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This site will work and look a whole lot better in a browser that supports web standards, but it's still accessible to any browser or Internet device.
Version 3.2. XHTML 1.0 / CSS-1 / No <tables>. Sexy huh?
2 Feb 2K3 While the revamp is postponed, I gave the blog (hosted on Blogspot) some style fixes and even added — yes, let's bring in another hosted service (Enetation) to join the jigsaw puzzle! — commenting.
This site could not look more fragmented... especially when one part gets the TLC and updates, leaving the rest far behind to slowly rot away.
Skin Line Dash returns. It could signify my trying to pull a welcoming (artificial) smile and be an earnest, PR-minded, user-friendly standards conformist. Or I'm out of ideas.
23 Dec 2K2 Wtf? Is Freeservers now floating its giant Flash ads smack in the middle of the browser window, effectively blocking out 70 percent of an underlying webpage? Wether or not it's some unearthly glitch — that does it! Migration arrangements are definitely underway!
When I ponder on what has been happening here, I realize that if this site is going to be an example to others, I'll have to say that I'm not ready to acknowledge that now. This site validates well, but on XHTML purist principles, it's far from perfect. Like this very post, for instance — what appears to be separate paragraphs is really just one paragraph sliced up with line breaks and indented with non-breaking spaces. These I'd rather do with correct XHTML and have it done up with CSS. The navigation links would also be perfect if it were marked up as lists. And the post headings in the blog should rightfully be marked up as headings, yet they currently aren't. Plus I think the design needs a little facelift. And so on. I will attempt to tackle these in the revamp.
Damn, I am such a purist. If I believed in horoscopes, I'd reason that it's typical of a Virgo.
Christmas isn't Christmas without Poinsettia.
26 Oct 2K2 Isn't it a bitch for Getstring.com, my last guestbook host, to just shut down on me without my knowing? How long has it been... half a year? To the visitors who bothered to send me "hey nice website" emails, thank you so much. To anyone who still visits my site despite having a big broken link, thank you, too. And here you go, I've set up a new guestbook.
A forewarning: I am intent on moving to a new webhost real soon. I feel that I really am too good for Freeservers; it's so very hampering me. I've been here for nearly four years, and it has been conglomerating more and more limitations over time. (I think this is true for a majority of webhosts.) Coupled with the blog and guestbook, I can't help but conceive the Den as an awful collage of separately hosted parts. And if only you could see it from this side of the screen. It's hopelessly falling apart, thanks in part to my reluctance to keep it on. (Here I must also apologise for any bruises and fractures you find in this site, like missing images and such.) I need a place that will allow me a greater degree of freedom and control. Anyone care to help?
I took part in a web design contest. Here's a skin based on a skin I created for my entry. Haven't given it a name. Would anyone like to name it for me? Please, suggest a name. I will thank you for it.
[23 Dec 2K2] Thank you for your suggestions, all zero of you. However I've settled on a name, one that I came up with myself. Meteorite In The Sky. Fancy, eh?
I recently realized this skin looks pretty bad, especially on older browsers and inferior screen resolutions, which likely factored in its unpopularity. Go figure.
25 May 2K2 The blog pretty much tells everything now. I can only summarize here.
Got my 2nd semester results: 3.00, which is a hard fall from 3.50; so my average is 3.25. It was somewhat mortifying, until I found out I got a place in the University of Malaya for a degree in Civil Engineering, so my spirits are up again. Lucky, lucky me.
I'll be off on my own to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Jumping jitters and screaming meemies. Big city, here I come.
Saw Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones.
The transition to XHTML and tableless design is successful. Yesss! I feel like I can do anything! Took my time I did.
Skin is Line Dash. This is my first one with dark text against a light background. It's about time; I think the usual color schemes that are the other way round aren't so hip for me anymore.
4 Apr 2K2 This is the longest break ever so far. Not that you'd care or notice, of course. But yes, there are people who have asked me about my lagging update. It's just that I've got a blog now, and I'm just having so much fun.
College is over as of last month. I have a two month break before I go off to uni. Back to sitting at home, and I welcome the lifestyle reorientation. Parents and siblings are around to bug me once more. Family computer is available to my hogging once more.
First few weeks not dull at all. We climbed Mt Kinabalu. We facillitated this year's college orientation week for the freshies.
Now I'm broke, bored, and I need to find work.
Caught up with old friends and ma cousins yo.
Caught up with TV and radio too. I take back what I said about WowFM; I miss it. Never mind you're now playing pop, hiphop and dance... I'll forgive the flaws; you're still my fave station. But whatever happened to deejay George, the prince of wet snot?
And about TV... oh geez, TV... I've missed too much. I'll refrain from typing this paragraph.
Skin is Rainforest. I think there's an Earth Day this month. St Patrick's Day was sometime last month. And I have fond memories of the Kinabalu jungles, so what the hell. Rainforest, ladies and gentlemen.
10 Feb 2K2 Mid-semester scores came out a few weeks ago. Jay's scores are astonishingly way up... he's beginning to show fangs and claws. Guess his 3 a.m.-up-studying regime paid off.
Oh, me? They're mediocre, and don't be surprised since I wasn't pushing hard. I deliberately avoided a feel-good high score because I know from experience how fatal overconfidence can be for me. No, really, I just can't pull off getting better than myself; I tend to be content with what I have and slack. Let's just say I'm collecting momentum for the big final one this end of February.
I was fine, just fine with my mediocrity... until the college sent off the few top-scorers to a holiday in Penang. Damn I forgot that they pamper us Matriculation students. (It's unlikely that I'll rank up to those geniuses, though!)
Ask me what I did for Chinese New Year. Eat, man, eat! Whoopee, never like this have I gorged so well... since I got into college, that is! I note that my abs are gradually being replaced by a paunch... 'fit' giving way to 'prosperous'. Does it bother me? Yes, adolescents are not meant to prosper.
Work out? Yeah right. If I do work out, someone's making me. That's why you'll never catch me, uh, jogging solo for instance.
Which reminds me: Breaking me from my usual afternoon naps, my friend Chris has been dragging me out jogging, joining the other guys, as training for our Mt Kinabalu climb when college's over. Starting to like it. I outran everyone... well except for athlete Kelzed. Surprise! I used to sprint in school. But don't count on me; slackers don't sprint forever.
OK, enough rambling. I did some new stuff for the Den; just look around. Some parts are still achingly old though, like the humor, links and downloads pages. I'll do that next time. There are other more important things to worry about right now...
The Tang of Orange skin returns. Have a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. You know what I mean.
24 Dec 2K1 I don't really have mention exams every time, do I? Let me just say I didn't use all my powers this time. What I'm trying to say is... my heart wasn't into acing it. Come on. Mid-semester. Reeelax. (Go ahead loved ones, whack me on the head with contempt.)
What's happening in summary: really fun Christmas party at college, mid-semester break here at home, tape of a bragging Osama released, saw the Harry Potter movie, the Lord of the Rings movie, and a Hong Kong movie called 2002 about some ghosthunting MIBs, and finished the Red Alert 2 game expansion, Yuri's Revenge. Now this one you need to check out; it's like nothing else. Mindcontrolling units crawling all over the terrain is a fresh something to counterchallenge that plain ol' firepower exchange.
Can you believe? I'm still on Diablo II, as Necromancer this time. I promise, this will be my last stretch. I'm getting bored of it already.
Late this morning, as I was groggily sunbathing (in my bed, which is by the window, which faces east), an idea came to me. (I've been trying to figure this out forever.) I've decided on a new, low maintenance format for the Den, to suit the heitic college life I'm enduring... and enjoying, nonetheless. It starts next year. Then I got out of bed, because it's almost noon and it's getting uncomfortably hotter than the back of a fridge and I should be up eating breakfast.
Once again the Poinsettia skin is on. Merry Christmas by the way.
23 Nov 2K1 Max Payne! Didn't Jeremy want to ban everything from StarCraft to Solitaire from his computer? Well, his purchase definitely brought a rogue-cop sneer to my face and shootdodging fantasies to my conscious mind. But bummer, he uninstalled it already... perhaps after he caught me glued to his computer for, like, the whole duration of his shower. Jay loves games, don't get me wrong, but he's willing to abstain (plus his buddies and roomies along with him) from any distractions from studying. Yeah, he's that kinda guy. Not top gun though, at least not yet.
It's an awesome game. You gotta have it.
No different from last semester, I still doze off during Physics lectures. (Frankly, the lecturer sucks.) Seeing how I got excellent scores in the exams, I like to think myself smart everytime I rest my head on the desk, but uneasily, I know this won't do me good. I have got to change. (Just give me one... more... ten... minutes...)
Remember the Bert is Evil site? I guess this news gem will get anti-Bert fanatics going again: It seems that the Sesame Street regular and Osama bin Laden were seen in a rally poster together. Coincidence? Or does the muppet really associate with Osama, along with Hitler, Stalin and the Ku Klux Klan in the past? Personally I wonder if Barney the purple dinosaur is in this too.
You know, with the second mid-semester exams coming up, I'm drinking hot milo every day and night. Maybe Warm Cuppa is an agreeable skin for my present disposition.
19 Oct 2K1 Thanks to a fortunate turn of events, you are reading this now. Friend and tutorialmate Jeremy has just fetched his computer from home to dorm last weekend, which means (if he lets me hog it) you can expect to see more frequent activity on the Den from now on.
Got my exam results last week! 3.50 ain't bad at all, jumping from a measly 2.something in the mid-semester exams last May. Restored my folks' shitdead faith in my academic prowess. So they think I'm a hopeless brat, eh? Well I'm all set to blow them with a better semester. If I could at least maintain my score, I might just make it outta here with grace and glory...
Events in some places in the world ain't so peachy though. USofA, don't you get what you're doing? You're the freaked-out elephant trying to trample on a mouse. Yeah, I get how cool it is to send out your motley array of weaponry, but firepower is not the way. Please, this is no time for a so-called Nostrodamus prophecy to come true.
The Den continues to Greyout for Grey Day on October 1.
29 Sept 2K1 Nah, I don't wanna talk about the semester exams. Zip.
Yep, I'm back. The first semester is over, and the two-week break is... over. Spent most of it on Diablo II and its expansion. Need I apologise? Look, the PC where I usually work on the Den was down, and still is. I was 'crippled' in that regard. This update is done on another PC, and there's not much I can do here.
While counting down the final few weeks of the semester, I've been trading tips and anecdotes with other wide-eyed Diablo-playing friends. Even on the eves and days of the exams, I managed to entice them to continue discussing Diablo. I drove them crazy... in a bad way.
I played as Sorceress for six days. Slaying all three Prime Evils was peanuts, thanks to elaborate srategies thought out twentyfour-seven in my dorm prior to the holidays. I'm now moving on to Assassin, but unfortunately Semester II is in the way. Heheh.
As witness (thru CNN of course) to the Sept 11 incident and it's wake, I can't help but realise that Hatred, Destruction and Terror, archdemons I've been battling in a game, are really here walking the earth.
Joining the world in mourning, the Den dons Greyout. Please, I beg of us, no wars.
31 May 2K1 It's been a long time... since March, am I right? College life is as tied up as I imagined it would be. No time for the Den. No time for TV either. I've lasted for months with very little Internet, not many newspapers, and even less TV. No, no, don't gasp in horror... I've adapted. I think chitchatting with friends 'til the dead of night has kept me sane all this time: about girls, about music, about how a metabolic process produces ATP and pyruvic acid from glucose, or whatever. The transition to Labuan Matriculation College was a piece of cake really... I had looked forward to leaving home for a change of scene. Next stop: abroad. I hope to go as far away as possible one day...
How much TV? Well, I missed the Oscars. I missed the AIM. I don't know who Phoebe's dating, or how it ended in the Australian Outback. And I certainly have no clue how many brand new boybands have since popped up. I do know that Stargate SG-1 Season Three has started without me, and that WowFM, my once-favorite radio station has begun playing Destiny's Child and such. I don't tune in to anything anymore, expect for London's CapitalFM once in a while, which is crispy clear in Labuan.
Right now I'm back at home for the Ka'amatan holidays; Harvest Festival in other words for all the native races in Sabah, the Kadazans in particular (I'm half Kadazan myself). For this occasion the Den wears Black and Gold, the colors of many of the ethnic attires here.
I can't stay long. The mid-semester exams are up real soon.
10 Mar 2K1 I have my comments on the Grammys as usual, though it's a bit late. What's wrong with Slim? His lyrics tell us that he's homophobic; yet he was dueting with a gay Sir. I say he's a nutcase. (And he is whatever I say he is, right?)
Great performance though. I like that song, Stan. Very visual, very haunting. He deserved the standing ovation. Nobody seems to hate him... not Stevie Wonder, who said that Stan was his favorite Eminem song, or Kenny Loggins, who pointed out that art must sometimes shock people. And apparently, not Elton John either.
SPM students, the wait is over. If you haven't already flown off to college, what have you accomplished in these past three months? Among other things, I've got two different jobs under my belt, wrote some articles for new teen portal XFresh, managed to download eight songs (just over half an hour of music), you know, before Napster decided to do anything, and treated the Den to a revamp. I hope none of you were in a state of limbo, bored to death during the long holidays, because you wouldn't like it if I told you that some were totally bathing in recreation. One friend took the liberty to conquer Mt Kinabalu, for example.
I won't reveal my results on the Web like some people are doing, but I will tell you that it consists of Bs and a few As and Cs. IMHO, it's nothing to celebrate nor wail about. I'll be headed for the government-funded matriculation very soon; so, lucky me. I'm unsure though, about observing my Den rituals in the long year ahead. I actually dread going; I've heard so many horror stories about orientation week.
Zoom, one of the first entertainment e-zines around, is closing down.
Skin Tang of Orange remains, since it's new, and it's currently my favorite one. I've even thought about making it permanent... in fact, if the Den's shapeshifting was meant to be "a search for the best look," I would really consider it.
20 Feb 2K1 How do you like the welcome mat? Thought it would be a nice idea. Been making some big changes around here. For instance, I honestly think that black for a personal hompage background color is becoming less of a cool thing. Too common.
I originally wanted to put off updating until after the 43rd Grammy Awards (22 Feb), but then I slapped myself and said that it was just another excuse to procrastinate.
New skin: Tang of Orange. Guess what I've been feeding on since way before Chinese New Year. I'm sure at this time of year everyone's got that healthy glow. And by this date every year, especially after Valentine's Day when chocolate rules, it should wear off.
18 Jan 2K1 I know what Britney Spears was up to. The teenybopper was trying to pull in admirers from the other end of the music spectrum by adding some glam-rock guitarists, and several dancing, big-haired bikini blondies to her Stronger performance. By the way I'm talking about the recent 28th American Music Awards. Yup, she bangs alright, but awfully boring as a hostess. Don't they put professional comedians up there anymore?
New 12-year-old kid on the block Billy Gilman is the winner of the Favorite New Country Artist award. Now here's something to pay attention to; let's see what promise this year has for this bright country/jazz artist.
Marilyn Manson was a pleasant surprise.
Oh yes, they still do get comedians to host these shows. Face it, we love the snide insults. A few weeks back, Kathy Griffin (of Suddenly Susan fame; she's also that nurse in the Slim Shady video) hosted the Billboard Music Awards 2000. I don't remember anything from it, except for Kathy's pursuit to get an N'Sync member to marry her. ("Who want's to be N'Kathy?") She was picking on them one by one, until when it was Timberlake's turn, Spears got up onstage to the rescue. Too cute to be true.
Quit my merchandising job for a new one at a pizza place.
Happy new year, it's the true new millennium. Coincidentally a lunar eclipse happened just recently. It's kind of scary... doomsday's supposed to happen when the moon bleeds, you know.
Skin is Firecracker at Night, for the Chinese New Year coming up in a few weeks.
archives: 2000
Be like a postage stamp; stick to one thing until you get there.
Josh Billings
