Year: 2008

design

I don’t think I’ve commented at all on the new design. I’ll do that now.

I like it a lot. I’m very comfortable with it, yet there’s still a certain level of discomfort. And that’s fine. I love the design. The essence of it.

It’s a lot, in nature, like my best design. I made that up in 2003. The date and the content and nothing much else. The design is very bare bones and simple, I like that. This design is very bare bones and simple also, I like that as well.

This design didn’t have a link to the comments initially, so I added that. I increased the font size. Which is very different from the 2003 design where the text is so small. I don’t know what I was thinking back then, but at the same time, monitor sizes and resolutions were a lot smaller back then. I like the large font size. I find it easier to read. Though, I suppose, some may find it annoying.

I really like the way it lists the archives, although it’s not immediately obvious how to get there. The archives page could be improved by using AJAX to fetch a post when you click the title and display it immediately with you having to leave that page, and also allow commenting from that same spot. I will play with that sometime. I already pull in contents of all single line posts to display immediately, no point in making a person click just to see one line.

There are no sidebars. Apart from that 2003 design, I’ve always had sidebars even if they were empty. Most of the things I had in the sidebar were fairly useless. Like search for example. Seriously, who really comes here to search for things? I do, but I’m sure for everyone else that’s a fairly pointless feature. The “I’m currently reading” and “My Flickr” areas in the sidebar felt way to self-promotional for my likings. I mean, yes, this is my personal blog and naturally you will get information about me. But it’s not important enough to be on every single page. Maybe just the first page? Maybe not even there? I’ll have to figure that out.

I miss having the blogroll, I think that’s a key component toward developing some sort of a community and encouraging collaboration to some degree. I need to find a clean way of bringing that back. I like the idea of having a “quick links” type feature.

Categories and archives in the sidebar? What good are those? No use showing a huge list of archive page links from 2002 to 2008. That’s just information clutter. Likewise with the categories/tags. But all this information is cleverly embedded into the post data. So you still have access to it without generating sidebar clutter.

I’m not saying all this stuff is necessarily bad. I may not like it now but then like it tomorrow. But I think there need to be better ways of presenting this information.

Speaking about design and better ways of presenting information, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Fathima’s new site design and her new blog design. I think she has awesome design and HTML/CSS coding skills and you should hire her.

So I’ll play around with this design, tweak things and over time figure things out.

Also, the design was made by Jonas Arnfred from ifany.org.

look up

i did not see the stars tonight
i blamed the city, i blamed the light
i blamed the weather, i blamed the fog
i blamed pollution, and i blamed the smog

i thought, where did we all go so wrong?
i thought, maybe i should write a sad song.
i thought, oh lord, why is the world so stuck-up?
but, in fact: i did not see the stars, because i did not look up

no strings attached: bullshit

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

“Harry, I had no idea!”

“Sure you didn’t.”

“That’s uncalled for! I’m trying to look out for you.”

“Yeah? You did a great job of that in the meeting.”

“You’re unbelievable. You can’t keep pointing fingers at everyone else. God dammit Harry, you need to step up and take responsibility for your actions and your inaction. I’ve been doing a lot of damage control for you.”

“Great good that did.”

“What’s your problem, Harry? Do you even realize the trouble you’ve got yourself into? You realize you’re out of a job now?”

“Look, I never asked for your help and sure as hell didn’t ask for your pity.”

“You know what? This is bullshit. Fuck you, Harry!”

“Whatever.”

Samantha storms out of the room. The door receives no mercy from her as it closes with a resounding thud. She pays no attention to John, who is walking toward the meeting room with a box full Harry’s personal belongings, as she walks right past him.

“This is all your stuff. All the stuff I could find,” John muddles around with the contents of the box. “Give me a call if you think I missed anything.”

Harry responds with nothing but a nod.

“Come on Harry, it’s time to go.”

no strings attached: the meeting

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

This is one of the smaller meeting rooms in this building. By the looks of it this meeting will be a short one. It’s always hard to tell.

“Harry, I don’t want to beat around the bush and get straight to the point,” says Simon Steeples, the Senior VP of Operations. He’s joined by two other high ranking VPs. Having found Harry, Samantha is also in the room.

“Does that mean you want to get straight to the point or you don’t want to get straight to the point?” you would expect Harry to ask a question like this, and he does.

“I… what?… no…” stumbles Simon, “I want to get straight to the point.”

“Then why haven’t you already?”

“Okay Harry, we’re letting you go.”

A numb like silence overtakes the room. Harry, perplexed, looks over at Samantha.

“Harry, I didn’t know,” she says, shaking her head from side to side. “Simon, at a time like this? You know we could really use Harry.”

“No, we could use to lose him. I assure you that. The decision is final. It’s done,” Simon turns to Harry, “Harry, someone is cleaning out your office right now. Stay right there, they’ll bring over your stuff and escort you out.”

“I know my way out,” says Harry, his hands made into fists supporting his forehead.

“Even so, goodbye.”

The VPs leave the room. The door closes smoothly. The room feels just a little smaller.

triumph over hope: colour blind

There is this blinding explosion of red.

I watch the spectrum of infinite colour, flung far across the black holes of the universe come together and converge in space and time right before me. Right before my very existence. And in this moment I wonder how I could have ever despaired of the madness, if this is its gift and my reward.

I would forever gladly endure their presence, I would plead and scream and beg that they continue their torment if it meant I would come to know this again. Colour sears through me, and I’ve waited for this anguish for far too long.

I mean it. I mean it. I meant it. I’ll endure anything, everything. They hope to share in the madness of my mind, never quite realising that they are already a part of it.

Agonising blood torment crimson searing white blinding —

And as suddenly as it came, it’s gone. I’m left here blind again.

contributed by: Nadia Khan

no strings attached: last night

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

I’m outside. I hear the bell ring. I did not press it and I am in front of it. How is that even possible? I open the door. Smoke flows out of the house, I can’t see anything inside. There is too much smoke. Against my better judgement I step inside.

I know only from the sounds that chains are falling all around the house. Are they meant to fall on me? Why am I here? What am I looking for? I must find it.

If I was looking for something, where would I go? The furnace, or maybe the attic. I have to choose one. I feel like time is running out. I have to hurry. The attic.

This rotating staircase, the stairs never seem to end. I can barely see anything. Have I been here before? Do I know this house? Do I know these rooms?

The room to the left. I can access the attic from there. I have to be careful. There is no floor board here. I’m here. What am I looking for?

Oh shit! I’m hit. What the hell is this? Hell, I forgot about the chains.

I’m falling.

I can’t do anything. I can’t hold anything. The weight of the chains… I can barely breathe.

I’m falling.

I’m falling.

I’m falling.

 

Breathe! It’s just a dream. It’s nothing. Sometimes you fly and sometimes you fall. It’s just a dream.

all our words

if all your words were in a <div>
i would style them with <em>phasis
i would take even the weak points
and mark them <strong>
i would put them all front and centre
with {margin: 0px auto;}
and i would put around them
a blue dashed border with a width of one
though if all my words were in a <div>
i would style them with {display: none;}