
But what's a post that's Livejournal-related without a few complaints about Livejournal, specifically about its current site tools and features? And so: I do not like that when editing a journal entry, the text box expands according to the length of the entry, so when it's really long (e.g. a post with a number of stylesheets in it), it takes longer to scroll between the top and bottom of the page. Then, in the default entry view, I do not like that they've moved the entry tags to the bottom of the page and changed the default font from Verdana to Arial. I mean, I am a fan of Arial, I use it all the time, I love it! It's just that...Well, okay, it just takes some getting used to.
Also just want to mention that it was such pain putting that icon post together because Photobucket's new site version doesn't sort photos alphabetically by filename. I got so frustrated by it that I decided to write Photobucket and ask them to bring back the option to switch to their old version. I was able to do so in one of my other Photobucket accounts, but apparently they had already taken that option out sometime afterward. They replied with this:Good Afternoon,
The option to opt out of Beta is no longer available.
In an effort to complete the new site we will no longer be supporting the Legacy site (Old Photobucket). Unfortunately we need to place all of our focus on the new site in an effort to test and release all of our user requested features.
Well, then, better work fast, Photobucket!
At the same time, however, I enjoyed it a great deal, too, and want to make more icons and whatnot whenever life allows it because I truly do miss it: tinkering with things, creating things, learning things, having a fun, creative hobby. That's what got me into Livejournal in the first place. To compose, put things together, to create, to exercise the mind and be inspired. To have full control over something. Plus those negative effects I mentioned above weren't as bad as before because this time around I have a job that helps bring me back to my senses and balance everything out. What also helped was the fact that I'm now slightly more confident about my icon-making/Photoshopping skills. The trick I've realized is to not make a big deal about it and just have fun, which quite obviously can be applied to almost everything else in life and I really should always remember that.
But what's a post that's Livejournal-related without a few complaints about Livejournal, specifically about its current site tools and features? And so: I do not like that when editing a journal entry, the text box expands according to the length of the entry, so when it's really long (e.g. a post with a number of stylesheets in it), it takes longer to scroll between the top and bottom of the page. Then, in the default entry view, I do not like that they've moved the entry tags to the bottom of the page and changed the default font from Verdana to Arial. I mean, I am a fan of Arial, I use it all the time, I love it! It's just that...Well, okay, it just takes some getting used to.
Also just want to mention that it was such pain putting that icon post together because Photobucket's new site version doesn't sort photos alphabetically by filename. I got so frustrated by it that I decided to write Photobucket and ask them to bring back the option to switch to their old version. I was able to do so in one of my other Photobucket accounts, but apparently they had already taken that option out sometime afterward. They replied with this:Good Afternoon,
The option to opt out of Beta is no longer available.
In an effort to complete the new site we will no longer be supporting the Legacy site (Old Photobucket). Unfortunately we need to place all of our focus on the new site in an effort to test and release all of our user requested features.
Well, then, better work fast, Photobucket!