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Sounds like lots happened this month, but at the end of it, it doesn't seem all that full.
30 Apr 2000 (Sunday)
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Gary: Here, do you want another oyster ?[ Another oyster?; Gary and Tony; Men Behaving Badly ] |
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Fixed bug in Filer and FontManager that was killing the latest ROM.
Another Dateline Jerusalem tonight. And a couple of SMS's from Helen. She's doing revision at the moment. Not amazingly fun. Oh, and Mars Attacks was on too... I'd not known about that.
Oh, and it's phone day today, apparently. So the numbers for London have changed again. And the number for Cardiff too - so we'll have to update the phones at work. Which means finding the manuals again. Bother.
Managed to listen to a bit of Dream Theater tonight too - 'Tears'. I don't know if it's a typical track of theirs, but it's pretty anyhow.
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Got hold of 'Closing Time' by Semisonic today; which is a great track. And Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty). And Seasons In The Sun, and Like a Prayer. And a few others. As you may have guessed, I've been looking for MP3s today. It's quite challenging really to find them.
However, of the MP3s that are really interesting, I found the Arena site and they have demos of the new album (that I didn't know was out) so I'm downloading them as I type this...
Other than that I don't know what else to think of the album. It seems reasonable to think that it'll grow on me.
Watched the final of Robot Wars. To be honest, the robots weren't particularly impressive until we reached the final of the final. The final itself was good mostly because the house robots got flipped. Unfortunately the second place - hypnodisc managed to get flipped quite quickly. Just goes to show that you really do need to take account for the fact that on your back you're completely useless unless you've got some wheels or a way of righting yourself.
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"Dateline Jeruselem" tonight. A continuation of the "Bethlehem Year Zero" news series that we had at Christmas. This is the first of them that I've seen. I hope it actually is the first of them, otherwise I'll be cross at missing them. I still ache today, but less...
Matthew's gone home until Monday, so I'm on my own until then. It's going to be... dull actually... I don't know what I'm going to do to be honest. I have the distinct feeling that I'll get very bored.
No Buffy tonight, either. Snooker's forced it off. Again. Now that I no longer care about Star Trek, they leave that on, but take off Buffy instead. Irritating ? Only very, very slightly. Ok, lotsly then.
Easter is a strange time. It's not, to me, a religious holiday. I don't know why. I think it has something to do with being a moveable thing. Because it goes walkies I don't even think of it as a holiday. Honestly; it's just like a period of time that breaks up the year. If I even remember about it. Which I didn't this year. Oh well...
I'll probably try to finish the XML module this weekend. That should be easy.
Remember: Don't leave projects until the last minute to finish, or you'll end up stuck trying to do them at the last minute...
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Today has been "play-with-PC" day. Which basically means 'find out what I
can do with it', 'curse it lots' and generally 'do things that aren't like
work'. Which boils down to 'Play half life' 
. Hopefully, I'll be able to
do Useful™ and Interesting™ things with it. Other than that, not
a lot interesting has happened.
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Hmm... Going to Tesco's today. It was raining. I ran from the car. Got to
the metal rail which barriers the covered path. Tried to jump it. Misjudged.
Fell on the floor. Oops. So I now ache, and I've broken my 'Justin'
key ring that Helen bought for me 
. So, I'm not particularly pleased.
Funny, though it was. Ah well...
Went to see 'Mission to Mars' with Robin; not bad. Amusing.
Other than that; nothing special. Really, I do ache. And I've got a graze on
my left arm too, which hurts . Shows what happens when you try to do
things without really trying.
At some point I'll work out how to classify the results of the other questions that have been placed on these pages (the non-yes/no ones), as there are a few there that ought to be listed really...
Julia rang me at work today; which was interesting. She's very bouncey.
Listened to a large amount of Hitch Hikers at work today... Up to fit 6, I think...
Couple of games of Patience won tonight. A couple lost too, but that's life
! 
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Today; um... nothing much; PC arrived. Helped (if that's the word!) Matthew put it together... Only one problem is that the processor doesn't work. Which is good. So we'll have to sort that out tomorrow...
Really tired tonight... Not really done much else...
Helen said she'd email me... She has her life; it's not mine. When tired I
wish for Helen. That's not practical, really...
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No diary tonight; too tired... watched The Negotiator last night. Did... nothing much today...
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Playing with FetchFile last night with UltraFS; basically it's a HTTP fetcher for fetching a file. Simple, in a lot of ways, but it's quite nice to have a front end and reasonably easy way to do it. It's been quite fun trying to get the multi-tasking stuff to work with his code anyhow.
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SMS from Helen today; nothing special; she's been doing coursework... I hope she's doing ok.
Just been watching The Mummy again, this time with the directors
soundtrack. They give a commentary on the Movie; it's great .
So, after looking through the bits about the Plagues, I give a small summary
of them... (I know there's one on the DVD, but as a supplement ).
Moses is telling the Pharoah to let his people (the Isrealites) go, and Moses tries to prove to the Pharoah that his god is with him, and first he changes his staff to a serpent... and the Pharoah's magicians do the same, proving that it's nothing special. And the Magician's snakes are eaten by Moses'.
I've got Dad, Julian and Simon coming tomorrow, along with Uncle Michael. That'll be fun.
From The directors comments on the movie "He stayed right in [the plane] whilst we sunk it. He trusted us not to kill him. Which was nice of him."
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Watched the end of Contact today; still not impressed with it, unfortunately. Read the book. Go on.
Rang Helen today; got a quick brush off; although I wasn't listening too
carefully, I must admit. That sounds rude, and it is really, but I didn't
sleep very well and I was feeling funny. Which is kinda why I rang really...
Ok, so I broke my little resolution, but I think that three months is pretty good really...
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I needed to do something stupid tonight and it was suggested I streak across the street. This was at about 11pm. But I still didn't have the nerve. Bah.
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Ohh... Today's nomic puts me in the lead. I did submit two rules, but I
did think that both were too silly. Anyhow, I'm going to have a little rest
from it now because I've been trying too hard .
Question is... Do I submit my URL, or is that amazingly vain ?
I think I should submit a URL because I should be more outgoing...
Anyhow, gratuitous back-link to David's site and The Nomic.
I'm amazingly unimpressed with Contact so far; I've watched a little more
and appear to be up to section 20 now... it's so awful. I'm almost
tempted to tell people not to bother watching it if you want to see a 'good'
contact film. Watch Close Encounters instead. Although, even that isn't that
great. Go on... Read the book. It's so much better. That's the price I pay
for reading it first I guess .
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Coo! Email from Tom from uni today; it's amazing who turns up when you least
expect it. I wish I could keep up with some of my old friends really, but...
well, I'm lazy and forgetful.
Mail from 'march' today, in comment about 'Tell me there's a heaven', yesterday... "There is". It's something I want to believe really. But I think that's partly because I have a fear that there isn't and I don't want to die. Religion is such a terrible thing. It causes so much argument and yet it is, when you get down to it, a means to reassuring yourself that there is 'something' which is bigger than you are. Whether that be a god, or gods or a cosmic physical ruleset, the fact is that most people at some time or other try to understand 'things'. And when they do, they either find that other people's beliefs are lacking, or that nothing can explain what things are like. When you look at it, that's all there is. To argue about a belief isn't generally productive, although it has merits if the parties listen to the others beliefs. If the parties are open then however much they may argue, they generally take something away from it. Sometimes they take away a thought that maybe there are flaws in what they believe. Sometimes they take away an understanding of the flaws in the other persons belief. But mostly, they should take the understanding of the other persons belief. However little they may agree with it.
That's in a perfect world, of course. But I think it can be true. I do. Or
rather, I believe that it can be true . I don't know if
anyone feels the same way, or whether they believe that others should die
because they believe other things. But you could view those as the two
extremes.
If you take, say, something like the Bible - I have to go by that, because it's the only holy book I know even vaguely well - then you can take it at its word, or you can take it as a joke, or you can look upon it as a thought out and presented work, just as any other. I prefer to take it as the latter. It's a book. It has some amusing bits; it has stories to tell; it has lessons to be learnt. To take it as a guide for life would be good. To take it with a pinch of salt is better - you must live by a standard you create for yourself. "Nobody can walk your life for you."
That may sound a little cliched, but I think I feel happy with that. It's taken a while, but I think I have found a 'religion' I can live with. It's the belief that some things are, and some things are not, and that the world isn't fair at times, and that there may or may not be someone to watch it, but if there isn't then you only have yourself to blame and if there is then you will be judged on who you are anyhow. If there's someone to control us, then things are pre-ordained, so I should do what I feel is right - it doesn't make a difference. If there isn't anyone there, then I have only myself to look out for, so I should do what I feel is right.
See, I'm actually comfortable thinking that it could go either way, because what I've decided is that you still have to be yourself and try to be as 'good' as you can be. On the subject of an afterlife - a heaven or reincarnation - it has to be that if there is then I'd better deserve what I get, and if there isn't then I'd better make the most of this one. Even though it scares me.
There's holes in that; there's self contradictions; there's blatant flaws. But nothing in this life is perfect, so we refine until we find something that is right...
Hmm... Lots of generalisations there... But there you go...
[ Only one line, so that you summarise thoughts... if you've a lot to say, then we'll just have to discuss it in more detail
]
Watched the first half of Contact today. Must say that I'm not impressed so far. Watched "Event Horizon" a few days ago... "Hmm" is about all I'll say for that.
Spoke to Piers for a while today; which was interesting. And to Stewart too. I don't remember much of what we talked about, except that Stewart and I talked Toolbox things for a little while.
I'm listening to Mostly Autumn at the moment; I'm just in that kind of mood.
'The Spirit of Autumn Past' - the track - (I think I've said before, but
what the hell) is very gorgeous. It just makes me think of 'Mocking Bird',
by Barclay James Harvest which just 'feels' very similar. Both of them have
a chilly sort of feeling to them. It's kinda like the you get from 'Tell Me
There's A Heaven'; it's a sort of out of time, sad and lost track. Actually,
neatly following that weepy track, I think I'll have a little 'Forever
Autumn'. Oh. There's a link to the last one for you.
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More weepy. Hmm. Right Here Waiting. I'm just tired and lonely
tonight I think. Hazard. Live To Tell. Jessie.
Hmm. Don't have I Don't Like Mondays.
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Whilst wandering through deja, I came across an article that I thought was so funny. So I thought I'd share it. The poster and context have been removed to protect the guilty, the innocent and the small man I met in a bar next week.
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Last year, us Year 11s (now Year 12s) stuck a sign on the Sports notice board which said something like this:[ Usenet article ] |
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I love memory allocators. They're such fun. It's almost like brain surgery, but without the interesting danger of lobotomy.[ Quote of the day from IRC ] |
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I'd say more about my day, but it's mostly been spent working on XML.
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Bought 'The Mummy' today. One excellent film. I'm getting used to this 'buying things' lark now. I'm not entirely keen on it, because it's expensive, but it's fun nonetheless.
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What's happened this weekend that is fun ? Well, actually, let's go over the last few days because I've not written anything for a while. Well, I've signed up for RedHotAnt free internet access. One thing I've got to say about it so far is that it's so slow. Maybe it'll pick up soon; I do hope so, 'cos otherwise it's 50 quid down the drain. And 50 quid spent on the Internet. Using my card. It's quite scarey. Whatever next?!
And after that, I bought a DVD player. Well, Matthew bought it, because one
thing by card per year is too much really Yeah, I'm sad. And along
with that, a 26 Gb drive for the office. That's mostly out of guilt, because
the MP3s are taking up lots of space and I'm the main person that listens to
them. Plus it makes my job of maintaining the backup system a little easier
because all the MP3s are in one area, rather than being spread over the
system.
DVD player has one minor problem with it - the Scart lead that came with it
doesn't like my TV. But Matthew has a lead that does, so all is well. It
even plays MP3 CDs. I'm well happy. Oh, and "A Bugs Life" came with the DVD,
and I had to watch Matthew's "The Matrix" video, too. Now that's a cool
film. I'll probably get myself a copy of "The Mummy" tomorrow, because I
really loved it. One of the things that is so cool with DVD, and I had
forgotten that I missed, is the still frame pause. I'd forgotten how nice it
was to have, rather than this VHS cacky pause thing. It's sad that you have
to go back to the early days of video to get still pause.
And I finished Half Life this weekend. To be honest, the 'Surface Tension' level it just became a bit monotonous and difficult without adding much new. But I can now say that I've finished 3 games ! :-) I can't get over people that say "Oh, I finished x last week, and y the week before" because it takes me ages and I usually lose interest quickly. I think I finished Starship Drifter on the BBC when I was younger, Doom I whilst testing the port I did, and now Half Life. That's about it. Not counting the games that have no definate end, like Civilisation, Repton-variants and such like (although I've never finished a Repton!)
Another email from Vanessa today. It seems that David is back home at the moment, but he's back with her on Tuesday. Erm... that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean.
The heating is out again today. On the up side though, we've found where the leak is !
What else ? Oh, I've read the PFR docs now. They're... dull... but interesting... in a dull way.
No actual work done this weekend, except fixing a bug in DCC which I think has been there for ages. And Spanners has fixed the templates so that they are more interesting.
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Afterglow![[Album]](../images/album.png){kind=small}
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