Yikes…hello! It’s been a while. I promise I’m not dead–just very busy. Retaking the GRE, occasionally studying for level 2 of the JLPT, and working on grad school applications and my visual portfolio…plus playing catch-up at work this week because I was sick and out of the office for two days…I haven’t had a lot of time to myself lately.
I did begin some work on reorganizing some aspects of the site, and my Designy Sense (meant to sound like Spidey-Sense…pardon me, it’s been a long week) is really tingling. One thing that’s been bugging me for months is that the Mac and PC versions of the same fonts behave differently, so because of the differences in Verdana between the Mac and PC, the navigation is totally wrong on the Mac.
I’m almost tempted to attempt another redesign and try to stick it in my portfolio, though there’s the whole constraint of “pretty portfolio site” =/= “caters to all users.” Eh, we’ll see. I really wish I were a better web developer, so I could generate the content dynamically and not have to change over 50 separate HTML pages individually (did you notice that the copyright statement still says 2007? yeah…). I like to do it all myself and not rely on some generic CMS that dictates the site’s layout, too.
And I am seriously behind on my e-mails. I’m really sorry about that.
Okay, something related to the show: I was rewatching episode 1 (I created my own DVDs of the show thanks to iDVD on the Mac, which rocks) and picked up on something during the rhyme-in-runes that Alomar shows Ren.
Thirteen Treasures of Ancient Time
Thirteen Lessons of Rule in Rhyme
“Lessons of Rule.” Once that phrase registered for me, it immediately brought to mind this article, and specifically, this quote:
“Sailing in a vessel called the Wraith, Ren tries to locate “the Thirteen Treasures of Rule,” which are qualities such as perseverance, strength, grace, generosity, kindness. They are, said Kirschner, the qualities that will make Ren more qualified to take over his father’s position as king of Octopon.
Kirschner sees the story as a mirror of life and the search for the power that lies within a person.
“It’s an action-adventure that’s certainly a swashbuckler,” said Kirschner. “The story is about a boy who’s thrown into a situation beyond his control: He has to bring back the Thirteen Treasures of Rule. At the end of the story, Northern Wind touches him – and it’s his father’s voice – saying, `Come home.’ This amazing journey was not to collect these treasures, but it was what they signified. He moves that much closer to being a true ruler with the qualities it takes to preside over a people.”
I’m not sure how many of you ever did happen to see that article, but it’s a rather telling one–that quote in particular.
Hopefully I’ll post again this year, and I hope you all have a great weekend!