A Return to My Roots
Dear readers, as the year of 2014 comes ever closer to its close, I find the desire within me to return to this blogging venture of mine for which I was known in earlier times. My reasons for this shall be explained in due course, but let me commence this post with expanding your knowledge of me a bit in the interim since my last post was published here.
I continue my pursuit of my university degree, and music continues to be my primary focus there; however, without the hallowed shrine of academia, I have developed other interests and passions, and I have followed these to other exciting opportunities and knowledge as time has progressed. Though it may have been slightly evident ere now, I have gained a keen interest in computer science over the past eight years or so, and it remains among my hobbies I continue to nurture in what precious little leisure time I may be said to possess. My time is principally divided by three obligations during my waking hours. These are either labors, for I am, thankfully, employed, studies in music, or else technology. Of course, I devote some time to entertainment, and I have learned to enjoy photography with my Canon XS DSLR, but these former three pursuits comprise most of my schedule on any given day. As for technology, I have continued to learn much. If you did not have knowledge of it, I am a devoted Linux user. After some continuous frustration with not having adequate software for my media needs and the constant threat of viruses, I distanced myself from Windows 7 a couple of years ago, and I have rarely had cause to use it again thereafter. I migrated to Ubuntu 12.10, a generic, but feature-rich Linux environment that was easy for me to use and integrate into my life. As of now, I have tested at least five other Linux distributions and have used them to varying degrees of frequency for specific purposes. I feel at home in this UNIX-like system, and I do not intend to leave it soon.
Moving to opera, the very reason for which this blog exists in the first place, I must confess that I have not been so diligent in following it as I have formerly been. University does rather inhibit me, which should seem most illogical when consideration is given to the degree I strive to obtain in the field of vocal performance. However, having said as much, I have made a decent effort at keeping abreast of its developments through Twitter, where you can find me here if you are so inclined. Many of the world's finest singers inhabit that virtual space, as well, and they include both veteran, classic artists with which my generation has grown in adoration in addition to new artists who are only now making their ways onto the world's stages. My list of followed accounts should point you in the right direction, and if you are looking for a broader representation of who I am than that which the limited scope of this blog provides, then you can also find that in my Tweets.
Arriving at this point in the post, the looming question yet remains. Why have I returned to blogging? My presence on the Internet has come almost full-circle. Twitter, my main outlet of expression and conversation in these times, has become too constrictive for me. It is difficult to say all that I want to intimate, and I should very much like to rearrange my priorities so that opera takes a greater prominence as it once held my attention better than all of my other interests. Furthermore, I hope to connect with my acquired friends and acquaintances on a deeper level and with a more genuine nature than the medium of Twitter affords. Twitter for me was ever supposed to act as a supplement to the content here, but it has taken over as the primary and sole communication method for me, which is quite unfair to my readers and terribly incommodious and often quite ineffective for sharing my thoughts thanks to its limited character allotment for the relation of a sentiment.
Of course, the main reason I left the blogging world was because of privacy concerns and the data collection activities of large conglomerates such as Google, which hosts my site here, and these concerns have not vanished; indeed, they have only intensified as time has continued. Because of this, I am looking at alternatives to the Blogger platform, the most enticing of which lies in self-hosting my own website.
There are exciting ventures before me that I hope to share with all of you, and I certainly hope that you shall find joy in learning of them. There may be a bit of maintenance done over the next few days regarding links in the sidebar and the like, but the future of this space appears promising for the nonce, and I am thoroughly overjoyed at using it for its intended purpose again. As Christmas visits us in yet another continued year of life upon this Earth, I pray that all of you are blessed and that God keeps you in the most benevolent of His graces.
I continue my pursuit of my university degree, and music continues to be my primary focus there; however, without the hallowed shrine of academia, I have developed other interests and passions, and I have followed these to other exciting opportunities and knowledge as time has progressed. Though it may have been slightly evident ere now, I have gained a keen interest in computer science over the past eight years or so, and it remains among my hobbies I continue to nurture in what precious little leisure time I may be said to possess. My time is principally divided by three obligations during my waking hours. These are either labors, for I am, thankfully, employed, studies in music, or else technology. Of course, I devote some time to entertainment, and I have learned to enjoy photography with my Canon XS DSLR, but these former three pursuits comprise most of my schedule on any given day. As for technology, I have continued to learn much. If you did not have knowledge of it, I am a devoted Linux user. After some continuous frustration with not having adequate software for my media needs and the constant threat of viruses, I distanced myself from Windows 7 a couple of years ago, and I have rarely had cause to use it again thereafter. I migrated to Ubuntu 12.10, a generic, but feature-rich Linux environment that was easy for me to use and integrate into my life. As of now, I have tested at least five other Linux distributions and have used them to varying degrees of frequency for specific purposes. I feel at home in this UNIX-like system, and I do not intend to leave it soon.
Moving to opera, the very reason for which this blog exists in the first place, I must confess that I have not been so diligent in following it as I have formerly been. University does rather inhibit me, which should seem most illogical when consideration is given to the degree I strive to obtain in the field of vocal performance. However, having said as much, I have made a decent effort at keeping abreast of its developments through Twitter, where you can find me here if you are so inclined. Many of the world's finest singers inhabit that virtual space, as well, and they include both veteran, classic artists with which my generation has grown in adoration in addition to new artists who are only now making their ways onto the world's stages. My list of followed accounts should point you in the right direction, and if you are looking for a broader representation of who I am than that which the limited scope of this blog provides, then you can also find that in my Tweets.
Arriving at this point in the post, the looming question yet remains. Why have I returned to blogging? My presence on the Internet has come almost full-circle. Twitter, my main outlet of expression and conversation in these times, has become too constrictive for me. It is difficult to say all that I want to intimate, and I should very much like to rearrange my priorities so that opera takes a greater prominence as it once held my attention better than all of my other interests. Furthermore, I hope to connect with my acquired friends and acquaintances on a deeper level and with a more genuine nature than the medium of Twitter affords. Twitter for me was ever supposed to act as a supplement to the content here, but it has taken over as the primary and sole communication method for me, which is quite unfair to my readers and terribly incommodious and often quite ineffective for sharing my thoughts thanks to its limited character allotment for the relation of a sentiment.
Of course, the main reason I left the blogging world was because of privacy concerns and the data collection activities of large conglomerates such as Google, which hosts my site here, and these concerns have not vanished; indeed, they have only intensified as time has continued. Because of this, I am looking at alternatives to the Blogger platform, the most enticing of which lies in self-hosting my own website.
There are exciting ventures before me that I hope to share with all of you, and I certainly hope that you shall find joy in learning of them. There may be a bit of maintenance done over the next few days regarding links in the sidebar and the like, but the future of this space appears promising for the nonce, and I am thoroughly overjoyed at using it for its intended purpose again. As Christmas visits us in yet another continued year of life upon this Earth, I pray that all of you are blessed and that God keeps you in the most benevolent of His graces.
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