Current mood: Indeterminable ^^
Current music: Maaya Sakamoto - 24 (VIDL-30450)

Hmm, not sure if I want to make that a regular feature. True, I am usually listening to music while sitting at the computer, but my mood is 'indeterminable' more often than not, so there seems little point in mentioning it. If something should happen to cause a sudden and obvious mood change (for example, Key finally releasing Clannad), I am sure it will be quite apparent without the need for a little textual indicator.

Still no exciting news to report on in the life of SoZ. This weekend will be the monthly trek down to London for LAC, enabling me to take a break from work and see everyone again, so I'm looking forward to that. The total time spent on BBI development since the last log entry on Friday probably comes to about 5 minutes and consists of 1 tweak on the gallery feedback page, two new quotes from Black Mage (8-bit Theatre) in the quote/fortune thing on the front page and some minor adjustments to the Tomoko-chan graphic leaning next to the menu.

I was going to write a semi-rant about the impact of PHP5 on LAMP web solutions, but after a couple of paragraphs, I couldn't be bothered to continue. I doubt you would have wanted to read it either. It's just that I can't help thinking that the adoption of a full OO model is a step in the wrong direction for PHP. With Perl, due to common usage away from all things WWW, I can understand the adoption of OO principles. But PHP, while being a powerful language and now offering a command line interpreter in addition to the web scripting interfaces (which I do often use in place of Perl due to ease of development), is still a web scripting language at heart. I can't help but feel that while the OO evangelists are getting their way, the average PHP user may loose out over this move.

It all boils down to implementation I suppose. If PHP5/Zend2 can maintain the fast, fresh feel we've come to expect, I won't have any complaints. If, however, the changes result in a slow, bloated, Java wannabe, then there will be more than a few unhappy users. Compatibility issues will certainly arise (there must be plenty of LAMP developers out there who recall the fun hours spent making their PHP3 code work with PHP4) but as long as the basic language syntax remains the same (apart from the OO features), I doubt it will take long to adjust.

Whoops. That almost became a rant. Apologies for that. Feel free to send any comments, opinions, questions or flames you might have. ^^

Hooray! BBI is one month old today! Since the site was launched in February, it has admittedly been a rather short month, but it's a month nonetheless. In the time the site has been online, it has notched up over 400 visits (the 400th was actually earlier today) and a total of over 2000 page views. >_>;;; I'm not sure why, since there isn't really anything on the site at the moment. Even when I get around to putting content up, I doubt there will be much of interest.

So, back to the roadmap. As I originally predicted, I haven't done too much to the site this month. There have been occasional tweaks here and there and the MinamiCon 9 photos, but no large updates to the content. The Osaka shopping guide is next on my list of things to add to the site, but due to my workload over the next few months, I can't give an exact date. I will aim to have it up sometime in the next two months, but I can't make any promises.

Barring the development of any unforeseen situations which may keep me from the site, these log entries will keep on coming though. I am sorry for the lack of interesting topics of conversation so far. A side-effect of my lack of time to do anything interesting in. ;_;

Apologies to everyone for last night. FrF made me sleep...

Very little to report again. Maybe I should wait at least a week between each of these log entries? At least then, something vaguely interesting might have happened in my life for me to talk about. I spent the morning dithering between work and fiddling with things on BBI. One or two more minor modifications have been made to the site, but no big updates. However, I have dumped a new image I drew and CG'd in one of the more unproductive moments I had this morning into the gallery for your viewing "pleasure".

Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven't got the time to work on anything on the site at the moment. However, while sorting out junk on the fileserver, I did find a few photos taken at MinamiCon 7, so I may try to stick them up on the events page at some point.

The only change I've made to the site has been a little tweak in the CSS to remove the dotted underscore from items in the menubar when the site is viewed in Mozilla. The reason for the underlining in the first place is that each menu item has an associated <ACRONYM> tag containing a short description of the page. This generally appears when you hover over the link with your mouse. By default, Mozilla highlights acronyms with a broken underscore, but this just had the effect of making the menus look messy.

Another tiring day. The weather has been noticably sunny and spring-like since the Vernal Equinox, even reaching Huddersfield which is usually enveloped in its own weather system of grey wetness. Unfortunately, I've been working solidly this weekend, and the only time I ventured outside was on a quick trip to the supermarket to restock on bodyfuel and other essentials.

Kotoko also had some problems this weekend when the thermal cutout on one of the hard drives tripped twice. The drive was generating far more heat than it should have veen (I suspect dodgy bearings) and being sandwiched between two other drives didn't help air circulation. After jiggling the drives in the bays around a bit and wedging an old fan taken from a Socket 7 heatsink in between the two Maxtors, the temperature has dropped significantly. It's not a perfect fix and the new fan sticks out the side of the case by an inch or so, but it will do the job until I can sort the ventilation out properly.

As I predicted, I didn't post many updates this week due to being busy with other things. This trend is set to continue for a little while yet so please bear with me a little longer. ^^;;

I have added one new picture to the gallery though. I got exceptionally bored this evening and decided I would take a break from work and do something completely unproductive instead. Unfortunately, the result is terrible, so don't bother going out of your way to take a look.

I considered posting about a number of current affairs and politically oriented topics today; namely the Iraq situation and the continued drive in China towards globalisation through the opening up of the .cn TLD to foreign organisations. However, I decided not to in the end. Firstly, I can't be bothered to write it, and secondly, I doubt there are many people out there who would want to read it.

So instead, I'll inflict upon you something even worse than my dull ramblings. MinamiCon 9 photos! =^^=

A friend remarked earlier today that I had been in rather a "strange mood" lately. This is nothing out of the ordinary as I am rarely in what could be considered a 'normal' mood. ^^ However, I take this to mean that I was in a stranger mood than is 'normal' for me.

It's nothing to be overly concerned about. I've been under a bit of pressure lately, with fast approaching project deadlines and a project that's doing its best to keep me from meeting them. I've also been giving some thought to my life in general, particularly with regard to employment over the next couple of years or so. All this has resulted in slightly increased stress levels in SoZ. I try my best to be happy, GenkiSoZ online and in person instead of depressed, AngstySoZ. While sitting on negative emotion is probably not a healthy thing to do, it seems better than the alternative of unleashing my frustrations on other people. However, this stress can occasionally manifest itself in "strange moods", when I overcompensate for my depressed state of mind by trying to be extra genki on the exterior.

To summarise, please excuse any strange behaviour on the part of SoZ over the next few weeks. Also, due to my workload over the same period, expect BBI updates to be few and far between for a while. I'll try and add log entries as and when I get the time, but the gallery may be a little neglected and the Osaka Anime Shopping Guide is unlikely to put in an appearance for a couple of months yet.

Please bear with me. Normal service will (hopefully) resume shortly. ^^;;

Not much time for site updates I'm afraid. I've added a new section in the links page to link to the sites of a few friends. If there's a problem with the link or I forgot to add you and you think you should be on the list, let me know.

I also stuck a new doodle in the gallery, which isn't really worth a look, but it's there nonetheless.

Lastly, congratulations to Makkers for being the site's 200th visitor! =^^=

Tsukareta... z_z

After getting back from MinamiCon at about 2:30am yesterday morning, I had a few hours kip before the day began. It was nice to get away from everything for a while. I took no work with me over the weekend, which meant that I had some catching up to do today, but also that I could just forget about work and relax for a bit for the duration of the con. Next year, I might see about getting the Monday off as well, so I can travel back in a more leisurely manner instead of trying to zoom back home on Sunday night/Monday morning.

I was planning to post a concluding MinamiCon post when I got back, but having re-read the logs I posted over the weekend, I see little point. I think I covered more or less everything I would have said in those posts. However, I will still post a summary of the weekend at Anime.org.uk later today if anyone wants to read it.

I've just made a few modifications to the website. Previous front page log entries are now readable on the log history page - see the link underneath these log entries. I've decided that I'm going to leave the front page displaying the last 5 log entries for the time being though. It makes it easier for anyone who doesn't check the site often (and to be honest, why would you want to) to catch up on what's going on. Plus, it makes the front page look bigger and more impressive. ^_^ I've also fixed a few bugs on various pages and done a little cleaning up.

I'm back!

zzzzzz~~

The coldest place on Earth is York station at 12:30 in the morning. The trains have been running well, but I'm now doing my usual hour wait at York station for my connecting train. York station doesn't have any indoor waiting rooms open at night (for security reasons) and the shape and direction of the roof turn the station into a virtual wind tunnel. *shiver* Luckily, it's quite mild today and I'm wearing 3 coats that I'd packed specifically for this moment. Not much longer to wait now though.

All good things must come to an end I suppose. I am writing this while sitting on the train back to London from Southampton. The weekend has been a very enjoyable break from the usual routine and many thanks to those who devoted time and effort to make the convention a success.

Anyway, a quick summary of today's events. I popped up to the art room as I had originally intended. It was more or less a shrine to the work of Niki Broughton which pleased me greatly. There are perhaps three or four manga artists / character designers in the UK that I really appreciate, and Niki is one of them. The rest of the day was spent hopping between the dealers' room and the video rooms. The closing ceremony was at 3pm, after which we camped in video room 1 while the convention wound down. It was another cheap day in the dealers' room with £10 going on 8 volumes of Marmalade Boy. There didn't seem to be much in the dealers' room that caught my eye.

I'll post a proper log and tidy up these keitai logs tomorrow. I may or may not post another keitai log before then. It depends on how bored I get on / waiting for the GNER to York. Ja ne.

Egads!! I've just encountered an early morning Dragon, and it was certainly not a pretty sight. (j/k)

Well, I'm now in that period of time between breakfast and the start of organised con entertainment at 8:30. I'm going to try to get into the art room in a short while, but that depends upon someone getting up and opening it. Haibane Renmei will be showing in video room 1 at 9:30, so I may camp in there for most of the day except for occasional trips to the dealers' room.

Oh, and I just noticed the visitor counter has passed 100 visits. Thank you for taking the time to visit BBI. I hope I'm not boring you too much. =^^=

Well, it's 5:30am and I'm sat in video room 2 at MinamiCon with Phoenix and RallyIV watching the various oddities that the video program contains at this time in the morning. Currently we're watching Quartet, a strange film directed by Joe Hisaishi, a man probably better known for his film soundtracks. Also in tonight's program were Versus, a martial arts horror comedy (an odd mix of genres that produces... interesting results) and Millennium Actress (a great film and the first time I've seen it all the way through).

As you may have noticed, FrF was responsible for the previous log entry, although it's still signed SoZ as I hard-coded that since I never expected anyone else to post on BBI. ^^;; I'll fix that when I get back. Anyway, I think FrF updated you with a few of yesterday's highlights, so I won't say much more. I will just tease one potential reader in particular by adding that Miroku did look really good in his costume. (Yuriko: We have the photos! Now, how much are they worth? ... ^_^)

Yesterday also saw ... [*is temporarily distracted by 4 people playing violins in front of a herd of cows in Quartet*] ... *ahem* Sorry. Yesterday also saw the usual trip to the dealers' room. I lacked the patience to queue, so waited until about 10:15 before trying to enter. Assuming I don't go on a mad plushie buying spree tomorrow (sorry, today even), this will probably be my cheapest MinamiCon ever. So far, I've only purchased 2 CDs, 23 tankoubon, 4 plushies and 2 doujinshi.

As soon as the film finishes, I think well head off to breakfast and watch some random anime before hitting the dealers' room again. Stay tuned!

(Update: Corrected the sig on FrF's post)

Update from FrF: Just seen the masquerade and auction. Highlights include a Miroku cos-player (complete with jangly staff - don't you wish you had come now, Yuriko), near life size (with removable clothing, of course) Sailor Moon statue that sold for £150, and "Dejiko's Game of Life".

Hmm... I should probably read my log entries before submitting them in future. I've just checked the one I wrote yesterday morning and those typos are horrific. >_< Using this phone to update the site works, but it's not the easiest of things to do.

I finally got to MinamiCon after much fun on the London underground. Someone kindly decided to throw themselves under a train as I arrived at Kings Cross leading to the evacuation of the station and therefore much fun with buses for me. The trains down to Southampton were running well though, so I finally arrived at MinamiCon shortly after 3pm.

The opening ceremony was possibly the shortest ever for a MinamiCon, although Dragon and co. did look rather exhausted so it's not too surprising. After that, most of our time was spent watching favourites such as Azumanga Daiou and Gravitation. Everyone's having an early night tonight in order to join the queue for the dealer's room as early as possible.

I'll update again later today to let you know if any exciting purchases were made. Until then, take care.

Hooray! Another victory for the great British public transportation system. I'm now on the 09:19 GNER service from Wakefield Westgate to Kings Cross. It was a close call though. The first train I caught that connects with the GNER service was running about 5 minutes late. These trains share the same platform at Wakefield and there's a 3 minute window between the platform allocation times. -_- Thankfully, the driver 'stepped on it' and managed to arrive in Wakefield late, but within the allocated platform time. MinamiCon, here I come!

Since I'm not at my computer at the moment, I'm testing a system I quickly threw together on Wednesday that should allow me to update BBI, keitai-style. I performed a litte bit of testing, but I'm not sure how reliably the system will perform in the field. I guess I'll only know when I get back on Monday. Anyway, this should hopefully allow me to post regular MinamiCon updates over the weekend, although this is dependent on how long it takes for me to become annoyed with adding these log entries on a numeric keypad. ^^;;

Regarding the site, I've noticed quite a few bugs here and there (3 on the gallery comments submission page alone). I'll try and update the affected pages when I get back next week. If you spot any bugs before then, please let me know about them.

MinamiCon 9 is now only a day away! I've just been checking that I have everything I need for the weekend. Nearly set now, I think. The GNER tickets from here down to London arrived yesterday. This is the regular route I use to get down to London for LAC meetings, so I am aware of how unreliable it is. I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope that all goes well, or I might not arrive at the convention before the opening ceremony. Aside from that, I just have packing to contend with, which I will leave until this evening.

Not much progress on the website side of things as you can probably see. I modified the display of this front page log slightly. First of all, there's a little NEW-->OLD arrow thing on the left hand side. Normally, it would be obvious from the dates, but if I ever post three times in one day (yes, perhaps a little unrealistic), it will make the order clearer. I suppose I could add a time to each log entry as well as the date, but I think that would just make it seem more cluttered.

Also, until I get some sort of log history page up (it'll only take a few minutes to write, so I'll probably do that sometime next week), I've increased the number of log entries on the front page from three to five. I'll probably change it back to three once the history page is up.

Here's something you may find amusing. A couple of hours after BBI launched on Friday, an email from Easily (my domain registrar) arrived in my inbox. The email was to remind me that my rights to the domain were about to expire and that further payment was due if I wished to continue using it. ^_^;;;; Yes, it's been almost a year since my initial registration of the domain and only now have I finally started using it. Ooops...

I remember when I first had the idea to start a website like this last year, sitting (or rather standing) on the train coming home from work. The night before, I'd spent an hour or so translating a chapter of a manga in Magi-Cu Premium, and I wondered if I could share this on the web. (Originally, one of my ideas for BBI was to use it to host these "scanlations". This was before I realised I have practically no time to do them on a regular basis. Besides, most of the series people want to read are already being translated by fans with far more time on their hands than I.) So, that night, I sat and thought about what I could do with the site and also tried to come up with a name. Through a very technical scientific process which involved writing down a list of names that popped into my head and choosing the one that sounded less silly than the others, I settled on Bokeboke Island. There were about three candidates, but I don't remember the other two.

The next day, at work, I registered bokeboke.co.uk. And that's more or less it. There was a survey about the website I put up after registering the domain, and there have also been one or two holding pages over the year. But apart from that, the domain has been sitting idle.

Until now that is. I can't promise BBI will be a hive of activity, but I will try and make sure it has some semi-regular updates. I discussed my long-term plans for the site a couple of days ago, and I will try to stick to them as best I can. Anyway, I must slink off now and reply to this email from Easily, otherwise BBI might not live long enough to see any of those long-term plans realised. ^^