14/1/25 Happy New Year!

Can I still say that? I never know when the cutoff should be for it!

I really became one with my sofa and PC over the christmas and new year break, and it was everything I wanted it to be! I was lucky to have 2 weeks off from work. I really, really needed it. During that hazy period between christmas and new year, my friends and I hung out, played games, and ate chocolate and crisps.

We mainly played original java minecraft, but played it together irl, like a LAN party! Also check out that massive haul of diamonds I got in one mining trip. Beautiful.

sigh... now back to reality...

I'm usually pretty excited to get down to 'planning', writing goals and detailled breakdowns of what I want to accomplish in the year ahead - but this year I honestly can't muster that usual energy!

Today at work I really just wished i was back in that magical, snug scenario where I had no responsibility for a time. Along with the rest of the world, most likely!

19/12/24 fashion girl winter?

Wow, what an intense few weeks! Work was kicking my ass there for a moment, but I'm now officially in my lazy christmas holidays era. Maybe I'll get more of this website done... got content to write! Images to draw! Links to code!

To distract myself from the chaos of life lately, I've been having fun with an app called Whering. I saw it mentioned somewhere during a discussion about tracking your wardrobe, and I am actually really loving it!

You basically upload pictures of your wardrobe, and the app cuts the backgrounds out really well. You add stats about the pieces such as type of clothes, price, how old it is etc, and you end up with a database of all possible outfits on your phone.

It's fun to then make outfits from this data within the app, or view stats about how often you wear stuff, what colours you wear, etc! I also like that you can visually plan out outfits for special occasions and schedule them in a calendar.

The only part of the app I dislike is the social media part, but it seems like you dont really need to take part in it - so not too much of a big deal. So yeah, I'm enjoying taking stock of my clothes as a bit of a calming activity!

Anyway, this will probably be my last update this side of Christmas. To anyone reading, I hope you have a lovely time! ♥

09/12/24 How can we move past web 1.0 nostalgia?

I had a day off with no plans today, so I spent it catching up on some much needed hair dye maintenence, a little household DIY, present shopping, and then... ended up doing a bit of web surfing on Internet Archive!

I have a few sites bookmarked for nostalgia, but haven't really explored them since the web 1.0 days. There was this one site in particular that I used to visit all the time as a tween - a final fantasy fansite that posted 'rambles', basically fanfics written in like... theatre script style? Starring the author and a whole cast of FF characters from various games. It sounds cringe because it was, but remember, to be cringe is to be free!

The design was peak early 2000s, with a starry background and rainbow of primary coloured text. Many of the FF gifs in my toybox were probably saved from there! I remember getting hooked on the internet in general after being on that site. The webmistresses writing really captured 13 year old me with her stream of conciousness, irreverent writing style and silly comedy fanfics. I think I really needed it at the time, as I was going through a lot. So... thank you, Lark! Ą

Anyway, back to today. I ended up getting lost trying to navigate my way through trails of broken sites, webrings with missing images, or 'we have moved' links. I was trying to find some other sites I can vividly remember the look and feel of. But these things are so hard to trace. I think that's part of where our web 1.0 nostalgia comes from - we can't actually return to most of it, not really. Most of it really is gone.

I'm grateful that I got to experience this pure, unfiltered, less self concious form of the internet when I was growing up. It makes me angry that this form of self expression has been taken from us, twisted into a cage we pay for, built purposefully to extract money, data and attention.

I am desperate to see what the internet could become now, with our advances in tech, but without the toxic elements of web 2.0. I read this article recently about Rewilding the Internet and the paralells between the destruction of the old web and climate change are so thought-provoking.

“As a top-down, built environment, the internet has become something that is done to us, not something we collectively remake every day.” - We Need to Rewild the Internet, by Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon.

02/12/24 Surviving the long, cold, dark Winter

It's December! I can't believe how quickly the last two weeks have gone. The busy period at work has not stopped - though I have just had a proper weekend, so feeling a bit better about it.

Earlier in the year, my partner and I were talking about completing our christmas shopping before November ends. This year, we'd really do it. Such lofty ambitions!

It wasn't possible, of course. While we did manage to get a decent amount done, that was mainly because we'd got presents for friends and family while travelling. While frantically ordering last minute presents online, I did give into the pull of black friday consumersism too. Now I'm super skint...

Has Christmas always been this stressful? I swear it's gotten worse since the pandemic, somehow. But look! My tree! ☻ It's a rainbow of brightly coloured baubles and cute ornaments. I'm builidng quite the collection.

To anyone reading this - I hope you have a nice winter. Christmas itself can be a whole THING, but I've been doing my best to make Winter™ the best it can be(even though my job is working against me, grr).

"But Bunn!" I hear you say, "What things can I even do to battle the oncoming onslaught of cold, dark mornings and even colder, even darker evenings?"

Some things that are helping me are:

ENVIRONMENT: Hang some fairy lights and switch them on as soon as you wake up. I have some by the window where I eat breakfast, and having their warm glow is so much better than the cold, blue foggy morning light.

VITAMINS: take vitamin D supplements! I also take some other vitamins I am lacking in. Our energy levels and mood can be affected from a lack of vital nutrients. This is especially true in Winter, where we can't easily get it the normal way (from the sun).

MAKE LIFE EASIER: Meal prep! I try to make larger batches of whatever I'm cooking on a certain day, to freeze the rest of the portions as meal preps. If you can afford to get a little more ingredients, this really helps on days where you just wanna stay indoors. You can simply grab a premade homecooked meal instead of using valuable energy to cook, or having to venture outdoors or spend money to sort dinner.

WORK OUT: Still try to do an excercise routine. It doesn't matter if it's a bit shorter or adapted to be inside rather than out. Shoutout to my ears - they are so sensitive to the cold I get a headache if I try to go for a run in winter! I go to the gym throughout the year (it's HEATED!), but if that's not an option for you, try going for a brisk walk in your cosiest jacket, or doing yoga or a bodyweight routine at home. This will again help your mood, self esteem, and keep you warm!

Hope some of those tips are useful. I wrote them down as much for myself as for anyone who might need them. Ą

13/11/24 Neocities Lego?

Y'know when you just have one of those weeks? That's happening now, this very week at my work. So much crazyness... adding to the general crazyness in the wider world right now.

Making this site is a bit of a refuge right now! It feels a bit like building something with Lego. Methodical, kinda relaxing when it's going well, and really satisfying as it all comes together. I remember this feeling from when i used to make websites. It's nice.

12/11/2024 First post!

First Journal! I've been hard at work making this site (a bit obsessively) the last week. I am LOVING this format again, after all these years. I was there in the beginning! Or thereabouts. Does being online making fan shrines during the dialup days count?

I actually have stuff saved from back then, too. Over the course of creating and running this site, I'll hopefully upload some of the stuff if it seems useful or nostalgic to others.

Creating a site this way is really delightful after working with modern websites. I've seen web design slowly get more and more features added, stripping away the control, the creativity. I'm slowly relearning everything, as the last time I probably coded html properly was in the Wordpress heyday, so like more than a decade?

Whats this site going to be? At the moment, I really have no idea. I am honestly just doing whatever, relearning, and creating plans as I go. I am really excited by the prospect of having this site up as well as maintaining my 'professional' modern one, and just being free to do as I please with this space.