New Look, Same Babble

It's been nearly two months since my last post and while it might seem like I'd fallen off the face of the Earth (and some may have hoped so), it was only a bit of a break. Partially spur-of-the-moment, part planned, part victim of circumstance.

I'd decided to take a week or two off during the holidays, what with family and friends visiting and the usual run-around, which is pretty much to be expected (Belated "Happy New Year" to everyone, by the way). Bit of a repeat later for Chinese New Year (Again, "Gung hei fat choi" to all of you). And, of course, I made lots of time for reading.

Then there was a recent, vicious bout of bronchitis that lasted several weeks (Note to anyone who may be sick: it's really, really not a good idea to read Arkham Asylum for the first time when you're burning a high fever and it's midnight after you've just watched a story on the evening news, complete with gory details, about the cruel butchering of sled dogs. Trust me.) which sapped me of all motivation to do anything besides read, watch TV, sleep, and ponder just how much goo a human respiratory system can hold before it explodes. The timing for this was especially annoying because I had to miss a screening of Big Trouble in Little China (timed for Chinese New Year no less! "Indeed!") at one of the big theatres downtown that was part of a national film festival sponsored in part by Space (which also included Alien, Aliens, LOTR, Predator, and The Goonies, among others). Being forced to take a pass on Wang and Jack on the big screen will give you an idea of just how bad this bug was. That being said, I'm mostly better now. Mostly.

And I wanted to take some time to recharge - give a little thought to some of the stuff I wanted to talk about here on bloginhood this year, give myself a bit of a kick in the ass about doing more book reviews (I've been Tweeting about the books I've devoured, but over the past year or so I'll admit I've been remiss about doing in-depth reviews here on the blog), give some time to brainstorm some new list ideas, and to give some thought to a bit of a renovation of the blog.

The old Parchment template I'd started with when I first launched was okay, but I've been growing tired of it for a little while. For the past several evenings I've been on Blogger's design page playing around with template options. While this ensemble certainly isn't the be-all and end-all, I think it looks a bit better, brings some of the side features to the forefront, and better reflects the subject matter of the blog. I hope all of you enjoy it.