Other than being unemployed, lessee. Lilith (my wife if you havnt been paying attention) has finally got her website up. She insisted on purchasing her own domain, so she's over at silentgarden.net. She is using the site to play with all the stuff she really can't do on places like the GOTH.NET, DarkerNet, Magick IRC Services and FloodWorld websites. It DOES work under non-IE browsers, but not very well.

Ungod has also recently been laid off, and is looking for work. On the upside tho, he has become active again with Magick, and we've been making ALOT of progress. We still havn't caught the fatal bug thats keeping it in beta, but we're getting closer. Magick itself has also been getting more and more popular due to the fact that Windows pre-compiled binaries are available. I'm surprised at the amount of people who want to run an IRC server and services on windows, but, there it is. Even the entire Magick project has started to take off again. It feels like its been sleeping for a year or so, barely moving, not much happening. I have been working on it of course throughout the year, but it's almost been like an academic project. Now, with users, comes real movement on the project again! Users started posting in the forums, bugs are being submitted, I'm even getting people willing to translate the language files into foreign langusges!

On the GOTH.NET side, I did implement the quotas, as mentioned. Very few people have decided to subscribe, but also, very few have gone over quota. Thanks to those who HAVE chosen to subscribe, its been a big help! Other than that, the system is purring along nicely. We implemented some spam protection a little while ago, which is working very nicely. We're also looking at email virus protection (on the server), as the amount of viruses being sent to GOTH.NET accounts has increased. I did sit down and finally re-design the admin scripts of GOTH.NET tho (intergrating the quota support, etc). It now has an actual SQL database backend, no more flat files. This has made a BIG difference. While I was at it, I converted the Forums to use the same SQL database.

As for DarkerNet, its still slow going. Not much happening, not many new users. Alot of people coming in, saying 'hi, anyone there', and not sticking around to hear an answer. A little dissapointing, but not unexpected. Considering we do nothing in the way of advertisement for the network, its not surprising.

As for my personal life, everything is great. Lilith and I still get on well, and dont fight. For all the nay-sayers when we had just met, "Nyah!". Now that Lilith can work, it might even improve our relationship. One of the things she's always been concerned about is the fact she could not really contribute financially to the relationship, so it felt (to her) a little one-sided. And since I'm unemployed, I welcome the chance to have whatever I am drawing from social security until I get a new job supplemented. Anyway, if you know of anyone needing a C++/Java UNIX deveoper, drop me a line *grin*. I'll work via satelite if they're not in the NYC region!

I finally did it! I went back to Karate! DAMN its hard tho. I've not been to Karate for 8 years, give or take. Its a hell of a workout. Because I dont have a recommendation from my instructors back in Australia, I've had to start from white belt again tho. Bit of a bummer, but I did it before, I can do it again. One good thing about being white belt, is noone expects anything from you. Which means, it gives me time to get physically fit enough so that I dont feel about to fall over during the class.

GOTH.NET's filesystem started to die last week. I had do take a day off work, go out and buy a new hard disk, and re-build the system on the new hard disk, and then transfer all the data to the new drive while it was still accessable. I lost a few files, but I caught it early enough that the damage was minimalized. On a plus note, I re-installed with Gentoo, something I'd wanted to do anyway. So, everything on the GOTH.NET box is compiled for it specifically. While we're talking about GOTH.NET, I now own the domain (Michael Menefee asked me to pay for it this time, so he transferred it to me). So, I moved it to a different registrar and renewed it for 10 years. I also am going to be implementing quotas as a method of recouping some of the money I've spent on GOTH.NET over the years (and the money I have to spend to keep the internet connection sufficiant for it). I'll still be providing a free service, of course, just starting to get people to pay for extra space above what they get by default.

Have been trying (since November) to get the DarkerNet box sent to me ... this time from WITHIN the country ... and wouldnt you know it, its another GOTH.NET all over again. I still dont have the box, and finding out whats happening with it, and exactly where it is almost as easy as climbing Mt. Everest naked. Looks like I'm going to have to threaten going to the police again to try and get some action. At least its a little easier now being that its in the same country, the police can do something. Small consolation, if you've ever seen cops shows in the US.

Lilith and I got married at the end of November (30th, nice and easy to remember the date!). Granted, its before either of us wanted to get get married in our lives, but we're both happy for it. I'd much prefer to marry her than to have to send her back overseas ... again! Seriously! Up until this point, we've been a couple 2 and a half years. Over 13 months of which, we've been in different countries, with a major ocean between. Thats not exactly stuff that makes you jump for joy. Let me tell you, ths US Immigration and Naturalization Service is a service by name only. You pay to fill in a form and get them to look at it, and then they take months (literally!) to send anything back to you, IF they do at all. More often than not, you have to ring THEM to find out whats going on. Hell, they recently jacked up the fees, and I'd sent in an old form with a cheque for the old fees on it. It still took them a month to send it back saying they needed a new cheque. Then there is the 'reduction of paperwork' act they harp on about all over the place. If this is reduced paperwork, they must have been single-handedly sustaining the domestic logging industry!

Anyway, with that all sorted, the next drama in my life was moving. About 6 weeks before my lease was due to expire, I was phoned by my leasing office, offering me a new lease, at the same price in rent, etc. If I accepted, they would clean my carpets or something. For the past year, I had been getting screwed on rent. How do you know your getting screwed on rent? Tell others what your paying a month, and if their jaw hits the floor, your being screwed. I was being screwed. So, I didnt reply, I simply started looking around for other places to live. Just over a month before my lease was up, I found a new place, and handed in notice to the old leasing place giving them a months notice of my vacating. Should be simple, right? guess again. They wanted *2* months, and wanted to charge me an extra months rent, even though I was not going to be living in the place, AND even though they would have the keys the whole time. Naturally, I politely told them to shove it ... in writing. In the end, I simply moved out when I said I would, and gave them back the keys. I have not paid the extra month they wanted to extract from me, and if they want to retrieve it, I figure they can sue me. It will cost more to sue than they will retrieve. I am, of course, citing a clause in their own lease which says basically "If we contact you with a renewal offer, you have 30 days to let us know if you will be accepting it or not." ... besides, I figure I'm not defaulting on my lease, my lease is expiring ... screw em.

Anyway, so now I'm in a new place. Let me tell you, moving is hard work. We moved ourselves, with the help of Kit and Cherie (thanks guys!). Which we still owe them dinner at a resteraunt for. The new place is nice. The rooms are respectively double the size of all the rooms in the old place, with the exception of the lounge room (which is a little smaller). We also decided to turn the master bedroom into a computer room, since thats where most of our time is spent .. a good decision (recommended by Cherie) I think ... gives us room to spread out. The place here is a 'basemenet apartment'. That term alone almost made me not look at the place. However, I have found that term can be rather broad. Sure, the front of the apartment (where the kitchen is) is undergound, but the bedrooms have normal size windows at a normal height -- the back of the house is fully above ground. Plus, the entre apartment is newly renevated. New carpet, new kitchen, our own diswasher and drier. On to of that, all utilities are included .. AND the rent is much less than the old place. All in all, I'm quite happy with the setup.

Being the new year, its tax time in the USA. Speaking of which, being April, I now have to fill out extension forms for more time. Not because I havnt worked out my taxes, but because I'm waiting on the IRS (what a big surprise). Why? Well, because Lilith is my wife, but does not have a social security number, I need to apply for a special number (called an ITIN) to fill in in place of a social security number for her. Once I have that number, I can file my taxes. I sent in the forms requesting this number over a month ago. On the brighter side, due to getting married, and a screwup in taxation by my employer, I should be getting back over $7k in both federal and state taxes. That should help things along quite a bit. Unfortunately, $5k or so of it is already pre-allocated. However the rest will go a long way to upgrading Lilith and my computers (something Lilith has been on at me for some time about).

As for the work front, everythings normal. I've recently learned Java (creating a little configuration tool for Magick as a test program to help me learn). I am taking over a Java based project at work, so learning the language was not optional. I can actually see huge advantages for Java in some areas - especially for front-end graphical representation programs. However, I would never, ever use it for anything that was more than a front-end gui to a back-end program. Its not fast enough, it requires to much in the way of environmental setup, and its too fluid (many things you do in programming require you to be able to precisely know the exact state of the entire program at any given time ... not something you can do in Java). This being said, I now have added Java to my growing arsenal of programming languages I know, and use for various purposes. Next on my list I suppose is Python.

Finally, the most recent thing I've been doing. I just installed a new distribution of linux - Gentoo. This linux distribution appeals to me greatly. Why? Its a system designed to be built from the ground up. You dont ever have any excess packages and fluff on your system, because everything installed, you installed. Plus, you compile everything you install. This means you can optimize the hell out of it for your system. The perfomance increase is definately noticable. Gentoo has a similar package management system to FreeBSD's ports, but they've taken the best parts of that, and debian's apt-get. Which makes it easy to upgrade aswell. I've already added several package to the portage system in Gentoo, including (of course), Magick :)

As for other common threads (now that you are up to date on my life). No, I've still not taken up Karate again ... some day. Money is still something I consistantly worry about, however moving has helped out a little. GOTH.NET is going great, Lilith is now regularly updating it. I tend to get behind on account applications, but I find myself continually busy or not in the mood (trust me, you dont want me reviewing your application when I'm not in the mood). We also have now added a forums section, and a method to read your email through a web-based email interface. All in all, the improvements to GOTH.NET have been extremely beneficial, with GOTH.NET once again getting over 1.5 million hits a month. I'm also planning soon on opening up a new music section on GOTH.NET. Including things such as interviews with bands, song samples available for download, etc. Basically a section promoting bands in the goth scene world wide. Will require some substantial effort on my part (I may eventually get some help doing it), but I believe it will be worth it. Still in my far-off plans is to get some GOTH.NET merchandise made up (T-shirts, etc). As for my social life, I still dont really know anyone but Kit and Cherie, and people they've introduced to me. Hopefully this will change, as Lilith wants to start going to some of the NYC Goth Outings List events. Plus, Convergence 8 is coming up, and Lilith and I plan to be there.

I know, this was a long one, I'm surprised your still reading. I'm touched, really! *smooch*

On to other happy events. Last friday I got official permission by the State of New York to get married. Now I will just have to make an appointment with the Mayor of my local village, and get him to marry me and Lilith. Nothing fancy ... yet. For those wondering, yes, I DO plan on having a big shinding later on. When I move back to Oz, Lilith and I will have to do this whole thing again (Australia doesnt recognize foreign marrages to Australian citizens). SO, I figure that since we're going to have to do it anyway, may as well make a big deal about it. Will be able to have all my friends come along too ... but thats a few years away yet ...

*sigh* I need to go back to Karate (no, I still havnt yet) ... I'm starting to gain weight for the first time in my life. Scary stuff ... ok, I'm not exactly fat, much less obease yet ... but I wanna nip this one in the bud ... I used to be fit once believe it or not ... but then, I wasnt a programmer back then. I WILL prove conclusively that these two things are NOT mutually exclusive ... eventually.

My life never seems to be quiet. Some good, some not so good. Work has started to become more mission-critical again, which means everything I do is time crutial. I've been starting to get more and more people using Magick again (alot of Magick 1.4 users ... almost tempting to delve back into that cringeful code again to add newer IRCD support). But some people using Magick II ... all of whome want some kind of support. Plus I've REALLY been trying to get Magick II to stop dying, so I can finally pull it out of beta. Then theres the whole marriage thing, and me trying to re-install all the systems on my network, so I can actually get around to intergrading the 6 servers I have (yes, 6) to work in harmony (as opposed to now, disjointed). Then there is of course GOTH.NET being back up, and me reviving DarkerNet. Ah well, no rest for the wicked.

Finally, for a mental health update. I'm OK -- finances giving me a bit of worry right now -- and job/magick constantly on my mind for one reason or another -- but OK. Least I have Lilith to keep me sane ... and sometimes (unfortunately), act as a sanity valve. We (as a species) tend to save the most cruelty for the ones we love dearest. Pitiful, eh?

As most of your probably know by now, from August till now, GOTH.NET has been down. It all started when Lujan quit his job. He made arrangements for it to be kept there, however aparently management found out, and said it had to go. So we got told we had 3 weeks to find a new home. However, the next day, it was gone. It took a long time to even find out what was going on with it, and once I DID find out what was going on, we still had to decide what to do with it. After much deliberation, I decided I didnt want to co-locate back in Australia anymore, I just didnt have the right deal available at the time, and I wanted to do maintanence on the box anyway, so I ordered the box to be sent back to me. It took several weeks of continually asking, and asserting that I wanted the box back to get some movement.

Movement did I say? sure, but not in MY direction. Lujan decided to give it to another friend of mine, Striker -- the whole 'I dont wanna deal with it' thing. Nice to know people will honour your wishes. So I started the entire process again with Striker, trying to get the box sent to me, even making deals for how to pay for the shipping costs, etc. Once again, I was left to regularly trying to get status reports, but eventually, he wouldnt respons to emails, nor phone messages. I couldnt contact him. So I found an intermediary (someone we both knew) to talk to him for me. Luckily, this guy could actually get me the status of the GOTH.NET box (thanks Chris!). It was still sitting on a desk, waiting to be sent. Finally, I had to threaten legal action to actually get contacted by Striker ... and whaddya know, a few days later, it was on its way.

All in all, it took 3 months to get the box back online, most of that, spent trying to convince the two people who had it, to actually get it on its way. *sigh*. I will say however, FedEx is definately my shipping company of choice! Comparing them and UPS, theres no contest.

In other news, Convergence 7 was fun. I would have loved to have GOTH.NET online while it was happening, since it was a net.goth event, but *shrug* no use crying over spilt milk. We (Lilith and me) met two new friends, Kit and Cherie, who are really cool. We met them, and 2 weeks later, they went to London. Just our luck -- we meet someone we hope will help us break into the social scene of New York, and they bugger off ;). Such is our luck, so we just became hermits again. Speaking of hermits, a big THANKYOU goes out to Hermit in #aussies for sending me some Tim Tams (australian cookie, VERY VERY GOOD!).

At least some good things are happening ... I even now have people using Magick II on a real network ... makes me happy to see my product used, and they're prefectly happy helping me debug Magick, and try and stop it crashing. Thanks to all the folks at Hashmark :).

Other than that, some good news. For some unknown reason, my domain magick.tm has become active again! For months now I've been trying to think of a new domain I could use for my project Magick IRC Services, since the magick.tm domain stopped working in february, as TM NIC has been systematically shutting them down. Of course, .com, .net, .org are all taken, and most of the others require a company in the country you are trying to register the domain for. ARGH! But oh well, I dont need to nomore ... I got my beloved magick.tm back! And best of all, I dont need to go and notify the dozens of places linking to it that the URL has changed.

And for those interested. I'm still not a socialite it seems ... A combination of time constraints and lack of motivation seem to plague me. Oh well, looks like I'll be a hermit until Lilith gets back here to boot me into going to clubs, etc. That is of course I get an email from someone out there wanting to hook up some weekend for coffee in NYC or something. *grin* hint hint. I suppose I've just been too busy working on things like Magick, being CEO of RelicNet, and other such timesuckers. Such is my life ... (please insert pity into the box ...).

In project news, looks like Magick is finally coming along to a point it could be released soon ... if I could get the damn thing do to everything in the right sequence ... I even made it work on windows (puke). Incase your wondering, my DJing career was short-lived ... mebbe I'll do more with it ... mebbe not ...

Been thinking far too much about money these days ... namely my lack of it ... I have bills still back in Australia, bills here, and I still need about USD$5000 to get the basics of what I want to do done on my network ... excluding the USD$15000 I need to start up CoreWars properly ... *sigh* money money money. If anyone is feeling generous, I accept cheques *grin* :)

I've been thinking more and more about home ... Australia. You no doubt know the song 'I still call Australia home' ... its so true -- no matter where an aussie travels, Australia is always home. I miss being able to hook up with my friends, and all the social stuff I used to do ... I suppose the missing is keener because I dont have any kind of social circle here, and my girlfriend is a 6 hour flight away ... but it was nice being able to jump in a car and drive up to Brisbane for a week ... knowing I had somewhere to stay where I was always welcome (hey nota!).

My promice to post more frequently turned out to be a falicy it seems ... I'm just not interesting enough to have a quote of the day I suppose ... heh ... unless you wanna hear about my weekly bowling scores *grin* I doubt it. I guess I should go to bed, I've only got 4 hours till I need to get up for work ... Why cant the world work on a midnight - 8am schedule ... I do ...

P.S. Theres new pics on my pictures section (a 4th page) ... be sure to check them out ... I like these pics - taken in Australia if you wanted to know ... scenery was beautiful.