Here we go again – DarkCulture.Net

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Cinka

*sigh*

I keep getting these little notices from my web host telling me that my domain is about to expire. This one, the one for Dark Culture. The last few years, whenever the renew notice comes, I’ve sat around thinking about what I should do and thinking how I really let Dark Culture fall by the wayside. It’s quite clear that Dark Culture, as a magazine, is dead. As any kind of working website, it’s dead. For a while, I was getting down to business with the podcasts; getting them organized and I’d even put a new one online. And it’s not that I don’t want to do the podcasts, it’s just that I haven’t had the time. You see, it’s not just about picking tracks from my collection (which is massive); it requires time to research new bands, download songs I want, etc. And then there’s the post work which involves putting it online, updating the xml file, and posting notices all over Heck.

Unhappily, Dark Culture hasn’t been anything recognizable in years. When I converted it from a PostNuke site to a WordPress blog, I really thought that I would update it more. I haven’t. A good deal of this lethargy can be blamed on the fact that I’ve been concentrating on my career. We moved, my Dad died, and my life has taken on a whole new appearance. I don’t club as much as I used to. About that: it’s not that I don’t love the clubs. I always have. What I never loved was the drama, the idiots, the people I just can’t bear to see. Now, as a 30-something, it’s hard for me to see the same people I saw 15 years ago, doing the same things, being lame, annoying, doing drugs, or drinking too much. For the most part, I stayed away from all that. I did the best I could even when my own circle of friends partook in drama, drugs, and drink. Oh sure, I drank, but I never got into drugs and I tried to stay from as much drama as I could. Easier said that done. And there are good people that still club – they club because like me, it’s about the music and dancing. It’s not about the drama. Sadly, it’s often hard to avoid…even at 34 years old.

OK, so I always come back around to this. Almost every year when the renewal comes up, I labor over a decision. It’s only $9.95 to renew the site for another year. I suppose I labor because Dark Culture symbolizes something I loved, something I spent hundreds of hours working on, a dream, a beloved hobby. It was even something one or two people enjoyed reading. And now, a shadow of it’s former self…just sitting there like Miss Havisham, left at the alter, gathering dust.

Did I really want Dark Culture to be the greatest web magazine in the world? No, not really. I only ever wanted it to be a source of entertainment for the Gothic community online. It was, for a time. For a time, it was pretty great. I know one thing, it never will be great again. I just don’t have the time. I don’t want to spend countless hours laboring over code, chasing writers, writing about lame bands I hate, or making weekly trips to the post office. About the post office: I haven’t paid the bill in months. I haven’t wanted to go in and see if my account was still open. Part of me is embarrassed that I let it go so long. The other part is that…well, it means I’m going to just let those CD’s sit in my office for an undermined period of time. It’s not like I’m getting all that many anymore anyway.

*sigh*

Sadly, the last few times I’ve renewed the domain, it was because I couldn’t make up my mind about it and just wanted to stall another year. I need to figure this out. Not that $9.95 is a whole lot. Actually, I don’t have to do anything. I could stall another year and see what happens. I suspect that next year things will let up a bit and I may actually have more time to do Dark Culture podcasts. Because that’s what it’s all about: Music. Now that we’re knee deep in wedding preparations, I must take a Scarlet O’Hara approach and think about it tomorrow – or next year.

Not renewing means several things: Moving this blog to kristensimental.com, moving all the files, updating the mailing list about the site’s final demise, and saying my ultimate good-bye. That’s harder than you think. Saying good-bye to Dark Culture means a whole lot. It’s like this old friend I knew once upon a time. A good friend that helped keep me sane, showed me that I’m smarter than I think, helped me realize my commitment to music, and gave me something to do when my life wasn’t going anywhere. That’s a big deal, isn’t it? And part of it really is the staggering amount of time I put into it. To say “goodbye”, just like that? Perhaps I’m just not ready to.

I guess I’ve made my decision.

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Station Fire – Images from the Bridge

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Cinka

The La Canada Station Fire continues to gnaw it’s way through the Angeles Crest forest, high atop the ridge, along La Canada Flintridge, and into Altadena. We can see it quite clearly from our patio, which is just a short distance from the Rose Bowl. As of 1am this morning, the fire is only 5% contained. It’s been burning for more than 24 hours. Needless to say, the air quality in Pasadena is pretty horrendous. I’ve been doing my best to stay indoors, we cleaned and replaced all the air conditioning filters in the house and are keeping the windows closed. I mostly worry about the cats and their precious little lungs. I’m also dosing up on Vitamin C, Olive Leaf, Silver, and drinking tons of water. This is the kind of air quality that gives a person heavy bronchitis – no jinx.

After spending a good 20 minutes looking through wedding invitation designs, AJB, Mom, JCS, and I had dinner. Afterward, as we drove North on Fair Oaks Ave. in Old Town, you could see these massive flames leaping above the mountaintop. We decided to detour our route home and head up a little further on Fair Oaks. We couldn’t see much, so we came back home. There was, in fact, a better view from our patio and I took a few unremarkable photos.

A few moments after Mom left, she called and informed us that the view from the Holly St. Bridge (just around the corner from us) was spectacular. I grabbed my camera and tripod and out we went. Immediately upon arrival, you could see an impressive panoramic view of the mountains all ablaze. It was indeed, as Mom said, spectacular. Almost too spectacular. Mesmerizing, even.

Elliot, a man who’d found his way to the bridge from a road trip to North Carolina was also taking pictures. Passersby stopped and looked out their car windows, several students took pictures down a ways from us. We chatted with Elliot about everything from tofu recipes, government conspiracies, and 2012 to the fire in general. He was a nice guy and we enjoyed talking to him. It’s interesting the people you meet on a bridge at midnight while photographing one of the most breathtaking fires this area has seen in 50 years. During our conversation with Elliot, we also witnessed 4 quick bursts of bright orange/white light from behind a ridge. We couldn’t tell what they were, but guessed they were either trees exploding (as they do) or a transformer blowing. Pretty amazing.

In other news, my wedding dress arrived today. It, like the fires, is spectacular.

Here are some of the photos I took. AJB took image #7.

Photos: Kristen Simental www.kristensimental.com

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La Canada Station Fire from our Patio

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Cinka

A fire broke out north of Pasadena today; about 5 miles or so from our house. There is a good distance between us and the fire – as well as an entire 4 lane freeway – so we’re not really worried. The creepy thing is that you can see the flames from our house. More specifically, from our patio.

Earlier this evening, AJB and I drove up to La Canada to get a spectator’s view of the fire. It’s literally chewing up the Angeles Crest landscape. We even spotted a big explosion. I’m assuming it was a tree exploding – as they do. As of midnight this evening, The La Canada Station Fire is spreading and has gone from 5 acres to 500. I suppose it’ll get even bigger by morning.

View from our patio. Photo: Kristen Simental

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I used to just write…whatever.

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Cinka

Back in the early days of this blog, I used to just write about “whatever” – whatever was on my mind, whatever was happening in my life at the time. I used this blog as an outlet to describe my daily strifes and the fluttering thoughts that entered my head.

Since moving in with AJB and concentrating more on my career, I’ve found I have less and less time to think about the goings on in my life. This is a shame. The entire reason behind this blog was to catalog my life and have something to look back on. It was also a way to share myself with friends, family, and passersby. I tell myself (almost daily) that I need to write more, I need to put something in this blog. I suppose a good deal of my lack of enthusiasm comes from insecurity. I’ve mentioned other great bloggers like Wil Wheaton and Dave Cobb and how they manage to capture their thoughts and put it all down so eloquently. I often feel I’m just not good enough. So that’s just me. Me feeling bad about something I shouldn’t feel bad about.

The other issue is that when I started this blog, “blogging” as a medium hadn’t quite taken off yet and it was new and exciting. Everyone and their grandmother wasn’t blogging and I could feel safe in knowing I was among the small percentage of writers who harnessed the raw power of the blogging format. Eh, well. Since then, the entire world is blogging and it just makes me feel so small and insignificant. Another boring blogger blogging about nothing important.

But then I read this:
http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm

It basically says that while yes, everyone has a blog, not everyone uses it. In fact, the millions of masses who own blogs don’t actually use them. Tire kickers. And you know what? That makes me feel a lot better about things.

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TEST

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Cinka

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Town Hall Meeting

Posted on August 11, 2009 by Cinka

After a long flight home from Illinois, AJB and I arrived at the house and made an immediate about-face to attend today’s Town Hall meeting with Representative Adam Schiff in Alhambra. Despite how utterly exhausted we both were, we felt it was our civic duty to attend. As someone who cannot afford health insurance and hasn’t had job provided health insurance in a while, I’m all for reform. AJB has his reasons, but I don’t know if I should get into it or not. Let’s just say we both want reform, we both want more affordable health care, and we both see this new bill as a good start. Furthermore, we are both astounded at how blown out of proportion this issue has become and how easy it is to sway the ignorant masses. Euthanasia? Really?

I expected there would be a huge crowd and after watching these events all over the country on the news, I knew we’d be in for some good old fashioned protesting. All I can really say was that it was indeed a spectacle to behold. The passion and volume on both sides was intense. While walking through the shouting crowds, I felt a sense of democracy at work. I felt as though I was a part of something important and that years from now, people will talk about these town hall meetings and I can say I was there. The energy level was palpable.

I took my camera and captured some of the moments from the day. Both sides are represented.

Without further comment…