Short version: I redesigned the site!
Long version: Since the last update, I had originally intended to bring about Version 3.0. The new site design was done by June 2009, but it has taken since then to actually find time to perform the update. I even let the domain expire on the five year anniversary of the site because I was busy, but 2010 brings with it hopefully a little less stress and a bit more time to create. Five years ago, I bought the domain DorienneSmith.com and have been evolving my own little space on the Internet ever since. Version 3.0 brings, aside from a newer style, some new tidbits to the site as well as some revamps to the oldies, but goodies.
Short version: I added a new page to the site and will be filling it with creative stuff!
Long version: "Dorienne Presents..." is probably the most interesting of part of Version 3.0. As I delve further into my creative side, (ie: writing more, Photoshopping more, experimenting with Flash, playing music and creating videos) I have decided that I need a showcase for these creations of mine and thus Dorienne Presents... was born. I will be "presenting" all my writings, my artwork and so forth in an area all on its own. While there will be tons of overlap, e.g.: presenting my SVU novel, Flight, the goal is to have a place to store all of my digitized creations that does not require the help of some 3rd party site like deviantArt or YouTube, etc. especially considering how finicky 3rd party sites can be about their content.
I'm also planning to start my own little webcomic. At its inception, it will not be much more than an experiment with Photoshop, Flash and my own feeble drawing skills, but I would like for it to become its own part of the site altogether.
The things found in Dorienne Presents... will vary from just about every niche on the site, but I like to just have a single place for everything to sit where anyone, regardless if they are coming through X-Files or Midnight Calvin, can see what I really "do" with my so-called spare time.
Short version: Cost and time have kept me from updating, so I quit.
Long version: In Fall 2003, right before making the jump to my own domain, I created my Fashion site on Geocities. The page consisted mainly of images from different shows around the world, but it was a fun hobby at the time and I included the page when I created DorienneSmith.com. Since then, however, updating the site became more and more cumbersome as I added more images and designers and the site actually began to accrue an expense all on its own as I tried to acquire the images needed for each update. Finally, the time and funds needed to gather the images and update the site began to supersede their worth and my love of the hobby started to wane.
My current hobbies and workload no longer allow the time needed to update one small part of the site and I can no longer justify spending what it normally takes to run my whole server for a few months on part of the site that rarely received visits. So, though I hate to lose something that has been a part of the site since I first conceived of a DorienneSmith.com, I have decided to close the Fashion site and add it to the graveyard. While I would like to say that someday in the future I will be able to make updates to it again (maybe even with images I have taken myself), it is not likely to happen in the next two or three years, so it is being set aside for now.
Short version: The episodes started sucking and then they changed the time, so I don't watch anymore and can't keep it a focus site.
Long version: I first started watching SVU back in 2004. I was in college and spent many a Tuesday with my roommates on the couch booing or cheering to what we saw happening to the SVU team. Time has this amazing ability to change things and has reared its effect again on me. Law & Order: SVU was once just my favorite among several shows on televsion and then it became the only show I watched. Over the years, the show has declined quite a bit and whatever stronghold it had maintained on me had dropped from a "phone off, lights off, complete focus on the television on Tuesdays from 10p-11p" to getting up and doing things during the commercials to twittering through the commercials and through most of the episode to wondering why I bothered to watch the show at all.
With NBC's (disastrous) decision to replace their 10pm dramas with Jay Leno came the move of SVU to a night where I could no longer watch it and, rather than try to set up a VCR to record or get cable and DVR, I decided to just stop watching the show altogether. A part of me does miss it, but since I have not watched a new episode since last season's finale or even turned on the television since I watched Michael Jackson's funeral service in July 2009, I no longer see the reason in keeping The SVU Connection a focus of the site.
I will still continue to work on the the site because I did truly enjoy the show at one point, I yearn to complete the episode guide (to a point; probably Season 9) and I will definitely continuing writing SVU fan fiction, so the page is not going to The Graveyard, but I cannot showcase it as I once did.
Short version: I spend a lot time creating Sims 2 stuff, so I might as well showcase that instead.
Long version: I have been playing The Sims 2 since Christmas 2004 when they first came out with the game. I have loved it dearly since then and have even developed characters, stories and even novel ideas just from playing the game. Recently, I have been dabbling in creating custom content for the game and, with The Sims 3, a lot of content creators have moved from The Sims 2 community onto Sims 3 stuff. I have no desire to play The Sims 3, so I have decided to push some of what I have been doing in what little free time I have onto the Internet. Since I have taken Fashion and SVU out of focus and since The Simfile is a "pretty" example of my coding skills, I have decided to reshuffle things and pull The Simfile into focus.
Short version: Blogging more often, so focusing on it.
Long version: One of my New Year's resolutions has been to blog more often, i.e.: at least once per week. With writing and creativity now becoming the focus of the site, I thought it made perfect sense to bring the blog to greater attention. This will also force me to update more often as I will constantly see it as it is link through the banner the rests at the top of nearly every page.
Short version: My "About Me" page is no longer just a wall of text.
Long version: Since its inception, my "Dorienne" page has longed to be an About Me page that gave a visitor some bits about me and why I have created this space, but has only been nothing more than a list of links and scores of careful crafted CSS-columns of information. With Version 3.0, this has changed. About now includes a bio, a much better photo album with different albums to view and also general information about my plans for this site and my writing, as well as my favorite books and albums.
Short version: The Links page now works like something not ported from Geocities circa 1997.
Long version: "Dorienne's Links" has been completely redesigned and now links to sites that I actually visit and hope others would visit as well. The original desire was to the bring most, if not all, of my Firefox bookmarks to the links page, but once I realized that that simply was not feasible, I focused the ones I use most and find the most interesting. The new pages should also be updated with a little more regularity to reflect any new sites I have found (especially when it comes to the webcomics).
I am closing the forum for the time being. I am not deleting any accounts there and, technically, you could still go there if you wanted and reminisce if you so chose, but I am not linking to it any longer. It was really just a passing fancy and I never really needed it. I may open it again, but for now, it just takes my attention away from everything else.
I have updated a lot of the information on the About Me page, re-ordering my Favorite Books and Shows into a more-or-less "valid" order. Some more pictures and stalk-worthy details about myself have been added as well as my LiveJournal and my Twitter. I have a few more profiles that I may later consider adding if I think they are useful and I will also be using the About Me page to showcase my new-found love of art and my creations thereof.
I have created a new space called "The Graveyard" for old projects that I still have a fervor for doing, but are seemingly sitting in perpetual hiatus for the time being. I have also placed some older projects that had either been made obsolete with newer projects or I just never desired to continue. Entertainment, Junk, Life and The Sounds Center have all been moved to The Graveyard for now. If you think any of The Graveyard projects are worth current revivial, let me know.
I am adding more downloads to The Simfile including more clothes, hair recolours, homes and some brand new objects. I will also be continuing The Tragedy of Lilith B. Pleasant, though I doubt I will continue it on any other sites because I am quite disgusted at how the 12s behave when they do not get what they want right when they want it.
More episodes featuring our wonderful Sesshoumaru-sama are coming as I also continue working on Project Flip and adding more fan fiction stories. I am also working on the Image Gallery for that site since it is long overdue and is probably something I should have added when I first launched the site. The goal is to have the site in Version 1.2 status (as opposed to its current Beta .012 version) by the end of May and continue making updates from there.
I will be revamping my Links page shortly and Fashion will be updated by the end of the month with a May 1st goal for Fall 2009 Outerwear. I am also researching fashion blogs and will consider adding some more commentary on style in the February update.
I plan on adding some new games and general procrastination activities to The Peaceful Palace by the end of the year. Some of these include: Sudoku games, online mazes, fun Facebook groups to discover and "cool sites" that would have gone under Junk if it was not headed for The Graveyard.
I have found a script to create a "real" strip of the day effect for Midnight Calvin. I am going to add some new links to the page that feature fan sites and places to view every single comic, in order. I am also including some homemade backgrounds for the Downloads page.
This site gets treated simultaneously as my absolute favorite and also the redheaded stepchild of DorienneSmith.com. I added a few more episodes (please take note of my disclaimer) and I am trying desperately to catch up on all of my fanfiction. My goals before May include completing "Secrets" and "Everything's Fine," completing the episode guide and adding new images to the gallery.
I realized several months ago that I have let a lot of the things I love doing slip in favor of...absolutely nothing. With so little being accomplished, I am going back to the "basics" of my life and in doing so, I will be focusing on and adding more updates to The X-Files in the upcoming months. For now, I will be changing the episodes available under X-Files X-tras in the next day or two and I am working on a long-needed X-F Shippers page.
I am also in the process of breaking out some new Flash to move the site into Version 3.0, including some new colour schemes and possibly a shift in focus with a new partition that is solely devoted to writing; short stories, fanfiction, poetry, whatever. This comes as I delve further into writing my novel which, if all holds well, should be completed by September 2009. I am thinking about adding my musings while I write as well as drawings, charts and other things, but as of right now, the focus is on writing the novel and keeping my site from looking so terribly unloved.