Rockwitch.net

I think I’ve mentioned before my need for being in tune with the seasons. For example, I change the decor in my apartment depending on what’s going on outside. And now it’s autumn! My favourite season! Finally!! I have of course made a new blog layout

I’ve been reading a lot of Edgar Allan Poe recently and, naturally, that includes The Raven.
(If you by any chance hasn’t read it yet, you should do it ASAP.)
I must admit I’ve never been a huge fan of poetry. I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to novels, I’ll read almost anything, but poetry has always been an uphill struggle for me – Poe being one of the exceptions. Guess I have a thing for darkness and ye olde fancy talk

Anyway, the layout is actually a remake of one I had for my old (and long gone) Swedish blog, but I’m all for recycling It’s not entirely finished, but I couldn’t wait putting it up. The header is made with brushes by Annika von Holdt and the awesome background pattern comes from Dinpattern.

I’ve promised Jennifer that she can use my previous layout with the deer and the cage, so if you see it on her site some time in the future it’s not stolen

This summer in photos (click on them for larger view):

Went to the beautiful town Örnsköldsvik to visit Markus’ parents. I love that place, if we didn’t have our jobs here I would move there in a heartbeat

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About a month ago my laptop died. Well, not entirely – just the graphic card. Unfortunately the warranty expired years ago and screwing around with a laptop is what I imagine brain surgery to be like. Just opening it required the unscrewing of approx. 10 million miniature screws and when we finally got under the hood we took one look and gave up. I doubt I could even find the graphic card in that mess…
Right now I’m using Markus computer and my iPad, a combo that works surprisingly well! Especially now that I got old Ms Paint to work in Windows 7 (my laptop had Vista)

The new “fancy” Ms Paint they put in Windows 7 looks great, with a modern interface and lots of new features that might come in handy if you want a photo editing program – but for pixel artists it’s pretty much ruined. When pixeling it’s essential to have complete control over each pixel, which made old Ms Paint perfect for the job. I don’t want a line tool that turns the line into some blurry semi-vector shit and I sure as hell don’t want a paint bucket that does anti-aliasing If you could somehow turn it off I wouldn’t complain, but apparently you can’t (if you find a way do tell me!).

For weeks I’ve tried to get used to the new version or work around it. I also tried pixeling in Photoshop, Paint.NET and some other more or less obscure programs. Nothing beats Ms Paint. It has that extreme simplicity that you can’t find in any other program, and that what makes it the best.
Or maybe I’m just to damn old and set in my ways But really, when you’ve used something for over 8 years it’s kinda hard to have it taken away and start over with something new.

And then… salvation! *insert choir of singing angels*

Just go here and follow instructions:
How to get old Ms Paint working in Windows 7

Note: You MIGHT have to copy the files to the en-US directory too EVEN if you have Windows installed in a language other than English. I have Windows installed in Swedish and only copying them to the Swedish language folder didn’t work. Just FYI.

The page explains it very well and have the old version files for downloading if you don’t have a copy of Vista or XP to take them from. It requires a bit of fiddling around before you’re all done, but the result is well worth it
I was so happy when I found this, for a while there I seriously thought I would have to give up pixeling. I just hope I’ll find time to actually sit down and pixel now…

Anyway, my laptop has gone to computer heaven and I honestly don’t know if I’ll bother getting a new one. I have the iPad, Markus computer, my (big and fancy) work computer, and now that I’ve figured out the pixeling business I think I’m set

Let me introduce our new foster cat Bella!

A few months ago I talked about whether or not it would be a good idea to get a cat. Well, we decided to go with the foster home option and signed up to be a foster home for the local animal protection association The summers are always busy with unwanted cats and kittens and this year has apparently been unusually bad, so we decided to help out.

Bella have been living with us for little over a week now and she’s adorable
They told us she was pretty shy, so I expected her to go hide under the couch all the time, but she’s actually quite social and seem to like hanging around us. Every time you sit down somewhere she comes and wants to be cuddled with and if you talk to her she usually talks back (meow?). She’s only shy if there’s lots of people and commotion around, but that’s hardly unusual with cats.

The deal is she’s going to live with us until she finds a home of her own. Markus is already in love though, so right now I’m not sure he’d let anyone take her away

Bella on the bed