Yes I know, I know. It happened yet again. Yes there are some good reason and some bad reasons for my absences so I'll just try and get through them and do my best to post more often.
Work
Reason one is work again. Working in retail is.... well it's fun, but hard work and with Christmas the workload was increased. Extra shifts and longer shifts meant that when I finally got home the last thing I wanted to do was sit at a computer and try and come up with a coherent blog post without sounding like I was moaning while being really tired. The number of times I came home after an almost 12 hour shift and basically went straight to bed was silly. I'd wake up a few hours later and it would be so late at night that it was better to just go back to sleep. But the one thing that I always go back to is "think of the money". The one good thing is that while I'm not making a lot of money, I'm making more than I used to and now have a lot more disposable cash. Well, when I say disposable cash what i really mean is now I have the chance to save a lot more for grander holidays and not having to wait to save up and buy things I would normally think twice about whether I can really afford. Admittedly is is rather liberating not having to worry about whether I can afford to go out with friends or the price of fuel for the car. The downside of all the extra work of course is tiredness, but with Christmas and New Year over my schedule is back to normal. So hopefully here come the posts!
The Death of Sharon
A while ago I made a post about my PC and how it suited my needs. Well My PC (Sharon as I called her) died. Basically I had been using my computer and upon shutting down it installed an update (even though support for Windows XP was dropped in April 2014). Next morning I booted it up and when the XP boot screen finish, instead of going to the desktop like normal, it would reboot. EVERYTIME. You couldn't even boot into Safe Mode. Now being a Computing Sciences graduate, I tried everything I could think of to try and get the desktop up and fix it. Nothing worked.
To check that all my files where still there, I installed XP on a second unused Hard Drive and once in discovered that all my files were still there and accessible. HALLELUJAH!! But now came the difficult (or not so difficult choice). XP, no matter how much I loved it was a defunct and out-dated operating system that wouldn't be supported by anything in near future. So I took the plunge and bought a new custom build computer which is working perfectly and I'm loving having a computer back after 6 weeks. I'm going to make a post about Minerva (the new PC) soon, so I get more into the specifics then. But the lack of a computer leads me onto my next issues.
Website Re-tweak
My website has looked the same for quite a while and I wanted to adjust it a little bit and change a couple of things around. However the lack of a computer meant it was nigh on impossible for me to do this. No Photoshop to edit and resize my images, and no Dreamweaver to work with my files how i like. So yup, I was stuck, and yes I know there are other programs and such I could have used, but lack of a computer was the main issue. However I have started and for me it is starting to look better. There is still some work to be done but its a step in the right direction. I also wanted to incorporate my blog more into my website like all the bloggers and WordPress sites, without having to use them for my website. Now I know I could incorporate my code into these platforms, but whenever Ive tried this before it always throws up problems and to be honest I prefer the freedom I have with hosting my own pages. In the end I went with customisable RS Feeds that sit well within my pages but still link back to my blog on blogger.
Reconfigured Blogs
As you knew, I had 2 blog, Short Stories and Brain Farts. Now when I set them up I thought it was a great idea having two separate blogs with different topics thinking this would spread my increase my audience. However I quickly came to realise that trying to come up with different posts for two blogs was becoming difficult. Trying to find the time with extra shifts and tiredness plus the lack of a computer for my final layout editing, the blogs basically came to a halt.
Now in hindsight I realise that the names I picked for my blogs were terrible, they should be catchy and short, ideally. With this in mind I came up with a new blog that would replace the others. The name I came up with for the new blog is so not original but I wanted something closer to the handle I use for all my social media. And thus @bhyravaughia was born! However I didnt want all the posts I had previously written to essentially be "written off" so I transferred all the posts from both over tho the new one with all comments and views intact. This meant I didn't have to start again from scratch, not that I get many views/comments but I am only just starting out so who knows.
Well this really isn't much of a surprise, but yes I got hooked watching a lot of steaming video services catching up on all my stories. With all the extra work I had been doing it was easier to just veg out in front of the TV and put on Netflix, Amazon Video or Now TV, or even just throw on a film or a TV show from my collection and just got stuck watching episode after episode. To me Netflix and Chill is literally just that, watching Netflix and chilling out, vegging out in front of the idiot box.
There has also been some time spent house hunting for my first apartment with a friend and to be honest has been difficult. My city is a major student hotspot so a lot the apartments that would be perfect are student only, and I'm not a student. The other problem is price, we have an upper limit for rent price and which is fine, but some of the cheaper prices are shared houses and I'm afraid I'm a little too old to be sharing a house with 2 or 3 people I don't know. Its not like I'm a student anymore. Plus I'm not a big fan of people lol. I prefer to be by myself more often than not or with close friends than strangers.
Work
Reason one is work again. Working in retail is.... well it's fun, but hard work and with Christmas the workload was increased. Extra shifts and longer shifts meant that when I finally got home the last thing I wanted to do was sit at a computer and try and come up with a coherent blog post without sounding like I was moaning while being really tired. The number of times I came home after an almost 12 hour shift and basically went straight to bed was silly. I'd wake up a few hours later and it would be so late at night that it was better to just go back to sleep. But the one thing that I always go back to is "think of the money". The one good thing is that while I'm not making a lot of money, I'm making more than I used to and now have a lot more disposable cash. Well, when I say disposable cash what i really mean is now I have the chance to save a lot more for grander holidays and not having to wait to save up and buy things I would normally think twice about whether I can really afford. Admittedly is is rather liberating not having to worry about whether I can afford to go out with friends or the price of fuel for the car. The downside of all the extra work of course is tiredness, but with Christmas and New Year over my schedule is back to normal. So hopefully here come the posts!
The Death of Sharon
To check that all my files where still there, I installed XP on a second unused Hard Drive and once in discovered that all my files were still there and accessible. HALLELUJAH!! But now came the difficult (or not so difficult choice). XP, no matter how much I loved it was a defunct and out-dated operating system that wouldn't be supported by anything in near future. So I took the plunge and bought a new custom build computer which is working perfectly and I'm loving having a computer back after 6 weeks. I'm going to make a post about Minerva (the new PC) soon, so I get more into the specifics then. But the lack of a computer leads me onto my next issues.
Website Re-tweak
Reconfigured Blogs
Now in hindsight I realise that the names I picked for my blogs were terrible, they should be catchy and short, ideally. With this in mind I came up with a new blog that would replace the others. The name I came up with for the new blog is so not original but I wanted something closer to the handle I use for all my social media. And thus @bhyravaughia was born! However I didnt want all the posts I had previously written to essentially be "written off" so I transferred all the posts from both over tho the new one with all comments and views intact. This meant I didn't have to start again from scratch, not that I get many views/comments but I am only just starting out so who knows.
TV Shows
Well this really isn't much of a surprise, but yes I got hooked watching a lot of steaming video services catching up on all my stories. With all the extra work I had been doing it was easier to just veg out in front of the TV and put on Netflix, Amazon Video or Now TV, or even just throw on a film or a TV show from my collection and just got stuck watching episode after episode. To me Netflix and Chill is literally just that, watching Netflix and chilling out, vegging out in front of the idiot box.
Playing on the Playstation was also part of it, playing by myself or playing GTA5, Fortnite and Rocket League with friends online plus the new Assassins Creed Origins. What can I say, I can be pretty lazy.
Home Hunting
There has also been some time spent house hunting for my first apartment with a friend and to be honest has been difficult. My city is a major student hotspot so a lot the apartments that would be perfect are student only, and I'm not a student. The other problem is price, we have an upper limit for rent price and which is fine, but some of the cheaper prices are shared houses and I'm afraid I'm a little too old to be sharing a house with 2 or 3 people I don't know. Its not like I'm a student anymore. Plus I'm not a big fan of people lol. I prefer to be by myself more often than not or with close friends than strangers.
Why not get a house with more friends I hear you not asking. Well the majority of my friends are married, have children or already living with partners or friends. Well why not live by yourself? One, too expensive and two, I think id quite likely go mental and become a recluse. So I asked my friend and we've been looking ever since, but with our work schedules its been difficult trying to arrange viewings and places/areas we both like. Hopefully this will work out soon and I'll be able to update you on our new digs!
Ok, that's it, I'm done, but I'm going to give you an update on some future post coming our way. I'm going to do some Tech Reviews of products Ive bought or thinking about buying. These will not be paid reviews of products but I'm not adverse to the idea and will let you know when they are. I will be continuing with my Favourite Authors blogs along with a Youtuber interview and a post all about working at a Summer Camp.
Catch you soon!
Nice to see you back and blogging again. I look forward ro more. :-)
ReplyDeleteHey there! Thanks for the read, The Mrs Reads! Tiredness definitely kills a creative mind lol, though I have heard that when you are tired your mind becomes more creative?!
DeleteIts all in the kind of tiredness! Lol
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