Robert Hampton

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May 2004

1st May 2004

It’s like therapy, only it isn’t
Posted by at 11.16pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Flicking through BBCi Text tonight, I alighted on the Horoscopes page. Normally I don’t take much notice of this stuff, but tonight I may have to make an exception…

You’re being encouraged to take a long hard look at your future and to make sure it’s the future you want.

With Jupiter in your sign of Virgo, it’s up to you to make things happen.

You need a life of adventure, not one of boredom and never-ending filing.

I don’t know whether it’s astral conjunction or whatever, but this pretty much sums up my situation.

I do have a little list of life goals (which I originally made to decorate the hotly-anticipated About Me page — and no, it’s not done yet). Someone cleverer than me says that everyone should make such a list and check it every so often to see how you’re doing.

Unsurprisingly, I’m not doing so well at ticking things off on my list. I have goals, but I’ve made no effort towards achieving them. I’ve been coasting along for far too long. I’m stuck in a rut so deep I can’t see how to get out. I’m not desparately sad, but then again, I’m not especially happy either. I’m sort of in the middle… I’m sappy?

On New Year’s Day, I made a promise to myself that 2004 was going to be the year I made something of myself. I made the same promise in 2003, 2002 and 2001, with limited success each time.

So at the start of a new month, I’m making an extra special, I-really-mean-it-this-time promise to myself: I’m going to make 2004 the year I follow through on the promise. Really. And if we’re back here this time next year, you have the right to severely tell me off. All of you. I mean it.

(This is entry number 200, for those keeping score)

15th May 2004

Here I am
Posted by at 4.08pm | Uncategorised | 1 response

I’m back, did you miss me?

I’ve done a lot of thinking over the last couple of weeks. After posting the previous blog entry, I moped around for a couple of days. Then, on the Tuesday, I resolved to stop moping and actually do something. Take control of my destiny, as they say.

So I went down to Liverpool Community College to discuss options with one of their friendly advisors.

Long story short: I’ve decided to belatedly do my A-Levels (this time, actually doing the subjects I want to do). The application form will go out in the post, just as soon as I’ve decided what A-Levels I should actually take. I’m leaning towards English and Media Studies, so I need a couple more to complete the set.

Whatever happens, chances are I’ll be a penniless student for a while. It’s not entirely coincidental that an amazon.co.uk associates link has appeared on the home page. If you want to buy anything from Amazon, please click the link and I’ll get a small percentage on what you buy.

16th May 2004

Robert Hampton’s Link-Filled Link-o-Matic Linkarama
Posted by at 10.04pm | Uncategorised | No responses

We bought it to help with your homework, indeed.

Hat tip to Seb "Not just a pretty face" Patrick.

17th May 2004

Nono
Posted by at 10.32pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Ulysses 31 is coming out on DVD.

My brain says no, but my heart says yes!

…wow, Willy Fogg‘s available too!

19th May 2004

This will affect somebody else
Posted by at 7.22pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Bye bye Quiggins (actually maybe not, as they may relocate elsewhere in Liverpool city centre, but still…).

20th May 2004

Moorfields
Posted by at 10.03pm | Uncategorised | 6 responses

On the train into work this morning, I saw someone who looked sort of like someone I was at school with. Now, simple logic dictates that it can’t be him, but I still stared at him for several minutes. No wonder people think I’m strange.

21st May 2004

Pop Idle
Posted by at 10.46pm | Uncategorised | No responses

This is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Not for the kiddies, though.

22nd May 2004

Oooh, it’s a new one
Posted by at 2.56pm | Uncategorised | No responses

After a full year and a bit using Movable Type, I’m still not entirely comfortable with it, so it’s come as some relief that I managed to successfully put the redesigned site online, with all the bits in the right place (I think).

And no, the Me and Links pages still aren’t done.

23rd May 2004

Insert Quote from Movie Here
Posted by at 4.29pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Just got back from seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which got me thinking, "why did Jim Carrey waste all that time in all those other movies pulling funny faces?"

If you haven’t seen it, you should — it’s like one of those mindwarp episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, except without all the self-conscious "look how clever and original this is" nonsense that usually bogs such plots down.

I decided to see it at the new FACT Centre in Liverpool City Centre. Very nice, full of arty exhibitions and suchlike. And refreshingly scally-free.

It was probably the nice weather outside, but a sum total of three people (me and two others) came to this screening. This did cause me problems: at one point I got an urge to cough, but became incredibly self-conscious — usually when you cough in a cinema, nobody knows where it came from, but with only three people in the whole place it would have been pretty obvious. It felt rude, so I held it in.

Stupid? Probably.

27th May 2004

Rock the Vote (Don’t Rock the Vote, Baby)
Posted by at 6.41pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Got my Postal Voting pack yesterday — a large form which has to be filled in, torn off and placed in an envelope, which then has to be placed inside another envelope with the other part of the form. In fact, it’s somewhat reminiscent of sending off an entry for a Reader’s Digest prize draw ("if you’d like the free travel alarm clock, place your entry in envelope C and affix your special claim sticker on form Z").

I’m not entirely convinced by this postal voting lark. Confidence certainly wasn’t inspired when I discovered that a second set of postal voting forms for my parents and I had been sent to our old house, because the new occupants hadn’t bothered to inform the council that we’d moved out. Electoral fraud ahoy!

Also, what happens if I post my vote, and then the next morning there’s a headline across the newspaper, "EURO CANDIDATE IN NAZI SEX SCANDAL"? Can I phone them up and ask for my vote back? I demand to know these things!

28th May 2004

Run that one by me again?
Posted by at 7.57pm | Uncategorised | No responses

Norman Tebbit says child obesity is caused by gay marriage.

29th May 2004

How Not to do Light Entertainment
Posted by at 5.57pm | Uncategorised | No responses
  1. Commission a stunt/dare-type show that’s exactly like all the other stunt/dare-type shows on the telly
  2. Get Ian Wright to host it
  3. Give it a daft title like I’d Do Anything
  4. Use a funked-up version of "I’d Do Anything" from Oliver! as the theme music
  5. Shove it on BBC1 as the curtain-raiser for Saturday night’s viewing
Housekeeping
Posted by at 7.36pm | Uncategorised | 1 response

Two entries in one day? Separated by mere hours? I spoil you lot, or… I’m bored.

My web hosting is up for renewal in mid-July and I’m considering whether I want to continue paying. Hosting is not expensive (in fact I’m paying peanuts and getting a pretty good service to boot), but a full site with 25Mb webspace, CGI/PHP scripting and full logging facilities is overkill for what I need. I mean, if I’m honest, do I really need server-side includes?

So I’m thinking of maybe switching to Blogger and pointing the domain name towards my unloved, neglected Blueyonder webspace. If anyone has any advice or dire warnings about Blogger, I’d like to know.