Anniversary

I almost forgot all about this.

Officially I registered this blog 1 January 2012. But…since I didn’t post anything until March, that’s what I’m counting as my “anniversary” for the blog (because I feel like it). It’s technically the 2nd of March, for this. But since my first substantial post was this one, I’m going to go ahead and celebrate today, instead. It’s been a year, which is a pretty good accomplishment. I usually up and bail on tasks pretty quickly. So making a year is a pretty good initial thing for me. So I’m really grateful for those of you who follow me and my sometimes off-topic ramblings…or even the barely tenuously connected stuff that I fit together here. I’m glad that anyone has found my journey to be of use in reading (or perhaps just of use to laugh at me flailing around, I’m fine with that too).

Still, I’m going to keep blogging and sharing my flailing about. And I hope that you stick around and still find my posts of some interest, amusement or use. Thank you for sticking around and reading!

Emily

2012 in Review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

 

New Theme

I just want to apologize to anyone who happened to be trying to look at my blog in the last 2.5 hours. My internet has been sketchy, so it took me far longer than normal to update my theme and how I have it all set up. So if you kept seeing things change, it was because I decided to try a new theme and update a bit. It is going to be staying like this now for quite a while.

Though…if I find a background image that I like, I will probably decide to upload that. But, the overall structure and layout is remaining the same, no matter what. It should be easy to navigate. And I updated a few links that had died.

I just thought it would be nice to apologize for bothering everyone with the constant changing over the last few hours. I promise it should settle down now.

(Ah, and a note. If this photo is too problematic, I mean, if the text isn’t legible with this photo, please tell me. I can read it, but my eyes are a bit unusual. I have another photo I made that I can use, or I have a darker version of this photo as well, either of which are options if this is not legible to normal readers I just want to make sure that you can still read my blog.)

Pagan Blog Project – aka a Commitment

So, I’m committing myself to this for 2013. But, because I know myself, I’m going to be busy. Therefore, I had an idea that someone had mentioned I think on Tumblr that they would want to do with it. So I’m going to post 1 time per letter as my commitment, and then I’ll do a second post (like you’re supposed to) if I have the time. Plus, I’m awful with letters and my alphabet, when I need to come up with new ideas, so I’m going to try this out for the new year.

I figure though, if I commit to only 1 post per a letter to start, and then take on the secondary post as a “bonus”, well that will be quite doable for me. And if I don’t overwhelm myself I do feel quite better about everything that I’m doing. Not being overwhelmed is key to not stressing out, and myself not stressing out is key to my mental health remaining on a more even keel, which is a major goal for 2013.

Now that gives me a goal to work towards with posts, on top of anything that I generally want to post on my own time and wishes. So I’ll figure out a way to make it obvious when I’m posting these posts, perhaps starting off with the letter itself. Like “A – ____” or “H – ____” for the titles. I’ll figure that out for the first post when it comes along. In the meantime, just wanted everyone to know what I was going to be up to.

Short version of this whole post: I’ll post 1 time for each letter, on the 1st week of each letter, and if I have enough time for a second post for the letter, I’ll post on the 2nd week as well. But I’m only committing to post for 1 time per letter, for sake of my own sanity. That way I have some more time to do research if I want to, or to at least think about what I want to post about for a bit more time. It also gives me the option to wait until the 2nd week to post on my topic, if I need the extra time.

Info for PBP 2013 here.

I’m Not Really Gone

I’ve just been busy.

I’ve got major work for school lately, and I’ve been absolutely swamped. Not to mention, I’ve just been rather uninspired lately. So I wanted to pop in and let you guys know that I’m still around, and after around the 10th of December I’ll be able to post more (once my school schedule lets up more). I’m sure I’ll be able to gain some more inspiration again once I’m not up to my eyeballs in schoolwork and research and family drama galore.

In the meantime, I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything.

Super Sweet Blogging Award

So I absolutely must thank Sammiwitch for this. I really do appreciate this. And you must check out Sammiwitch’s blog, because it’s wonderful.

So here’s my rules for the award: give credit to the person who nominated you, answer questions from the Super Sweet Blogging Award, and nominate a “baker’s dozen” of 13 blogs that you admire.

Super Sweet Questions

1.  Cookies or Cake?  Cookies, most definitely. I don’t like cake really.

2. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate, of course.

3. What is your favorite sweet treat? I love chocolate with raspberry filling.

4. When do you crave sweet things the most? Really late at night, or when I should be eating healthy food, of course.

5.   If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? I don’t have a clue. I don’t have normal nicknames, so this isn’t intuitive for me.

The Bakers Dozen of blogs:

This again, I’m sorry, is going to have to wait. I’m in the middle of moving into my studio and starting up homework. I’ll get to work on writing at least a few blogs down here later on today, or perhaps tomorrow. In the meantime, check out my “Links” page at the top of the blog, if you want to know what blogs I really enjoy following.

One Lovely Blog Award

So the lovely Sammiwitch nominated me for this award. Which is just wonderfully sweet and makes me blush actually. I’m really honored that they feel that way, and that everyone else reads my blog. So thank you to Sammiwitch first of all!

And now the formalities.

The rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Nominate up to fifteen bloggers you admire.
4. Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

7 things:

1. I’ll have 4 tattoos within the next 3 weeks (making an appointment for the 4th next week).
2. My favorite colors are red, silver and green.
3. I love Czech and Russian opera composers.
4. I’ve spent the best year of my life in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
5. I watch terrible action films when I’m having a bad day – it never fails to cheer me up.
6. I love writing stories to relax.
7. I collect books – I have over 500.

Nominations:

I’ll have to add this part on later, sorry everyone. I’m returning to the States early tomorrow morning, so I’m frazzled and just not thinking very straight. I’ll be back online either tomorrow evening (Friday) or Saturday, by Sunday at the latest I’ll be able to do this part. But, I didn’t want to have this sitting without acknowledging it until then, as I’ve already let it sit a few days. So give me just a few days to get settled in again at home, and I’ll have some wonderful recommendations for you all!

Slight Change

I’ve been thinking about this for a month or so now. And I decided to go ahead and do it. I’m pretty sure a few posts of mine kind of show how crazy my life is, and why total upheaval makes sense.

So “Celtic Witch’s Journey”. I’d always figured, months before I started this blog, that would be my blog name. I’d picked it well before I’d ever thought about having a real blog. Because I’m a coward, and up until beginning March I would never have had a public blog. So I seriously had a name all picked out, and I even titled some of my private journal entries with it. (Yes, full-blown coward, but hey, blogs start somehow) So I used it, since I was kind of continuing on from some private journal-type entries that I probably won’t post anytime soon, perhaps one day I’ll get around to transcribing them onto the computer.

I’ve realized though. I’m not really doing much with the Celtic-part. I still enjoy it, but it’s not really a base. I’m kind of totally redefining. Which means research into Celtic, Slavic, Anglo-Saxon, all of it. But I’m no longer focusing on the Celtic. So the name doesn’t really fit me anymore. I’m just removing “Celtic” from the blog title. Because I’m still journeying, but I kind of feel like I ought to not presuppose anything, given how my life is kind of up-ending itself at the moment. And given that my whole life is kind of going crazy and changing, I’m going to scale back the blog title just a tiny bit, so that it feels a bit more open to myself.

Just so it’s clear, new title: Witch’s Journey. Same person and same blog.

 

Soon

And by soon I mean either tomorrow or Sunday, I’m going to write up why my name on here is Gamayun. Good story, and fun too, or at least i think so. I’m also going to put up a piece explaining why exactly I’m looking into my own heritage, and how it’s really a bit bizarre as to what I’m drawn to. So that’s what’s up on the agenda for tomorrow or so, once I’ve gotten more work done on real-life, mundane university Hausarbeit that’s due at the end of the month.

Note for Some Articles

So I wanted to share this, that way there’s no misunderstanding of my postings.

I have a Tumblr account (Pagan Heart – now defunct, I no longer have that account), that I’ve put text posts onto. Well, that isn’t exactly ideal, as Tumblr is far more useful for short posts, photos, videos…that kind of stuff. I just found out about WordPress recently, so I’m going to be re-posting some of my articles here, and perhaps expanding on them because this is a far better platform to blog long posts with lots of thoughts. I’ll have a link in each of these posts, back to the original version on my Tumblr. I’m not plagiarizing anyone’s work. I’m simply re-posting what I had already written. I just wanted to be upfront, so there’s no misunderstandings here.