In this blog post I will achieve two things:
- Prove yet again that I can babble on about nothing.
- Fulfill friend’s request to see what my room looks like (ilu! ♥).
I keep most of my clothes in suitcases underneath my bed because there’s not much space. I loathed the thought of it at the beginning of the year, but it’s surprisingly convenient! And yes, that is my laundry pile threatening to fall off my wardrobe. I am nothing but classy.
The plant is named Alfie, and I’m so fond of him that watered him too much and almost killed him. I rescued him last week, however, and am quite relieved by his recovery! The (signed!) photo next to him is of a certain beige-slacks-wearing-lecturer that I will eventually marry, though he is unaware of this. My walls also feature a postcard from Rome, and a Valentine’s Day card (the scandal!).
I watch the TV only a few times a month, believe it or not (I can’t). The fridge is stocked with much healthy food (which I also can’t believe), and sits next to all my beautiful shoes. Please note the glorious Amanda Palmer poster, and my desk, looking tidier than usual! Post-its detail plans of attack for assignments, and also list friends I’m not allowed to forget about.
Other neat things in my room:
LEFT: The infamous giraffe earrings I desperately scoured the university for a few weeks back, thinking I’d lost one, only to find I left home that day wearing only one earring. Like a pirate.
RIGHT: I get so pathetically attached to my plants. This is Alfie’s friend Clint! People who know where the name comes from earn 5 points. I’m hoping to grow him into a giant cactus of death to throw at intruders.
What an astounding close up of my desk! Items of note:
- Ukelele, which I’m slowly learning how to play. Mostly I love holding it and mindlessly plucking strings. Behold the extent of my musical ability!
- Evelyn Evelyn CD. It’s bizarre to listen to, and this thread I found on /mu/ describes it magically.
- Wool. I want to learn how to crochet.
- Red Cross volunteer application form. I’m planning on giving up a few hours each week for work experience and fluffy feelings from being useful and wanted.
- Panda pencil case, which was bought when I still had my old domain name.
- iTunes on my computer. I was listening to Dir en grey’s Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai ni Hohoemi, before hopping up to take this photo.
And there you have it, the place I hide away in, and in more detail than anyone ever wanted! 
I’ve been spending too much money lately, and not just on Cadbury creme eggs (let’s not discuss how many I eat every day). I blame the internet! Without a dreaded EFTPOS machine it doesn’t feel like I’ve spent anything… Just click a few buttons, and I’m simply waiting impatiently for the mail. It’s shopping recklessly.
Things I’m waiting for right now?
- Latin textbooks for next semester. It’s been two years since I’ve studied Latin, and we’re going to be reading Cicero. Doomed.
- This poster thing. The last line’s very clever, and I adore words made into art.
- Evelyn Evelyn‘s album. I wish I could afford the Over The Moon bundle.
- This cat. Teeheehee oh, I’m not sure why I’m still buying soft toys at 20.
So I’ve now stumbled onto a site where people sell vintage-y and handmade goodies. Etsy. Ohhhh I’m going to wind up very poor unless I learn self-control and judging from the disappearing creme eggs, there’s not much hope!
- Victoria Scarf-Rose » The colour! The style! The rose! Then, the price! NZ$55, eep. I’m still considering it anyway. Snap my credit card in half, I beg you.
- BUTTONS- Longcat iz loooooong » Such a cute take on the meme, but alas, I have nothing to put them on. There are longcat scarves available too, ahaha.
- Japanese Owls Journal – Eco Friendly – 5 in X 7 in » I only started keeping a journal many years ago for the pretty notebooks. I’ve since moved to LiveJournal (for I write too messily and too much), but I battle with my stationery addiction every time I visit a bookstore. This one is gorgeous! Frickin’ owls, you guys! Could I move back to writing in books? How many forests would I destroy in a year?
- Keep Calm and Carry On Blue Crown Necklace » Cute, inspiring, and patriotic. Oh glorious motherland~!
- Silver Helvetica Ampersand Earrings » I’m currently a little obsessed with ampersands. Beautiful things. I only hesitate buying this because I would have bought the necklace version if it was bigger, no question. It needs to be a statement piece!
Adding to the fun that is window shopping, I have an account with all my favourites on display. Just more of me to stalk.
One of the debates close to the hearts of web designers is how the <b>, <i>, <u> tags should be used – if at all. Yes. They love arguing and writing elaborate blog posts about the simple tags that bold, italicise and underline things. Geeks gone wiilddddd!
For years I’ve considered them to be discouraged, though not necessarily deprecated. In fact, this topic apparently gets to me so much that I still remember discovering I had to use <b> to bold text on Bebo, and not <strong> as I’m accustomed to (and my text subsequently stayed plain because I’m an elitist jackass). <strong>, <em> and <ins> are better as they ‘describe’ their purpose. Also, you can’t use <b>, etc, with an XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE (which is what I use), but can get away with them on a Transitional one. Ohh HTML, you are so lovely with your finnicky ways!
Here’s the fun part: <b> and <strong> do the same thing. Visitors won’t notice anything – they both make text bold. But web designers, we get into passionate debates over which tag is best anyway.
Awesome.
But! The introduction of HTML5 has these old tags shunned to the side no more! Nay, they have a purpose again, and that is: making life complicated.
For example, <b> is for stylistic purposes only. For when you want to bold things for kicks. <strong> and <em> on the other hand, indicate a change in tone. This makes no difference to the ordinary visitor; context will let them figure it out. But should someone have their computer read your site aloud to them (if reading is difficult, etc), their computer will supposedly know what to emphasise and what to ignore depending on which tags you use. It’s lovely and considerate, but it’s also a lot of talk over something that won’t happen often!
It’s for little things like this that I can understand why pseudo web designers* wail, “Ackk, the end result is more or less than same!”, and leave it as that. That doesn’t work for me. I thrive on such ridiculous details. Saying something like the above, will get me (amusingly) fired up – and it takes a lot to make me angry! It all only exposes me as the rule-loving freak that I am. HTML and I go well together in this respect; being a goody-good in this field only proves superiority.
* Such as the person I talked to on Omegle with “seven years experience”, proudly claiming to visit W3C every day and calling web design their “passion”, despite failing to specify a single font in their stylesheets for any site they run. Oh, you.
