The switch to WordPress wasn’t an easy one, because to me it felt like I was moving my web presence into a new ‘home’. I originally advocated the use of Blogger as the best way to set up a web presence, but it isn’t necessarily the best option for those who clamor for more control and customizability. That is not to say that Blogger isn’t good at all, just that for some people, it might not be the best option out there.

I started my first blog (lionel552.blogger.com, now defunct, I think) some years ago because it just seemed like a cool thing to do back then. But more so, it felt liberating and somewhat exhilarating to be able to post stuff online for everyone to see. I was still a student back then and I did not yet see the profound impact this had on the way information flowed through the Internet, despite this phenomenon being relatively commonplace in the developed countries. The term ’blogosphere’ was something new to be back then, but it was cool to be part of a blogosphere and that was all that mattered to me. When I felt like ranting, I turned to my blog and poured out my opinions and thoughts like it was nobody’s business. I thought it was a crowd puller and I was right for a while, but I felt I attracted the wrong kind of crowd and it just didn’t last. It didn’t feel fulfilling to write junk so I stopped for about a year, occasionally returning to see if there were any spammy comments along the way.

My new blog is no longer called ‘The Artist’s Easel’ as I have decided to take a turn at building my web presence after my own personal identity. I intend to use my blog to write and share topics that are of interest to me. In other words, this blog will serve as an extension of my mind, and a digital personification of myself on the web. In addition to that, I will also use by blog as a platform to showcase some of my photographic endeavors as well as my personal projects.

If you are wondering why I switched to WordPress, it is because of the provision for deeper customization of the templates as well as having a vast array of high quality plugins to choose from. Blogger’s selection seems quite stale in comparison, but like what I said, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all. Would I switch back to Blogger? I don’t think so, especially since I have already settled down comfortably with this blogging platform. Besides, I believe WordPress will continue to serve its purpose as a tool for getting the job done, for a long long time to come.

As the year 2012 comes to a close, I will be making some new resolutions for the year to come. It’s time to start writing better stuff.

Today is the 21st of December of the year 2012. Just about every mention of ‘twenty-twelve’ brings back haunting memories and vivid imagery of the scenes in the movie ‘2012’, that of the earth crust crumbling and sliding into the bottomless depths of the ocean as survivors try to cling on to the last vestiges of support they could find as they slid into their watery graves. On that fateful day, the world ended.

But that’s what Hollywood tells us.

Today, in sunny Malaysia, that day has come. No screaming, no crashing cars, no crumbling elevated highways, no mega tsunamis, no collapsing towers of concrete in this urban jungle we call home. It was business as usual. But amidst the normalcy and order of things, the chatter of the world ending or any possibility of it happening was very much alive and in the air. There were those who laughed and scoffed at the naysayers and doomsayers. However, it was evident that the doomsayers were right about one thing; the possibility. The possibility of the world ending. Would the world go on as it did yesterday? Or would some catastrophe of global proportions tear through civilization like a hot knife through butter, leaving in its wake a trail of glowing space rocks and dead organic matter, of which used to be good old Mother Earth?

But then I digress.

The point is, as we live in this world, it is a good thing to be once again reminded (a big thank you to the Mayans) that indeed nothing ever lasts forever. The stretch of time that dinosaurs roamed the earth is many many times longer than the entire span of human civilization, yet they eventually disappeared. Food for thought indeed.