Ara 
I didn’t think I would ever start a blog again, after two failed attempts. More so, a traumatic and bitter stop to my rising career as a pre-teen blogger, and a simulator-oriented website that was never going to go anywhere, which I eventually pulled the plug after two or so years. The first one, though, much to my surprise back then, had a decent viewership average and acceptable engagement. The only problem was that I was then under the minimum age requirement (I didn’t even know that was a thing!). I don’t even remember when I made it, nor exactly when I got banned, but I think it was sometime around 2011. I was already older than 13 then, but I wasn’t when I made the blog (probably around 2007, 2008), which triggered the ban (or so I think). Wordpress never specified the exact reason why I got banned.
Needless to say, it was quite painful to overcome. My pride and joy, gone. I tried to appeal a couple times but got no answer. I used to tell everyone about it, and people would often get impressed by the view count that I proudly sported at the right corner of the webpage. I “knew” the recipe: tutorials. From basic stuff like updating your browser to average tricks like changing the stock ISP DNS to Google’s and so on, it would never fail to yield a couple thousand views a week (which was a lot for a little kid like me, mind you). Oh, the good old days.
The second attempt was rather stupid and random, dating back to early 2017, when I got that free AWS trial and started messing about with virtual private servers again (after a 2 year long hiatus). Oh yes, on that note, I also tried to start my own forum, twice. First time in 2011-2012, second time around 2016. Both failed, obviously. That 2015-2016 attempt was the first time I ever meddled with my very own Linux virtual private server. Unforgettable! I already had server experience from virtual machines, but it certainly wasn’t the same thing. Even more so because I never bothered with installing a LAMP stack on Linux before (i would use Xampp on Windows instead). After a good day or two of tinkering, my forum was finally set up and ready for frustration. But that one is a story for another blog post. Back to the blogs! So, with that shiny new VPS from Amazon Web Services, and no idea what to do with it, I decided to install Wordpress (brilliant, innit?) and only then decide what exactly I would use it for.
After a good couple days of brainstorming, I finally knew exactly what I would do with the Wordpress blog. Initially, I considered making a blog for my forum (eSport Cave), but the community was dead since birth and I couldn’t think of anything that would justify a standalone blog rather than just using XenForo itself. Which then took me to plan B, the simulation-oriented blog. It was a brilliant idea on paper, except I was a broke student, with hardware that could barely run 10 year old titles and I wanted to review the latest and greatest. What could go wrong?
Suffices to say that everything went wrong, except for one thing: its “success” granted me a press pass to an event, which I proudly covered and was certainly one of the highlights of my decade. It finally felt like things would go very well from there on. They didn’t.
The AWS trial expired and I didn’t feel like paying for the VPS anymore. Backed up the Wordpress database and wiped everything. Maybe one day I will relaunch said project, hence why I didn’t mention its name or anything. Back then it wouldn’t work, but now it might as well, given I finally have the gear to cover whatever the heck I want.
Fast forward to 2021, a friend mentions a specific static CMS (Jekyll), I decide to give it a go for fun, then one thing led to another and here it is, my first personal blog! As I didn’t want to leave it empty during its humble beginnings, I dumped some of my old Steam reviews (the acceptable ones), along with a couple photos. It is not much, but it’s honest work. Worry not, original content should follow. I plan to review some of the books I read, along with new game reviews and something else that I can’t disclose just yet. Stay tuned!
eFootball Review