Obscure Journey

Stuff I wish I knew before re-branding

Publié le 29 Avril 2018 par Charly C.

Catégories : #life experience, #life lesson, #tips, #advice, #business

As some of you know, I recently moved my blog and I also re-named it. All this trouble can be called re-branding! YAY!

So my rebranding consist of:

new hosting platform
new blog name
new author name
new blog and author logo - that I designed

In case you're wondering, the old version of the blog still exists, still on the platform I was using before, however it is being hidden from the public.

Like many other people that try new things for the first time, there are some things I wish I knew before doing this step. Well, to be completely honest, I did no research on what rebranding or moving a blog so it's partially my fault. In any case, if you want to learn a few things, or think you might need a few tips in the future, please read on.

Backing up pictures

Not everyone posts pictures along their blog entries. You'll see some of my own entries with no pictures whatsoever - they're not always relevant.

However, if you do have pictures on your blog, you might want to back them up. From the start. The same goes for your videos.

When I rebranded, I noticed several posts [this is just one of them] had broken images, and I was really scared I didn't have them anymore. But thanks to the hoarder that I am, I did find them.

You might want to edit them and have them bear your new brand if you watermark them. I didn't do this, but maybe I should. The thing is I am not 100% sure I still have the originals or that I want to waste even more time for that.

that entry was deleted before rebranding, as i changed my mind about it since the time i wrote it.

Edit / delete posts / entries

Rebranding usually has something to do with having changed your mind about the purpose of your blog. This means you'll have to go back on your posts and see if there is anything that doesn't fit your new perspective. Rebranding is similar to a face-lift so to say, so you'll have to do this.

I had to delete some entries that for some reason or another were blank. Originally those were re-blogs on my other platform, but perhaps the original poster also deleted the entries or something weird happened. Blank entries look weird and unprofessional, so in the bin they went.

At the same time, you might want to delete or add new pages for a better organization of your entries. Editing them [their content] is also a good idea, to breathe in some fresh air.

Check and fix your URLs

My URLs were a mess after I moved my blog. It took me several days to go through all my entries and fix them. As a curiosity, they read something like: "http://www.obscurejourney.com/http://theownertravelsto.wordpress.com/missing-entries-on-my-blog" - WordPress is my previous blogging platform. This type of URL looks complicated, not functional and very unprofessional. My old blog is still there, but it's hidden from the public: it's my way of backing up my site.

Not only did I have to fix the ugly URLs, I also had to fix any links I had in any post as well! My links were directing the visitor towards my previous blog and therefore the links appeared broken. I hope I did well and managed to fix them all.

Learn about your new host

This should be a no-brainer. But, I jumped on this new platform without reading too much about it. I still hope I won't regret it, haha.

You should learn about your new host because you want to go LIVE as soon as possible, so learning about the host - how to post entries, customize the appearance of your site, so on, should be done beforehand.

For instance, WordPress and over-blog work differently when it comes to creating new pages. In WordPress you create a new page and it appears at the top, by default. On over-blog, you have to create the menu yourself. Each method has its own advantages - and i like that here, on over-blog if i want to change what a page says, i can just change the URL of the old one [if I want to keep it] and create a new entry with the previous link. It sounds a bit complicated, but it's really easy.

Let's just say it took me a while to realize a few things, and only because I didn't properly study my new host.

Matching social media

I decided I should make social media accounts that match my new brand and identity. This is because I want to appear more serious and more professional. however, don't expect to see me on those accounts too much for they make me anxious, and it's close to a panic attack. But, if you want to show your support, you can do so there, if it's easier for you. Send me a private message or a public one, and i'll make sure to reply to it [sooner or later].

Before I was "the owner of the blog" or "the owner travels to" or something weird like that. Now I decided to take on a pen name [yea, sorry this is not my ID name - I don't connect at all with it] and a easier to remember URL.

I therefore created "matching" social media accounts: on twitter and on facebook, and I connected both to this platform. I also have a "matching" email account on gmail [4charlycross [at] so on]. There's also an instagram account by the same name - you have higher chances of seeing me active here.

You don't have to be very active on all of these platforms, but it's nice I guess to give people options to get in touch with you, other than through your blog [or youtube channel -yes I have one of those as well, for when I think stuff are easier to show through a video rather than pictures and writing. but don't expect 4K HD quality or anything as I'm just an amateur].

the logo that i made myself in MS Paint.

Logo

As you can see, I also have a "logo" that I use "everywhere." It's like a virtual signature for easy recognition.

Use the logo across your social media accounts or wherever you want to be recognized. You can use a picture of yourself, if you're ok with it [i'm not u_u] or the same handle across all your accounts [as I tried doing].

This idea came to me, after seeing a vlogger i was watching, renaming her Twitter, and now her old handle belongs to a random guy who will benefit from her hard work. Her new handle is difficult to write and pronounce, and doesn't really have a connection with her life, except slightly. I try not to make that mistake and you shouldn't either.

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raw carrot salad - vegan friendly

Publié le 28 Avril 2018 par Charly C.

Catégories : #Cooking, #salad, #vegan, #raw, #food, #tips, #hungry, #snack, #yummy, #recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 or 2 large carrots, or maybe 2 to 4 smaller ones
some vinegar
some salt
some oil – the default cooking oil here is made from sunflower seeds. I remember using olive oil once, but it was too heavy and the taste was not the one I was used to.

For instructions, read below the images. ;)

I used a pretty big carrot.

peel and wash the carrot(s)

Shred the carrots. Julienne works nicely too.

season with salt, add oil, add vinegar, in no particular order, and mix.

season with salt, add oil, add vinegar, in no particular order, and mix.

NOTES

You can add a green (or more sour) apple as well.
You can also add shredded raw white cabbage.
You can use mayonnaise instead of salt, oil, and vinegar. [not vegan anymore, and heavier]
I don’t think the apple and mayonnaise go well together, but you can try if you are that curious.

This salad is perfect throughout the year. I can’t say I like it more plain than I like it with mayonnaise, but the one with apples is my least favorite. I usually feel bloated after having this one. It tastes pretty nice by itself.

Bon Apetit~~

in between stages.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not vegan, but this doesn't mean I eat meat all the time. Yes, I used the tag [hoping] for more exposure, but I think it's connected or relevant.

This salad can be enjoyed by those who follow a vegan diet or lifestyle as well.

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Nothing new this week

Publié le 22 Avril 2018 par Charly C.

Hello all!

Sadly, this week I have nothing new to share. Despite having 10 posts in the draft mode, none is complete nor near completion. I also don't have the time to edit them, as I have a deadline today and then I must start working on another task.

Sometimes, being a freelancer means I can't take proper care of the blog, and this saddens me, but it's the lifestyle I chose and that I believe fits me most. I also really like what I do - as I mentioned several times, i believe.

Have a great Sunday and week. I hope to be back on Thursday with a movie review I watched recently, so keep an eye open for that!

PS: i haven't forgotten about my tarot entries, I was conflicted about posting because of my new found interest and belief in Jesus Christ. Don't worry, I won't be drowning you with Christianity stuff - but I will share some stuff I find interesting, from time to time. [And i do have something to share ... it will take some time though because the idea (inspiration) just occurred to me].

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Rapidly gaining weight - a nightmare

Publié le 15 Avril 2018 par Charly C.

Catégories : #life experience, #beauty, #health, #story, #advice, #life lesson

Some of you might remember one of my past entries in which I talked about losing weight, and you can read it here. At the time I promised I'd talk about how I also gained weight.

It wasn't very easy for me to talk about gaining weight, and the only reason I can find is that this is something a bit hard to think about. Right now, I passed through 2 periods of rapidly gaining weight.

First time of weight gain

The first time happened after we rehomed a puppy we found on the street. There's no secret that owning a dog makes you go out a lot, and sometimes walk a lot. Owning a dog is great if you need an excuse to go for a walk to either stay in shape or lose some weight. Best results are when you find a dog that needs long walks, that is full of energy.

Sadly, such a dog is not really happy in an apartment with other pets, or with people who are more lazy than active - such as myself.

As you know, Kali [the puppy] found herself a home with a dog-loving family [we're more of cat people], and this meant I had no reason to go out and walk as much. This lack of exercise translated into extra 7 kg for me [about 15 pounds].

I gained this much weight in about 2 months. Sadly, I can't remember my before or after weight. 14 pounds in 2 months seemed a lot to me, but it really can be worse, like the second time around.

Second time of weight gain

The second time when I gained weight happened at the beginning of 2017 after I gave up my job as a supermarket cashier. I haven't talked about this job because it needs a separate entry, and I'm not ready for that yet. You can read about other jobs I had though, if you're really curious.

A bit of background info

Working in a supermarket as a cashier is close to working for the devil himself. And giving up that job was both a good and a bad thing for my health. If you ever worked in a supermarket, you'd know what I'm talking about.

This place was opened from 7 am to 11pm and we were supposed to work only 2 shifts! i was very "lucky" [can you sniff the sarcasm there?] to work mostly the afternoon shift ... and this meant I'd get home at 1 am [because of random "duties" we were supposed to perform after the store closed].

This messed up my sleeping hours, that I tried hard to fix [I used to go to bed at about 3 or 4 am, and managed to make myself sleep quite early at midnight. with my new job, i'd go to bed at about 2 am]. A poor sleeping habit also means poor quality sleep, therefore not getting the rest I needed. Especially for the weekends I had to be there the whole day, from 7 am to about midnight. yes, you read that right - 2 days of 14 hours in a row, meaning on Saturday [make that Sunday morning] I'd sleep 2 or 3 hours?

Of course, this further led to stress and having a breakdown at work and almost fainting. I also started to feel my overall health impoverishing as my diet was all over the place, not getting enough nutrients from my food. The breakdown and near-fainting happened after a couple of months on the job [wow, that was fast]. At that point I decided my health is far more important, so I decided to quit.

The aftermath

As soon as I finished working there, on New Year's Eve, I went into a sort of coma for 2 weeks straight. I'd sleep for 22 or 23 hours of the day straight with whatever breaks for restroom and food. A lot of it. All of it. Can you imagine what food with no working out does to the body?

Before starting the job from hell, I was about 59 - 60 kg [so about 130 - 132 pounds]. While on the job [for some 3 months] I went down to 56 - 57 kg [123 - 125 pounds]. When I finally started to need less sleep I noticed i reached 70 kg! [154 pounds].

Gaining some 13 kg [28 pounds] in 2 weeks is insane if you're not pregnant! This happened in January of 2017. Only in October I managed to start losing a little bit of weight. Now, in April I'm about 67 kg [147 pounds]. I'm trying to work out as often as I can, and of course I'm eating much less.

some advice:

If your job is too demanding and you can barely get any rest, it might be better to give it up, unless it's your dream job. In my opinion, no job is worth risking one's health because health is something we take for granted, but it has no price when we have it. As soon as we get sick, we start shelling all the money we have and don't have, just to get better.

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Purple chokers

Publié le 7 Avril 2018 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #fiction, #original story, #short story, #story

It was a long cold winter night. It started to snow for a couple of hours already - the first snow of the season, but it wasn't enough to cover the ground.

In the bus stop, a couple was sitting on the bench waiting for their bus. They were waiting already for 30 minutes but thankfully they weren't cold as they were dressed well. The girl was wearing a dark colored puffy jacket that reached her knees. The hood was pulled over her hair and she was resting her head on the guy's shoulder. His jacket was light in color and he was playing a game on his console. The hands that were closest were swirled together - a sign of their affection.

They were the only ones waiting for the bus that seemed to never come. They weren't in a hurry to reach their destination as they were comfortable there sitting like that. However things would change as soon as their ride arrived, but it was OK because they'd still be together.

After what seemed to be an eternity, an old bus arrived and stopped. The middle doors opened, the couple got on. In reality, just ten to fifteen minutes more passed and that bus wasn't even supposed to be there.

The couple went to the back of the moving box and sat on 2 chairs in the same pose as on the bench. Their ride was fast, faster than the human eye could see, but our couple didn't seem bothered - perhaps they didn't notice? Or maybe it wasn't that fast to begin with.

They were wearing identical purple leather chokers around their necks, but you couldn't see them due to their clothes. The girl felt chocked by hers, even after all the time she wore it and had it enlarged. The guy was also feeling choked, however they were bearing with the sensation for they were together. They knew that those who made them wear these accessories, knew better ... however the girl still didn't want any of it.

She started thinking of how she met her Partner several years back. It was at school. A school she didn't remember anything about, let alone how come she was attending it. One day she woke up in his bed with no recollection of anything from the previous night or anything else from the past. Since that morning till present day she tried really hard to recollect anything, but the few figments of broken images her brain showed her made no sense at all.

Those images were of her making clothes with a bunch of people she couldn't recognize, and she had the feeling that they were way behind with the project - or was it a custom order for the next day? The images showed her worried faces and everyone hurrying up to make patterns and to sew - but what was that all about?

Her Partner was a rather popular guy at school, even among the teachers for he was very skilled. This meant he could break or bend though rules here and there with no (bad) consequences. He could even save other students from severe punishments if he could benefit from it later on. But was she really attending that school? wasn't she too old for it? The reality of her life starting that morning showed her something else.

That morning she woke up because he was softly kissing her. She later learned that whenever he wanted her to wake up in the morning or after any nap, he would gently kiss her, or nibble on her fingers or ears. She quickly noticed that despite the kisses being very sensual, nothing more than that had happened - they were still dressed on.

She was feeling bloated, so she needed to find a restroom quite fast. She then heard herself saying "I'm sorry, I'm not in the mood when I get my period..." These words made him stop the kisses, and he moved away - he knew better than to continue with anything whenever any girl was experiencing those few days every month. He answered something, but her current state of mind prevented her from hearing or understanding his words. Yet, she replied: "I'll take care of it, just wait here - I'll return as fast as I can."

She went out of the tiny apartment only to see she was on some grounds that looked like a campus. It was very early in the morning and there was no person around to see her, as far as she could tell. "Good," she thought to herself. Her legs took her to what it looked like a public bathroom complete with showers, bath tubs, and toilets.

She checked herself in the mirror - a blond young looking girl with fair skin was looking back at her. She had big brown eyes and her hair was past her shoulders, no bangs, and needed to be brushed. She wasn't very tall but she wasn't short either, and she was thin. Her full lips looked chapped - she was dehydrated.

The bathroom had all sorts of instructions and rules plastered over its walls, and they were indicating the places with clean towels, new toothbrushes, as well as any other supply you could need. Instructions on what to do with the used items were also posted. She happily followed all of them to clean and arrange herself.

Having finished in the bathroom, she wanted to go back to the only location she currently knew in this place. However, she managed to get lost and to end up in the kitchen. This is when she did remember she was supposed to return to the apartment with a glass of water. She had no idea how would she accomplish this since everything seemed to belong to other people who she currently didn't know.

Luckily for her, some other girls showed up there, and they seemed both surprised and happy to see her there. She asked about the water and told them about her memory loss, and one of them was happy to show her around and to help her get some water. However she still had to figure out how to go back.

Except, HE appeared out of nowhere with a puzzled face, telling her “There you are! I was beginning to worry! Let’s go!” One of the girls in the group hearing this, became really annoyed, and also started to talk to her “Don’t even think about Kay - he’s mine as I saw him first!” Our girl was very shocked hearing this, and thought to herself <You can go ahead and have him, what do I care?!> however, before she could say these words out loud, she felt a pain in her chest, so she didn’t say anything anymore.

A group of guys also came, and they started to tease (or did they really mean it?) the guy called Kay “HAHA! You KNOW you’re not supposed to sleep together - they’ll kick you out for sure this time, if they find out! HAHA!”

“Kick us out? But he’s rich and he paid to have all the privileges!” our girl heard herself saying. Kay didn’t see this one coming, so he couldn’t stop her, even though she was quite right. He only decided to tell the new guys in a dry voice “Mind your own business!” and then to our girl “Anna, let’s go to class, I have your stuff.”

“So my name is Anna ... It’s a pretty name ...” she said to herself in a very low voice.

The next thing Anna knew was that she was in a classroom, trying to take notes. There were many students attending this first class, and the teacher was a middle aged lady. The teacher was pointing out the most important parts of today’s lesson. The classes ran one after the other, and each one seemed more and more weird for our amnesiac Anna.

After the last class of the day, everyone was preparing to leave. In the exit hall, there was a pretty long table covered with a perfectly white cloth. There were many students waiting, but very few were leaving. Some of them would place on the table what looked like a choker or some sort of jewelry. Another student, usually of the opposite gender, would pick it up and put it on and then they would leave with the person placing the item on the table. The one laying the item down was also wearing an identical piece.

Anna couldn’t see Kay anywhere, and she felt as if she had to wait for him. Or was it because he was the one bringing her here, she hoped he would take her back as well? She didn’t have to wait for too long to find out: Kay did come, and did place a choker on the table as well. He was now waiting for her to pick it up. She reluctantly did, and she tried putting it on, despite not having a clear idea of what it meant.

She couldn’t really operate the clasp on it. “Can you help me?” she turned to Kay, only to see him showing her that he only wrapped it around his fist. She copied him, and they were able to leave as well. On their way back, she started to look at the item on her fist: it was purple with some silver decors on it and she expected his to be the same. She heard him say “You know we can wear these things on our wrists too, right?”

Her reply was a short one “Oh...”

Anna was now thinking about her memory loss, about her current life, and what she should do from now on. In the end she decided that at least for now, this life was rather enjoyable, and she felt as if nothing could hurt her. In any case, it was far better than trying to make clothes at the very last minute.

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