Re-Learning and Cleaning Up

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When I pressed publish on yesterday’s blog post, it felt like when I first published a blog post back in, gosh, when was it? 2008? 2010? Will any read it? Do people still get updates in their inboxes?

And then I thought, cool. I wrote a blog post like in the good ol’ days of blogging. Before SEO. Before content creators and influencers. Before ads, sponsorship, and affiliates. Cool.

And once I published the post, I clicked around the back-end of WordPress. The first thing I noticed was the SEO analysis. According to this new-to-me feature, I did so many things “wrong” in yesterday’s blog post. No focus keyphrase! Missing social markup! What the what?

Things have changed in the blogosphere. I should have known.

I also spent a bit of time looking at the front-end of my blog. Meh. I need to clean it up. I re-learned how to customize widgets (like the things you see on the top/side/bottom of the page around the main middle area). Goodbye blogroll. Goodbye dated announcements. I was unsuccessful at deleting the Google ads. I’m working on it.

I need a fresh place to write.

I need to learn and relearn about this platform. I have lost touch with the “rules” of blogging, and I’m finding that the blogs that I do read are harder to navigate. There’s just so much stuff and pop-ups and banners. Many online spaces are just. so. cluttered.

I like white space. Even if WordPress or Google tell me I’m wrong.

Hello, World

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After two years, I felt the urge to write a new blog post.

Getting here wasn’t as simple as I had thought this morning at 7am when I opened my computer. Why? Because I completely forgot how to log in. Over the last two years, I’ve gotten a new computer, set up countless new accounts and passwords, and packed away all my blog-related notes. Since I stopped blogging in October 2022, I’ve kept my site alive, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to actually revive White Cabana. Am I even reviving it today? To be determined.

This morning, I just felt like writing.

So, with no passwords or notes in hand, I was basically stuck at the login page. Luckily, my hosting company is (and has always been) very helpful, so I reached out, and voilà here I am.

Hello, world.

What did I even want to write about this morning? Gosh, who even remembers! I’ve been at my computer for many hours now…writing…writing emails, writing an academic article, writing texts, writing a PowerPoint…writing. But not writing a blog post.

I am happy to have successfully logged in, happy to have reviewed comments that have been sitting unread for years, and happy to have updated all my plugins as well as the latest version of WordPress (I missed many updates). I’m writing. I’m writing a blog post about nothing. Didn’t Seinfeld have an episode about a show about nothing? This is what this blog posts feels like it is. A blog post about nothing.

But I’m here. And I’m writing. And I’m thinking about White Cabana.

I might even write something else tomorrow. Or the day after.

At least I now know my login.

Personal: September Update of My 2022 Goals

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September has come and gone so fast! The start of the school year, a new role at work, and the return to in-person events has made for a really hectic month. My routines are non-existent and “what’s normal” is foreign concept.

  1. Write with my fountain pen. Yes! Mostly. I still love this pen. Bonus – to my surprise, one of my former students sent me another TWSBI fountain pen as a thank you gift, and I love it, too. Each TWSBI is just so beautifully designed. Even if you’re not a fountain pen user, you’d appreciate the design, I’m sure. Now that I have three fountain pens, can I call myself a collector?
  2. Complete house projects. We didn’t have any projects on the go in September.
  3. Stay active. Walking. But not as often as I’d like.
  4. Host people. Oh, yes. People are over at our place a lot. We’ve had coffee chats, dinners, pop-in visits, and kids hangouts. The house is being well-used!
  5. Travel. Sadly, no. We’ve stayed local throughout the month, visiting different areas in the Waterloo Region. The campaign trail (my beau is running for Mayor) has led us to awesome places.
  6. Read more. Yes. Audio books have been great on my long commute. I listened to Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen, Beach Read by Emily Henry, and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I’ve also restarted Barack Obama’s A Promised Land. It’s making even more sense now that I’m involved in local politics.
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. Should I give up?
  8. Floss regularly. Yes. On it! My dentist had nothing but compliments at my September check-up!
  9. Stop procrastinating. Pretty much. There’s no time to procrastinate right now.
  10. Have fun! Yes. Mostly I’ve been having fun attending local events and meeting all sorts of people in the Waterloo region!

I now think I need to add things to my goals list before the end of 2022 arrives.

New additions:

  1. Do more things for me. I need to be a bit more selfish. I’ve been really busy with work and home life that some of the things that I used to do regularly have been pushed to the side. These include the simplest things like going to the mall and picking out a new mascara.
  2. Clean out closets. This seems like such a daunting task. My office and clothing closets need a clean out. I hope to tackle these two before the end of the year.
  3. Blog. I keep renewing domains and telling people about my White Cabana life, but should I continue? The next few months will either push me to blog more or to bid adieu.
  4. Buy art. I think I might cross this off my list before it’s barely been on. I ordered a Christi Belcourt print as well as a print from a young, local artist Ama Liyanage. Neither are expensive, but both are lovely. I can’t wait to get each piece framed and on walls. Maybe there’ll be another purchase before 2023. Still to be determined!

Wishing all of my Canadian readers a Happy Thanksgiving!

Previous updates: January, February, March, May, June, July, August

Personal: August Update of My 2022 Goals

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So it seems that White Cabana has evolved into a goal update blog! Here we go with my August update:

  1. Write with my fountain pen. Yes! I still love this pen. I haven’t used it for my every day note-taking, but I do use it regularly. I love it especially for card writing!
  2. Complete house projects. We didn’t have much on our to do list in August. We maintained the garden. That’s about all.
  3. Stay active. I’ve just been walking here and there.
  4. Host people. People drop by all the time, but we didn’t host any specific events or large gatherings in August.
  5. Travel. It seems that August has just come and gone so quickly. We barely made it to the cottage. We’re postponing/cancelling our fall trip, which is a bit of a bummer, but it’s for a good reason.
  6. Read more. Sort of. On audio, I listened to Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang. It was great. I also listened to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and it was wonderful. Angelou narrated it, and her voice is so powerful.
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. Heck no. Who has a solution? I very much dislike our indoor and outdoor garbage sorting processes.
  8. Floss regularly. Yes. On it!
  9. Stop procrastinating. Yes. Like Juy, there has been no time to procrastinate this month. I have too much on the go!
  10. Have fun! Yes. Work life and family life have both been fun…even among the stress of busy days getting ready for fall activities and work!

Previous updates: January, February, March, May, June, July.

Personal: July Updates of My 2022 Goals

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A few weeks late, but here’s my July update:

July is definitely the best month of the year. Not only is the sun shining, but it’s my birthday month! Hooray! Every day is a reason to celebrate.

  1. Write with my fountain pen. Yes! I love this pen.
  2. Complete house projects. Yes. The kitchen makeover is just about complete (just need to decide on hardware), which makes me incredibly happy. The investment wasn’t large, but it has made an incredible difference to how our kitchen looks and how much more positive my mood is when I’m in it. Worth every penny. I’ll share photos again soon.
  3. Stay active. Sort of. Walking. Walking. Walking. That’s about all.
  4. Host people. Yes. People are constantly dropping by for a coffee, drinks, meal, or chat. We also hosted my birthday party, which was a lot of fun!
  5. Travel. We’ve continued to cottage (it is a verb, right) this month. We did book a trip in the fall, which I’m thrilled about.
  6. Read more. Yes. I continue to breeze through audio books. I finished This Time Next Year (easy rom com read) and An Object of Beauty. Read it. It’s a work of fiction by Steve Martin set in New York’s art and art auction world. It’s great. In my academic life, I’m prepping to teach a new course this fall, so I’m reading, reading, reading all about intercultural communication. I’ve also received a stack of books about Indigenous pedagogy, so there’s that, too. A lot on the go in my work reading life!
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. Sort of. Ongoing battle to tame the garbage. I’m also now battling the garbage delivery team. Their work is unpredictable. Some times they decide to take our compost bin and sometimes they don’t. It’s very annoying.
  8. Floss regularly. Yes. Mostly daily still!
  9. Stop procrastinating. Yes. There has been no time to procrastinate this month.
  10. Have fun! Yes. Between a week of birthday celebrations and every day amusements, July was a very fun month!

Previous updates: January, February, March, May, June.

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