Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

2 Years Post-Transplant

This past Thursday marked 2 years since I had my liver transplant. It's been interesting living out this past year in our new-COVID-era world, but to be honest, I think it's made it easier.

I've never been the most social person, so an iron clad excuse to keep my heavily-immune-suppressed-self indoors and away from strangers is definitely welcome! It's now more than ever that I appreciate being able to work in a fully remote job.

Des and I also had the second dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine yesterday. Despite not expecting much of an immune reaction because recent studies Read more β†’

But He’s Got a New Hat!

Smithers exclaiming "But she's got a new hat!"

People have gotten into some strange stuff during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and I was no exception. My newish thing is baseball hats, which is a bit weird considering that going outside is not really a thing you can do in a lockdown.

Nevertheless, sun safety is a big thing for me, especially because I am at increased risk of skin cancer as a result of the immune-suppressants I am on following my liver transplant. I need a hat whenever I go outside to protect my significantβ€”and I believe this is a medical termβ€”chrome dome.

I started off just wanting to … Read more β†’

2020: Year in Review

This quote is from the end of my 'Year in Review' post for 2019:

Needless to say, 2020 and the entire 2020s are looking a whole lot more brighter for us after the events of 2019.

Although that was still accurate for me personally; for the wider world... not so much. πŸ˜…

2020 was a strange year for the whole world. I can't think of something (at least in my lifetime) that has affected nearly every person on the planet like the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has. 🦠

The year started off ok. I attended linux.conf.au 2020 at the Gold … Read more β†’

Tweets for 2020

These are my tweets for 2020 (sans replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

Read more β†’

Converting my Flash Intros to HTML5

Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia (RIP 😒) Flash) was once a staple of the web, but for various reasons (security issues, unnecessary software, etc.), it has almost been completely banished from the internet, with HTML5 animations now largely filling the gap.

Adobe is stopping maintenance of Flash at the end of this year, and this is definitely a good thing.

This site used a fair bit of Flash in the Web 1.0 days. The initial version even used Flash for the navigation buttons! 😱 However, the biggest (and most fun) use of Flash was when I made 'intro' animations for my … Read more β†’

1 Year Post-Transplant

Framed picture saying 'Welcome home' with a diagram of a human liver with Lego pieces overlaying the left lobe.
Something Des and the kids made for me after coming home from the hospital. I received a partial liver (the other part of the donor's liver went to a child), so the Lego part is 'under construction' because it will mostly grow back.

Today marks one year since I had my liver transplant. It's hard to believe a year has gone by already, but looking back, a lot has happened in the past 12 months.

I commented to Des that it feels like the transplant wasn't that long ago, but other events, like getting on the NBN, seemed … Read more β†’

The ‘R’ Word

There's one word that fills an organ transplant recipient, or potential transplant recipient, with dread: 'rejection'.

TL;DR: I've just experienced an episode of rejection of my transplanted liver, but I seem to be coming out of it ok πŸ™‚.

Before starting on the transplant process last year, I thought that organ rejection was an all-or-nothing thing. I thought that if rejection happens, it was like: 'well, good luck, go back on the list and hopefully you'll have a better time with another organ'.

That's not actually the case. Apparently, rejection is a common thing in the first … Read more β†’

2019: Year in Review

So, nothing much happened in this past year, ey? πŸ˜‚

Of course, this year can only be seen through the lens of the massive event in my life that was my liver transplant.

Now that we are also at the end of the decade, you could say that this whole decade has also been largely defined by my illness (diagnosed in 2010) and it's now hopefully-permanent solution (the transplant).

So, 2019 has been a massive rollercoaster of a year. I started a new job right at the beginning of the year, and only a few months into … Read more β†’

Tweets for 2019

These are my tweets for 2019 (sans replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

  • This Tuesday will be the first time in a long time that I've been able to say this! Very excited and nervous! πŸ˜€ https://t.co/ooIGvJ5jlS Jan 06, 2019
  • YISSSSSS!! https://t.co/sHT8hXVrfB Jan 09, 2019
  • Absolutely loving @GetInsomnia for basic API testing and documentation! Such a great tool! Jan 16, 2019
  • Somebody said that the new #Slack logo looks like a swastika, and now I can't unsee it! (especially so, as I'm in t…
Read more β†’

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (spoilers!)

Rise of Skywalker banner

Here we are, at the end of the Disney 'sequel trilogy'. The whole thing has been a bit of a weird and unexpected experience. A bit of history first:

I first watched the original trilogy as a child, mainly on VHS tapes. I did not see the movies in a cinema until 1997 at the age of 14, when the Special Editions were released theatrically on the 20th anniversary of the original movie.

The prequel trilogy marked my coming of age. I was 16 when Episode I came out, and 22 when Revenge of the Sith was released.

So for … Read more β†’