I come from New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, England. Ollerton is in the heart of Sherwood Forest (Robin Hood Country), about 3 miles from the Major Oak - the fabled home of Robin Hood.

Why Masklin??

I read Terry Pratchett novels.. One of the characters in his lesser known series of books "The Nome Trilogy" (yes nome..) is called Masklin. A rather dimwitted, uneducated character -- my opposite I suppose. I chose this name after about 5wks of IRCing..when it became clear my previous nick (see below) was inappropriate.

The main reason I come on #scotland is the people on it [ u know who u are..:) ] and the relationships people have with each other.

Why haven't I been on #scotland for ages until my re-appearance recently?

There is only onething more likely to stop you from joining IRC than not having an Internet connection, the Work thing. A combination of both has seen me fall from the heights of being a #scotland regular, to a mere once-in-a-while contributor of the humor-filled IRC channel we all know and love.

Unfortunately, this is probably going to continue, because I am now coming up towards my finals at Uni, and it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to spend long online, got _losds_ of work to do :((

Me and my WWW site.

I have thoroughly caught the Net bug discovering the wonders of Web development and the IRC. I can scarsely believe that it was only 2½ years ago that I started my Web site on a freebie at Geocities. In just about 2½ years I have managed to master the HTML and Javascript programming and even started to help others on their quest to get their "15K of fame" set up on the WWW. I must admit...I was a bit of a web skeptic at the start of 1996 - all that unwanted rubbish. But I have to confess, for every 1 rubbish site, i found a dozen good ones. You only have to know where to look.

My Studies.. and the Work thing..

The degree I am studying for is in "Business Information Systems", which basically covers Computer Programming and Systems Analysis.

Since October 1997 I have worked mainly on an Online Gaming System called GamesZone, which is going to be potentially the largest inc europe with initially 3 USA-based Online Gaming companies and 1 French, with HEAT.NET coming on baord within the last few months.

This has forced me right into the complex details of Unix-based Internet Services, as well as dealing with Perl, Javascript and other techmnologies which were relatively new to me when I started. I have been forced into the CGI programming field as a result of working for Electronic Business Services, ICL - and so far have found it a refreshing add-on to my internet programming skills. As well as these I have been working more closely with Windows NT recently, using IIS 4, which will help me decide between the Unix and NT platforms in the future.

I've found that Internet programming is where I want to head with my career and, backed up with a reasonable Honours degree, I should find myself doing the job I want!

Special thanks to...

My family
who make my life worth while...

My IRC friends on the #scotland IRC channel

Whizz, lw1 (lalala-lisa!), TBY, symph, meok, Bauch, Baggs, Fi, Genghis, Jackal, Royal, Rab and all the rest of you nice ppl :P

Other IRC friends

diamon-t, wildone, wildbebe, wildziggy (#html) neeti, virpi, Vick (#alanismorissette)

Uni ppl

Ivy, John C, Matt, Ryan, Sue, Karen, Julie, the Chris', Danny G, Rory, Lucy, Craig, Jaz, Andy, and all the rest of you that I have forgotten