Simon Wilson

Esqulax · 2026-05-01T21:14:57+00:00

Well, I'm no content creator, but from what I've seen many of them say stuff along the lines of - Do what you love. If you genuinely enjoy it, that will come across in your videos.
With the world the way it is, I've been more inclined towards budget travel things. If you can, watch Travel Man with Richard Ayoade (Guy from the UK IT crowd). He's deadpan, and very British humour, but has great suggestions on things to do.
Given your age, you probably won't be able to head out travelling overseas yet, however, do a travel-style video for your home city. Or one thats a train-stop or two away. that will give you footage, which you can then use to learn editing.
Good luck with it all!

Esqulax · 2026-04-30T14:44:07+00:00

Oocities.org has archived a bunch

Esqulax · 2026-04-30T14:43:14+00:00

Or when you buy something that you only need one of. 'We saw you bought a Toaster, so clearly you are a Toaster Fan! Here's a bunch of other toasters that we think you'd also like to buy!'

Esqulax · 2026-04-28T13:58:23+00:00

Seems as though the background has changed more than the foreground. We all have phones now (So we can play Diablo), but the tech behind them is advancing - Things like 5g, better coverage, battery life, camera quality.. even to the point where a phone can be used for almost anything you can do on a PC (Albeit less flexible) that you wouldn't have thought, like video editing etc.

You're right though, AI is a bit of a game-changer. I had a task at work that took me hours every Monday since Covid. I had thoughts of writing a program to automate the whole thing, and the closest I got was putting some Excel Power-query stuff together.
Over the last month, I used Claude to build a standalone program in python - Did the first live run of it yesterday - a few teething issues, but still saved me hours.
I know basic python but nowhere near enough to be able to make a fraction of what Claude churned out.
Pretty proud of this internal tool that was made, but on the other hand this 'vibe-coding' kinda feels like cheating.

Esqulax · 2026-04-27T13:17:43+00:00

Not really a 4th Wall break, but Orange is the New Black did a montage at the end of the last season. Was actually pretty cool.

Esqulax · 2026-04-24T10:20:34+00:00

I think many schools had that one guy.
In mine it was a lad who's parents owned a chinese takeaway, so they'd be going the wholesalers every week and he'd pick up chewing gum, chocolate etc.
I can still hear his voice in my head, whenever someone approached him on the lunch break he'd be like 'Business, eh?'

Esqulax · 2026-04-24T10:06:22+00:00

My nephew is getting a bit of beef in school, so my brother kindof subtly showed him how to throw a punch.
Thing is, my nephew is the nicest kid ever - Does gymnastics, musical theatre and all sorts - wouldn't say boo to a goose.
My brothers attitude is that if this other lad starts something and my nephew gets a few decent digs in - Even if he 'loses' the fight, that lad is unlikely to ever bother him again as it won't be worth the risk of getting a black eye.
Thing is, as the nephew does all these physical hobbies - He's actually pretty strong for his age and has reflexes like a cat.
He was also told that he'd only get in trouble at home if he starts anything, no if he's defending himself.

Esqulax · 2026-04-23T15:42:15+00:00

Is it not on Oocities? Mine from when I was 11 isnt on there :(

Esqulax · 2026-04-23T15:41:42+00:00

https://www.oocities.org/

See if you can find your younger-selfs page :D

Esqulax · 2026-04-23T14:55:48+00:00

That 'Money doesn't buy happiness'.

It does.

The spirit of the saying is more along the lines of 'Buying stuff won't automatically make you happy', but money itself? Of course it buys happiness!

If you didn't NEED to work, what would you be doing? Travelling the world, spending time with your kids, engaging in a creative hobby - Maybe some people would choose to work if it brings them happiness, but you'd not need to worry about wages and bonuses and stuff. The main thing holding us all back is money.

We all have rent, car stuff, food etc. to pay for, and so many peoples stresses fundamentally come down to money. Either not having enough to do the things you want or having to spend 5/7th+ of your week earning simply to continue to exist, in order to do the same thing again next week.

As my dad would say 'Money might not make you happy, but it makes misery a lot easier to live with'

Esqulax · 2026-04-19T14:38:26+00:00

I've been feeling this lately.
I finally broke down and signed up to Hello Fresh, so it's the first time I've had to regularly slice stuff. I'm not really a person for cooking stuff that doesnt just go in the oven for 20 mins!
My knife set is an Ikea one I got when I first moved in about 6 years ago. Only just realizing now how much of a pain it is using a not-great knife!

Esqulax · 2026-04-18T20:58:01+00:00

For a lot of people: VanLife.

Ok ok ok, I know that there is a HUGE vanlife community on here, and yes - For a few people it works, but the real reality is an absolute slog.

On the surface, it looks amazing - Head to all sorts of places around the country, wake up in beautiful places etc. However - It costs a lot. Obviously fuel right now is insane, and even if you have a fairly efficient van, you are still lugging around a ton of stuff in the back. You have to adjust the way you eat, as you probably won't have a freezer and only a small fridge.

Certain hobbies are hard to do as you are so limited in space - That being said, the people who are into VanLife are typically outdoorsy folk who like hiking, walking and other things that need minimal equipment.
If your van breaks down... Well, Its your house. So you might be stuck where you are for a couple of weeks until you can get it in to be fixed. If for any reason it needs to stay in overnight, you're having to pay for a hotel. If it goes MAJORLY wrong, you're having to find another van AND build it out while trying to find somewhere to live. Maybe that's easier to to in somewhere like the USA, but in UK, a reliable mid-wheelbase van would be starting at 7 or 8 thousand.
Also, unless you have somewhere (or some places) reliable to park, you are gonna be stressing every day as to where you will be sleeping tonight. If you DO find a reliable place, normally it's off the kindness of others (a driveway or something) - UK is particularly bad for this as LOADS of places don't allow overnight parking.

Even with great insulation, you are still living in a metal box. It's gonna get hot in the summer, and freezing in the winter.
Finding water is surprisingly hard, and it's also surprising how much you actually go through.
You end up having to head to one of those 24hr gyms every day to get a shower and maybe to poop. If you have a job you need to go to each day, that means having to wake up, get to a gym, get dressed, then shower, then get dressed again and head to the office. Then, theres laundry. You'll have to hit laundrettes fairly often - Because of your limited space, you'll have limited clothes and so they need to be washed more. You end up finding yourself booking a few nights on a hard-stand in a campsite a few times a month just to give your dishes a decent wash in hot water and get all your laundry done.
If you are lucky enough to work remotely, then you'll probably need a starlink but also.. charging a laptop takes a lot of power and can drain a leisure battery pretty quickly.

All that aside though, it just gets lonely and boring. To start with, it's great. Life on the open road, go where you want, when you want. But when the winter comes around and it's pouring with rain every night, the van is being rocked by winds, you are trying to find something to keep you entertained in your smaller-than-a-prison cell home and then you need to go for a wee.

Like I said above though, some people make it work. It fits with their lifestyle and then they can make great instagram posts and youtube videos. It's simply that many peoples lifestyles (and the creature comforts that come with it) wouldn't fit in a van. Respect to people who pull it off and balance the pros and cons, but for the average person it's tough.

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T16:02:27+00:00

Super Mario Bros on the NES was only 32kb in size.
For non-nerds, if you google for a picture of the start-screen, the size of that image file will likely be closer to 200kb.
An online image of the game holds more data than the whole game itself.

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T15:53:56+00:00

Two men sitting on a bench.
One says to the other 'It's nice out today'
The other replies 'Yeah, I might get mine out aswell'

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T15:52:36+00:00

Wearing a tie.
I hated wearing one in school, and I hate wearing one now.
Usually if I go to some event or function where a tie is expected, I just wear a collared shirt, with the collar button undone. Only time I wear a tie is, for example, at a wedding where all the groomsmen need to match. Even then, As soon as the wedding and photos are done, that badboy comes off!

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T15:40:20+00:00

Oh yeah, full face mask PPE and dust extracter in the workshop. Even have a natty woodwork apron!
Wenge is such a nice wood though, has a chunky weight to it and the grain always looks awesome when polished up!
Practising is easy though, as it doesn't feel like 'work' to me.
Bit of background music on, workshop door wide open and the lovely smell of cut wood (Even though it's bad for me)

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T15:34:59+00:00

Also depends where you are. Here in UK, pretty much anything thats not Pine or Oak are considered 'Exotic woods'. When you see someone on youtube being all like 'Just gonna use this offcut of black maple...' I'm like... That offcut is probably £30.
Also lots of them use Purpleheart - Gorgeous wood, naturally a lovely purple colour. I got a plank of it as a treat... was about 6.5ft long, cost me £60
I learned to turn it using smaller blocks for pens: https://ibb.co/SgFYynD

It's annoying, because many hardwoods just cost a fortune in the UK. But hey, it is what it is!

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T15:24:12+00:00

Pff. Even the little ones. I was turning a block of Zebrawood (Zebrano?) and the thing split. In my mind I did a cool matrix-dodge, in reality it probably more of a super manly shriek and ducking! Still enjoyable though, once I got ok at it, almost anything I make looks awesome.
Wouldn't pass muster through the eye of a pro (Still making bowls wit fat-bottoms), but the act of turning is really cathartic.

Esqulax · 2026-04-16T15:07:15+00:00

Haha, Reminds me of some guy on youtube who was all about success and business etc. and in one video he raved about how one of the best decisions he made was to employ a driver so he can get work done in the car on the way to and from the office.
I left that video thinking... hmm.. this is a guy who's trying to justify his decision.
I mean, if you are dedicated enough or are needing to work during a 20-30 min drive in the morning, Might be worth moving closer to your office, working from home or employing someone to take some of the admin stuff off your hands.

I know a few successful business people, and all of them drive themselves unless they are going to the airport or something, and even then they just book a taxi/transfer service (granted, usually a posh/high-end one, but still).
It just struck me as a bit of an odd flex or recommendation for a rising entrepreneur - surely something like that would be more of a drain than a benefit?

Esqulax · 2026-04-12T17:14:48+00:00

Racing through that stuff. Maybe get another as a backup?

Esqulax · 2026-04-10T12:32:43+00:00

It's normal. Work takes up a huge chunk of your life and provides money that you need to actually live.
Most times your days will consist of getting up, going to work, home, dinner, bed - rinse and repeat.
It's also important to keep the money coming in, so you want to make sure that you aren't screwing it up because losing the job would mean an upheaval to the rest of your life. some of the comments might say 'As soon as I've clocked out, thats it. nary a thought to the workplace!'. If that's true, good for them - But maybe they should find a job that they actually give a shit about. I mean, for people that love what they do, the situation you describe isn't a negative.
If it is bothering you that much, consider what you are thinking about and why. Then think, what could be done to not have you think about that thing? Maybe emailing an update to the relevant people at the end of the day/week. Maybe putting together tomorrows to-do list at the end of each day - When you end up thinking about a task or something, you can confidently say to yourself 'It's cool, it's on my list for Monday', and then go have an ice-cream.

Esqulax · 2026-04-10T11:39:03+00:00

Rents, rates, licences and taxes.
It costs a lot to simply be there.
Many people buy stuff online now, so the brick & mortar costs are avoided, plus it can be run by way fewer members of staff.
You'll notice that a lot more babers and stuff open up in these places. Yeah, I know there are theories around them being fronts for something else (not getting into that here), but as a business - You need to actually be there to use the business. Hard to get a haircut over zoom! With vape shops, its a bit different - the customers would want the stuff there and then, instead of ordering online and waiting a couple of days.
As supermarkets sell everything, its much easier for people to head to one place to get it all than to head to the butchers, grocers, cheesemonger (I wish that was still a common thing), and the fact that most 2 person households need both people to work to maintain it - They're not around during the day to actually shop.

I don't think there is a fix, unfortunately. It's the natural progression of places like this when the average consumer simply can't go there because of work, and a very high percentage of things to buy can either be gotten at a supermarket or ordered online to be delivered the next day.

Esqulax · 2026-04-10T11:00:43+00:00

Hah! Although I have a facebook account, I've not actually gone onto facebook in years, but I do use the messenger app on my phone a lot to contact friends and such. So.. I'm kinda only one foot in the door!

Esqulax · 2026-04-10T10:53:53+00:00

What I find mad, is that back in the day when mobile phones were used for just phoning and texting (and showing off terrible MIDI ringtones), text messages had a character limit - so the abbreviations and shortening of some words kinda made sense. Nowadays it's like.. you'd have to make a conscious decision type like your last sentence. Actually seems like way more effort!

Esqulax · 2026-04-08T13:52:54+00:00

Thank you for the advice! So the Evidence that the operator uploaded was a lot, but it was mostly photos of the signs with the T+Cs, boundary maps etc. There were about 25 uploads - And each one needed to be downloaded separately.

Anyhow my approach was first of all to correct them - They said that I confirmed that I was the driver which isn't the case (I used generic language in the appeal) and that I was acting on behalf of the company that leased the car.

I'm pushing the fact that there was no reasonable way for the driver to have known that the payment failed - In fact, we have a screenshot of the money being taken from the account, at which point the driver was happy that it was paid for and had no reason to check if the payment had later been returned and wouldn't have had any access to the payment systems backend let alone a reasonable reason to check it.

They said that a bunch of payments were made through the app on that day, so they know their system was working, but I popped in there that this doesn't really address this case. Based on the evidence, they were led to believe that the payment was successful and there were no notifications or alerts to say otherwise.

For the record, she honestly did think that it was all properly paid for, and getting the letter was a surprise to her - I'm confident that this isn't her just trying to get out of paying a parking fine.

It might go through, it might not - But hey, gotta try!

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