21 JAN 2023
mood: 
listening to: sowilo rune - agalloch
weather: sunny-ish, cool
does anyone remember when people would make cool websites/apps/tools just for the sake of making them? and things weren't locked behind 20 microtransactions or subscription plans? i used to use coolors a lot for things like finding palettes but they want you to "go pro" to do things like view more than one page of palettes or search for 2 different keywords at once.
granted, there's free alternatives like colorhunt or my beloved colourlovers which ive been using since the dark ages but it still just irritates me that this is just expected at this point. and dont even get me STARTED on fucking mobile ads. ill preface this with i'm an iOS user so i cant get my hands on adblock, but the other day i was trying to use a youtube music app (musi) and this instagram ad popped up.
first, you had to wait 15 seconds for the ad to play before the 'x' button appeared at the top of the screen. then when you clicked that, it took you to a screen with a download button where you had to wait another 5 seconds for another 'x' button to appear - this time on the other side of the screen to trip up whoever might be clicking blindly. then FINALLY, you had to sit on a blurry screen with nothing but the instagram icon and the word "instagram" underneath it for another 5 seconds before FINALLY you were released from ad hell.
this type of shit makes me So angry it's not even funny, it would be one thing if it was just a long shitty ad i had to sit through but the little malicious things that they put in there like switching the 'x' button placement to try and get an accidental click out of you is so shit. or the way mobile tumblr ads are now - it's not enough for them to be full screen in your face, but now they automatically open a safari tab which then opens the app store if you even so much as scroll past it.
so you'll be scrolling like normal then you'll scroll past an ad and then BOOM suddenly safari is opening and before you can close out of it BOOM app store is flying open and ohhh download toon blast PLEASE DOWNLOAD TOON BLAST !!!!!!! like is it not enough to just shove your shitty ad right in my face with dumb flashy gameplay that isn't even representative of your app??
WHEW okay sorry. had to get that off my chest its just been on my mind today and in general just with the way now everything is suddenly a subscription service because its all about squeezing every single cent out of someone. and the way these services want to try and force you into paying for a full year up front because they'll get even more out of you. ok for real getting off my soapbox now
well it's my 2nd week here at least i think it is, time is just kind of turning into one big blurry mess for me right now. my first day of classes started on tuesday and well so far so good. i'm not taking any difficult classes this semester as i've been out of school for 6 years at this point so i need to re-learn how to do college stuff.
currently i'm taking a sort of baby chemistry class to prepare me for if ihave to take a regular chemistry course, a religion course which is kind of a drag so far, an environmental studies course and a first year seminar that the school required me to take. i'm also taking an appalachian ballads course to wedge another credit into the semester but i'm regretting signing up for it as the instructor wants everyone to learn a ballad then teach it to the class. i'm alright with singing in/as a group but when it comes to singing individually in front of others... i'm too shy for that lol
but i need the credit and beggars cant be choosers so i will take the inevitable embarassment on the chin and keep attending. the instructor teaching is really knowledgable and awesome so that kind of makes it a little easier tbh and i've always been interested in old-time appalachian music.
was good and did all my homework yesterday so i can just sort of play around today and focus on getting through my commission queue. i really didn't want to have to take commissions but i'm pretty broke right now and the extra cash for groceries has been a huge help.
i'm still waiting for my paperwork to come in (dd214) i got word recently that they finally received it after the system was down, but the information was all wrong and they couldn't get in to fix it. so hopefully i'll be hearing about that soon as i need it to get my stuff rolling. one nice thing about this is all the payments i've been waiting on this for will all end up hitting at once instead of trickling in so i think that'll make it worth the wait.
not that there should've been a wait for this document to begin with but like all things military anything that can go wrong probably will go wrong. so thankfully all the months leading up to me moving and starting school i was budgeting to not receive any type of money at all, so the fact that money is inevitably going to fall into my lap at some point is a relief.
i am really yearning to find a sense of normalcy, sort of hit the ground running this month. still looking for a good place to take my walks at that's relatively quiet and secluded but that's almost unheard of in the city and it's been a huge adjustment living in an apartment complex instead of my quiet townhouse in the middle of nowhere.
once it becomes spring time i'm looking forward to exploring a little more, it's been cold here recently and everything's dead which makes me want to curl up and do nothing all day. there is a lot of quiet forest near me just a quick drive down the road and im excited to go back to the river i swam in back in september. but there is something that makes me feel a very strange feeling when i look at the mountains across the road from me and knowing that its "private property"
the idea of someone just being able to buy a mountain and creek and keep everyone away from it ahhhh doesnt it just make you want to just....... i wont finish that sentence... you can use your imagination. i wont even touch the topic of national parks as their histories are long and full of violence that's forgotten about for the sake of "ooh national park thats a good thing right" you feel me? topic for another blog post i think bc this ones getting too fcking long.
in general need to start getting back into my routines that i had started last year with exercising and yoga - i want to try and build some mass before it gets too hot for me to hide how scrawny i am under a jacket.
well, that's really all ive got for now.. happy lunar new year for those of you that celebrate it =] ill be back next week with hopefully some good news and some cool pictures.