Domain Information

Date Registered: 15th December 2003 @ 1:31am (Impulse buying ^^;)
Registered With: Powweb.
Registration Cost: ZERO! WUHOO!!

Why the name?
I've had this name in my head for years. I've always wanted to call a blog digital memoirs. I think its really self explanatory. Digital= internet/website/computer etc. The digital side of things, and... Memoirs= "A memorial of any individual; a biography; often, a biography written without special regard to method and completeness."
Which I thought fit my idea of a blog perfectly.

dot net?
Yeah, well dot com is just so last year! lol
No, really my main reason is because dot com domains are majorly associated with the USA. I'm not American, and again in a small way of asserting my own identity I went with a dot net. Also, "com" is short for commercial. This site, is far from commercial... Overall, a dot net domain is more appropriate.

now the science bit...
Server Type: UNIX FreeBSD
Total Server Space: 12000 MB (12GB)
Transfer: 300GB per month
Services: CGI, PHP, SQL, PERL, Frontpage Extensions... more?
Annual Cost: $93.24 (which works out as a monthly cost of $7.77)

Current Layout

Previous Layouts

digital-memoirs version 13.0 {TRAVEL TO THE MOON}

This layout is a 100 years overdue, I've had this image wanting to do something with it for an incredibly long time. It came from a batch of anime pictures that were thrown together on Tokyotosho.com back when it was known as MIRCX... which was eons ago!
This layout isn't particularly remarkable in its creation, the only thing that took a tad bit of effort was the harlequin-style background. I love it a lot though, it's completely unique to anything I've done previously.

digital-memoirs version 12.0 {UGLY DUCKLING}

This is sadly one of my shortest lived layouts lasting approximately a month, perhaps even less! Because of the situation I was in in my life at that time, an 'ugly duckling' seemed quite appropriate, followed by the tagline "A tale of transformation". I loved how this looked, it was cute and had subtle soothing colours. But I decided I wasn't really needing that right now, I wanted something loud and devlish. Thus, it's life on the blog was sadly shortlived. There was nothing special about the layout creation itself, just some fading effects and fancy fonts.

digital-memoirs version 11.0 {HYSTERIA}

This was a good move I think. I was ready to start moving into layouts that weren't anime related. I made the first move with version 10, but now it's pretty much complete with v11 being on Matt Bellamy from MUSE. I loved how different effects could really burn the colours from the background and Matt's face into the image. I loved it and worked with it for ages to make it into a layout. I really like the dark red splodge in the background. Normally it would make you think of blood, right? But the way the colour has burned into the image leacing a pattern has made it look more arty than creepy. Which is the effect I was going for anyway! I've gone for really dark tones with this layout, but they work well and I think it's easier on the eyes for most people!

digital-memoirs version 10.0 {mUSIC & cATS}

This layout was inspired by a small book I recieved from my brother at Christmas called 'Quotable Cats'. It's the most awesome book for cat lovers, and anyone who's ever owned a cat will giggle at it! It's filled with quotes from famous writers, philosophers, doctors, professors etc... All expressing their unique love of cats! I grabbed an amusing quote by Albert Schweitzer and that became the basis for the layoout. I was sitting in work reading the book and thinking what a great layout I could make with an old picture I had saved a long tim ago hoping to use it in a layout one day of a girl holding a cat. As soon as I finished work I rushed to start on the layoout that had been swimming aroound in my head all night. I think it's possibly one of my best yet. ^^

digital-memoirs version 9.0 {FMP: LoVe PaNiC!}

After several months of supreme pinkness, I decided to go for a layout that was easy on the eyes. I really wanted a Full Metal Panic layout for ages, and I could never come up with anything with the images I had. But then suddenly, I saw this picture on a MSN groups site of all things... I grabbed it and went to work straight away on a layout. After several incarnations of varying colours, I found that this looked the best. It's amazing how many different versions of a layout I create before you guys get to see the final result! I really liked the neutral colours and soft feel of the image and text, it really made the layout feel calmer and more relaxing to look at as opposed to the busy KiraRaku layout. This design was also a return to layers, which I'm more comfortable working with anyway, they're way more flexible.

digital memoirs version 8.0 {KIRA & LACUS: PRECIOUS MEMORIES}

When I started this layout I thought "because GSD is so depressing right now, I don't want to do another Gundam SEED layout!" But... erm... something went wrong there... or my Irish genes started playing up. XD Anywho! Kira and Lacus are my favourite couple from Gundam SEED and Destiny so I figured, why no dedicate a layout to them? I'd had the picture on my computer for AGES, but because both sides were cut off it would be a pain making a layout that looked nice.
So I decided to take on the painstaking task of drawing pretty much all of Lacus' right shoulder ~____~. It turned out pretty well though! Problem with that is... it had to be a right-aligned layout *screams* I got it all working though... eventually! With this layout I went back to tables which are always a pain to work with. However, I'm pleased with how it all came together in the end. I made up the text on the left. Seemed to fit what Lacus would feel about her time with Kira. For those who never realised the full sentence started on the splash page in the title bar. The full sentence was "If even after the smoke clears; my dreams are all gone, I'll forever cherish these precious memories... my memories of you."

digital memoirs version 7.0 {GUNDAM SEED: ON A DAY LIKE TODAY}

This was another spare of the moment layout. I was actually scanning this doujinshi by Harunoie who do some really beautiful Athrun/Cagalli + Kira/ Lacus doujinshi when I was compelled to fix the image (as it was part of the back cover) and while I was doing that, it came to me that it would make an amazing layout! It was so easy to put together and I really love it. Very calm soft colours. Plus it's my first Gundam SEED layout! W00tage! ^^v

digital memoirs version 6.0 {BJD: MARK & BRIDGET}

I'd been pondering about how I could create a layout like this when I came across a picture of Bridget Jones's Diary... the actual diary. Funnily enough it was an advertisement for Virgin Atlantic. *shrugs* It took me a while to put it all together; as EVERY last bit of this layout comes from somewhere else entirely. I created it completely from scratch, which I'm rather proud of ^^v. It was all done in Corel Photopaint and Macromedia Fireworks. This layout marks my first non-anime layout. *gasp* I know, it;s shocking! My favourite part of it all was coming up with captions for the photos :P

digital memoirs version 5.0 {UCHIHA ITACHI}

This layout was absolutely spare of the moment! It took me about 3 hours to design and another 2 to implement. I adored the image, I just oogled it everyday! I can't help being such a silly fangirl where Itachi is concerned. XD It wasn't as simple as it looks ^^;; I'm no masetro with Photoshop so editing the picture to fade the edges etc gave me a little experience using PS. I've returned to layers for this one, simply because you can put them any where you damn like and its a billion times simpler than messing around with crazy tables! Ahem...
The title "Wash Away Your Pain" is inspired by the weight of guilt and sorrow Itachi most definitely carries, which is mirrored in all of us. We all feel the need to wash away our pains sometimes... in fact, isn't that what a blog is all about?

digital memoirs version 4.0 {TSUBASA BOYS}

I think version 4 came about pretty quickly because I was never intending to create the Ceres layout in the first place! I did like it though... but I needed a change! I needed brighter colours! And so here is DM.net version 4. Tsubasa Boys. Featuring, yup, you guessed it... the boys from TSUBASA RESERVior CHRoNiCLE.
This layout is created using tables. Not a SINGLE layer in sight. It took some work to figure it all out, but I got there in the end. It also marks my first attempt at using Adobe Photoshop. As the maple leaves no doubt give away. :P I think it looks pretty darn good. I'm super happy with it ^____^v

digital memoirs version 3.0 {CERES}

This is digital memoirs' 3rd incarnation. It features Ceres of Ayashi no Ceres as I'd just seen the series and was hooked! I wasn't actually aiming to create a Ceres layout, I was planning on doing a Naruto one with a reeally nice piccy from the manga, but I'm such a lazy bastage I put it off several times. ^^;;
But when browsing the wonderful scan gallery that is Anime Project Alliance I found the most wonderful Ceres picture, which if you paid a visit, you can see for yourself! ^^
For the first time it features a 3 column layout, which made the site alot bigger. The image of Ceres was radically altered using Corel Photopaint to create the dramatic red and green effect.

digital memoirs version 2.0 {TSUBASA RESERVior CHRoNiCLE}

After buying the Tsubasa calendar for 2004 I just had to use one of the absolutely goregous pics as a layout. This picture is for the month of August, and I adore it, Syaoran looks so grown up *coughs* and hot. o^^o It's a standard 2 column layout. How the colour scheme came about was a result of screwing with Corel Photopaint much longer than is medically advised. ^^;;

digital memoirs version 1.0 {INUYASHA}

This is my first ever layout for digital memoirs. In fact, the image itself inspired me to finally get off my ass and make a blog!
I really liked it! It's a standard 2 column layout, with a wonderful pic of Inuyasha that comes from the Symphonic Theme Collection Album. There was alot of background editing involved in this layout. Hopefully you can't tell ^^;; I think it worked well. ^^