Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Sydney bound. My brother is doing a lot better; hopefully all of his IV lines will be out today. That will make a big difference to his comfort levels without doubt. He is also now finally eating and drinking (albeit in a carefully monitored way). I'm very happy with his progress and hopefully he'll be home within a few days. He's a lucky kid, not just because he survived the accident...but because I am spoiling him rotten! Since he has been so brave and since he won't be back to school for a while after returning home, I've been setting up his bedroom so that he'll be completely comfortable. I'm buying him some new furniture and an esky full of Coca-Cola (he's "dying for a Coke", he tells me). He's also been dying for an Xbox 360, which my parents would never buy him. So I went and picked up a premium package and I also bought him a GTA box set for PS2 (since his beloved San Andreas disc was broken a while ago). So he's going to be a very happy patient! (And I'm going to be an increasingly poor older brother). Thanks to everyone for their kind wishes, too. I really appreciate it. And I'm amazed that you're still around, Ger! Welcome back! I hope you are here to stay a little longer this time. Guffaw and all that, old bean. ~_^ In addition to all of this, I might be making a trip up to Sydney within the coming weeks. I have thought about bringing my brother, as he has never been interstate before (and he's the only one in our family who hasn't). So we'll see how that goes. While I'm here I should mention a little idea I've had. I'd like to do some sort of weekly news post on theOtaku.com, where I can showcase the latest interesting OB threads. I could also profile the odd member or two as well. This would really provide great recognition for those who contribute to OB and it would hopefully encourage fellow Otakuites to jump into those threads themselves. Is this an idea any of you would support (for those of you who are OBers)?

Comments (5) | Permalink

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Little black box. I know I am making a habit of saying it, but it really does seem like forever since I posted here. Unfortunately this has been largely unavoidable - my working hours have been long and with the little free time I've had, I have pretty much been putting partner/family first. But that's the way it should be, right? Even so, I am finding that I miss the community and I still feel that I have a lot to accomplish here - inside and outside OB. I have put a little plan into action (well, two little plans I suppose). These plans are designed to help me achieve more with less time. The first idea is to set down an hour each weeknight to attend to online things. The second idea is to organise a way to begin paying people for certain services (this is something I will probably be making announcements about on OB at some stage shortly). So much has happened in the last few weeks that I can't even begin to process it all. It has been a particularly tough time for me, as my little brother was involved in a serious car accident two weeks ago - he is still in hospital recovering, but his best friend died in the crash. It was severe enough to make national news, unfortunately. My brother will make a full recovery though, which is a relief...but I have been into the hospital every single day, which is taking a toll at this point. And then on top of that there's the stuff with AnimeFF, which is probably something you all are now very familiar with. I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said, except to point out that if you operate in a shady and disrespectful manner...this is what happens to you. The guy who ran AnimeFF (or who represented it) is now infamous in the industry. It will be very difficult for him to operate again in any decent capacity - this is really a result of his own actions. Unfortunately though, a lot of people have been hurt in the process (not least of which being a major charity). I'll end it here because there's just too much to say and not enough time, but yes...I am alive and hopefully I will have the chance to update this thing a bit more often in future.

Comments (7) | Permalink

Sunday, November 12, 2006

The Devil is a Cosplayer So it's largely been business as usual lately, although I have managed to create a little more time for myself during the past two weeks. Something as simple as sitting down to play Guild Wars is amazing for stress relief. I have to say, before this job I thought I knew the definition of stress. But I really didn't. I also have begun to understand what happens if you don't relieve stress - your body builds up adrenaline and if it is not released, it literally burns a hole in your stomach (ulcers, anyone?) This is why, when stressed, it is a great idea to exercise. I have definitely found that if I avoid this, I get nasty stomach aches. Better stress management has definitely helped to improve my overall mood, too. Despite all of the negative aspects of the job, in terms of the very long hours and the responsibility, I must say that I'm glad I accepted it. If I can do this job in this company, I can honestly work anywhere under any conditions - facing such constant pressures forces you to either sink or swim. And I'm swimming. It's actually a good feeling to know what you can do when you're really pushed to the limit. One thing I have also discovered in a very real way is the value of intellectual property. I am now so much more wary than I used to be - I have had a couple of pieces of work "stolen" by another staff member and as a result, I've become very particular about being credited for the work I've done. In many cases I'm submitting work or contributing to things that go above and beyond my regular role - that is to say, I'm doing extra things that I'm not being paid for. In some ways this reflects the work I've done online in the past as well. And in both cases, whether or not I'm being paid, the simple acknowledgement is ultimately what really matters. I have always known what it felt like to have someone mimmick my work (or parts of it) and I've always known what it's been like to have someone else take credit for things I've done. While that can be annoying and frustrating in the online world, it can be downright dangerous in the business world (especially if you miss out on opportunities as a result). So this really means that I have become even more guarded and protective of my work and my ideas. This is true online also. Speaking of the online world, there is a lot to organise. For one thing, I am looking at getting a new host (Tony, in fact - while I'm here I should apologise for the delay, I haven't had much time to check out Paypal...I will try to do that soon for you) and I'm also trying to work out who I can bring on board to help me with the programming side of things. The main difference now is that I'm actually willing to pay for programming support, so hopefully that should open the field up somewhat (and if any skilled programmers are reading this and would like to earn some extra cash, please let me know). Before I go I might as well ask everyone a question. For those of you who have ever worked in a creative group (or even in business), do you tend to be very protective over your own work, or are you usually willing to just throw it out there and keep your hands away from it? Sometimes I am very much the latter, but only when my position is clearly defined early on. In other cases (especially after what's happened in recent times), I tend to be the former. Aaryanna: I'm sure you would like Canberra (and Australia, for that matter). It would be fun to show you the sights! Nehszriah: Heh, it's Canberra...Cannaberra sounds very Spanish (perhaps it would have been called Cannaberra if we'd been settled by the Spanish, you never know!) ~_^ One-way streets are annoying, but I suppose they help to deal with traffic congestion in large cities. Many cities were apparently never planned with large volumes of cars in mind (especially much older cities). Sydney, for example, has very narrow streets and lots of one-way streets. It wasn't planned and it has simply had to cope with large traffic flow. Melbourne, on the other hand, has wider streets and is designed in a grid pattern...it also has multiple laneways to divert traffic flow. So it all depends how the city was planned from the beginning, I guess. CosmicSailor: Oh I would love to visit the various NASA centers in the United States! I've also always wanted to see a space shuttle launch. That would be a dream come true for me. Hopefully one day I can go over there to visit all of those amazing sights. In terms of your time-out issue, I'm wondering, do you tell OB to remember you? If so, time-outs should not be an issue. However, if OB doesn't "remember you", time-outs can tend to be very annoying. Perhaps this is something we can look at fixing, although it's a good solution for public computers (especially those in school libraries and whatnot). SunfallE: Hopefully one day both of you will be able to travel to Australia and see the sights. There's plenty to see and visitors from overseas tend to really enjoy their stay here. It's always very warm and friendly, so within a few days you'll feel like an Aussie yourself. ~_^ Crystia: Yes, I think most foreign tourists think of the usual places (particularly Sydney) and even then, I suspect that many of them don't even really explore NSW very much (Sydney is the capital city of New South Wales, which is the largest Australian state). The big attractions are wonderful, but as usual, it's even better to look under the surface and explore things that most tourists don't see - knowing a local really helps when it comes to that stuff. You have a planetarium? I love those. The last time I went to one was years ago as part of a school excursion (field trip). Was a lot of fun! I'm also glad you feel comfortable enough to use your first name on here. It definitely provides a sense of familiarity. I have always used my first name on this network in particular, mostly because I could never think of a screen name that I liked...so using my own name is safe in that way. Shinje: Where have you been in Australia when you visited before? I'm sure I could recommend a few interesting places to you for when you come here again in the future. ^_^

Comments (12) | Permalink

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

State Circle I'm back for another post! Amazingly, I'm actually feeling rested and relaxed today. That's a stark contrast from yesterday, when I was having so many problems at work that I wanted to go and curl up in a ball. It's all a good experience though - I think facing such harsh challenges and demands this early in life will allow me to handle anything in the future. Anyway, last week was particularly bad. So on Friday night, I proposed that we go for a long drive somewhere...a very long drive. We ended up going to Canberra. For the uninitiated, Canberra is Australia's capital city. And for the further uninitiated, I'll go into a tiny bit more detail. Australia was federated on January 1, 1901 (prior to that, each Australian state was a seperate colony - the colonies acted as independent countries and communicated with each other largely through London rather than directly). At the time of federation, Australia did not actually have a capital city for obvious reasons. Melbourne and Sydney (the two biggest cities in Australia) were basically debating which one should become the new national capital. Neither could agree, so eventually they proposed a third option - to build an entirely new city, exactly halfway between Melbourne and Sydney. And that new city was Canberra. If I remember correctly, Melbourne was Australia's capital from 1901 to 1927. 1927 was the year when Canberra was completed. And unlike most cities, Canberra was a planned city...meaning that it was essentially designed by an artist and for a specific purpose, rather than simply evolving like a normal city. As a result, Canberra is, to put it lightly, extremely odd. Canberra has a tiny population compared to other Australian cities (I think it's somewhere around 300,000) and it has a very small CBD (few tall buildings, mostly hotels and individual office complexes). So Canberra was really designed to be purely a political center as well as a kind of set piece for Australia. This makes Canberra very strange, because it feels like some kind of movie set...the entire city, including its road system, is completely planned out. Not only is everything symmetrical, but every road leads to Parliament (which is built into Capital Hill in the city center). Also, there are several roads that surround Parliament and extend outwards in concentric circles (from memory you have Capital Circle, State Circle and then the edge of the Parliamentary Zone). The Parliamentary Zone basically includes all of the major government buildings (various government departments, the High Court, etc etc). And then beyond that, you have Lake Burley Griffin, which is an enormous man-made lake named after the man who designed Canberra. The big showpiece in Canberra is definitely Parliament House. I've talked about it before on here...and it's an incredible place. From its front to its rear entrance, Parliament House is actually 1 kilometer long and nearly a kilometer wide. It has 4,500 rooms and on sitting days, it hosts anywhere from 10,000 to 14,000 people (including staff and visitors). It's really an amazing place and I'd recommend it to anyone who visits Australia, especially considering that most tourists visit Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and tend to ignore Canberra. I'd share pictures with you, but I didn't actually have a camera on me...all I could do was take some dodgy videos on Duane's phone...but right now I have no way of putting them on the computer. So maybe I can share them at a later date. What I would recommend, though, is visiting Canberra Tourism and taking a look around. I haven't had a very good look at the site, but hopefully they offer some more details and photos and stuff. So my weekend was good. We packed in as many things as we could on the Sunday, including a visit to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, which is jointly run by NASA and the CSIRO. It's a very interesting facility and it includes the transmitter dish that actually received the video of the moon landing, which was then broadcast globally. That particular dish used to be located in Parkes in New South Wales, but for some reason it was moved to this Canberra facility. They also had samples of moon rock and various other interesting bits and pieces from the space program...so that was great; I'm really into that kind of thing. SunfallE: Yep, it is very frustrating. But so far, so good. I'm not dead yet! Haha. I think they may be wanting me to move to another department sometime anyway, so we'll see how that goes. I wouldn't mind moving out of the area I'm in to a better job. CosmicSailor: At times like these, I at least wish I had some days off. Even one day off a week would be nice. Working this many hours is difficult because it leaves little time to handle other things (ie: house hunting, banking and so on). Charlie: Yeah, it's funny how you get paid for a set thing and they manage to keep putting more on your plate. My contract is slightly open-ended though, so I'm not getting any work that I haven't agreed to. Nevertheless, it's extremely complex work and it carries a lot of responsibility with it...so unfortunately there's a lot of pressure to get it exactly right. Yuck. Joshboo: There was someone else, although I'm now forgetting who they were. As for Tori, I was under the impression that their relationship blossomed through OB, but I could be wrong. Thanks for saying hello, though. ~_^ RaR: That's true, but on the other hand, I do feel a strong commitment to OB. Besides, it's really my only online project right now and I do want to work on it. It's just difficult to make the time that's required. Thanks for the good wishes. ^_^ Nehszriah: Yes, go look! Heheh. But it's more than marriage, even. There have been a lot of relationships that have sprung up from there as well. So it's a whole mixture of things I guess. Crystia: First of all, I hope you don't mind me using your name...but I figured that since you signed your comment, I'd use it. ~_^ Anyhoo, thanks for the compliment. I have worked on OB a lot over the years, but there's still so much more to be done with it. It's far from finished! I hope you have a great week too! Lrb: I'd love to visit Canada, but I don't think I could ever live away from my beloved Australia. You'd cry if I left OB? Aw...well, don't worry, I have no plans to leave. On the contrary! I'm trying to find ways to improve the site without having to be there all the time. So far it's working...Desbreko has done a lot of things for me while I've been away and the staff have kept the site pretty tidy. So I'm very grateful to them for that. Aaryanna: The weekend was a good break. Although ironically, I was running around sightseeing and it took quite a lot out of me! Thanks for the good wishes, too...I appreciate 'em. Have a good one. ^_^

Comments (6) | Permalink

Friday, October 13, 2006

So very tired... It seems as though my posts have a common theme lately. But this is what my life has become! To top it all off, last night was boiling hot down here and the room I was sleeping in was incredibly stuffy. The rest of the house was cooling down, but our room had no air at all. Blah. So I only slept for a couple of hours and I've been busy at work all day. I'm on my break now and I decided to force myself to have a break today - I deserve it! Unfortunately work has dominated my time so much lately that I've had little chance to do much else; that includes house hunting and furniture buying. I have absolutely no idea how long I'm going to be staying with my parents as a result. But even after work...it's night time when I finish and all I want to do is sleep when I get home. Nevertheless, I've been spending most of my online time at OtakuBoards. I have also been trying to work out exactly what can be done with it, especially given my own time constraints. On the one hand I'm tempted to just throw my hands up and say "Work is too important and I just don't have the time." But on the other hand, I have been running OtakuBoards for years now. When I think about how many hundreds of hours I have invested in the site in that time...it's actually quite amazing. Even in the past when I've had no time, I've managed to make time for the site. Adam once told me that he considers OB to be "my site". I think that's fair, when you consider a few things...first, the sheer amount of time I've spent working on it and secondly, the fact that it probably wouldn't exist at all right now if it weren't for me (or it would be even worse than V2). For all its problems, I think it has come a long way. And it has been the launch pad for a number of other sites and communities, which makes me happy. Some of our members have even gotten married (for real) as a result of meeting on OB. That's not something which happens every day! So who knows at this stage. There are so many things I'd still love to do with the site, but I don't know if it will all be worthwhile in the end....especially if I'm not around to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Hm, this seems very rambly (probably due to tiredness), so I'll end it here. Hopefully it makes some sense to everyone. CosmicSailor: Ahh, oh well. It happens! Hopefully something will spark your interest and you'll decide to post soon. But at least you can access the site now, which is good. Aaryanna: Aw, that card is very sweet. Thank you! I appreciate it. indifference: And thank you for visiting. It's nice to know that this page hasn't gathered too much dust just yet. ~_^

Comments (9) | Permalink

Sunday, October 8, 2006

Every day is exactly the same. Arrive at 9am, leave at anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30pm; that's been the standard practice in my new job. It has been incredibly hard to find time for anything at all - in two weeks I haven't even done any house hunting. I'm going to have to just make time, although this isn't always easy. I don't have very much to add at this stage, so I might wait until my next post to give you something a bit more substantial. ~_^ John: Thank you, John. I won't actually be leaving my position though. I am just looking at our options for the future. I certainly want to keep the site running, but I also want to ensure that I can continue to push it in the right direction. CosmicSailor: On the HR point, I totally agree. This is why I am always very careful when HR is left up to me - I know how it feels to be on the other end, so I do what I can to make it easy and comfortable for people. As for the staff member leaving early...well, nobody actually "covered for her". It's more a question of protecting the company and making sure that the business isn't damaged as a result. Also, if she leaves early and doesn't fulfill her obligations to clients...someone has to. That's just the reality. It's more about keeping things going for the clients rather than covering for her. In any case, they docked her pay for all the hours she didn't do. So she certainly got what she deserved. And yeah, by all means, give Firefox a try on OB. I'm hoping it works. Let me know! SunfallE: Yeah, you must show me pictures of your trip. I remember the last ones you took, they were beautiful! indifference: Baggy shorts were acceptable in Queensland, but not in Victoria. If I wore anything like that to work here, I'd be in trouble! I shall definitely let you know when I move to a new location, as far as blogging goes. ^_^ SaiyanPrincessX: Thank you. I hope you can keep posting on OB in your spare time, it just isn't the same without you there. ^_^ Aaryanna: Thanks muchly. Good luck with the homework! It never ends. >_>;

Comments (3) | Permalink

Monday, September 25, 2006

Comatose It's a busy week. I have to prepare a handover for two seperate jobs in this office before I go; that's going to be fun! But I'm also trying to make this week more comfortable. Due to the heat (well, it's not that hot but I boil to death with the distance I have to walk each day), I've decided to wear shorts and sandals to work. It's Queensland, so nobody cares (I don't think dress codes exist in this state). Unfortunately the shorts are a little too big for me, so they look a little awkward. I'm sure I look like a fool, but once again...lack of dress codes. I'd never do this in Melbourne (I'd probably be shot on sight for it down there, haha). But having said that, it's been a lot more comfortable. It's allowing me to forget about my discomfort and try to get everything finished. It doesn't help that our office is very stuffy, too... In what little spare time I have had lately, I have been thinking about what I should be doing online. I've come to a few conslusions. First, I just don't think I'm satisfied with this network anymore (and I also don't think I have the time to dedicate to it, nor will I in the near future); I think this has been a while coming, but now I really feel certain about it. Second, I want to continue to produce a blog but not on myOtaku - I've considered other pre-existing options (mySpace, Vox, etc) but none of them can really do what I want. So I'm still thinking of making my own...we'll see how that goes. There are still a lot of variables up in the air with that. And finally there's OtakuBoards. I will not stop supporting it - I consider it my site and I've been running it and keeping it going for years. Honestly, without my support, I think it would have been discarded long ago. I also promised that I will support the site as much as I can to keep it from being shut down. In terms of how this goes in the future, I don't know; OB is obviously funded and hosted by the network. I don't think that will change in the near future, but I also don't think it will hold out forever. So I will need to consider what can be done to secure OB's longterm future. OB has such a rich and colourful history (not to mention a very long one), so it would be a great shame to let it die. I will do my best. And just to be clear about it, I won't be stepping down or anything. If anything, I will have more time for OB as a result of moving away from the network itself. And this, in turn, will also mean changes for the site itself. I don't think there's going to be much difference for anyone else though. I've already been very non-visible lately, only really focusing on keeping things running behind the scenes. That'll probably continue for a while, but at some point soon you may have to follow a few new links if you want to know what's going on with me. ~_^ CosmicSailor: I agree that it's a matter of basic decency for an interviewer to get back to the applicant. This is why I was very unhappy with Erin's performance (she was the HR Coordinator). This is also why, whenever I handle recruitment, I make sure to get back to people as soon as humanely possible. As for covering for her...no, that's a bit of a misinterpretation on your part. I did not cover for her. On the contrary, I told the applicant that it was "not good enough" and that it "absolutely should never have happened". Erin didn't do her job effectively and I made no attempt to save her - I apologized to the applicant on behalf of the company, but I certainly didn't give Erin and easy ride. It was unacceptable and I made that very clear. As for the neighbours, I just don't know. I don't know why they need to come and go every five seconds during the middle of the night. Maybe they're into something dodgy...heheh. With regard to OB, absolutely, I would give FireFox or any other alternative browser a try. Hopefully that will fix the problem. I've noticed that when I visit 1UP.com on IE, I basically can't use it. This has been the case on multiple versions of IE. The front page loads, but articles take forever to load or they don't appear at all. Yet, FireFox works brilliantly with 1UP.com. So yeah, hopefully OB will work for you!

Comments (6) | Permalink

Friday, September 22, 2006

Seven Days & One Week So I'm on my last week in Queensland. After next week, I'll have a new job in a new office back home in Melbourne. It's a promotion though (a pretty significant one) so I'm happy about it. At the very least, the hours I've been doing lately will be similar to what I'll be doing down there. So it's something I will be used to in a way. My last week is really being spent trying to pick up after the other staff who left. The HR Manager had her last day yesterday and now all her work has pretty much been put on me. One woman rang up today and said that she'd been interviewed by us four weeks ago...and had not yet had a response about it. Can you imagine that? Going for four weeks and hearing nothing? I hate going for four days without a yes or no. Four weeks must be a nightmare! So I apologised to her and went through the old HR Manager's files to try and work out what was going on. The HR Manager had quite a good filing system, but was very sloppy and didn't keep track of who was doing what. In any case, I think I will offer this applicant a position - I almost feel it's a goodwill gesture after all that time she's been waiting! To top it off, one of the staff (who's last day it was today) left early yet again. She's a full-time staffer yet she leaves at 4:30pm each day...and that's if she decides to leave "on time". Often she leaves even earlier. As you can imagine, this creates resentment among other staff in the state office. Afterall, none of us get paid more for all the hours we put in...and several of us are frequently at work well after 5pm each day. Not to mention that myself and another staff member have been supporting her and picking up a lot of her slack even while she was working with us - not because we like her or anything, but because if we don't do it, nobody else will. And that hurts the company. In addition to all of this, I have people coming through my apartment every day for inspections and it's hard to get sleep because there are sirens going off every five seconds. Why is it that all the ambulances in the country decided to converge on this area only a few weeks after I moved in? Haha. It certainly seems that way anyway! In terms of online things, I've been talking to Justin a bit lately and I think that we are both ready to "move on", so to speak. This will probably end up being a good thing for those of you who visit OtakuBoards anyway. Well, potentially good. When I began thinking about what I'd be doing with the site, I knew I'd have a certain amount of free time - my hours in Melbourne were due to be less than what they are going to be, if that makes sense. Mid-way through I was offered a totally different job down there...and as a result, I'm actually going to be as busy there as I am up here, if not moreso (though at least I'll be getting paid for being that busy, haha). So we'll see how it goes. I'll wrap this up now anyway. I can hear people talking loudly in the corridor of my building...they sound like football fans. Why are they hanging around in the hallway and annoying everyone? Surely they haven't set up a TV in the hall...I don't get it, lol. Wouldn't it make more sense to be noisy inside the apartment, where you have less chance of bothering everyone around you? Normally this wouldn't bother me, but the people across the hall are constantly noisy. They seem to open and shut their front door about twenty times a night...and they slam it. I keep thinking "just go out or stay in, for god's sake!!" Have they got ants in their pants or something? Well, that's an idea... ...I think I'll go and buy some ants. Killer ones. >:P CosmicSailor: I really wish I knew what it was about your computer that wouldn't allow it to handle OB. Hopefully the new site will sort that out...I'd certainly like to know if we can do something on the current site to fix it though. Shin: I rang my sister tonight and surprised her with the announcement (just as they drove her to the airport). She was all confused for a moment...and then she started bawling. She was crying so much that she couldn't even talk. I've never heard her cry in my life. She was just in shock! SunfallE: Yellowstone! I'd like to go one day. You must send pictures! ^_^ Nehszriah: My youngest sister opened up to me recently in a way that she never has before...and we've become very close. I wanted to show her how much I love her by performing a really big gesture, and this was it. It was very costly, but very worth it. I'm just so happy that she's excited about it. KyuubiKhaos: Wow, another name I don't recognize...it's very cool that you guys chose to comment on my page. Thank you! The trip to work has been getting better, I've been getting used to the routine, although I still don't like being away from my loved ones. But only one more week! Deb: My sister was so excited to think that she was going to dinner...the shock of finding out that I'm flying her to the other end of the country was just too much for her. She was in so much shock that I didn't even know what she was saying, lol. She kept starting a sentence and then crying so hard that she couldn't keep talking. It was very emotional... Aaryanna: It worked perfectly! She didn't know until I sprung it on her...it was great! Haha. Hope you enjoy your trip to Yellowstone, too. Maybe one day I will go there myself! SunfallE: Thank you! Hope you have fun there. And thanks for visiting. ~_^ midgetswords: Thanks, I don't know what my rank is...Adam changed my backroom rank to "Down Again :(" or something, haha. He's so mushy at times. ~_^ SunfallE Returns: Thank you, thank you! It will be a great weekend. You two will have to tell me all about your trip when you get home. ^_^

Comments (1) | Permalink

Monday, September 18, 2006

Workin' for the man. All of a sudden I'm exhausted; the trip to work is now ten times longer, with Duane not being here. I don't have a car up here, so it's a huge amount of walking and a little train travel as well. But it's not too bad I guess. I can't wait 'till the weekend though. I've planned a surprise trip for my little sister. She's 13 and she's never even left her state before...but I'm flying here up here to go to Dreamworld (a big theme park in Queensland). She doesn't know about it though. She just thinks Duane is taking her out on the town, so she'll get quite a shock when they arrive at the airport. My other sister is helping me set things up as well, it should be great! I can't wait to see the look on her face when she arrives. CosmicSailor: Yeah, life has just been more important lately...I have been putting online projects on hold and life has been the priority. I think that's the way it should be, even if it can be a little disappointing when online stuff doesn't get done. I agree with you about the editor interface too. myOtaku was to have both; a WYSIWYG editor as well as an HTML editor. I don't think that will see the light of day now though. And thank you, I appreciate it...hopefully there's a bright future in store for OB. AzureWolf: Sorry 'bout that, I just don't have the energy to change it right now. I might reverse it tonight when I get home though. I'll try not to spread myself too thin, too. So far I'm keeping on top of things...mostly. John: That'd be cool for a forum of about a dozen people...but upwards of 15,000 people? I don't know. Nice thought though. ~_^ Mimmi-kun: You're right, I'd rather be moving than staying still. But yeah, things have been insane ever since I moved. It was a big move and it threw me into a life that I never expected. Yay for spontaneous decisions. ~_^ Deb: Aww, thank you Deb. ~_^ RaR: Yep, I really checked it out. Looks good to me...reminds me of some of the things we were wanting to do with myOtaku a year ago or so. As I said though, good ideas are there for the taking - it just depends who takes them first. indifference: Thanks for the kind words, it was nice to chat to you yesterday too. I hope you are doing well! I'm also glad you've been enjoying OB. Things have been pretty good there lately, which is a relief. I'm happy with the way things are going and it certainly gives me a bit more room to move.

Comments (10) | Permalink

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Over the horizon and towards the sun. Thanks to everyone who commented on that last post. I kind of assumed that since I'd been away for so long, people would just stop checking the page. It's nice to know that my often-boring ramblings actually do interest some, haha. In any case, I'm not really sure what to say about the last couple of months. I can only really say that I've been busy - my job has kept me on my toes, for sure. Right now I am pretty much doing the work of three people, as a result of several staff members resigning. It's been very bittersweet; I am being relocated to our national head office (which is in Melbourne, back home), but on the other hand, I've been given very little notice and the company is not assisting with relocation costs. I will earn more money down there, but that doesn't really help when it comes to breaking a lease in the short term, I suppose. It's just been a situation where I spend all day at work, I get home late...and what little free time I have left I dedicate to my partner. Unfortunately that really leaves no time for me as such - at least, no time for myOtaku and things like that. When I move I should have a bit more free time though and over the next couple of weeks I'll have a little bit more time to spend on here. So that will give me the chance to kind of get to grips with everything and work out what I'm going to do. As far as this network is concerned, I think my role has pretty much changed for good. I just don't have the time to dedicate to it anymore and even when I do, I'm wanting to invest time in developing a new myOtaku and really pushing this side of the network. Adam really isn't interested in that - we just have somewhat different focuses at the moment. And that's not a bad thing necessarily; I think Adam is doing what he feels is most suitable and he's also doing what he enjoys. And that's fair. Afterall, if nobody were having fun here, what would be the point? But I suppose the end result is that you guys will probably not be receiving the new version of myOtaku that I had been talking about some time ago. If you want to know what it would have been like, I would suggest checking out Vox. Layout-wise, Vox is really nothing like what myOtaku would have been...but in terms of what it does, I think a lot of those ideas are things we'd have included about a year ago. Of course, when a good idea just sits there, someone else is bound to snatch it up. I think a lot of people were thinking along the same lines. So it was only a matter of time before there was a bigger push into blogging sites that handle things through a WYSIWYG-style editing system, without any need for HTML knowledge. Right now my only focus is OtakuBoards. And I have precious little time even for that. This is why I don't think it's in anyone's interest for me to really spend time working on any other parts of the network - OB has been around forever and I have invested countless hundreds of hours on it over the years. It's still far from where I want it to be, but if I'm going to spend any time working online, I think OB should be the priority. I also think that I'm going to have to try to make more time when I'm in Melbourne. And if the money situation works out well enough, I will be in a position to actually finance online projects myself. Being able to essentially put my money where my mouth is will make a big difference, I assure you.

Comments (6) | Permalink