Happy Birthday, Doc Sleaze!

Yes indeed folks, it is once again that day of the year when Sleaze Towers reverberates to sounds of joy as I celebrate having survived another year. I must admit that I did the main celebrating last night, as Spurs are playing a UEFA cup match live on TV tonight, (indeed, I'm watching it as I type this), but I might still slip out after the match for a quick pint. Mind you, I'm still feeling a little queasy - a combination of several pints yesterday and watching Cloverfield and its disorientaing camera work this afternoon. Anyway, getting back to the point, I may be a year older, but am I any wiser? Wiser about what - life, the world, the human race? Probably not, on all counts. Indeed, with regard to the world in general, if anything, I feel as if I understand it less than I did a year ago. I think that's just a natural function of ageing - things change, but we feel less inclined to change with them, or even be bothered to understand those changes, with every year that goes by. This has nothing to do with being a curmudgeonly git, it's just that over the years most of us see so many changes, that we gradually come to realise most of them are simply fashions, rather than progress. They turn out to have no substance. The staus quo will eventually be restored. I've learned that it is better to reserve my energies for more important things.

But if I'm no wiser about the past, what about the future - is that any clearer now? Well, as far as the future of The Sleaze is concerned, maybe. I'm still working on a re-styling which, hopefully, will make the site easier to read and easier to navigate, as well as giving it a more 'contemporary' look. Completely re-worked templates and CSS are currently under construction, whilst my frustration with the limitations of current Content Management Systems (CMS) has led me to start learning PHP and SQL, with a view to customising my own back-end. How long I'll keep the site going is another question - it'll be eight years old this April, which, in web terms, is ancient. I think that my writing pace is finally beginning to slacken, so it's possible that I might reduce the number of stories I write every month. The alternative is to find additional writers. Mind you, in eight years I haven't found anyone who comes even close to producing the kind of material I want. Whatever happens with The Sleaze, I have every intention of maintaining a web presence. Indeed, I have several unrealised - and much cherished - web projects I've been unable to realise beacause of the amount of time I have to devote to The Sleaze. You never know, if I manage to get more manageable, dynamic, version of The Sleaze up and running, I might finally have the time for these projects. Until then, it's full steam ahead (once my birthday celebrations are over, naturally!)