stream of consciousness

What better time than now to do the 100 Questions for Webmasters, while I'm still a newbie and probably won t know what half these words mean. It just means that I'll be able to make an updated version when I actually know a little bit more about what I'm talking about.

Q1 - Please introduce yourself.

A1 - Hello, my name is Niko. I'm a biology grad, who currently works at a pediatric hospital with the kiddos. However, to reset my dopamine after some of the sad shit I see, I lean heavily into my creative endeavors such as this website, music reviews, my Substack, and other forms of creative expression.

Q2 - How long have you been making websites?

A2 - I've been making this website for about 3 months now. I was heavily inspired by my computer science friends and wanted to make something for myself too.

Q3 - And what got you into the hobby?

A3 - I guess I kind of jumped the gun on the last question. My friend made an app recently for skincare and that inspired me to make a website of... pretty much everything in my brain.

Q4 - What kind of website are you most interested in?

A4 - My favorite kind of websites are ultra personal like journal entries, reviews that aren't super curated, and most especially, music blogs. I wanna know what everyone is listening to!

Q5 - What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?

A5 - Seeing as how this is the first website I've ever made, I am definitely going along with the flow, I come up with a new design pretty much everyday and sometimes when I'm sleeping, I'll wake up and write it in my notes so I don't forget.

Q6 - Please link to your biggest inspirations.

A6 - I love Nice Girl Slumber's website. It is soo is adorable. Another good one is Peachy's Curiosity Cabinet There's so many more but I'm actually not sure if I've even linked those right so we'll stick to two for now.

Q7 - What's your favorite part about making websites?

A7 - I love how I can switch up an idea when I get a new one, it also is very satisfying to not only work through the issues but also seeing it come to life when I get closer with each element.

Q8 - And the thing you struggle with the most?

A8 - I struggle with sometimes finding information relevant to the idea I have in my head. However, I've started drawing some of the elements that I want in my website, removing the background, and placing it on the screen instead of finding elements that match.

Q9 - Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?

A9 - I tried to keep the same layout but it's too easy to change up the design, so that's what I'm doing.

Q10 - How confident are you with CSS?

A10 - I'm learning to be more confident in it but I'll come back to the question when I make my updated Webmaster question post.

That's all for now! I'll probably answer 10 questions at a time, and probably not all in a row. I wouldn't be surprised if this takes me a year but until my next one. Keep checking for updates. Byee

Wow, this is embarrassing, I thought that it was the next day and it's literally just 6 hours later. I need to stop staying up and doing this but my body is so used to nightshift that it's hard to break the habit.

I've started writing on Obsidian instead of these other files and it kind of feels more comfortable, but I have to see how this transfers over because once it transfers to VS Code, I'll still have to transfer it to Neocities to be updated.

I think I'm only going to update like once a week instead of the speed at which I've been doing updates. The only thing that sucks is I won't be able to see my video player because it doesn't load right on editors.

I was originally writing on Brackets or Phoenix Code now, but I wasn't able to install the web app without updating my laptop and I simply did not feel like doing that.

Now I'm on VS Code + Obsidian combo because I've already been using this for a while and I like that it's just a folder on my laptop instead of a computer program.

I think since I'm up and I have nothing planned tomorrow, but that run... 3.75 miles. I'm going to start a rough idea brainstorm for my novel that I want to write. It's time I get back into it, especially since I've been at home so much lately

So it literally just struck 12 so I want to imagine I'm writing this on the 13th, just so there isn't as much of a gap in between my blog entries. I really don't care that much though.

The worst part of doing all this coding is my computer basically overheating when I make any minor change. I think it's time that I upgrade to a PC, because MacBooks are really on good for aesthetics. I'll of course still keep this one for the memories (and the aesthetics of it), but in terms of functionality, this computer has none!

I've added a few things to the website since I wrote last and will continue adding things and making updates every now and again. I added a computer outline to fit my blog entries and I'll probably change that around until I find the setup I like. It's nice that my ideas are coming into focus though.

I have more plans for my website coming soon but in order for me to not be annoyed by this project and feel pressured to "finish", even though this will hopefully be a fluid work of art, and always a WIP, so there's technically no finish. I just want it functional enough that I'm just adding entries and photos and stuff and all the technical and functional parts of the website are set up.

For instance, I have yet to set up the art and collections page (which will serve as my "lists" pages like books, movies, record collection and other things that I want to archive. I will continue to work on that throughout the week because although I'll be picking up some shifts. I'm *technically* off for the next 10 days so I don't have to work if I don't want to.

I'm saving up for two months in Europe though, so I will definitely be working. No days off (except for me calling out of work today because I don't feel good. It's the first day of that time of the month and I feel like sh*t.

In the words of my OG blog, Touch of Spark, goodnight one goodnight all, Peace. (I wrote this when I was 10, pleaseeee).

So me on September 1st was an idiot... What do you meaaan I wish there was a way to save this? There was literally a button at the bottom of the screen saving save website to computer. I'm actually an idiot but I've finally saved it and have been making updates in a live editor software so it's less chaotic and I'm not saving it in neocities every 5 seconds to see if my picture moved 5 pixels or not.

So as I can see (because I don't know who else would be reading this currently), the first few days were chaotic but it taught me alot. I can't lie, for some of my elements like the vinyl player on my music page (I hope I linked this right.), the microsoft bar on my home page (I hope you don't mind), and my closet inspo came from (You don't know how much this means). So definitely shout out them. I wouldn't be making nearly as much project if I wasn't a dirty thief.

Maybe one day I'll make a website from my own blood, sweat, and tears and then I can be officially initiated into the neocities circle of webmasters. OOOuuu speaking of Webmasters, I saw there was a list of 100 questions to answer and I think I want to do that for my next few blog entrances.

So today was an especially long day of coding. I'm very proud of everything that I got done but there is still so much I have to do. I'm starting to feel more excited about coding so that's nice. I'm also getting more comfortable making changes.

I will say, I have been taking ideas from other people's websites. I will be sure to credit them when my work is finished because I don't want to have anyone's website attached to mine if mine turns out to be horrible..lol.

I'm very excited for the possibilities that coding can bring and how much I can expand this website. I'm going to go ahead and get some rest though because I still need to finish the two album reviews that I started and maaaybe start another one if I feel inspired too.

Right now I can't decide if I want my next album to be "Rumours"-Fleetwood Mac or "Speak For Yourself"-Imogen Heap. Both extraordinary albums with very unique backstories so they'll be fun to write about either way.

Signing out for now, I won't be doing anymore coding for today but I'm probably going to be up all night since I work tomorrow night.

Gotta restart my circadian rhythm somehow and that means all-nighters. I may end up writing a review on both albums just out of boredom and the urge to stay awake...like I'm doing right now. I need to take a little mid-day nap really badly so I'm really signing off now.

I'm not going to write took much today because it's actually almost 6 am and I've been up all night coding.

I've made so much progress on this website and it's making me so happy. Unfortunately, I have to work 16-hours tomorrow so I won't be working on it much but I'll be off work on Sunday so I'm going to dedicate alot of time to making this website better.

I think for right now, I'm going to let my eyes rest and maybe smoke a little bit to relax.

It's quite surprising how much work it takes just to get a website semi-presentable."

W3 schools has been saving my butt. I don't know where I'd be without it.

On Sunday, I think I'm going to make more of an effort to learn the foundation, instead of just copying and pasting what W3 schools told me to do. Half of this is me inputting information that I have no clue about: specifically the JavaScript, and tweaking it until it's what I imagine in my head. It's actually kind of hard.

My music page, however, is coming together very nicely and I'm super proud of that. I'm going to finish reviewing my Earth, Wind, and Fire album and then decide what album I'm going to listen to and review tomorrow. Surprisingly, inputting information in that format is super easy and it's actually not as many lines of code as I thought it would be. It's still incredibly hard though and I can't imagine moving on to more advanced computer languages in the future.

But know whos, this might scratch my brain in the right way and I may become obsessed. Seeing as how I've been working on this website for 6 hours straight today alone. I think I'll be taking this seriously. It's a pity I didn't major in computer science, but then I probably wouldn't like it as much.

I think I only like this because I don't have to take a test on it.

Can't talk, rent due. Beep boop beep boop.

No but honestly, I just wrote another Substack article and even though it was only 1500 words, I think it took me like 2 hours to formulate and then even feel comfortable posting for my so far, 2 subscribers. Genuinely, I'm surprised I even have those two. I have to be more consistent with writing but delivering something daily to someone's inbox just seems excessive.

At least I have this platform to put all the thoughts that I want put down in writing without bombarding someone with my annoying ass.

I genuinely didn't have time to code or add a different format, and I still don't know how to make these into separate blog posts so that these texts aren't cascading down the screen like the ancient scrolls but that's a problem for future me and I simply do not want to deal with that right now.

Coding is humbling me so bad but I realize that it's actually kind of hard to be average at alot things so I take my blessings where I can get them. At least I'm at least average at a lot of things instead of good at only one thing, right?

Yeah, time for bed. I do genuinely have to work the next three nights straight and I'm not ready for it but at least I'll be sitting. Don't tell my job but when my patients are calm and actually sleeping, I do get some work down. Like dang, dont you all want me to succeed outside of these walls too. I'm trying my best and sometimes that involves multitasking so hopefully I'm able to get a little more coding done before the week is over. If I don't, then hopefully I'll have time to make some journal entries. I really do like typing in this format, it feels more sci-fi.

So, I still have to figure out how I'm going to make each of these into a separate blog post so that I'm not scrolling endlessly when I start adding more blog posts on here.

I wish there was another way of saving this work, I would be so devastated if all this work got lost because I have to run this on the neocities site. I should keep a copy of the code on my computer but I'm honestly so lazy. Also, if I do happen to lose this website, it's only taken me 4 days so far to make and I remember almost everything that I did.

Anyways, I'm at work. I was actually surprisingly productive. I didn't do any studying, I've almost completely given up on that. I know I can't completely give up because then not only will I be failing external stimuli, I would also be failing myself so under all circumstances, I will be a doctor.

It's just really hard and I wish more people knew. The pressure of being everything that someone wants you to be, as well as fighting to grasp a strand of your own identity separate from others expectations of you.

That's basically the theme of my post-grad life and kind of what I wrote in my Substack (that I finally published today after a 7 month hiatus), post grad life is hard and it's not the fairytales and rainbows that the coming-of-age movies make it out to be. This sh*t is rough, dirty, funky, and gritty and it really takes a soldier to make it out this mud

I've been out of school for 1.5 years and the urge to learn something new is definitely taking over. I have found that I need to be constantly absorbing new material in order for me to feel like I'm advancing.

I'm still trying to figure out whether this is a result of being a "gifted student" or if this is the burnout that I am evidently going through as a result of being a student for the last 12 years at least.

It's hard to tell where these feelings truly stem from, however, I know that whenever I feel them, I start doing a lot of sidequests and trying new hobbies.

Today's hobby is: learning html, css, and some JavaScript in order to make this neocities website my brain's landing pad. Do we think I can do it? I hope so, or the last 5 hours I've spent making this site have been worthless.

For my last mission today, I'm going to figure out how to separate these blog posts so that this isn't just one long a** page. I may just need to make separate pages for everyday. This might make it easier to share on other platforms too because I won't have to search my html to find the day that I'm looking for. I think right now I'm just typing words without any sense of cohesion so I'm going to try to fix that blog separation problem and get back to it.