The history of this site is admittedly not very interesting, but I figured now would be the best time to explain my thoughts behind it.
This site has been a thought of mine for a while now. Ever since taking my intro HTML class in college, I thought it would be awesome to have and host my own website. If you know anything about me, you would know some of the immediate red flags behind that thought, the first being the “have” part.
What does it mean to “have” your own website? Having my name on the homepage doesn’t cut it for me, as ownership to me means authorship. So, I’ve already ruled out using a service like Wix or Wordpress. While these are great tools, they're a little too hands-off when it comes to actually MAKING a website. I think comes from a sense of pride on my part, but of course I’m going to justify it as being too humble to call a Wordpress site something I “made”. Now I’ve locked myself into coding a website using the limited HTML knowledge that I’ve acquired.
Hosting was my second hangup, and of course it took precedence over the first. How could I MAKE a website before I have a way to HOST a website? After researching how to purchase a domain name, getting HTTPS certification, and finding a service to actually host this imaginary website, I was thoroughly exhausted. I had entertained hosting my site from a local server, but I wasn’t confident in my diligence to keep the thing turned on (I’m a cheapskate, that's why I never bought a domain or hosting service). After realizing I was a little in over my head I promptly forgot about the project for years. However, I held onto the thought and shoved it into the annals of my mind, with the hopes of returning to it someday.
This brings us to Q1 2024, when I learned about Neocities! I was researching a Youtube creator I like who had gone on hiatus. Im not entirely sure, but I think it was her wife that had linked to a personal site in an X (formerly Twitter) bio. When I entered, I was greeted by a late 90’s – early 00’s themed website that was dedicated to her interests. I was captivated by her custom doll collections, featuring individualized dolls with their own biographical entries and photo galleries. Honestly, I have less than zero interest in dolls, but the amount of creativity and artistry on display was really inspiring. This lead me down a rabbit hole of other similarly creative and personal websites themed around the Geocites era of the internet. I eventually landed on Neocities and started my own website a few days later.
So, with my problems solved and feeling relatively inspired, why did I name the site “Simon’s Lair”? One of my favorite places on the internet is a little gem called Vimm’s Lair, and yes, the name is a blatant copy. Vimm’s is dedicated to retro video games, and is an invaluable pillar of the archival community. Sadly, shortly before this write-up many of the games on Vimm’s were removed in DMCA requests from their respective owners, many of which still refuse to offer ways to purchase the original products in any official capacity. Regardless, Vimm’s Lair holds a strangle on my heart, from its retro aesthetic (the site began in 1997!) to its mission statement.
With the hosting figured out and the name established, what’s up with the looks? You should know by now that my HTML skills are still in diapers, so I had to go for something realistically achievable. The inspiration gleamed from those personal sites I had stumbled onto had also struck my fancy. So, with my limited ability and stubborn dream, I excitedly opened Microsoft Paint to draw a background image. After that, the CSS came from fooling around, really. Not too much thought went in, I just wanted something that looked relatively old.
That’s pretty much the story of present and past, so what about the future? To be honest, I’m not planning on being super active with site additions. I really want a guestbook, but I’m not sure I want a bunch of Javascript on this site (it already bothers me that the hit counter on the main page is JS reliant). I kind of want to add pages dedicated to my other hobbies, and I’d love a gallery for dumb pictures. I think a guitar tabs page would be neat, too.
For now, who knows. I’m just glad the site is finally populated with at least one interesting page to visit. So long for now, and thanks for stopping by!