Three days ago I was shopping in my favourite craft store, Lincraft, and almost passed out smack bang in the middle of the paint brush isle. I’d been feeling light-headed and shaky all day but it was also a billion degrees and humid as hell so I thought it was dehydration.

The next day I woke up, got out of bed, and promptly fell on the floor. I felt like a semi had visited my room during the night and ran me over multiple times. My thighs felt hard as rocks; sore like I’d run a marathon the day before. Every few minutes my knees would decide they didn’t want to support me anymore and buckle. So for the entire day I was walking around like I had a poker jammed up my ass because I couldn’t bend my knees.

That night I had quite possibly the worst sleep of my life. Every time I rolled over in my sleep the muscle pain would wake me up . The next day (yesterday) was WORSE. The pain I felt in my legs spread over my body; even my elbow pits hurt! I’d also started getting cold-like symptoms, mainly a sore throat and swollen glands in my neck. I made a doctors appointment and had to actually get my mum to take me. I haven’t been taken to see a doctor by mother since I was a kid, but I could barely walk, let alone drive myself there.

After describing the course of events that brought me to see her, the first thing the doctor said to me was “so.. been kissing anyone icky lately?” Apparently glandular fever aka mono has been making the rounds the past few weeks, GREAT! She sent me off to get some blood tests to confirm whether it was glandular fever or something else just as icky. Now, I have a minor phobia when it comes to needles. This is thanks to a traumatic experience donating blood when I was 17 that left me with arm-length bruises along the inside of both of my arms; but that’s another story. So needless to say, I was just a TAD concerned with getting blood tests. It was ok though, and I should get some of the test results by this afternoon or tomorrow morning. At least the blood count results that determine whether I have mono or not. They’re checking for a few other things too, like influenza.

The thing I hate most about sickness (apart from the whole.. sick part) is that it’s so BORING. Being able to lay in bed all day seems really appealing until you’re actually doing it. I got my 17 year old brother to help me move some furniture around and now I have a pretty sweet set-up going so that I can lay in bed, use my PC, watch some TV, or play xbox 360. It’s just not very practical if I ever.. y’know.. want to open my desk drawers?

If there are any of you out there looking for an extended vacation from work, please feel free to visit my quarantined bedroom. I’m bored here by myself.

Yesterday whilst visiting my chatroom an interesting topic came up. After a bit of a bitch about trolls being really irritating, someone announced that people troll because the internet isn’t real. I found this statement quite baffling. I know that for some, venturing online feels like entering a foreign country where no one speaks English; but is the internet so far removed from reality that it’s morphed into an alternate universe?

The internet can remove the accountability you have for your actions and bump up your courage points while you’re hidden anonymously behind your computer screen. People may behave differently under these circumstances and say or do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily do, but it’s still them, is it not? They don’t develop some alternate personality, it’s the same person with lowered inhibitions.

I’ve always hated the term “IRL” (In Real Life).

Example. I have this friend IRL that doesn’t use the internet.

What? I tend to avoid categorising my life into sections of real and make-believe, lest I develop schizophrenia. I really just don’t understand this distinction between “real life” and the internet. I don’t miraculously turn into some other person when I open my browser. The rules of interaction may change – I wouldn’t go up to someone in person and make little star (*) motions with my hands whilst hugging them – but the norms of communication are still essentially the same, no? You’re still communicating with a real and tangible person and it’s still possible to develop ties and feelings with that person.

Granted, there are many out there that aren’t honest about themselves online (tsk tsk) and take advantage of the anonymity that the internet provides; but there are liars and assholes everywhere. They follow you into your “real life” too. I know several.

I use the internet a lot. It’s my source of income as well as a hobby. As far as I’m concerned it’s a part of my life, not a separate entity floating along beside it. Honestly, I feel bad for people that need to maintain a second life to make their first bearable. I’m far too lazy for that.

Merry politically correct Christmas everyone :]

‘Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck…
How to live in a world that’s politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to “Elves”.
“Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.
And labour conditions at the North Pole
were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.

Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.
And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid
Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises on their rooftops.
Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called “unenlightened.”

And to show you the strangeness of life’s ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorised use of his nose
And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.
So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she’d enough of this life,

Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.
And as for the gifts, why, he’d never had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.
Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.

Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim, Nothing to shoot.
Nothing that clamoured or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls, or just for the boys.
Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that’s warlike or non-pacifistic.

No candy or sweets…they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.
And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.
For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

No baseball, no football…someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.
Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.
So Santa just stood there, dishevelled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.

He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you’ve got to be careful with that word today.
His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.
Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.

A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, every religion;
Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere… even you.
So here is that gift, it’s price beyond worth…
May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on Earth.

Author Unknown

Apparently not on the internet, but you probably knew that already.

I have a pixel graphics subscription site – Doodlebug Pixels. I use a membership script called aMember Pro to manage my member area and to handle payments through PayPal. One of the first things I noticed when I installed aMember about 6 months ago was that there is absolutely no encryption on passwords, i.e. anyone with access to the admin panel can plainly read the password information of each member.

aMember is a very popular script with pixel subscription sites similar to my own. Those not wishing to pay the high price for it ($139.95 on SALE – it’s been at that “limited time offer” price since I purchased it back in May) and attempt to make sense of the broken English in the user manual use standard webprotect through cpanel, set up with login information provided by subscribers.

All in all, this makes for a lot of unsecured passwords floating around the pixel community and a lot of reliance on the morals of the website owners keeping them. Unfortunately not every person out there is ethical and a couple of days ago I heard something on the e-grapevine that I found very disappointing. Apparently a certain webmaster decided to take advantage of the smorgasboard of login details provided by her subscribing members and use them to login to other websites without the consent of the people belonging to them; essentially gaining free access to sites that her members had paid subscription fees to access.

This really pissed me off! Virtually every website that I own collects various forms of personal information from members. I would never, ever even consider using the personal information entrusted to me in any way that wasn’t intended to benefit my users. I certainly wouldn’t take advantage of my position and access to the personal information of my members for my own benefit.

After a bit of thought, I set up a quick page about privacy in the pixel community and why confidentiality is important – http://privacy.doodlebugpixels.com

Basically, pixel website owners wishing to show their members that they believe in confidentiality and the protection of private information can display one of the buttons I have provided on their site, linking back to my Privacy Protected page. In return, I add them to the list of privacy supporters. Simple concept, yes? Yeah, I thought so too until the woman that inspired this little project decided to submit her site and display the button on her site. Honestly, I’m baffled by the nerve of this woman. Her submission was swiftly followed by another email asking if I would trade memberships with her. Not likely!

Despite that little bump in the road, I’m pleased with the response this idea has received. I virtually had 30 supporters overnight and already have plans for more information to add…