Sunday, August 20, 2006

Blog's new outfit

I'm at that point I always reach when guests leave. It's bittersweet - seeing them go. Regardless of the quality or length of the visit, it's pleasant on some level to have people around. To listen rather than read, to see facial expressions change as I speak. So Chienne and I stand in the driveway and I wave as a car drives away. Then I look down at her.

"Alone again." I sigh, and we watch as our visitors turn the corner, then we turn to walk inside. I believe myself to be rather solitary by nature though, so it doesn't take long until I'm quite happy to be in my own space again. I clean up and do laundry, restore order to my cute little house. I tried to do some work but found myself completely unable to focus.

So I slept. Decided it was too hot to mow the lawn. Looked at some revisions for my paper - we're almost finished with them. I'll really make an effort to reformat my response letter after I finish this. I found myself bored with my life - I'm tired of feeling sad about being alone. I am. I will be. But I get sweet, encouraging comments that make me feel better when I break down and admit that I'm sad, so it's not likely to stop for long. I'm sick to death of not making more progress at work. I know what needs to happen, but I continue to struggle to find the motivation to actually do it. I couldn't finish the post I was trying to write, but then I realized it's been a long time since I updated my header!

I do love updating my template, so I did that. Then I hooked up my ancient video game system and played Super Mario Brothers 3. It was strangely unsatisfying though. So then I came back to design little sidebar graphics! (Is that too much? Are they weird?) So now I'm all vain - clicking over to look at my blog because it's all new and pretty! That leaves me relatively content for now and ready to get back to work tomorrow.

Summing up - while things could be better, they could be much worse. I'm enjoying the quiet, the ability to work on my laptop without a sweet little girl coming over and demanding pictures, and precious control of my remote controls. No more horror movies! Or Blue's Clues! There are benefits to being alone - I just have to think for a moment to remember them.

9 comments:

MapleMama said...

What a lovely update to your template! I particularly like the flower photos in your sidebar headers. Very nice indeed. Are all of the photos your own? If so, you've for a great eye.

One of these days I actually have to overhaul my template. I've slightly doctored the Blogger/Rounders template I started with a few months ago. But I'm squatting on www.maplemama.com (the current owner only has 3 more days to renew!) so if I do obtain it, I hope to do a whole website design. Could be fun!

Anonymous said...

The sidebar images are very nice... I especially like the way you reversed the flowers so tha archives picture is symmetric (I know, I'm a dork, I notice these things).

I also really like the green background of the images... have you tried making that the background for the whole page?

Doug

ScienceWoman said...

I like the new look - particularly the sidebar headers. I envy your frequent template changes - someday I'll get around to redoing mine.

Repressed Librarian said...

The template looks great!!

post-doc said...

MapleMama-
The photos are mine, so thanks! Though my camera has decent resolution, so it's easy to find pieces of pictures that I like (and when they're small enough to fit on headers/sidebars, I only need a tiny piece). :) I know people who have done designs from scratch, but it still sounds a bit daunting to me. I'm eager to see what you come up with though! I hope it works out. :)

Doug-
We should so hang out to talk Photoshop! It'd be perfect to have someone suggest changes (not only to the template but for some work stuff too). I struggled with the links graphic - didn't know if the yellow flower should go left or right. Then I thought I flipped the recently graphic photo too, but it looks like I missed it. Then I had trouble deciding if they were all too tall - I got them to 32 points, but they still might be a tad large. Oh, and I don't like reading white text on colored backgrounds - it's a quirk of mine for some reason. So the white background is likely here to stay.

ScienceWoman-
Well, I'd rather have the husband and baby on the way, but I shall settle for the time to update my template. :) Thanks to your earlier advice, I haven't even considered going to 3 columns.

RL-
Aw, thanks! I like it very much for now, but I loved the blue as well. The problem with the sidebar is that it's going to extend the updating process when I decide to do it again. And it's never good to make a procrastinating activity even longer. :)

ECT-
We have things in common! I love sleep! I'm glad you're around and that you commented. It was a good day to come since the blog is all dressed up now. :)

Anonymous said...

Oooh, so very pretty! I love that color of pink.

ceresina said...

Very nice!
And there's definitely -- absolutely -- something wonderful to being able to do what you want, when you want. Enjoy it; you'll miss it when you find that special someone. ;-)

sheepish said...

I definitely dig the sidebar graphics, and I like the new coat of paint on everything.

Anonymous said...

Hi- I'm new to your blog - but I feel that we have much in common. Especially brothers wife .... Your Blog layout is lovely - the pictures are stunning.

I found you through Maplemama who is my dear friend of many years. I love your Blog and you give me great ideas!

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