Never Surrender

keep smartphone and PC never had a tablet so dont know what its like to live with one, let alone without one and since im too cheap to buy a TV license at uni, i live without tv for most of the year anyway. with changes like channels such as BBC3 being online only, and things like netflix, i dont need a TV anyway

currently drive a black VW Polo his name is Marco

Happy Birthday Sasha

Happy Birthday Casper

bent means gay, yes I have now become about ten times as self conscious about talking to Americans now oh some of the words i use when I'm not consciously stopping myself some of these may also be used in the USA, so bear with me but we have stuff like twat, tosspot, bellend, 'having a barney', 'ill be buggered' and 'bugger all', cack handed, clanger, 'on your todd', ta, canny, noggin, 'ill have a gander', bladdered and mardy I could go on and on with the variations of local dialect I use, too. In terms of american words, I still cant get my head around the whole 'biscuits and gravy' thing, as what we call a biscuit is what you call a cookie, what we call a cookie is a different type of biscuit, and I don't even know what that thing you call a biscuit is I despise the use of the word 'pants' for trousers because that's what i was brought up calling underwear, and the use of 'panties' makes me want to cringe because that's what kids under about 5 wear. not a word, but I've never seen a real life basement so I find that whole concept horribly exciting, and when I come to Chicago in June I want to go to Walmart. Actually I LOVE the word 'freeway' but I couldn't tell you why.

I think the key part of what the university said was 'its not just about the education' in first year, i lived in a flat/corridor set-up of 24 people. Of those people, 1 of them failed so badly he had to retake first year. Within those 24 people, there were at least 6 different incidents of being too drunk to hand in coursework, 1 of someone ending up sleeping with somebody they didn't want to, at least 4 minor fires, and a good 20+ of doing idiotic crap that makes me cringe as I look back. I think the difference is that it split people into maybe three different divisions (in my opinion)? those who wanted to succeed at all costs, and neglected the social life as a result. That's a totally fine track to take, and I respect people who are that driven, but many of those are now struggling in other aspects such as finding room mates for their private housing. then we have the people who flew completely off the rails, ended up in serious trouble, getting arrested, being piss drunk every night, no coursework handed in, sleeping with a different person each (and every single) night, sleeping with three people on three occasions in one night, etc.... these are the people that have now either dropped out, or are resitting their first year. Again, fine, not going to judge people, if that's what you wanted to do with your life, I'm happy for you. then we have the people who have managed an approximation of a balance between those two groups. being driven, while having fun. Learning about the real world doesn't have to be boring, but it doesn't have to be unsafe either. Since coming to university, I've learnt how to change light bulbs, how to put out minor fires, and what a fuse box is. All three of these things technically shouldn't have happened if i was being safe and sensible and academic, but they did because I was having fun, and now I've learnt something as a result. Work should always be a priority, but why shouldn't you go a little crazy in your down time, once you have your priorities sorted? Uni has helped turn me from an anti-education immature kid with very few prospects, to what i hope is some semblance of a moderately responsible adult, and as odd as it sounds, to me the widening of my prospects, mixed with the way it has changed me as a person, it worth the debt that i will end up in.

At the moment, I suppose my highest level of education would be my A-Levels (and those are best left unmentioned, really!) I'm currently doing a BSc in Criminology at a fairly 'average-joe' university. I enjoy the course, but I'm well aware that the majority of the career doors it opens for me are ones I'm uninterested in. This is the downside of picking your major subject when you're 17 - I had no idea what I wanted to do, and what I had the grades to do. I could have switched at the end of my first year, but at this point I just want to finish my degree and move out into the real world. I would really like to get a masters in something, but unfortunately I don't think my personal situation is going to allow me to stay in education for another year. In an ideal world, id love to go into a job based around distribution/logistics/supply chain management. However, I fear that I've just taken the wrong degree to make than an easy process, but I hope that if I work hard I can get there eventually. In terms of jobs, every job I have been offered has been completely non-dependant on my academic results. Instead, I have been offered decent and well-enough paid jobs based around my other skills and interests, like horses and music. Although I did both jobs to earn money until I went to university, it was not something I would have chosen to do long term, mainly because of the danger factor. As you get older, there is only so many times you can be thrown from a horse before you stop 'bouncing' and start 'breaking'! But because of my previous experience, I would find it remarkably easy to get another long term job working with horses now if I wished to. I just don't, because its not a wage that I would be able to support myself (and any future family I have) on to the standard I would hope to. On this note, I actually agree with the university. I (personally) think that the fun is essential, as long as you can balance and contain yourself. Through this kind of fun, I have learnt a lot about people, and about my relationships with them. I have dropped myself into some horribly awkward situations, said and done some really stupid things, but at the same time I have learnt a lot about who I am, and who I want to become. (and various life skills, like how to open a bottle on a cabinet edge, how to build a bonfire, how to avoid fights/arguments, and how to make the walk of shame look like a stride of pride ). My father told me that even if I had gone to the university based in the same town we used to live in as a family, he would have made me move into halls instead of staying at home because he said that he thought the experience of halls was important, mentally, emotionally, and as a way to develop maturity levels and force yourself to be accountable for yourself.

I can’t comment on the gay male perspective, as a straight female. That said, I'm currently a straight female teenager, and I completely ‘get’ this whole drama over the way you look. I'm sure I have mentioned it in comments on threads before, but the state of society and people’s views of themselves concerns me. It is almost impossible not to internalise feelings when society is sending you 101 mixed messages about the way you look….‘it's OK to love yourself, however you look. As long as you're not fat, because then nobody will want you. As long as you have an ass, because that’s hot. Long as you have boobs, but you can’t be fat and have boobs, because as one of my friends once said to me “boobs on a fat girl are like abs on a skinny guy. They just don’t count”. Make sure you aren't too tall or too short. Don’t have big feet, because nobody wants to date a clown. Make sure that you rip off 99% of your body hair, because body hair is gross and manly’…. Need I go on? Yet society is still telling us to be true to ourselves. When quotes like ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ and ‘a moment on the lips, forever on the hips’ are commonly thrown around, is it surprising that people end up tearing their own appearances to pieces? Off the top of my head, I can name at least 20 people in my real life who have, or have had, eating disorders related to weight and the way they look (and no, this is not an exaggeration). It is an easy trap to fall down, because the worst part is that you don’t even realise you are doing it until you are there. The mentality of ‘I can control it’ never works. Some of the quotes related to the more drastic methods of food control and weight loss are horrible – I'm not prepared to post them in case somebody here finds this post triggering. I was introduced to the concept of an eating disorder when I was about 11 – and this wasn't in a constructive environment. Instead, it was because I was being introduced to ‘pro-mia’ (and a lesser extent ‘pro-ana’) by a classmate. When these things are readily and so easily available to anyone who would care to look, is it any surprise that people are growing up with a distorted reality of how the human body is supposed to look?

read straight lit on Literotica, started questioning my own sexuality and moved into the LGBT sections, was looking for more info and alternatives to straight erotica and to Lit itself as i found it endlessly frustrating that many good stories on Lit were being abandoned. Found here through our favourite search engine, started reading bits on here and absolutely adored the whole 'completed', etc. aspect because i prefer to only read completed stories (yes im so, so easy to please haha its the simple things ) which lead to me sticking around, ended up joining on one of my long train/ferry trips up to Orkney because i wanted to have the option of providing more feedback, and so i could follow individual stories/authors i think thats pretty much it, anyway. there were a couple of other factors, but those are on a more personal level

i actually came ridiculously close to ordering some of these once, now im glad that i didnt! i guess i could use them as some kind of negative association reinforcement? haribo = pain? either way, im currently attempted a diet with less than half my normal sugar intake and its giving me hell long live my redbull & haribo diet!

Happy Birthday Cass <3 <3

Happy Birthday, Tetley :D

Happy Birthday

This - although im sure that Cel was joking, i can only imagine the uproar that would happen if someone had suggested that instead, we have 'straight-only' countries. My viewpoint has always been that i don't care who you want to sleep with in your free time, as long as its a consensual adult relationship. My sexuality is still a major question mark for me, but if you asked me i would say that i was straight. Having also had problems with reverse discrimination, i would agree with Kitt that this is a very real problem, and one that should not be ignored. Attack is not always the best form of defence.

Scotty, i think what you are forgetting is that there are many places in the world where it is still not 'ok to be gay' as you put it. This includes Russia, but I'm sure that almost every GA member could name at least 10 others. When it comes down to coming out, a lot will depend on the individuals personal circumstances. Although i think its great that you had a supportive coming out, not everyone has been, or would be, awarded the same luxury. It would be inappropriate, and perhaps a little insensitive to assume that people who haven't come out have chosen not to simply because they are 'making excuses'.

is it just me, or does this sound like the best present ever!? id LOVE to get that! haha

my parents bought me a lump of reindeer salami?

a beanie hat, 1.5 litres of vodka and a saucepan Christmas is so much fun when you're a student!

sure - show me how to kill it and ill kill it. im a total carnivore that said, when im at uni i dont eat all that much meat - i dont like cheap fatty meats so much and its expensive anyway, so i ted to live off pasta

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

i have to agree with Cia and AJ. Many of those close to me know the nature of my familial relationships, (or lack of). The question of why someone would treat a family member so poorly can be applied in both directions - if someone is refusing to get help, should a member of the family be forced to endure difficult and possibly abusive situations just so they can say that they have a 'relationship' with every member of their family? time and time again i give certain members of my family a chance, and so far i have been let down each and every time. How many chances do you give before the phrase 'fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me' comes in to play? How many times is the required time to line yourself up in a potentially dangerous situation before you have done enough to walk away with a clear conscience, knowing that you have done enough and tried enough routes that any reconciliation is totally impossible? these are all questions that i struggle with greatly, and i dont think that anyone outside the individual situation can really give the answer, or pass a judgement.

Happy Birthday Uncle Wayne

Yay, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOSTICC

Happy Birthday

I'm not hungry I have cookies I must thank you for subjecting yourself to these tests, for the greater good That said, im sure the best research uses repetition to make the results more reliable maybe you should go try a few more times.