This is not the blog you're looking for

bennycool @ 2007-01-12T23:39:00

2007-01-12T23:39:45Z

I'm tired, and also haven't posted to this in ages!

BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH POKEMON

2006-04-02T22:08:24Z

:( http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3590184131170611693&pl=true :(

But oh god, haha what the christ: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5408421741696957547&pl=true

Oh yeah, and just in case anyone is trying to email me on my omgwtf address, it's obviously not working which is why I won't reply. Use my gmail addy instead.

Shit.

2006-04-02T21:08:27Z

From my webhost this evening:

Dear Valued Customers,

We are currently investigating a potential hardware failure on the server that your sites are hosted on.

Due to the nature of the potential problem, we regret to inform our customers that it may take longer than usual to get the server back up and running.

Please be assured however, we are doing everything in our power to get things back to normal.

blah blah blah

I love how they refer to this as a potential problem. My website has been off all day and it's not coming back soon, but hey it's only a potential problem!

But it doesn't sound very good. I haven't taken a backup of the site in quite a while, either so if the hard drive on the server got fucked or something ... Hopefully they take some kind of backup automatically, they must do, right? They moved my site onto this awesome new server only a couple of days ago so I figure they must have at least taken a backup or made some kind of copy before moving. Whether they kept it though ...

Well nothing particularly interesting has happened to me since I last updated this. Revision is fun fun fun but then you wouldn't expect any less, I'm sure. Trying to organise some kind of study break but so far have had no response from anyone except Matt who can't make it, which is a shame. Come on guys, don't go getting all studious on me! Remember, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

Anyway, think I'm gonna go play some FEAR. Until omgwtf comes back up, this will be my website so stay tuned. woohoo!

And the SA forums are down too! Argh!

bennycool @ 2006-03-27T00:19:00

2006-03-26T23:54:49Z

Sup dudes, here I am making an update to this old thing again =D

So term is over and now the fun of the exam period begins! Can't complain too much I suppose, spent the last week of term partying and having a really, really good time with my mates. I kinda felt like I was going to miss it all when I was riding the train back home and although it's nice to be back with the family and to meet up with my other friends - it's not quite the same. I hope we can organise at least a few times me n my uni mates can get together over the break. All work and no play can't and won't be good! My friends down here are very different as well ... because we're out in the middle of nowhere basically there's not a lot to do and getting anywhere and then back again is a pain. Plus hardly any of them go to uni and so all have jobs and stuff so the time they have free to meet up is restricted. And Phill is married now, how crazy is that! God, it's mad. Here's some of my friends getting damned married and then there's me whose never had a serious relationship. Is that a good or a bad thing? I really can't see myself wanting to get married for a long, long time. I just don't want to be tied down like that; there's so much to see and do out there before I want to start some kind of family. Wow, I'm heading off on a bit of a tangent here! It would be nice to have someone special to take out and have fun with though. As I've said before though, I don't think I'm pro-active enough in trying to find that someone, so I guess it's my own fault. I guess I should be out every night trying to find that someone but I'm not. I should probably fix that. Maybe next term after I can forget about school work for a while will be my lucky term ... =D

Anyway ... bought a new graphics card from ebuyer today (X850 Pro, pretty nice) as the one here has pretty much rendered it's last I think. The fan makes a horrible noise when I start up and from then I think stops spinning as the temperature when idle is about 95 degrees - I don't think it should get that hot under load, should it? Under load it goes up to about 120 which is just silly and I get all manner of artifacts. I don't know what happened to it - I never overclocked it or anything. Just old I guess - but not that old ... two years? Anyway, bought the new one for £150 (still in a spending mood after last week, eek!) and although ebuyer are a good company and for price, i god damn hate their delivery policy with a fucking passion. The item is in stock ready to dispatch tomorrow but guess what: I'm not going to get it until Thursday unless I pay for extra shipping. Now that's fine, if they used a different carrier method and it ACTUALLY COST THEM MORE. As it stands, because I didn't pay an extra £4 or something, it's going to sit in their warehouse gathering dust for two days and they won't post it until Wednesday. If I paid extra, they would ship it exactly the same way with the same courier, just tomorrow. That's a load of bollocks in my book. Those bastards.

Well, I'm going up to the flat in London briefly tomorrow to pick up my text books and revision notes with my Dad. We're dropping my sister off in Kingston on the way for her interview at the uni there, so good luck to her. I think I'm going to spend Tuesday sorting through my notes and trying to come up with some kind of revision schedule and then get down to work on Wednesday. Had a nice break from working last week and now need a couple of days to catch up on sleep (*looks at watch* <sarcasm>hey I'm doing a good job now!</sarcasm>) before getting back into it. Too bad we only have four weeks break this Easter; 5 would have been lovely. But I guess I appreciated the extra week at Christmas...

Right, this has already turned out longer than I thought and is a little extra for you LJ readers ... I still need to write some stuff for omgwtf about all the things I got up to last week. Check it out if you feel like it =) Night night!

"Her second head could smile and blink, but could not survive independently."
Very sad for her family (is it?! Now I feel nasty), but Jesus Fucking Christ! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4848164.stm

bennycool @ 2006-03-06T23:04:00

2006-03-06T23:18:30Z

Howdy folks. I said I'd update when I logged in, and here I am. Coursework is keeping me busy, had the flu for two weeks which was horrible but feeling better now ... not sure what to update really. Nothing particularly exciting has happened but for posts detailing the finer points of my (social and academic) life you really should check out omgwtf.me.uk.

Left a rather lengthy comment on Toshi's blog that I kinda half feel was a bit rubbish but had to post cos it was long and so must've been useful. Then the other half feels that it was just offering advice that I found useful and was trying to help so it was a good comment. I spent quite a while previewing and editing it so it might've just ended up being garbled nonsense. I probably shouldn't be analysing all this but that's my problem. I do try and analyse everything too much. Always, really.

I don't think that I'm very good at expressing my feelings and emotions in writing like this. I suppose that's why my blog posts usually end up just being a social documentation; and it's safe. There's a lot less chance that people will make judgements about you if you only tell them about what you're doing and not what you're feeling. I kinda wish that I felt I was better at expressing myself, as that's when I think people's blogs get more interesting. Perhaps I should just open up and not worry about what everyone thinks. Argh, I don't know.

Oh yeah: more social documentation: Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet is coming to college for a talk tomorrow. Really looking forward to that. Should be very interesting! And, as he works for Google they are putting the talk on and last time I went to a Google talk I got lots of free stuff. Yay!

Well, I logged in ....

2006-02-14T16:11:35Z

So I suppose I'll write an update on this thing. Currently sitting in the labs at college procrastinating the architecture coursework! This was not supposed to happen... nevermind. There's time.

Added a couple of friends to my lj... konfyujon and optimist_dan. Check 'em out =D

Right, I'm now going to do some more (heh, lol@more) work. For more regular updates on my life, universe and everything why not check out my real blog at omgwtf.me.uk.

Oh yeah, it's god damn valentines day. =(

Jesus H.!

2006-01-23T09:59:44Z

Knock, knock, anyone here?

Hah this place is awesome - check it out if you dare. Trust me if you found this thing you like either blogs or me or none of the above (you may have stumbled out of a trans-dimensional wormhole - of all the places to land!*). But whatever your reason for being here, you'll love it o_0

*May not actually be funny

Sweet w/e

2005-02-27T23:43:15Z

That was a good weekend. Kicked off on Friday with a night at Top of the Tops dans la BBC, then a superb meal at Planet Hollywood in Picadilly followed by a stay at LSE union on Saturday/this morning, and a chill out day today. Very nice. Top of the Tops is amazing - the old TV filming cliche is true yet again - the set is tiny yet it looks huge on the screen. Some pretty fantastic camera work. Anyway, it's a bit disillusioning (is that a word?) to see it being filmed as none of it is live (except for the short links between acts) and even the pre recorded bands they have performing in the studio are miming and just slapping their instruments in a hilarious fashion. The best part of the show however, was that I was live on the camera in the center of the shot on BBC1! Anyone see me? ;-) I was about a foot behind fern cotton too... she is extremely hot. Just to show off, heres my ticket complete with fern's autograph...

The bands we saw performing were filmed for next week, so I might be on again ...

Big shout to Dr. Dan and his friends at the BBC for getting tickets!

Got tickets to see Avril Lavigne at the Apollo in May too. And bidding on ebay for tickets to see Electric Six on March 10^th. (new album is good++;) And hopefully am going to pur-chase a tick to see System of a Down in June off a mate. Making up for missing rammstein !

bennycool @ 2005-02-23T01:14:00

2005-02-23T01:15:35Z

So here I am, up at 1am again. Do I never learn?

bennycool @ 2005-02-22T10:10:00

2005-02-22T10:30:51Z

I think today is going to be a good day. 24 is downloading (and very fast too for the college network - 120KB/s), I feel better and it snowed yesterday. Also, it's amazing what a good nights sleep does to you. I was so tired yesterday it was unbelieveable. I very nearly developed narcolepsy and began falling asleep in lectures! *shock horror* Lesson #1: If you're tired, go to sleep early.

Anyway, I meant to update about this on Saturday, but as you saw, couldn't be bothered. Good news guys: I can be bothered now! I went to the BBC on Friday to see the Catherine Tate Show being filmed. Television Centre in White City is a very nice building - you can see where all that license money goes - concrete and plasma screens! I don't think I have seen so many plasma and lcd screen televisions in one place at one time. They have not just one embedded in the wall every five feet but three, and then three or four more forming a circle to be viewed from any angle in the middle of the corridor ... Anyway, the show I saw was a comedy programme that I'd never heard of but actually was genuinely funny - so check it out next time it's on. And listen carefully and you might hear me laughing! The chav sketches were the best - cos do i look bovered? You got beef wit me? Nah, am i bovered??? haha, the depressing thing is that there really are "people" out there who talk like that, it's not an exaggeration - check out any comprehensive school! As a memento I kept my visitors badge, despite the small print. Not sure if you can make it out in the picture though...

I've got a Spanish test this afternoon on dun-dun-dun... grammar. Yuck. I haven't done nearly enough revision, but here's hoping it won't be a very big test. I don't think it will be as the only exam I've had on it that lasted more than 15 minutes was the full blown mega big Christmas Test. So, this one is likely to followsuit and just be a baby 10 minuter. Not that I'm complainging of course!

Also thinking about buying an iPod Shuffle. The battery on my big iPod is starting to go all crappy. All I use it for really is workouts at the gym (I know infrequently, but shut the hell up), train , when I'm walking blah blah blah... all the usual times an iPod would be useful. I quite like the idea that you just whack 100 songs on from the playlist randomly. No screen though - I'm not sure if I'd manage not knowing the name of that song you just can't remember ... argh!

24 soon =D =D =D =D =D =D

bennycool @ 2005-02-19T12:47:00

2005-02-19T12:49:23Z

Check out Speedy Relief. My fastest time is 7.273s...

Probably going to update more later. Can't be bothered to type now.

bennycool @ 2005-02-18T00:57:00

2005-02-18T01:07:14Z

Stalker identified, Matt Blissett. Do we share any lectures tomorrow? Do you do graphics in the morning?

Just got back from wandering around in London. Learnt to do some salsa dancing earlier (and in my giant wolf slippers - quite an achievement for me!) and went off to a salsa club just off Oxford Street to try out my newly acquired "skillz", only to be turned away because it was over 21 only. What the hell is up with that? So, we wandered round looking for places to drink and found a rather nice lounge, but left before buying a drink only to end up in a hogshead. Failed to buy a drink before 11 so then went and sat in mcdonalds while some others ate chicken nuggets (no matter what they say, I swear they aren't really chicken and wouldn't touch them with a 14 meter barge pole) and then caught the bus back. Disappointing about the club, but walking around checking out bars with mates was fun. Not a bad night, and dinner was free, Mexican and good. Can't complain I guess!

bennycool @ 2005-02-17T19:16:00

2005-02-17T19:24:51Z

Beit Hall is finally getting it's act together and doing some events. Yesterday we had a dim sum lunch in a Chinese restaurant in Bayswater, and tried some rather interesting food. I don't know many people who can say they've eaten a chicken's foot. Not that I will be ever again, but I tried it. I suppose it's not really something you can add to your cv, but there you go. There were several other suspect-looking dishes, but mostly they tasted good. One of them looked like stuffed intestine, but I have been assured it was infact the stuff noodles are made out of before they are cut into strips. Tasted better than the chicken's foot, not hard but a start... I don't think I'll rush back for more, but at least I'll know what to expect next time. Tonight is Latin American night in the east common room which should be really good. Apparently there's going to be lots of free food and drink, including tequila. I love Mexican food and tequila is cool too. Would have preferred Mexican beer (mmm... bohemia) but beggars can't be choosers. Bring on the salt and lemon! Anyway, it starts in 10 minutes or so so I better get going, might not even have time to finish this sente

bennycool @ 2005-02-17T00:00:00

2005-02-17T00:06:37Z

I bet you thought I'd forgotten about this thing, and quite frankly you'd pretty much be right, but I'm going to pick this up again. Yep. I've said that before and failed miserably and I'll probably just fail again this time, but i'll try not to. Anyway, now I have my very own internet stalker. Lets see if I can't figure out who this is...

bennycool @ 2004-12-25T13:20:00

2004-12-25T13:22:39Z

YAY NINTENDO DS YAY YAY YAY

bennycool @ 2004-12-25T10:05:00

2004-12-25T10:15:45Z

First things first.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

This is the point where I would tell you the haul for this year, but I have to wait until the old people (aka grandparents) arrive before I'm allowed to open presents! So instead, I'm going to let you in on some other shocking news, and that is that I have stigmata. Well, half stigmata anyway. Now I know you are all probably laughing it up whilst choking on Christmas turkey, but this is quite serious. Random wounds have appeared on my wrist and leg. If I could be bothered I would take a picture with my camera and show you. But I can't, so there. Please help me before I die. STIGMATA!

One more time becase it's so fun:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Have a good one!

Happy Birthday to me

2004-12-11T01:21:36Z

w00t, for the past 80 minutes I've been nineteen. I feel so old!

Bitter Disappointment, But Wait - There's awesome news too!

2004-12-06T21:09:22Z

Well guys, after the fantastic response I received after last post's request for cool meme's, I'm here yet again to tel you to put your thinking caps on. It's my birthday on Saturday so you all have to send me something. Something awesome (you owe me Paul for your birthday card). So get going! But finish reading this first, dammit. Get back here.

I swear something has died in the kitchen I share in halls. There is the most vile smell in one corner that is a combination of decomposing dog turd, extra strength "farmyard musk" with a squirt of eau de Rotting vegetables. The fridges have been checked, pulled out from the wall and examined more thoroughly than the bodies that your average coroner looks at every day. And yet, the smell still remains. I have a feeling that someone is going to have to do a Gordon Freeman and climb into the air vent and see if there's a dead mouse up there or something. It's terrible as it's in the kitchen - as soon as you go in to start cooking something, your nostrils are overcome by worst smell God dreamt up - yes even worse than your ass. Then you lose your appetite. I guess that's a good thing for the fatasses, not that there are many as we're all poor students. Anyway, horrendously, I'm still at school with less than three weeks to Christmas. Although, having said that I don't feel in the least bit Christmassy, I'm still back in October I think. I need some snow you see, I think that would do the trick and kickstart my Christmas spirit. they were even singing some carols today, and that didn't get me in the mood. I hope I'm not becoming a Scrooge in my old age! And speaking of old age, may I take this opportunity to remind you that it is my nineteenth birthday on saturday 11^th December 2004, and by reading this text you promise to get me something really cool. Or at least leave me a comment. \m/

PS: Rammstein's new album is teh roXor, eminem's is teh shitzer. Krispy Kreme are teh yummy.

Six hours sleep is not enough.

2004-12-02T08:29:02Z

I have a horrendously long day today, and a hankering to know what kind of fish I would be depending on various aspects of my life and such like! That's right, please send me your favorite meme's. This is important information and a good source of edutainment you know. I also know you have tons of these things Christine, so no excuses!

Estoy muy cansado

2004-11-21T20:16:23Z

That's right folks, I'm feeling pretty bloody knackered. Been working all afternoon on maths (limits and convergence of sequences, ugh) and Spanish (hence the title of this post). That's about 5 hours non-stop. Now you might say that's not too bad, but the thing is that yesterday I traveled a few thousand miles departing at 7AM to the lovely Belgian town of Brugge and arrived back home at 2AM this morning. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice trip and thankfully the weather managed to hold itself and didn't rain a drop, it was just cold, very cold and tiring. Coach travel with your mates is a laugh though. Picked up lots of Belgian chocolate, some sweeties and a Tin Tin T shirt from the official Tin Tin shop (HOW COOL IS THAT?!) and picked up some cheap rum and a few beers on the way back through Calais. Was proper hardcore riding the ferry trip home ON DECK at 11pm. Now that was pretty nippy! Took a few pictures, but damn camera batteries that promised me they were full before I left died about halfway through the day which was a little annoying, but never mind. As I have said several times before, when I get round to writing the picture upload and thumbnail maker for omgwtf, you'll be able to look at them. Until then, you'll have to stare at my text some longer.

Grudge Against You

2004-11-10T23:47:28Z

Just got back from the cinema and The Grudge. Now, I'm a fan of horror films, and like being scared. Lots of people had told me it was scary, but this film was in a different league to all the scary films I have seen before. I don't want to spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it yet, but I think I'm going to be checking the end of my bed rather a few times tonight!

I can't believe that the film only had a 15 rating - I know it wasn't particularly 'adult', but I really don't think I would've wanted to see that when I was 15. Jeez, it scared the crap out of me now! Urgh, that bit in the shower ... was just getting ready for a nice Sarah Michelle Geller shower scene (;)) and BAM. Brr-rr. That noise the ghosts made too, still makes my stomach go funny thinking about it. (Just had to check over my shoulder =() In short, if you like horror films and don't mind almost but not quite having seven simultaneous heart attacks, See This Film. You'll love it!

On a rather different note, I think I have become typing dyslexic recently. I seem to be making so many typos ... I think it's because I'm trying to force myself to do touch typing improperly. In other words, type like I usually do, just without watching. I need to learn it properly, I guess.

Anyway, I have two mid term tests tomorrow - one in Spanish (pesky irregular verbs) and one in Haskell programming. Shouldn't be too bad (I hope), but wish me luck anyway!

L8r sk8r

bennycool @ 2004-11-07T20:22:00

2004-11-07T20:24:46Z

I'm such a friggin' geek. I just sat at my computer eating pizza and talking about or and nand gates.

Hello world

Wahay!

2004-10-05T23:20:39Z

Just got back from the student union's first pub quiz, and our team won! Only just by one point, but we still got it! The prize was £10 each and a giant inflatable palm tree - just what's needed to spice up the hall common room!

So, things are going well for me now at uni. There has been loads of people to meet, and I've made a lot of new friends, which is also good. Met up with someone that was on the same work placement scheme as me at IBM which was a coincidence and a familiar face. The beers been flowing, and the music turned up most nights - tomorrow there is a rock gig featuring Keith Flint from Prodigy over at the Union, and a trip to the cinema. Looking forward to those, but not sure what film we'll see.

Yes, I have been a little homesick at times =(, but in this first week they are keeping us quite busy so it doesn't last for long. Called home a couple of times which seems to help as well. Bit strange living properly away from home and doing everything for myself - I think I'm going to brave the laundry room tomorrow!!

It was the Fresher's Fair today, and as I hear is usual, I signed my e-mail address up to far more many societies than I expected. I was thinking I would sign up to three or four, and in actuality put my addy down for nine. Thankfully at this stage that's all it is (no money has yet changed hands!), so I have the opportunity to come to my senses and realise that PetSoc isn't really for me. I gather from most people that despite how many you sign up for at the fair, most people only actually take part in three or four which is what I was originally planning. So, should work out well...

Scary thought: lectures start tomorrow! From 9am, I have four hours worth of Declarative Programming I. Looking forward to seeing what it's like - both the new style of teaching and the subject matter ... apparently the language used in the course is pretty esoteric and quite unlike anything you've probably programmed before. A quick Google confirms that! We get Wednesday afternoon off for union activities, so I'll have a chance to recover before things really hot up next week - college classes run between 9 and 6 every day. There are a few free periods each day, but that's still pretty intense! Anyway, I guess I should be getting to bed - early start in the morning.

Catch you guys later,

Ben

PS: Does anyone read this anymore? I know I haven't posted much recently but there have been no comments since June or July. Just wondering ...

The time has come, the walrus said ...

2004-10-01T23:14:24Z

So I'm leaving for Imperial tomorrow. Still excited to go, but a bit more nervous than I have been. Not as much as I thought though, which is good. Spent most of today packing everything and doing all those last minute jobs - goodbyes to grandparents, that kind of thing. All of my other friends have already left, it's funny how Imperial seem to start so late. Oh well... whatcha gonna do? It's amazing the amount of stuff I've collected to take - hope I haven't got too much! I don't know when I'll be able to get online, so don't miss me too much and I'll post when I can how I'm getting on.

Anyway, quite tired and tomorrow's gonna be very busy. Wish me luck!

I also posted this on the other world's greatest website. Enjoy reading it twice. Why not?! =P

Excellent news, I'm not dead!!

2004-09-26T00:08:42Z

So, getting a little nervous right now. But then, excited at the same time... at this time next week, I'll be partying the night away at the Fresher's Coming Up Party for my first night in halls at Imperial! I'll be in Beit Hall – the best one so I hear! =P I'm excited to start "the next chapter" as it were, if I may be so cheesy and clichéd, but - naturally I guess - am apprehensive of the unknown. If I'm honest, I really don't know what to expect when I get there. At all. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to say as the week goes on and the day gets closer... and then when I get there!

I'm actually writing this update while watching "Chasing Amy", using my new Dell Axim Pocket PC! It's quite a good film, but the point of this paragraph was to announce my new toy :) I frankly don't know how I managed without one of these in the past - it's fantastic! Even if writing things (like this) takes a bit longer than it should because I like using the handwriting recognition, it doesn't seem to bother me (and it's a very cool feature). I don't watch much TV, but it always pisses me off when the show I do want to watch comes round and I forget it's on – now I just make myself a calendar entry. Sad, I know, but it works! And the games are cool too =) Quite getting into Beneath a Steel Sky on ScummVM... (check it out if you're a fan of LucasArts). Been out wardriving with the wireless a couple of times - it's amazing actually how many wireless networks are out there - and I live in the countryside! Certainly will be interesting to see what's around in London next week! Am thinkng about upgrading my cell phone so I can at least do something with Bluetooth. Seems a shame to waste it! ;)

If anyone knows of a decent LJ client for PPC, lemme know. Cheers.

Tried Thai food for the first time tonight; it was nice but I don't think I love it. (Switched over to my desktop for editing now ... battery low and correcting Transrciber was wearing a little thin. Perhaps I should try the soft keyboard – but transcriber is so cool!) It was very tasty, but there was something about it, I'm not sure what it was. It was quite spicy and was cleaner than Chinese and less heavy than Indian – perhaps too light? I dunno. Doesn't really matter that much. I've heard Lebanese food is very good, maybe I'll get to try that while I’m in London...

Given the Illuminatus Trilogy a rest for a while – finished book 1 and really think that I need to read it again before progressing. It's a very fun, but difficult to get to grips with piece of work. Meanwhile I've returned to a set of HP Lovecraft stories ("In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming") I got a while ago and have been looking into getting some eBooks for my PPC. I've tried a couple of free ones and I wasn't sure how I would get on with reading a small amount of text on many screens, but I actually find it quite comfortable. If anyone can recommend any eBooks (preferably free ones – I want to get a little more used to them before I buy one rather than it in print), please leave a comment or send me e-mail.

Anywho, I fancy I'll be off now. Bye!

PS: Also loving the new LJ update facilities.