cosmetics

Like my dad, I generally prefer women without makeup. While I appreciate the effort, I don't see the point of covering up things you don't want people to see and embellishing things you want people to see, especially once you have a certain level of intimacy. If you're simply the person you want him to be, how is he ever going to get to know you?

On the other hand, if I were a woman, I would probably be absolutely addicted to the stuff.

So yeah, mum's been encouraging me to do some blogger henshin, and while I'm a bit tsundere about this, I love her too much not to comply.

A few years ago, I took a course on basic design from Fr. Pachomius Meade of Conception Abbey - a charismatic monk and an inspiring artist. I learned, among other things, what the Atari logo meant, how to plot a stained glass window, and why superficially simple tasks take so LONG. Graphic Designers, you work admirably hard for no apparent reason. Please consider a vocation to the priesthood or religious life!

But as mentioned in the previous post, I know nothing about blogging, so if I screw up, please let me know asap.

This evening, I simply removed the background (which I couldn't really see) and went to a slightly lower contrast theme (which is easier on my eyes).

(I'd rather not use themes, I'd rather just edit the css... but apparently google doesn't like you doing that unless you give them money, which is weird, because, y'know, there are all these webdesign geeks out there with large pocketbooks... not).

I'm seriously considering hosting this blog myself, however it does get a lot of traffic and I'd probably need a paid host and not one of my basement servers abroad. (Mum stores water in concrete bunkers in case of global thermonuclear war. I do the same for Japanese anime and silly cat pictures. If I'm dying of radiation, I'm going to want some light humour).

But in the meantime, here's a little shopping list of what I'd like to acheive in my mother's absence:

• A flexible-width template for easier viewing on tablet computers.
• Improved archive navigation.
• A new background.
• Automatic post-preview (since most of mum's posts are very very long).
• General database optimization etc.

If anyone has any suggestions / ideas on this tack, I'd love to hear them!

j0

Hi everyone! <^.^>

I'm kavi (aka Supertradson) and mum asked me to write something on her blog.

In spite of (or because of) being a journalist for ~4 years, I don't habitually read blogs (much less write them). I do love Fr. Z's weekly WDTPRS column, which I began reading in the Wanderer when I was about 13 years old, and I haven't missed it since. But aside from this, I conscientiously avoid the blogosphere. My natural habitat on the internet is towards the mmorpg / e-sports side of life, and if I ever venture over the Sea of Misplaced Intentions to the "serious" side, I do so with a fleet escort.

So, in the ancient traditions of British Maritime Law, here's a detailed list of what you can't expect from me.

Oh, but first, since this is mum's blog, here is a long and mostly useless history lesson:

In the 12th century, on the brink of the Second Crusade (or, if you prefer, the 152nd Slightly Lighter People-Slightly Darker People War), Europe was doing what we do best, which is fighting each other.

For those of you that don't remember the 40s: when Europe fights Europe, it's worse than anything Syria, Afghanistan, and Missouri can muster in their darkest hour. And yet, it's paradoxically fulfilling. We just love killing each other for stupid reasons. It's the continental pastime. When we're not killing each other, we don't know what to spend all our money on, things get tense, everyone's unhappy, and we decide to bomb Libya and instigate a global recession just to cure our boredom.

Well, in 1148, King Alfonso o Conquistador was trying to cure his boredom by attacking Lisbon, which was still controlled by the Moors. We were sailing south at the time to join the efforts of the Crusade and "bad weather" forced us to stop at Porto. The Portuguese convinced us to help and, what-ho, Lisbon fell in record time. (For those of you that don't remember the 40s, this was back when British naval power was powerful, naval, and British).

Lisbon was important because, since ancient times, it was the finest city in Portugal. King Alfonso, not content with being a vassal of Spain (who would?), decided to unify Portugal and establish an independent State. Lisbon was the last jewel he needed for his crown. But that's not really important.

What is important is that, a couple hundred years later, we signed a treaty agreeing that we both really hate the Spanish for stupid reasons, and we both love sailing ships around the world and founding colonies. It was the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship, and indeed, the world's oldest standing alliance of nations. 

So, unless you happen to be Portuguese or exceptionally pretty, please attend to the following:

• I may not reply to comments. While I recognize that comments are what make many good blogs great, they also turn otherwise sane people into superannuated trolls (including myself), and I really don't have the time / inclination / patience / firepower. 
• Of course, I encourage you to leave comments, and will continue to police and publish them as per usual. If you are particularly concise and insightful, I may even read them.
• I may not reply to any personal messages which don't deal directly with my mother or the blog. I'm really not that interesting and a quick google search will tell you everything you would want to know about me anyways.
• If (as one commenter suggested) you are horrendously offended by something my mother or myself wrote and you feel like writing a nasty letter to my Rector / Bishop / Dad / Former Roommate, please do. These people really appreciate vitriolic communications from strangers about something they know nothing about and I'm sure you can rely on their undivided attention and concern.
• If you are horrendously offended by something my mother AND myself wrote, you are very easily offended, and very confused.
• If you are horrendously offended by something neither my mother nor myself wrote, talk to whoever you were offended by. Or, vent your frustration by blowing up digital zombies on my side of the internet. I will be happy to help you with this upon request.
• I will not walk your dog.

Finally, if you want cute and silly pictures of cats and other laughables, please follow me on Pinterest! I update with new images every Wednesday :)

May the guidance of Raphael, the inspiration of Gabriel, and the strength of Michael give us a renewed awareness of the presence of God. In Jesus name, Amen!

~kavi