quick note

there has been a recent tragedy in my life that keeps me from writing this blog. i'm not sure what i am going to do with it right now. hope to find new reasons to write in an inspired way in the future... thank you so much.

discrepancy

lately there has been quite a lot of discrepancy between who i am right now and who i want to become. that is why i felt out of blog entries to post. i hope you are not too pissed off. but it was necessary for me to figure this out. was i forever going to float in the air, not knowing what to do? maybe you think: what the? wasn't it already obvious what you want; which is to become a good designer? yeah, but sometimes you look around and realize: well, you simply are not there!

as i was talking to a dear friend several weeks ago, i realized: you can be anything you want, anything; if you put your mind to something and give yourself, say, 5 years. in five years' time from now you can become your dream. yep. even if you start from the point of absolute zero. it is not a matter of 'too late' and 'oh i can't do it anymore'. it is really imporant to set your goals straight, though. otherwise...

hey, is this a pep talk? a pep blog? hmmm. too serious stuff... but tell me, were there times in your life when you felt that discrepancy? any problems with regard to your dreams? am i the only one?

and somebody please do something about this blog design!!! aggg! 

more stuff and odd tutorials will be coming soon. here, bit of a teaser:

does this blog make me look old?

i'm not sure i am crazy about the new blogger interface. the 'in your face' attitude with the pageview counts etc. is kind of driving me nuts. and why can't i see the blog itself in a separate window? grrr.

buuut i hope you will like my new blog interface! yep, finalmente! i have already set up an under construction page at www.merictaylan.com. i simply wasn't ready to do these changes all this time. but you know what? i think i'll never be ready. there will always be 'other' stuff to take care of. so this will be quite a real-time blog and website makeover combo for me :) hehe. i think i could even turn this into kind of a game. some things won't work for a while, my portfolio will be lacking a lot of stuff. awkward buttons will pop up and disappear.

i hope you will not get frustrated with the constant format changes in the process. i have a private test blog to test the new design, but i think i will put it up before it is finished. raw. crude. squeaky.

as always, any feedback is good feedback for me, so please do comment :)

not so much of a feast for everyone

life always forces you to learn new things. i have, indeed figured the way to combine my portfolio with my blog. hehe. thanks, css! there is no way to dodge it, you have to get your hands dirty with a little script writing whatever you are trying to do on the internet. it feels very empowering to be able to do that, by the way... yuppi!

someone has pushed the pause button around here, everybody is on vacation for at least one week (what kind of a sentence is that?). i find a real peacefulness through the otherwise hectic istanbul. i'm guessing at least half the city has left here. that means roughly 6.391.480 people which is enough population for two cities, actually:) no, seriously, even the uber greedy gross markets are closed, which is a rare occasion. after 20:00. we are still considering whether or not to go somewhere tomorrow. let's see what the weather gods will say.

are you feeling that 'pause' button too, sometimes, or is it just moi?

this blog is officially older than one and happy new year!

hehe. normally, i should've celebrated my blog's birthday 27 days ago, but being the reckless person i am, i didn't even notice. so what happened in the 392 days that this blog has been on?:

-i'm not sure about how many people are reading my babblings. i think there is a way of accessing that data; if only i knew how to...

-the number of my commenters are significantly more obvious: 1! thank you, i will never forget this. you make me think that at least one person cares:) oh, wait a minute. way back early, there was someone else that commented, too. i thank her/him, but s/he technically disappeared later on.

-how many jobs have been finished since the opening of my blog-in other words, does this blog help me realize projects? a book cover and bookmark, a stop-motion workshop and its outcome as short film, thosands of lessons (do they count?), a set of web icons, a documentary for national tv (teamwork and not yet out), my own portfolio and business card, various illustrations for shutterstock, couple of flash animations, lots of photos...

-how many jobs are still incomplete? a lamp, a shopping bag, a 3d animated short... all the big stuff, actually. hmm. not good. but let's look forward, shall we? or i'll be really pissed at myself. grrr.

-i have travelled to canada and back, to two holiday destinations, various places at the countryside, my hometown and a small unrealistic city. gotta travel more!

-grumbling here has been really fun, although at times i feel like i'm talking to myself. but blogging kind of is that, i guess.

-i forgot to remake my blog.

-i forgot to add a great blogroll to the side:(

-i would like to get more traffic, but i don't want to sound needy promoting my blog. it is not commercial after all.

anyway, happy new year to you all:) have a great great time! i'll be out of town yet again. who knows what i'll be up to?