*~* My Labour of Love and the History Behind It *~*

Here I go again creating another page! I'm addicted to this, I tell ya! I'm a true nerd...haha...It's unbelievable, like breathing in and out. I thought that perhaps some of my visitors would enjoy learning a little bit of the history behind *~* The Mystic Realm *~* (how it developed as an idea and what it looked like when it first found its way onto the web). For those who are the curious among you, you might find this interesting. For those who hate history as much as I do, don't worry, you won't be tested on this *grin*. So, sit back and enjoy (or TRY to enjoy) this page. The history of this page (and the memories I have while creating it) is kinda long, but I'll try to make this little history lesson as painless as possible. *smirk* Oh yeah...and you might want to turn your speakers on to hear the music playing in the background on this page.

This site, like any, was first just an idea fluttering around in the mind. Ever since I was little, I have always enjoyed writing and creating newletter layouts and such. So, I was just dreaming up the idea that one day I'd be able to create a website and post it up for everyone in the world to see. I thought that it would be a neat way to express my opinions and let everyone know what went through my mind. I also thought that it would be a great way to expand my creative horizons and see my own development as a person. I like to think that not only did this website always undergo construction, but just as it was going through changes and improvements, the designer was as well. *smile* She-Ra: The Princess of Power

I was in Grade 11 when I finally gave serious thought to creating a website. Actually, before I used to think that people who made websites were nerds. Am I an official nerd yet? Hehe...oh goody goody! Where's my honourary membership pin? Haha....anyway....I had so many great ideas as to what I would want to put up on my pages. I knew that I wanted to add poetry, quotations and anything that was uplifting. After all this brainstorming, I was still hesitant to create a webpage. Why? I didn't know where to start. I just had too many ideas and I didn't know a thing about creating a website. It seemed so hard and complicated and I just didn't know where to go to publish a website.

Finally, my best friend and I decided to check out the Geocities free homepage service. Once all our exams were over, I went over to her house and we both went to the Geocities page and signed up for a space on the web. We were SO excited like you wouldn't even believe. We were kinda nerdy now that I think about it (haha). When we first learned how to upload stuff, we were like, "YAYYYYYY!!!" and did this corny little dance and gave each other high fives. (Rolling my eyes) All over a website...haha. So, the very first time that *~* The Mystic Realm *~* appeared on the net, it was just a plain white screen with the title at the top in plain black Times New Roman Murky: The one who always tried to bring gloom to Rainbowland and foil Rainbow Brite's happiness

Murky: The one who always tried to bring gloom to Rainbowland and foil Rainbow Brite's happiness

text and there was a little picture of a bunny. It was really pathetic because initially there was no content whatsoever. We were going to work on that later. So, when I went home, I worked on the page and tried to find a midi file that would be the 'theme song' of our page. The first song that ever was associated with this site was Bryan Adams' song entitled "Everything I Do". I did experiment with other midi files, such as No Doubt's "Don't Speak" and even the theme song of 90210 (my goodness, how embarrassing!). So, even though the site Sprite: One of workers in Rainbowland

was relatively new, some people did stop by and sent e-mails our way. Most of them commented that something else should have been chosen for the music. I got all kinds of suggestions ranging from the Spice Girls to Richard Marx to Seal. I finally decided that I wouldn't choose a song that was popular now. I was going to choose something that sounded a little more classy and something that I thought not many people would have heard before (to keep things original). After several visits to those websites that give out free midi files, I came across one and from the moment I heard it, I knew that it would be the perfect theme song, as it wasn't too fast or too slow. To this very day, the song can be heard on the main page of this site.

Custard the Cat: Strawberry Shortcake's cat

Once the midi selection was made, I started working on getting the counter and the guestbook set up so that we could keep track of our visitors and their feedback. At the time, I didn't know that you could press CTRL+C to copy text and then CTRL+V to paste text, so I typed out the entire html coding by hand! To all you web experts out there, you'll be laughing and saying that it was nothing, but to me, it was the longest coding that I had ever done. Hehe...anyway, I remember how excited my friend and I were when our counter reached 10. *Smile* To us, at the time, it was incredible. Now, 10 hits to *~* The Mystic Realm *~* go very quickly, but I am still just as happy as ever. Every hit to my page makes me glad to know that people are seeing this site and reading what I think and what I have to say. It's also nice to read guestbook entries, as they continue to inspire and motivate me or teach me ways which I can improve. I have gotten some wonderful comments that made me smile these huge smiles and then there are entries written by mean people who try to pull me down for no reason. I do not take the nasty comments to heart because I realize that those people don't even know me, and if they did, they'd know that Custard the Cat with Pupcake!

I refuse to be poisoned with negativity as they have. I will continue to promote love, unity, harmony and God and nothing will change that. Positivity is a good thing and I've always wanted to make a difference and even though my website is just a teeny tiny eensy weensy itty bitty difference, it is still a difference. I can express just how happy I feel when people e-mail me, telling me how much they enjoyed my site. It makes me just smile from the inside out. I love it! I just want you to know that I not only do this website for myself, but also for all of you. I want my page to remind people of the happiness in the world, despite all the corruption. I'm hoping that *~* The Mystic Realm *~* can become a haven (of sorts) that can make you smile from ear to ear.

The sign for the Deceptacons: the villains in Transformers

Also, I remember in particular, one woman (I'll just call her Kasia to keep things anonymous) wrote to me and said that she was having a really "blah" kind of day and felt really down about everything. She couldn't think of one single thing that made her happy, because Kasia was in a depressed state. As chance would have it, she came across my website (by accident). She was searching for something and a link to one of my webpages, my " Stuff Mary Loves " page came up.

For those who haven't visited or don't know about that page, it lists a lot of things that I love and just things that make me happy. I was determined to make that page because as I was surfing through the internet, I came across a lot of pages that listed 'Pet Peeves' and negative lists like "Things I Hate". I The symbol of the Transformers decided that instead of saying what I didn't like, I would list what I loved, so that it would remind people of the better things in life (even the simpler things). So, back to Kasia. She read my list and she started to remember all the things that she loved as well and it brightened up her mood. She realized that she was just obsessing with the negative aspects in her life. When I finished reading her letter, I felt so proud of myself (as conceited as it may sound). I was just so overwhelmed that unknowingly, I had made such a positive difference in a stranger's life. Let me tell you: It gives me the greatest sense of satisfaction to help someone. Also, I really do think that if I didn't get enough support from all of you out there, I wouldn't be as motivated as I am today to create all the pages that I have. You all encourage me and I want to send out a big thank you to all of you who have visited. It means a lot.

From left to right: Penny, Inspector Gadget and Brain

Okay, I forgot to mention how I came up with the title. My friend's younger sister thought that it should be mystical and I did want something mysterious. In the same year, I had actually written a poem entitled "Your Mystic Aura" and so, I decided to choose the word 'mystic' just because I liked it. As for 'realm', I wanted it to match the mysteriousness which we had chosen for the theme. That's how it finally became The Mystic Realm. As for the little squiggles and asterisks ( *~* ) before and after the title, I added that to make it looked more polished. Also, in the beginning, I used these cute gold twinkling animated stars which I used in the place of the asterisks ( * ). Originally, the background of the page was just plain black with animated twinkling white dots that looked like stars. This was the initiation of my desire to make *~* The Mystic Realm *~* look like a beautiful night sky (very calm and soothing).

So, finally it became too much work to have two people work on the same website. We no longer used the geocities (as it was too time-consuming and we hated the advertising that came along with it). Our internet service providers gave us 10 MB each to create a webpage and so, we created our pages at our own homes, uploaded it using the FTP (file transfer protocol) and just linked the pages together to make it look like it was just one page. It was a lot of work to communicate back and forth as to what the other had worked on.

People would sign the guestbook and only give credit to one of us and that sort of took away from our enthusiasm. We both worked hard on our designated sections of the website and it felt horrible not even The Popples! being acknowledged. Also, deep down inside, I knew that I had done the majority of the work on the page (as I created the mainpage, the focal point) as well as several other pages. I suggested that my friend and I create separate pages, since credit had become an issue. As selfish as it might sound, it really does matter. Imagine if Picasso never got credit for his work. Imagine how he would feel? I'm not saying that my website is really comparable to the artist's paintings, but I just want to give you an example to further illustrate where I am coming from and how it felt. It was horrible. So, once we made our own separate pages, it went very well. We linked to each others' pages and I found that I had more freedom to do whatever I wanted to my page. Before, we always had to consult each other and see if it was 'okay' or not (usually it was).

Both of our pages improved, as we were able to truly express our own un-inhibited creativity. Although we both had similar pages such as poetry pages, we added a different flavour to our own sites that made it truly our own. That's what I truly love, you know that? I like making webpages that say "This is me". Each and every single one of my pages was created through inspirations which urged me to create it. Each of them reflect parts of my personality and who I am. For instance, my page on the 1980's cartoons reflect the inner child in me and how much I loved the eighties. I have written poetry to express my feelings (usually on love or life). I feel that I have put a lot of myself into all of my pages. I have also added a lot of hidden subpages. Only the curious clicker will find them. I have linked some pictures to these hidden subpages like a surprise. I love surprises myself and I think that it adds to the mysteriousness of the page if I have links that are not as obvious. If you've really paid attention to my pages, you would have noticed that you've found many other pages of mine which aren't listed on the main webpage. I'm going to continue to add these little quirky things to my site. I want to spice it up a bit and not be just another boring blah website out there that puts you to sleep.

Over the year, I have experimented with splash pages. At first I didn't like them, but then I began to view them as covers of a book. Of course you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but c'mon...when you see a really nice cover, you will probably want to read the book or at least flip through it. The same is true with a Apple Jack: Another one of the My Little Ponies website. The splash page (also known as the welcome page) must make the visitor want to see the rest of the site. Also, I use the splash page as a way to inform regular visitors of any updates that the site has undergone. I thought that this was practical so that people didn't have to waste their time to load the entire mainpage to find out what's new. I certainly don't like wasting time doing that, so I took the courtesy to place it right on my splash page (which loads quicker than the main page). By the way, if you are curious as to how my previous splash pages looked like, you can, by clicking here.

Also, a lot of times I have placed messages so that when you place your mouse over an image, it comes up on the screen. I like telling people why I chose a certain image and what relevance it has. Other times, the image speaks for itself.

When I made the very first webpage, I didn't know much about html. Now, I know a little more, but I'm still an amateur. I cheat. I don't type out the coding. I just use my dinky Front Page Express program (I call it dinky, but it's GREAT! Confusing? Haha...yes...that's just like me) and it's as easy as pie. I taught myself how to make websites just by clicking here and clicking there. I like experimenting with new programs and that's a good thing, because I absolutely could NOT sit and read a manual. So, I guess what I want to say to all of you out there is that if I can know next to nothing about websites and make one, you can too. It's really not as hard as you imagine. The hardest part (like anything) is getting started and I find that once you do, it becomes easier and easier. You'll feel really good about yourself that you took the initiative to start. You have to motivate yourself. This is not just applicable to making webpages, but to life in general. You are your own motivater or de-motivater. I have learned that. If you really want something, you are the only one who can make it happen.

Okay, so this 'little' history lesson turned out to be not so little and not so much of a history lesson. Hey, my initial intent was there.....*hehe*....I hope that you haven't been snoozing through it all and if you were, I hope you had a good rest....haha. Oh yes...one thing before I conclude: You may be wondering why I chose to plaster all these 1980's images on this page. What do they have to do with what I've been talking about? They remind me of when I was little, growing up in the eighties and that's part of my history that I wanted to share with you. *smile* Well...I never expected that this history page would end up like it has, then again, I never ever know how any of my pages will turn out. All I know is that I enjoyed typing all this up (even if Who are you gonna call? Ghostbusters! that's hard for you to imagine....I like typing, yes). I have enjoyed digging up memories. It makes me pleased to know how far I've come along and it makes me excited to know how far I'll go. *smile* Thank you for taking the time and patience to read all of this. I hope that you've learned a little more about this site and all the love that was poured into every page and every selection of music, graphic and layout. I also hope that you've learned more about me, the girl behind the website. Most of all, however, I hope that you will smile and continue to SPREAD THE SUNSHINE.....because the world needs it! *smile*