After a long time of waiting and a shorter but harder to bear period when we knew it was about to get a face-lift but we couldn’t actually see much of it, the wonder finally happened! It wasn’t the beginning of September, but it was September, nevertheless, so this time our tech guys have kept their word. So here it is, our new beloved online games magazine, with a lot of improvements both in functionality and in visual style.

And since I’m on the roll, I also want to say a few words about the J* Forum. I recall my first days in there, a shy new user among [what seemed back then] so many others who already knew themselves and some who had even met in real life… I knew only one or two others, but only from my previous interactions with the Level Forum. Back in those days, there was only one admin and the editors were moderating various subforums. People kept their posts on topic, simple and clear, saving all the other things for a certain section of the forum where they were allowed. Everything was neat and nicely ordered, with balanced rules – not that now they’re too different, but not many actually care about them, let alone respect them. Since then, many have joined the community, many have left it more or less willingly… and many things have changed.

And we’re still here, maybe closer than ever, maybe happier than ever to be together and know each other better – good pals, great companions with whom you could always have an interesting conversation, provocative adversaries whether it was about an intellectual or a gaming competition.

The only thing that began to be more and more bothering lately is the off-topic posts which started appearing here and there, at first, but eventually evolved into something rapidly growing and turning into a disturbing monster. And instead of being more receptive to the ones who are new now, still learning and trying to define their own ways and styles, we end up chasing them away with arrogance and an intolerant hypocrisy. Why? Because some who have been given too much freedom and power have forgetten that a while ago ago, they’ve been more or less the same kids, lost in space, trying to fit in somewhere, be noticed by the others, earn some respect, become like the figures they admired.

Hopefully, though, things will get better and the deviants will get back to a decent behaviour. I know it’s never been about post hunting, not with the people I speak of, although it might seem so. The problem as I see it lies somewhere else and I really do hope it will be remedied some time soon, before it gets even worse. I want us to be the community we were, if not loved, at least respected, because we were able to do so much together and because on very few other forums the people have become more than simple users. Most of us have actually become friends.

Categories: Sci/Tech
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So, here it is. A more or less “final” design for my blog. After a couple of days spent learning this and that, searching for a wallpaper for my 1280*1024 desktop and basically doing nothing else (well, does sleep and devouring some apples count?), I can finally say I’m done with customising this. Oh, I’ve decided that in the near future I’ll go search some PHP tutorials for beginners and start learning.

It’s not trendy, nor eye-candy, but I like it just the same.
Now I’ll see about its contents.. Fiction, work or just a game?

Well, never mind the “lyrics” above, I blame it on the late hour. Which reminds me.. Can anybody tell me why do ppl in South Park always blame Canada?

The real “problem” here is that I’ve got all those uhm.. pretty comments on the first post and it actually makes me wonder what do people expect from a blog like this. Tragically enough, this leads me again to my previous worries about what purpose exactly is this blog meant to serve. So what’s to do now? Well, since Simon says Google’s our best friend, I went to ask for its advice. Bad news – I didn’t find too many opinions actually related to the purpose of blogging. Good news – I found very straight forwards answers (pretty helpful ones, too). I’m not going to make here an apology for the art of blogging, though a “To blog or not to blog..” title did indeed cross my mind several times. Instead, I’m just going to paste a few reasons found in a weird and meaningless (imho, of course) test as answers to the question “Why do you blog?”.

• It’s an efficient way to share information and ideas.
• It’s a good way to record personal histories.
• It’s a way for me to share day-to-day life.
• Other people hope and expect me to blog.
• It’s part of my job and/or it’s a way for me to make a living.
• I have a lot of things I wish to share and impart with others and learn for myself.
• It’s a way for me to collect information and ideas from others.
• I like the attention I’m getting.
• It’s a good way to exchange ideas.
• It’s a great tool for making friends and keeping in touch with people.

Since I had to pick up one out of those (many seemed pretty much alike to me), I’ll give you my answer. It’s an efficient way to share information and ideas. Yep, first answer, easiest one as well and the most neutral of those, I’d add. Ok, so I’ve found the best choice for me. Hip hip hooray!

As for the second worry I had – the one about what’s expected of this blog.. Hmmm. I’d say that I don’t really care, since it’s my blog and all that – but, if I really didn’t care, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time writing all these things in here in the first place. But don’t get too excited about it. You won’t find neither underage porn, nor recipes for becoming rich and famous over night in my blog.

So there will only be thoughts that haunt my mind and need to be shared to the www. Nothing more, nothing less. Hopefully, I’ll add more entires in the other categories I’ve prepared, as well. Hopefully.

Categories: Thoughts
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A while ago, when this whole blog “frenzy” was just beginning to grow in popularity world-wide, I had sworn to myself that never ever and under no circumstance was I to have such a thing. The reason? Well, personal thoughts are personal, sensational discoveries have already been discovered by so many others, howtos and tutorials have been already written, artists are thousands and thousand times better and, last but not least, a philosopher lies in every one of us..

So why am I doing this in the first place, now? The thing is.. I don’t really know. But since high standards don’t accept this for an answer, I’ll smile ironically and give a simple solution. Because I can.

And why English? Check up the second answer above. To that, add the fact that English is far more accessible and wide-spread as a language than many others. Furthermore, I’d like to keep practicing my skills at handling this language in a way that goes a bit beyond regular tech usage. I also insist on mentioning the fact that this is by no means a disconsideration towards my Romanian native language, which I equally love and respect.

These being said, I declare my first blog post finished.

Categories: Thoughts
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