tolitz.com

Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve done something with this place. The virtual cobwebs are almost alive in here. But so far, the move back here is going along smoothly, but there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.

It’s ironic that, even though I can do an extreme exercise in elaborate site layouts, I choose a minimalist approach. This theme was called Hemmingway, and it really suits my simple and straightforward approach to weblogging right now.

The weblog software I’m using right now is Wordpress. I debated for some time whether I would continue using Moveable Type (which was the weblog script I’ve been using for a long time, and one that was compatible with the Friendster blogs’ Typepad service), or try to use new weblog script that was “supposed” to be better. But after a good deal of googling and research, I decided on going with the latter.

I think the biggest thing that won me over to Wordpress was my inclination to try something new. And the fact that Wordpress is actually free and open source didn’t hurt either. There was a huge community following for it, and I think I’d be more comfortable using an industry favorite with a ton of support and user-created goodies.

So here I am, playing around with this shiny new script, and I find it really enjoyable. There are some things I miss from MT, but the customizability and features of WP more than make up for it. And it actually has easier-to-edit themes than MT. And, yeah, it’s free…

I’m still trying to decide what else to incorporate here. Sometimes I get obsessed about starting a whole site from scratch that I try to put as much scripts and goodies I can find. But years of experience in this thing has taught me to just keep it simple. In the land of blogs, content is king.

This is gonna be so much fun, man…

Technorati: blog, friendster, moveable, type, typepad, wordpress

Don’t you just love these melodramatic, angsty, brooding and pseudo-mysterious appellations that pretentious webloggers like me splatter over their latest post for the day?

But in a way of speaking, the title is apt.

As very few of you know, my Friendster blog “began” a year ago, September 4th to be exact.  It had a dinky name called “Tatak Tolitz” for about two weeks or so, before I changed it to its current name…   But if you notice, I have posts that go as way back as 2002… which would be impossible since I just started the blog at Friendster last year, right?

Well, maybe that’s because I’ve been weblogging since 2002 at my own personal site, Tolitz.Com, which had been in development limbo constantly.  If you visited that site, you’ll see the words there that say:

“Don’t worry, once Tolitz finds the time for himself and his site, this site will be up once again.”

Well, my friends, that time is almost here…  Yeah, I’m gonna be moving my weblog back to my site in a couple weeks, and I’m gonna be resurrecting my little corner in cyberspace once more.

* * * * *

What does that mean for my Friendster blog right now?  Well, I’ll still be using it, of course, but I will slowly wean myself off it week by week.  Does that mean I’ll be abandoning my Friendster blog after I get my site back up?  Hell no! I met most of my good friends in this place, so it won’t be going away soon.  But the posts will not be as regular or as constant as it will be on my own site when I move my weblog there.

What prompted me to make this move?  A lotta things, really. Friendster blogs, specifically the Typepad service, limits me in some way…  The fact that only Friendster members can reply to my posts is also a small part of it, and the pains I have to do in order to get around the pre-formatted design can be very unnerving at times.  I wanted more freedom – not just in content, but in aesthetics.

Of course, that would mean the people who visit my weblog would once again dwindle or start from scratch once again, but I was already used to that.  I’ve been weblogging since 2002 until 2005 with only a handful of people reading what I write, so it won’t be a shock to me

I do have to hand it to Friendster, though… the blogs here increased my readership by 500% from the time I started writing… no doubt thanks to the blog email notification spam, hahaha!

* * * * *

So expect an announcement from me, here, on when my site will re-launch itself. It might come in a couple of weeks. Maybe a month. But it will come. And then the hour of the wolf will be upon this little room I have in Friendster, where I share the dark, funny, often confusing thoughts that play around in the dark recesses of this thing I call a brain.

Will you miss me? I dunno. I sure will miss you guys, though

Technorati: astigmachism, friendster, tatak, tolitz

We all know that shit happens… but how do other religions and beliefs view shit when it happens?   Let’s find out:

* * * * *

• TAOISM:  Shit happens.
• CONFUCIANISM:  Confucius say, “Shit happens”.
• ZEN:  (What is the sound of shit happening?)
• JESUITISM:  If shit happens and nobody is watching, is it really shit?
• ISLAM:  Shit happens if it is the will of Allah.
• COMMUNISM:  Equal shit happens to all people.
• CATHOLICISM:  Shit happens because you are bad.
• PSYCHOANALYSIS:   Shit happens because of your toilet training.
• SCIENTOLOGY:  Shit happens if you’re on our shit list.
• ZOROASTRIANISM:  Bad shit happens, and good shit happens.
• UNITARIANISM:  Maybe shit happens. Let’s have coffee and donuts.
• RIGHT-WING PROTESTANTISM:  Let this shit happen to someone else.
• JUDAISM:  Why does shit always happen to us?
• REFORM JUDAISM:  Got any Kaopectate?
• MYSTICISM:  What weird shit!
• AGNOSTICISM:  What is this shit?
• ATHEISM:  I don’t believe this shit!
• NIHILISM:  Who needs this shit?
• AZTEC:  Cut out this shit!
• QUAKER:  Let’s not fight over this shit.
• FORTEANISM:  No shit??
• 12-STEP:  I am powerless to cut the shit.
• VOODOO:  Hey, that shit looks just like you!
• NEWAGE:  Visualize shit not happening.
• DEISM:  Shit just happens.
• EXISTENTIALISM:  Shit doesn’t happen; shit is.
• SECULAR HUMANISM:  Shit evolves.
• CHRISTIAN SCIENCE:  Shit is in your mind.
• BUDDHISM:  Shit happens, but pay no mind.
• SHINTOISM:  Shit is everywhere.
• HINDUISM:  This shit has happened before.
• WICCA:  Mix this shit together and make it happen!
• HASIDISM:   Shit never happens the same way twice.
• THEOSOPHY:  You don’t know half of the shit that happens.
• DIANETICS:  Your mother gave you shit before your were born.
• SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST:  No shit on Saturdays.
• JEHOVAH’s WITNESSES:  No shit happens until Armageddon.
• MOONIES:  Only happy shit really happens.
• HOPI:  Corn fertilizer happens.
• BAHA’I:  It’s all the same shit.
• STOICISM:   This shit is good for me.
• OBJECTIVISM:  Our shit is good for you.
• EST:  If my shit bothers you, that’s your fault.
• REAGANISM:  Don’t move; the shit will trickle down.
• FASCISM:  Shit makes the trains run on time.
• CARGO CULT:  A barge will come and take all the shit away.
• EMACS:  Hold down Control-Meta-Shit.
• DISCORDIANISM:  Some funny shit happened to me today.
• RASTAFARIANISM:  Let’s smoke this shit.
• CHARISMATIC:  This is not shit and it doesn’t smell bad.
• MASONIC:  Shit happens, but we can’t discuss it during Lodge.
• RED CROSS:  Shit happens – send money.
• THE MATRIX:  There is no shit…
• BRAVEHEART:  SHIIIIITTT!!!

* * * * *

Hope you liked it, and my apologies if this shit offends your religion or belief… but frankly my dear, I don’t give a shit…

Technorati: beliefs, happens, religions, shit

It’s been five years since the incident that changed America, and the world. A lot has happened… and a lot will still happen.

Are we wiser? Are we better? Are we safer?

Where were you when it happened? What were you doing? How did it affect you? Does it still affect you? Do you think America (or the world) is prepared – so that this horrible event will not happen again? Do you think that the measures and actions done in the name of this tragedy were all warranted, and necessary? That we just made the world better – or worse?

September 11, 2001 - World Trade Center

Looking at the image on the left, what comes to your mind?

It’s annoying to read nothing but questions, but questions are all I have. Sure, it’s disturbing to put up a picture of that horrible attack once more (as I just did), and it might seem that I’m trying to cut open old wounds. But it is my intention to make some people flinch. They seem to forget what really happened five years ago, and are all willing to swallow whatever our leaders force-feed us, all in the name of September 11…

Fuck that.

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Learning the lessons of history will do us all a lot of good.

I have an old blog entry written three years ago that recounted where I was, and what I was doing, during the September 11 attacks. Do you still remember where you were, and what you were doing? And what you felt “needed” to be done?

Looking back to the last five years… at all the things we have done ever since… makes me shake my head in disgust despair…

We still have a lot to learn…

Technorati: 11, 9/11, attack, center, remember, september, terrorist, trade, world