Unbelievable.

Sunday, 26 August 2007Sunday, 26 August 2007 / LivE / 1 Comment

Totally unbelievable. 2 very good friends of mine (whose names both start with J… actually I am amazed that many of my dearest friends have names that begin with J!) have called my attention to the 1st freebie of yesterday (the wordart) being not available for download with a stinky little message on it instead.

I checked out the link in total shock. I’m sure you’ve seen what it said if you had attempted to download the wordart freebie earlier. Because I consider you as my dearest friends, and dare I say, even family, with as much love and affection, I would like to share with you how I felt about the entire … what’s the word for it?…pain-in-the-derriere that happened today. Perhaps the best way to do this is to paste here the response I gave to my good friend on our playground’s board:

I have already sent an email and feedback form to 4shared support, asking them to shed some light on this. Since I have not yet heard back from them (and I know it is too soon for me to expect an answer), I have gone researching and trying to find how others have dealt with similar situations.

Apparently, some designers who have experienced this have had 4shared support tell them that certain words and names are caught by automated filters in 4shared and are immediately removed if there is any slight risk of copyright infringement or illegal activity. Most times it has to do with pornographic stuff (heavens forbid!!!) so in that sense, J, you were right about the word/name of the author having something to do with it. Had I not placed her name on the file, the filters would not have caught it mistakenly and you would have been able to download the freebie without a hitch.

Initially, you know, I have to admit I was stupefied, dumbfounded, shocked. I take care of my name and my integrity, and to have a message like that on something I’ve made is uuuugh, indescribable torment for me. Then I went from shock to anger,/irritation,/annoyance, brought about by my failure to understand how this could’ve happened. But NOW. Now I think it’s unbelievably hilarious and crazy and unthinkable. Enough said.

So anyway, I took down the link. I can’t fix it immediately because I’m not home (out of town for a few days) and so I don’t have the actual wordart files on my laptop. I will change the filename and then upload it again once I’ve got everything fixed and there’s no risk of the most innocent thing as a file containing an author’s name (poor e.e.cummings) getting deleted for being possibly “pornographic”. (Can you still see me shaking my head with a look of disbelief on my face?)

I checked all the other freebies including those yet to come. They’re free of any such snafus. SIGH. I know better this time to put really simple one word names… though you know, given my sorta dense mind when it comes to green matters, I just very well may come up with a generic name that a filter may deem unacceptable. LOL! Hope it never ever happens again, though. Certainly not a happy experience. But definitely one that can make me into a better person if I only react with calm, peace, patience, forgiveness and… well, wisdom gained from experience?

Hugs again, and lots of gratitude!

The reason I’m leaving that post there to explain everything is because I am still shell-shocked by the experience and am totally confused and unsure whether I should just throw my head back and laugh heartily at how immensely schtoooopid this has turned out to be, that a simple name used with such innocence (it IS an innocent word, it’s a person’s name, for crying out loud!) (and a well-known poet at that!) (whose many works are most known because of their childish tone and playfulness!) (for crying out loud!!! again! and again!)… or if I should be furious, fuming, and foaming at the mouth over this catastrophe that for me has possibly laid a shadow of doubt in the minds of people who don’t really know me enough about my character and my integrity. Those who know me well enough, my family, my dearest friends, YOU… I know that you would know me better. I just wish all the others who may have stumbled across my freebie (through search engines? I don’t know) would too.

Well, it’s almost 3AM in these mountains where I type, The wind is blowing, the kids are all tucked warmly into bed, my dh is snoring his way to lala-land.. and here I am stressing over this. Unh-unh. Not anymore. I understand. And understanding is the first step towards forgiveness. And if you’re really, really lucky and sincere, at the end of the forgiveness phase, there is, mercifully and thankfully, along with the ability to know truth from fibs, the ability to laugh it all off and chalk it up to experience.

That last thing: that’s the place I want to be in right now. So I will post this, publish it, and call it a night. Maybe, just maybe, I may find myself laughing in my dreams. Thanks for hanging in with me through this, honeys.

Oh my word! It’s freebie time! Times Two Too!

Saturday, 25 August 2007Wednesday, 24 September 2008 / LivE / 4 Comments

(see me rushing through the door, with a flower peace-offering in my hand 😀 )

I’m so sorry for not being able to post a freebie yesterday… I got caught up in a whirlwind yesterday which involved, among other things, moderating for Jessica’s second run of the U&R course (where I am in the company of 3 other fantastic moderators, great friends all!), making and uploading new freebies for you (good for the next 5 days! YEAH! :D), packing for an out-of-town trip (have you ever tried packing for a family of 5 kids?), attending a school activity of my son (which took an entire afternoon!)… whew! Have I earned enough of your empathy? LOL! 😀

So anyway, here, finally are your freebies. Since I missed yesterday’s freebie, I’m posting TWO today!

One is a wordart done in color, with translucent splats behind. (It’s a png file, of course 🙂 The paper in the preview is just there for… preview purposes, LOL! 😀 But you’ll get that paper too, don’t worry… when the next paper pack comes out). For those who prefer more flexible wordart, don’t worry, I have another wordart freebie in black and white waiting in the wings, which you can manipulate / turn into the color you want :D.

I love this quote because it’s so playful, and I thought it matched the kit’s theme perfectly! (Click on the preview for a larger view if you wish!)

Download HERE. The password to unzip the file is lovedigi (Okay, I tried to get creative and ended up just switching the old password’s words. hahaha :D)

ETA: Sorry, link has been removed.

The second freebie for today is a set of gel stickers (special thanks to atomic cupcake!). They’re shadow-free and pretty big in size so that you can use them with as much freedom as possible (always better to downsize to fit your layout than to upsize, right? 😉 ). You can try putting letters above them, the way paperscrappers would probably apply rub-on letters to gel stickers? The world is your playground, and you are limited by nothing when it comes to playing with digi-schtuff! Don’t you just love it? 😛

Download the gellies HERE. The password for the zip file is anGELS. (It’s case-sensitive, so make sure the GELS is in caps). Now, that’s getting a bit move creative with the password, don’t you think? LOL!!! (Background is for preview purposes only; the file is in .png format).

ETA: Sorry, link has been removed.

I will be gone for the weekend (from Saturday afternoon to Monday, my time in my part of the world)… but I will bring along my laptop in the hopes that I can get a net connection in the mountains where we will be. I can’t imagine not being able to log on (I would miss you all terribly!!!). So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Do pass by here everyday though… I’ve arranged it with my blog’s guardian angel to ensure that even while I’m gone, the freebies will keep coming here everyday. (Magic!) 😀

Hope you like these, and don’t forget to leave some love in my blog (Thanks sooooo much to all those who comment. You truly make my heart smile!!! Words cannot express how elated I am to read what you’ve written, even if it’s just a thank you… and you’ve all done more than that! I love you guys! Thanks thanks thanks!)

Welcome to my homeland…

Monday, 20 August 2007Wednesday, 24 September 2008 / LivE / 2 Comments

And I’m proud to say I love it.

You know how, when you visit a friend’s house for the first time, you are drawn to explore every room, every nook and cranny, so that you can ooh and ahh in amazement and wonder at the beauty and love that resides in there?

My girlfriends and I have been barely able to contain our excitement at the prospect of getting together as one big group of scrapping gals in Chicago next summer. I’ve been to some places, but never to Chicago, so it’s something I’m definitely looking forward to (though even more than the city, it is the thought of seeing my friends that totally excites me!)

When all this talk about getting together began, I issued a standing invitation to everyone to come see my homeland. It’s an offer without an expiration date. 🙂 And to provide everyone of them with a sneak preview of what they could be looking forward to, I found an excellent “brochure.” It’s right here, below.

A few words, though, before you view it:

1. Photos are never really the same as the real thing, are they? In the same way, I personally feel that, though this is the best showcase (so far) of what my motherland has, there is still no substitute for seeing, tasting, smelling, and experiencing the Real Thing. And the fact that many of the best Filipino artists (including world-class Florante and Lea Salonga) are doing the story-telling is no small thing! 🙂

2. This is best appreciated in the native language, as there is no substitute for the beauty and color and expressiveness of a language in its original form; its flavor and nuances are often lost in translation. I wish I could tell you more about all the wonderful places and food that are mentioned here (like how Taal Volcano happens to be the smallest volcano in the whole world, and Mayon Volcano is known for its near-perfect cone), but it would take pages and pages and pages of writing and still I would not have scratched the surface. So I’ve just provided a link to more information–click on the “beauty of the Philippines” line in the translation below… (just put any place or item in the search box and it’ll take you to a wonderful source of information).

Enjoy the visual and auditory treat, and I hope one day to be able to enjoy all these with you, my friends, beside me. 🙂