As shown in the March 10, 2018 news update: yes, I have moved to another system, using Joomla and Gantry 5, with a few additions.
The problem is, when you choose to take up a side career that could take off, it’s still a side career. You still have all those primary responsibilities that you need to fulfill to make that side career happen. When you want something done quick, or at a steady enough pace (such as this web site), it’s difficult to juggle that, especially when it comes to trial and error, fiddling with your own theme, making sure it works on phones and tablets, etc. The list can be endless. So, it is with heavy regret that I have decided to ditch (and archive) my current site, in favour of this new one.
I’m an old fashioned person, which sometimes does lead to problems, I admit. If I start on a project, I want to craft it, and make it my own thing. I’m doing that right now, with writing. The same was with the previous website, and the first. It gives a sense of gratification. You’re able to go “I did that!” You take a step back, look at what you’ve accomplished, and smile. I suppose that’s true for many things, whether you do the best at your job, get a high score on a shoot-em-up, or build a bird house.
Sometimes, however, you get too old fashioned, and you begin to add projects to your unending to-do list. Suddenly, you have many unfinished projects, some you take more time to than others, and priorities begin to crumble. Now, I’m not saying I’m lacking in my real life responsibilities, but when I have all these extra-curricular activities that I’m trying to accomplish, and failing on priority, I have to take a step back, and look at the bigger picture. I’m lacking in building my web site, and worse, I’ve started to lose interest in the actual coding. I never used to be like that—in fact, I used to do computer sciences a lot, but I’ve since changed pace, and lost that special interest in the field, especially given today’s era of the internet, and (in my mind) worthless gadgets and technology.
I don’t know if this analogy will fly, but sometimes you have to chop down a few trees to see your way out of the forest. If your side career is a large forest, thick with lush pine trees, and the meadow you’re trying to reach is the fields of success, then the bottlenecks and areas that slow you down are symbolic of the trees that have fallen on the only path out of the forest. You have to climb over those trees, or cut them up with your imaginary saw. Building a custom web site that is taking too long is one of those fallen trees, and a solution must be provided. Doing my website this way allows me to climb over one of those trees, and continue down the path to the next one.
That was a crap analogy, to be honest. You have to pick the easiest way out sometimes, and pick your battles well: that is, should I cut through the tree, and go on with what I was doing? Or, should I find a faster way to do the same thing, and attempt to climb over, saving me a ton of time and energy? Unfortunately, the latter option is almost always true—and in this case, it’s deploying CMS that can handle all of what I wanted to accomplish, and much more. I do feel a bit regretful of dismissing a project I started from the ground up. However, in the end, it works out for the better, and I will be thankful for making that decision, even if it seemed to be a tough one.