Week 52 - Before It All Ends

The end of the year is drawing near! The New Year is soon here! I know it's true, because Tumblr just posted their yearly review. That page keeps freezing for me btw. Think about your users, Tumblr! If my basic computer can't handle this overload of huge animated GIFs on a single page, how will the people this design is actually aimed for be able to handle it? Cellphone users, of course. It seems to be them that all sites consider their main audience now. Personally, I'd have liked a more overviewable grid-design.

A lot of things are changing lately. Google changed their logo, and now they've slimmed down YouTube even further. I miss the sidebar. I can't skim through subscriptions and channels from the main page like this, not without scrolling through a dropdown, and videos don't show up centered by default - they're all aligned to the left! I like minimalism too, but only when it's synonymous with simplicity, not when features I use on a daily basis are being removed for something as superficial as less visual clutter. I want control! I have a big screen. I can afford to lose some side-space for added luxuries such as navigation. I understand super simple interfaces are useful for mobile, but for PC?! They're not thinking this through.

YouTube wasn't what I came here to talk about today though. I came to speak of the past week, the start of this one, and the New Year that's soon to follow.

It's been a good week. Christmas! I worked Monday and Tuesday, both short days, and come Wednesday it was all time free! Prepping the presents, gathering together to eat a bite of Jansson's Temptation, and spend the night packing up all those presents we previously prepped!

Mostly these were edible items; a few creative devices with diverse uses, like tea strainers and mixers. I got a pair of somewhat professional headphones (I don't technically have them yet, but they're on the way), an inflatable cushion with spikes that you place on your chair to prevent back issues (one of those things I didn't know I needed until I received it!), comics, snacks, and a few smaller gadgets. And hey, I went up two kilos these past couple of weeks. Those traditional New Year resolutions of improved exercise habits sure will come in handy now! The one job that required bike rides to get to and from has been a bit lacking lately, but even if I don't get paid for them, I'ma take those bike rides!!

We had a couple days of winter days last weekend, the ground glazed by snow, which was great, but vacation time overall has passed by all too fast. I've played games... I plowed through both original Serious Sam encounters, the campaign on Advance Wars DS, and quite a few medal games. One is idling in the background as I type this. Though I don't feel like I've strayed that much from the nominal efficiency path, it might've been a bit much. I guess games that are a steal take your time without you noticing. ;)

Otherwise I've been catching up on conversations, communities and pastimes, as well as trying to finish a few things before the New Year sets in, and though the year's almost over, a few days of vacation do remain yet! There's so much I wanted to do this year. Much I've done, but even more I have to leave for the future. 2016. It's going to be awesome. I feel I've come to peace with not being able to finish everything before it's over... as is always the case! Life's an ongoing project, day by day, task by task. The blog might not be as active next year as it was this one... but I think I thought the same thing in 2014, so who knows how that'll turn out.

There's my yearly project for next year as well, which I still haven't decided what to do with! I'm contemplating one of a select few creative endeavors. Might be a hybrid project too, where I take turns on different content forms for added variation. Staying consistently active for each day the entire year doesn't seem that intriguing at the moment though, so the only thing that is certain is it won't be as tasking as it was last year. A weekly thing could work too. We shall see. Hopefully I'll settle for something before the project's presented and the first piece due!

Oh, and also, I have a little gift for whomever reads this post and wants a free copy of Divine Divinity on GOG. I already own the game myself, so here's a redeemable coupon code for a copy, which you can claim here: 3QJ4B697EFC24F40BK

First come first serve! If you don't have an account yet you might need one to get the game, though you won't need an account to play the game, just to download the files. I had two more codes, but they're already gone apparently. Expired! Damn. Attained them as bonuses on other purchases, so no direct loss, but I wish I'd posted them earlier. :/ Well, here's last week. I've just posted a few things since then... and that's it for this year! Onto, the grand new, 2016!