Sandpaper Reviews...

darktruth
((2004-09-21 - 3:12 p.m.))

darktruth

Appearance
I have to congratulate you. You are the first person to have a layout that includes a scroll box and a big dominating picture that I don't hate. This is seriously a first in the short history of Sandpaper reviews. Honestly and truly. You managed to use two of what I consider to be the most loathsome elements (in terms of options for layouts) and make them work. Your diary is clean looking and conveys the feeling that it lacks or wants for nothing. YOur choice picture of the big, ominous, looming sky helps to fill out the parts of your design that are very sparse. Strange how it worked like that, but amazing on the whole. And, also, I love it.

One thing that you should do to make your diary look a little better would be to center the text of your archives. If you aren't going to use a picture there, that's fine, but at least center the damned text. Come on!

Content
You write about things that are both important and thoughtful and random and unnecessary. It's a decent mix that didn't make me too bored.

My only complaint is that you tend to write in run-on paragraphs. (Is that even a real thing? Whatever. I just invented it, then.) I understand that writing in this manner can be a very stream of consciousness type of thing and that is cool. Sometimes it can be a bit much though, that's all.

I completely agreed with you about this whole bit. The other day I actually got a candian dime back from vending and I was very pissed. I feel your pain.

I'm not sure what it is about this particular entry but it might be my favorite out of everything in your archives. It's random but the things that you discuss are completely laughable. Like the fact that you got a bigger spoon just to be able to eat more food but at the same rate that you were eating at originally. Or your deal with your mom about making food.

This entry was excellent for your brutal honesty. People really do think about this stuff but never admit it like that. What gives? That is another matter though. But anyway, your honesty is so refreshing and not offensive like it could be. Well, at least not to me since I am "phat" not fat. Hardy-har. Bad joke. Whatever.

Impressions
One of the really cool things about your writings are that they don't outright scream that you are a gal. Call me crazy and hung up on stupid details like that, but I think it's a good thing. Rete and I are both very overtly female but I think it is very enlightening to come across people who aren't so much like that. It's a weird point to make but understand that it's not meant to be an offensive thing. Take it as a compliment, please.

Something else that I picked up about you is that you are seemingly always up for a good time and you can make that happen in nearly any given situation. That's an excellent thing to be able to do. Hang onto that ability for as long as humanly possible. There are too many unhappy people walking around the world simply because they can't do what you do or be the kind of person you are. No matter what, don't change that about yourself - unless, of course, all of this ego feeding that I am doling out goes to your head and you become a total and complete asshole. If that happens, when then, by all means - CHANGE!!!

Suggestions
I will say this time and time again to any damned diary that comes through here: ORGANIZE AND SORT YOUR DAMNED ARCHIVES!!! Honestly. We all love Diaryland and we all think Andrew is a god damned genius for what he has done with it but are you aware how easy it is for "glitches" to occur and for you to lose a huge amount of what you have written? It might seem petty to harp on such an issue but really - what you have written is something that ought to be saved for years to come. Truly.

Something else to possibly do. Ever thought about doing anything more than just the profile that you have? I get a good idea of who you are from looking through your archives but, I admit, it can be pretty helpful to have a bio page to refer to or something. No biggie but it couldn't hurt to try something of that nature.

That's really all, I guess. I might think to mention the whole elimnation of the text scroll box that you have but really and truly it's not a big deal. Like I said before, it works.