New Shiney!

I am currently playing with the idea of switching to WordPress as my blogger service. It all depends really, on if I can get it working well on my own server and if I can tweak it just the way I want it (which I think I'll be able to do if I get it up on my server).

My WordPress Test Blog can be found at http://passionlotus.wordpress.com/.

For now, I'll be keeping both blogs up. let me know which one you like better... I'd love some input. As soon as I make a final decision, I'll be sure to let everyone know where the new home of "More Adventures of a Single Woman" is.

Tenacious...

I’ve been called that before (among other less flattering synonyms). I don’t give up on things easily… or gracefully for that matter. Some may think that it is a good quality, and maybe it is. But is also a quality that adds a great deal of undue stress and frustration to my already chaotic life.

For example… every Spring for as long as I can remember (well… at least as long as my adult life) I get this overwhelming urge to garden. Maybe its becasue when I was little, I used to help my dad take care of our garden… which was HUGE and grew all sorts of yummy fresh veggies. Plus it was one of the few quality times my Dad and I spent together. So, pretty much every Spring, the urge strikes and I hit the Lowes, buy all sorts of seeds… Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Tomaotes (you get the idea) and plant myself a small Patio Garden. Then, about 3 weeks later, after I’ve managed to kill everything… I give up on being a farmer for one more year… only to rinse and repeat 12 months later.

It’s the same thing with needlecrafts. I’ve managed to make a few nice things… a scarf or two, slipper socks (whick took forever and were a lesson in patience) so I’m not a complete mook. But a few years back, I spent months making a baby blanket for a friend and his wife as a gift to their first child. It was my first blanket, and though it was not perfect, I was proud of it. They smiled politely, told be how beautiful is was, and never used it… and I swore I would never knit another baby blanket again unless it was for my own child. But… remember the title of this entry… I’m tenacious. I decided to try again, with similar results and a similar outcome.

I don’t give up on friends either… even when I should. When I was 18, one of my best friends stopped talking to me. I would write to him every once in a while, try to reach out, only to find my attempts at communication fell on deaf ears. Yet I still tried every so often, until about a year ago. That’s when he finally had the compassion (or the courage) to write back and let me know that he didn’t want to be friends anymore. So now I’m rinsing and repeating with another friend who has not returned a phonecall or email in 10 months. Though many will think I’m being silly, I imagine I will periodically try to stay in contact until he tells me to piss off. What can I say… I’m tenacious.

Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa. Blank Slate. This phrase was made famous by John Locke, who used it to describe his belief that the mind comes into life blank or empty, and is written on by experience. His work has been used in education and to argue the nature vs. nurture issue. And now, many years later, the term "Tabula Rasa" has a new meaning. It's the name of a video game that will be released soon, a game I’ve become very familiar with in the past few months.

In December, I was given the opportunity to take over what has become the largest independent Tabula Rasa Fansite, Planet TR. Back then, I wasn’t quite a blank slate when it can to web design… but my experience was fairly limited and I had (and still have) no formal training. Just an interest, a couple of day long workshops I've taken, and a variety of books I’ve used to teach myself what I know about web design.

Since then I’ve learned a great deal… written quite a few new things on my slate. I’ve gotten very good at writing code and using Photoshop to create original graphics for the site. I have also learned a lot about what it takes to manage a site… everything from building a solid community to problem solving technical issues. And it seems like I learn something new every day. It’s been an incredible experience… so good in fact, I plan to start taking courses in web development at our local community college. It will take a while for me to complete my degree, but I hope to eventually be able to start a small business using the skills I’ve learned, and the ones I will learn in the near future.

So if you’ve wondered where I’ve been lately… or what’s been keeping me so busy, now you know. I’ve been writing new experiences on my “Tabula Rasa”.