And I’m all for it. People can criticise the franchise all they want—I’ll even probably agree—but at the end of the day they were one of the first safe employers for visibly queer people. They are still one of the few places where even in the middle of nowhere you will find visibly queer and accepting staff. There aren’t many places like that outside of gay bars—and not always even then.

K has therapy at the moment so I can neither talk to him nor do anything that requires going downstairs. That means no bike ride or cleaning. I’m a bit bored but don’t want to get into writing when I know I’ll want to do something else in 45 minutes. A bit anxious about whatever was trying to be delivered downstairs because rent was taken from the account but I can’t guarantee it went to the right people. Should eat but don’t really want to when K will probably want food when he’s done with therapy. Can’t update journals because I don’t currently have access to any social media to see what all was going on at the time. Already ordered groceries. Could do some basic hygiene, but that’ll take maybe ten minutes and then I’m pretty well done. Basically just don’t quite know what to do with myself.

Very simple things, but things. I’ll take it for now.

I may spend some time next weekend fighting with updating my basic webdesign knowledge so I can get something I like better, but this is fine for now. I’ll deal with the rest of it when I have more interest.

That used to be the default. Two to three columns, just a list of full-length posts down the middle one. Now it’s all intended to look like you’re scrolling The New Yorker.

I am not The New Yorker. I do not need an image on every post. I do not need my already short entries to be further truncated so I can fit 87 of them on one page. I want a basic, text-focused feed that isn’t trying to emulate a large business or sell a product. I am not a product.

Also testing photos because why not.

I do wish the older themes worked with post types, but I’ll live until I feel like spending the time to build something from scratch (even though I really shouldn’t have to).

Fifteen years ago, you could install WordPress and have a functional blog with fully custom colours and headings, archive and category lists, and log-in links up in twenty minutes. For free.

Now I’ve got some asshole expecting me to pay $40 for the privilege of changing the colours on their bare-bones template. All because WordPress has made it harder to customise things than back when you used to have to do it by hand with HTML and CSS.

Absolutely ridiculous.

In related news, I miss when the internet was primarily text-based and changing the look of things required at least some amount of HTML and CSS knowledge. The drag and drop model actually makes it easier to screw something up without noticing until it’s too late to retrace your steps to figure out what went wrong.

It has been a very long time since I’ve had an active blog on my own site. I haven’t bothered because…what’s the point? I journal, I use social media, personal blogs are dead. It’s not like the communal 90s or 00s, with web-rings and making friends through link-backs. Everyone’s on TikTok.

I am very much over using social media as much as I do, though. I’m sick of scrolling and posting simply because I’m bored and it’s easier than trying to think of something actually interesting to do. I’ve tried app blocks and site blocks and locking my phone in a drawer, always with the end result of being productive for a few hours, irritable for a few more, then finding every possible way to bypass all of the blocks I’ve set up.

Yes, I do have severe ADHD.

Anyway, this is the latest attempt. Post to my own little corner of the internet whenever I would normally reach for social media. I’ll still allow access for a couple of hours a day to chat with people and research questions, but all the little micro-posts will hopefully go here. Along with probably a few rants that I wouldn’t normally post because no one cares, but that are too long to hand-write in my journals without getting distracted.

Next step is to hopefully find a way to post by app. I have a pocket notebook but, let’s be real, I never use it for that sort of thing. My habit is to reach for my phone, no amount of trying to break that has worked, so hopefully I can at least find a way to transform the habit it something a bit less likely to suck up all of my time.

Fingers crossed.