Sometimes You Just Have to Move On

Saying goodbye is hard, especially when you've been together for several years. You know what to expect, and even the bad things seem sort of endearing, at least they're familiar. And as you contemplate actually leaving, you relive the past, both good and bad memories flood the mind; it's so hard to decide if this is the right thing to do. But there comes a point where you realize it's time to go, you've out grown this and you need to move on. I've reached that point. This is my transition.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm leaving livejournal. It was a tough decision, and I weighed several options, including staying, but in the end, my blogging has outgrown it. It's as simple as that. There are definitely things I will miss, primarily the cute little mice that display my emotions. However, the new journal has lots of great features for me and should make things easier for my readers as well.

New Title

In addition to moving my blog, I decided it was time for a new title. The blog is no longer "Why You Think I'm Weird: Stories from My Childhood," because it contains so much more than that. There are plenty of commentaries on other things, current events and stuff, as well as stories from my childhood. My new title is "Garter Skirts and Legos." I think it sums me up pretty well, and encompasses the grown-up aspects with the child-like playfulness.

It's All Still Here

Every single post from my livejournal is available on my new blog, thanks to the amazing blog2blog software. You'll now have an easier time finding old posts you want to re-read or that involve you. There's a side bar that sorts posts by date, but allows you to see the titles. At the bottom of the page, you'll find a list of all the tags. Depending on how much I like you, you might find your name at the bottom. Click any tag to see all the posts pertaining to that subject. Each post includes a link to the original live journal post, in case you want to see those mice. Each also has any extra information that was on the livejournal post, such as music playing, mood or location, and each post has copies of all the original comments.

Don't Miss Out

If you're worried about staying up to date with my new blog, have no fear. There are several options for keeping up to date with the new blog. First, the user name is the same. If you type the address into the browser, you only need to change one part. Where you used to type "livejournal", now type "blogspot". You can also add my blog to a reader. For those unfamiliar with readers, they're like a little elf that runs around the neighborhood purchasing all the newspapers you want to read and then puts them all on your kitchen table. You just tell the elf what papers you want and he keeps track of when new issues are out and which ones you've read. I suggest google reader, easy enough for novices, simple and useful. If you really don't want to do any work, my new blog can do it for you. Just email me or leave a comment here and I'll give your email address to the magic blog pixie. She'll automatically send you an email whenever there's a new post.

Features for You

Aside from the fun features mentioned above, the new blog has a second side bar. This one lists other blogs that I read, in order of updated. You can check out what some of my other friends are up to, or the new sewing tips and trends. It's fun! And for those of you who are on my sidebar, I hope it's an incentive to keep updating. You don't want to be at the bottom of the list, now do you? This new blog also lets me put in pictures, without making me pay money. This is nice for my readers. Check out the last three posts; all have pictures in the new blog, whereas they couldn't on livejournal. The comment section allows you to put your name and your blog's address, email address or aim name. So if you're not using the same blog service as me, it doesn't matter! No more having to click anonymous and then signing your comments. By the way, comments are called "little indians" on my blog.

Features for Me

I now have some control over my comments. Ha ha, don't say anything mean; I might just delete it. I'm kidding. ...maybe. I can also track visits to my blog. That's really cool. In the few weeks it's taken me to setup the new blog, Google has sent several visitors to my site. One was from the UK, looking for Angela Nyirenda on i-tunes. Another was from Australia, looking for Cookie Monster garter skirts. Pretty neat! And I love that I can put pictures in now. Some day I'll be really cool and put in videos like my friend. The whole format is much easier to navigate and use.

Reflections on Moving

Moving the blog turned out to be really hard. Not logistically, but emotionally. To add the comments and fix some errors, I basically read every blog I've posted in my 5 years at livejournal. That's a lot of life, and 2007 is conspicuously missing. The hardest part was reading the posts from Zambia. As it got closer and closer to April 2006, I didn't want to keep reading. It was like when I near the end of Pride and Prejudice and don't want to finish the book because then there's no more Mr. Darcy. I didn't want to keep reading, because I knew if I did, I'd leave Africa. That made me sad all over again. It was also really hard to read all the comments. I started to feel the same anger I felt when I first got them. I remembered being so frustrated that by the middle of my second year some people were still only writing "I miss you. When are you coming home?" That infuriated me, couldn't they understand that Cheelo was home for now? And couldn't they see that it didn't matter when I was coming home, because nothing would be the same? Almost as bad were all the empty promises of writing letters, or the claims by some people who no longer talk to me that they would always be my good friends. At least the conversations between Mommy and me cheered me up a bit, though they were bittersweet.

Anyway, it's done now, and I'm excited about it. Tomorrow I will put up my first official new-blog-only post. I've been waiting a long time. Thanks for sticking with me!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS: http://goldenrail.blogspot.com

Sad

Bed

Hello Goodbye - The Beatles