Qwerty Finger
JUN 15th, 2024
wow. i know i start so many of these with some sort of, "it's been a minute, hasn't it?" opener, but it really has been a minute, huh? how are you doing? i'm sure a lot has changed since i was here last!
im gonna start with the obligatory reason for why i was gone for so long. so, i semi-silently dropped this 2.0 revamp of my site (which i love, by the way! the half-rounded containers feel so fun to me, same with the drop shadows, and using iframes makes general upkeep so much nicer.) but why silently? originally, i planned to write this big fun blog post about everything i had been up to that winter in addition to a bunch of fun changes i had planned for the site. i was uploading pictures for the blog post, writing everything out, getting super excited for this new chapter, when suddenly... any new image i put into a blog post stopped working.
i was so confused - what was wrong? why was it acting like the links or images were broken?? i convinced myself the issue was something to do with a photo of the christmas tree my roommates and i had decorated. it saved as a strange filetype originally because it was from an old digicam (more on that later). i felt silly for thinking one photo could have corrupted everything so badly, but it really felt like there were no other options.
i frantically googled things like "iframes images broken" and "vscode iframe cache"(???) in an attempt to find anything about this random issue i was having across all devices and code editing softwares, but to no avail. the strangest thing was, if i linked to one of these new images anywhere else on my website, they would show up just fine! i rewrote my whole website line by line thinking that the code itself was somehow corrupted!! i was a madman!! this hiccup felt so small and so big at the same time that it completely killed all motivation and energy i had towards the update. since the last time i updated, i tried here and there to solve the issue, but nothing seemed to work.
we cut to now, the very day that i'm writing this. i get back from my shift as a school tour guide. my interest in my website has been stirred up again from seeing other peoples awesome creations on neocities and nekoweb. "i'm going to figure this out", i tell myself. i start changing file paths, uploading and reuploading photos, eventually resorting to deleting bits of code a piece at a time to find the issue...
... was a <base> tag.
the culprit!
i deleted it, and suddenly, all of my images appeared. i couldn't beleive it at first. i went to another blog entry and deleted the tag from there, and once again, all of the images started working. fuck yes!!! finally!!
i write all of this here to give an accurate look into what it's like coding a website when you only know the bare essentials. something as small as one misplaced tag or poorly placed div can send everything into a tailspin. everyone should make a website, i'm a firm beleiver in that, but be ready to feel really, really stupid!
The Actual Blog Post
so, what's happened since last time? unfortunately, a lot. like, so much that i could never really fit it in a single blog post. now that things are in working order, you'll be hearing a lot from me, so i'll be able to go over more things in detail later on. that said, here's a bulleted list of some highlights:
- got into my first car accident (nobody was hurt but oh my God did that suck so much ass)
- finished that animation final i talked about last time. not the happiest with it (it's just lineart, and i had to both cram and rush to get it finished), but i did it!
- spent some of the winter holidays with my roommates here, and some of it at home with my family. i got lots of sweet gifts and lot to spend lots of quality time with people that i love :]
- started and completed my sophomore year, aka my first year as an animation major (i have so much to share!!)
- moved house from that other appartment to a new one.
- ... and had a major wake-up call about the people in my life, myself, and how i want to get better (for both them and myself). every day since, ive been taking steps to show the people in my life how much they mean to me, and learning to love being alive again.
theres probably more i'm not able to think of right now, but if it's important it'll come up sometime soon. a smaller bulleted lists of things im interested in and excited about right now:
- i've been very much into Laika's Comet, a comic series by Willow Woods (@fourleaf/@fourleafisland) aboout a dog-girl in a furry (soft post-apocalyptic?) world helping people and unraveling the sci-fi mystery of a fallen comet. the art and story come together in such a charming way, and i'm especially in love with the dynamic between laika, mars, and yue. so so excited to read it as it's updated!!
- everything everything's entire discography. i actually rediscovered this band through laika's comet, and it couldn't have come at a better time. their music has such a distinct feeling in both lyrics and sound, and i really resonate with the reoccuring themes of memory, identity, and technology. my favorites right now are qwerty finger (from 'Man Alive'), blast doors, fortune 500, spring/sun/winter/dread (all from 'Get To Heaven"), born under a meteor, and software greatman (both from 'Raw Data Feel').
- pokemon!! i want to go back through and play all of the games again. i almost had a complete living dex in pokemon home (pre-Scarlet and Violet), but not being able to take every pokemon into every region kind of killed the joy for me. i'd like to get a living dex again, but this time stop right before dexit so i can enjoy it! i'm planning on having my thoughts on each playthrough on my upcoming pokemon shrine, so stay tuned if you're interested!
- this website! i've officially lost all hope on major social media apps. AI integration was the metal pipe that broke my camel back, and i want to currate a space that is fully mine and fully enjoyable for myself and for others. right now, it's looking like i'll be mainly on tumblr and cohost to fulfil my desire to Post Things, but we'll see. all of that said, i want to put my love, passion, and creativity into my digital home here!
well, i guess that's all from me for now. expect blogposts soon about new site updates and experiments, projects, and the general goings-on of my life!
take care, and see you soon!