Vicky

I think we still get our loans, but the problem is the debt will leave is in deep around 18K - more than double that if we take out a loan for living expenses. However, apparently the report suggests focusing on STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths). The Arts & Humanities are seen as mickey mouse degrees (I'm doing a degree in Creative Writing), so those degrees are likely to lose funding and only be run from top Universities that can afford to run them. I don't understand at all... they moan about students doing apparently 'nothing', but we pay back the money we borrow. The families that stay jobless for 20 years just to get benefits don't pay that money back - but the tax payer still pays for them to slob around.... (PS: I have not heard the Lib Dems actually do a thing since they formed this really crap joint government. It's not joint - it's Cameron time.)

All this in 2010? Mate, what about the World Cup?

[quote name='CaNz' date='01 November 2010 - 02:02 AM' timestamp='1288576922' post='701440'] hold on.... does asking him not to actually work!?! []_[] [/quote] Well, he should be pretty aware that if he does I will [i]hurt[/i] him (perhaps not physically but certainly mentally). Also an addition to 'things that make me drink': I have a lesson every Monday with Dr. Davina Clarke. Her monotonic voice goes through my veins, so I have a beer before the lesson. Today, I absolutely smashed doctor-socks and proved her completely wrong. It was so funny, she even muttered after me constantly going 'so is that a loop hole in the system?' the precious words: "Yes Victoria, it's a bloody loop hole." Class was full of little sniggers and lolz.

What a lovely topic. I drink both moderately and excessively. I have a beer for Saturday night TV or a big booze up when I decide to go out - and I lol at anyone who has a go at more for it. Drinking excessively gives me the authority to remove any lack of confidence I have and truly let go. But I'm not an idiot with no control - I've been through some hard times in my life and drinking helped better than clinic drugs, but I'm no alcoholic. It's the culture I was brought up in - except I have a sense of (filthy) self-respect. Considering that, an absolute tradegy that still chokes me now occured in July this year. I drank at the Wake but I didn't drink excessively after it; I was fully aware that drinking gave me the oppurtunity to loosen my tongue and fight back a few tears, so why didn't I turn to drinking to stop it choking me now? Because I'm smarter than that. However, if I grew up in a crowd that binge drank but assumed loss of control was acceptable, I'd be an alcoholic now to deal with it. It's about the crowd you're with and who you drink with, I personally think. And I agree with Boo on "of course you don't see it because you've never tired it," stuff. People have their own reasons for not drinking, but if (like some of my friends) you're scared that you'll fall into the binge-culture then it's not the alcohol you should be raving against - it's truly the fact that you're afraid of losing control. And believe me, I've seen a lot of alcohol-madness that made me want to bin it. But at least I can pull myself away and say "I drink, I binge drink, I drink a lot - but I'm not like that." [size=1][B]EDIT:[/B] Btw Allamorph if you're reading this and decide to post what I think you're going to post then don't even hit reply. Just don't. Seriously. Don't. =P.[/size]

[quote name='CaNz' date='31 October 2010 - 10:24 PM' timestamp='1288563859' post='701431'] I was kinda afraid of calling it a poem, since what you made seems like a new creation, but the (lyrics maybe?) words are very poetic. [/quote] Hey don't worry about it! I've been told I'd be good at poetry but I've never written a real poem before. Maybe I'm just some kind of poetic word terrorist heh.

[quote name='CaNz' date='31 October 2010 - 10:02 AM' timestamp='1288519370' post='701419'] that was a pretty intense read. I cant say I am the biggest fan of that style of music (mostly because i usually find it repetitive and meaningless) but with an epic poem that i am going through, i liked it loads more! [/quote] Cheers for the review CaNz =), mucho appreciated. I'm looking to delve into different music and hopefully break away from phrases and mixed words to give it a bit more 'descriptive' feeling. Adagio for Strings is the next bad boy I'm working on but it's near impossible to do some kinds of music. I'll be staying away from Heavy Metal lol, but Rage Against the Machine and Sigur Ros are a possibilty. I do have something to say... three people have already said 'I like your [b]poem[/b]'. It's not a poem! It wasn't meant to be a poem! No, I'm kidding, I'm not angry and I don't mind =p. To me it's quite interesting as a poem (a weird form of free verse maybe) and I can see from reading it that it does sound like a poem. I'll have to work on the prose side more to keep away from falling into poetry. Again thanks for the comment!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/15/browne-review-universities-cuts Also just google 'University Cuts Browne Review' .etc to get the low-down if you're not too up on it. So basically we're expected to be in about 18k worth of debt in University... [i]without[/i] maintence loans. I was just wondering what everyone thought of this. For example, they're uncapping the fees from the standard £4,000< to... unlimited. Some courses can now charge up to £17,000. That's out of our pocket and what we have to pay. I think this is really a UK happening but as a student I'd like to know what everyone thinks. To recover from the Recession there's obviously a lot of cuts but I think education is the biggest rattle; we have a nation of [i]benefits[/i], where people take the tax payers money and moan about "I've got no qualifcations I can't find a job!" so we pay for them to smoke crack and sit on their arse. Well, the majority, at least. So rather than pull people out of debt by investing, we decide to put the most vulnerable and valuable assets of our society in massive amounts of debt: students and degree holders. Tax payers (ie: working class mostly) are complaining that they don't want to pay for mickey-mouse qualifications and students only get drunk and fail. Ok, so why should I pay for benefits? Some people do find a job and just use benefits as a fall back, but the majority cheat the system, stay on the system and smoke drugs. There's no respect for education in this country, and education should be the most respected thing around. It's not where you're from, it's where you're at. When Cameron became PM he promised equality above all. Now, I hate him and what he stands for (because he stands for nothing) and I [i]knew[/i] he was lying. He's a Conservative who's looking after Mr. Middle Class - these cuts should truly be the only evidence. If he stands for equality then education should be a [i]right[/i] for everyone, no matter what class or financial background. But now it looks as if it is becoming exclusive to higher-class and rich people only... I'm very lower class. No money in my family. No business owners, manual labourers. But I'm doing my degree and I'm aiming towards a true 1st. Why should I not be allowed to reach my potential because I'm poor? [/rant]

I loves you coat Mrs Maul =D. Nice pictures, I wish me and my girl had some like that =/. Here's a few of me I don't think I've posted... nothing's changed lol. [img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs105.snc3/15295_355411222705_695717705_3140441_2039283_n.jpg[/img] [img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs529.ash1/31052_373493092705_695717705_3575709_332475_n.jpg[/img] But they're still a good few months old. Need new ones...

[SIZE=1][B]Commentary:[/b] So here we go. Just to let you know the exact video I used can't be embedded... all I can suggest is you start reading when the music begins and don't have it too loud to make sure you can get the picture in your head. I wrote this piece 7 times redrafted to the music - trying to fit in everything that happened so you'd understand. But then I realised even I didn't understand my memories. They were a blur of random images and random things happening, impossible to imagine all at once unless I sat down and dwelled on it for an hour. So what did I do? I threw away the drafts and I wrote 1 piece to the music, beginning to end. I edited the typos, of course, but that's the only edit. To me the beat works pretty well - encore une fois ties with one more time - but maybe it's because I know the song like breath. Please remember this is purely an experiment. I know the words are like chaos and a mix of crap adjectives but they all do have meaning (ie: sky lovers - when you dance and you're drunk you look up at the sky). It's not meant to show writing ability, merely experiment with the deepest dimensions of language, emotion, music and memory. The image above the video is the tunnel we had this rave in - that's me drinking the JD.[/size] [center]------- [SIZE=3][B]One More Time[/B][/size] [img]http://a.yfrog.com/img839/7792/bridgez.png[/img] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooxiob3pttY&feature=related[/media][/center] [align=justify][font=lucida sans unicode]These bodies are in motion as they theoretically move; they greet, they swing, they shout and they breathe in that hot claustrophobic air. Our bass speakers start the waves of a beautiful rave motion vibrating the bright green-illuminated subway walls; we crowd around, denim patches and boots a like, in the dark gritty piss-stained tunnel. You can see the sound waves move over our faces and bring a vibrant smile on our dark filthy features. We begin to move our feet amongst vodka shards that carpet over the concrete, moving, dancing, screaming and showing the world what it's truly meant to be like. Take a good look at the picture in your head. Of men and monsters who stand waiting for the bass drum kick. Of drunk punks. Of sky lovers in gutters. Tension rises, breathing shakes. Powerful motives of energy and dance grip the spines. We move like chaos - dancing a dance to the beat with that need to be so free free free. We'll show you life. And it begins. (One more time). We dance to the feel of treble bass running through our blood like a drunk head rush - our eyes are beating with the drumbeat and the heartbeat and the sweat beats down us mixed with beer as our bodies come alive. I danced with human locomotion - the sonic booms raging through the sub' drowns all reason except that one voice whispering in a husky kindness: "You bring me alive." Her hair was drenched with rain water and it dripped off her nose. You could smell the whiskey on her tongue as she pushed her face to mine and I pushed back nose to nose like a bull against the rails. I smiled, smile to smile with her in my face and brought my body dangerously into her personal space. The chorus rung out in a sob of voices chanting the same phrases over and over again to the melody of a mad man's rave and I held onto her as I bounced back and forth wall to wall falling against her as we laughed against drunkern infinity singing back: "You bring me alive." (One more time). This was righteous and felt damn perfect as we danced like maniacs but I kept myself insanely close to my new niche. I breathed out that single whisper against the harsh screams of the rest who blurted out dynamics of the song but she kept me focused and we brought the music alive with intensely epic directed focus that brought us alive. Raindrops flew in from the storm outside attacking our basses and faces with sincere effort but couldn't stop that beat in our heads as we danced to the music and blasted out the chorus from cider-filled lungs. Me and this lady we moved in real close together and danced more like a mucky little tango jig but I kept smiling drawn in real close. I paused at her face... to sigh those words onto her tongue... you bring me alive. A heartbeat raging bringing me alive. I paused for a minute. Just to watch her. See her move in. Her hands on my face. I pulled her off, deep deep look in her bright blue bright eyes. I remember the raindrops on her face, the smell of 2005 cider black cider whiskey; I knew where I needed to be. And the music goes - (One more time) A sychronised sing song from our friends came through as the music pelted its ultimate momentum. We chorused the song of whispers and tonight and the thoughts of being with each other, too insane to keep a real beat but flowing with a distinct rhythm in our luxurious mixed up memories. We screamed and shouted and drunk that beer dry and I remember her mouth (dry) like rough grass when we moved together and brought each other alive in the heat of the moment in the heat of the dancing fire alone at once. We made each other breath we made each other cry we made each other bleed we made each other and each beautiful memory so beautiful so pretty so precious so - - alive. (One more time).[/align][/font]

I've worked on a Macintosh for Graphics Design and it was pretty good, but I don't know much about the computers. I've had a mass of iPods however. Mostly the Nano versions, but at the moment they've broke and been thrown out. The last Nano I had broke, the whole thing had a nervous breakdown. Certain songs made it crash so I took them off, then the lead broke. I bought a new lead for it and some programme to transfer music from any computer without the iTunes programme. Since both the software and the lead were pretty much cheap/free software and hardware my iPod decided to have a fit. It pretty much died on me and froze all the time, oops. That's the only experience I have with them. I don't know enough about Apple software so when I mess things up I'm not as good at fixing the problem like a Windows. I'm sure it's straightforward, but I'm used to Windows being incredibly crap and vulnerable. I use my mobile for music now. It's Windows (WINDOWS ON MOBILES?!) and it's shockers. Luckily, because Windows is crap and easy to manipulate, I can get all the gadgets counterfeit or free. I'm sure any Mac computer or another iPod would just die on me if I abused it in such a way. Though I want an iPhone. Is it worth the money, though? Hmm.... EDIT: Oh, and I want an iPad. I'm dying for one. In fact I'd love to kill someone for one.

[quote name='Tonks' date='30 October 2010 - 02:51 PM' timestamp='1288446691' post='701403'] Not that I ever got any constructive criticism in that class...gah. This is the first I've heard of Morning Pages. It might be interesting to try but I just constantly have writer's block. Actually I think it's half writer's block, half absurdly high expectations for a near-perfect first draft. I have some writing assignments due Monday, just a page-long short short short about some fictional event from my life or someone else's life, and I am absolutely stumped. I am going to participate in NaNoWriMo, though! [/quote] I never get constructive criticism either =(. Morning Pages is great for writer's block. My third morning pages was my name all down the page and then it went on to completely random stuff about my mother and my name. Your brain sort of naturally engages and, because you're not [i]thinking[/i] about what to write or about what you're writing, it's impossible to not write anything. Even if it is just a standard 'Hello my name is Tonks!!!!!! lol' (well you know what I mean) you've written something and therefore don't have writer's block and on a few occassions it develops into something quite amazing. I truly believe (hopefully some poeple agree!) that the greatest short pieces come from not thinking and actually letting your imagination and mastery of English Language take control. It's impossible to let yourself be constrained by events, timelines, or ever grammar; words should really just flow naturally. Then those short pieces could be developed into a novel or long standing story, which requires thinking, but you've done the most creative and best thing first. Now all you need is brain-juice. I used to be a stickler for perfect first drafts, too much thinking was the problem. I'm actually proud of my new stuff for once, except it boarders the line of poetry and prose. Whoopsie =D. [size=1]Edit: Why am I the queen of typos? D=[/size]

I'm sure I've done one of these before... Short list anyway: Manic Street Preachers Depeche Mode Sash Cradle of Filth Crass DJ Tiesto Gorillaz Jeff' Lewis The Clash Sex Pistols Anthrax Black Eyed Peas Slipknot Rage Against the Machine No Doubt Theatre of Hate Joy Division Babyshambles The Cockney Rejects I'm sure some of them aren't actually bands but nevermind. I'm incredibly proud of my rubbish music taste, but that's just the top favourites. I have a looooong playlist of crap on my mobile.

This means nothing to meeeeee, This means nothing to meeeeee, Ooooooh Viennnnnaaaaaaaaaaa. (I had a drink last night).

[quote name='CaNz' date='26 October 2010 - 10:03 PM' timestamp='1288126989' post='701321'] sorry... but that would mean a character other than Goku would be the hero that saves the world... and we all know that Dragon ball always has a cast of characters that serve no purpose other than to cheer Goku on as he saves the world once again. [/quote] Except for that time when Gohan b**ch slapped Cell. Unless I'm losing my memory. DBZKai? What's all this, now? I was just thinking that the original DB and DBZ fans are all grown up now, too. They'll be catering to a whole new generation if they remake DBZ, because I for one can never even watch a clip again if I wanted to. They'll have to come up with something big to grab fans from the deeper and (unfortunately) better Animes recently created.

Cheers guys! Well it's become a full-fledged experiment. I've written the Raindrops piece but it was difficult because I picked the most upbeat and... well basically beaty tune I had. It was difficult because my natural rhythm didn't work. It took a few hours to write and I had to listen to the song about 70 times to get the exact beats. It works in the way that when the phrase 'encore une fois' is sung in the song you read 'one more time' (the translation) on the page. Hopefully this can keep people in sync with the music and the piece. I've also found that Barber's Adagio for Strings (William Orbit version) is bloody excellent. Fortunately, we played this at our rave too. No words, just a big long beat. In a few days I'm going to post (one after the other) both pieces with the music and we'll see how it goes. My Creative Writing lecturer has agreed to read the pieces without the music so I'll see what response I get. If it works then I'm going to look into a full experiment of this - remember, these are only drafts. I'm certainly no musician and I'm certainly no profressional writer. So keep a look out! I'd love for you both to have a look. When I post them in a few days I'm really looking for comments on: - How well the piece read itself - Whether it worked in sync with the music - Language. How was the piece as a general bit of writing? Too music descriptions, not enough, too many adjectives? - Did you feel any kind of connection to the piece, or anything at all? There will also be a picture my friend took a few years ago of that tunnel or some form of the setting. Let's see how it all works, eh?

[quote name='Lady Shy' date='25 October 2010 - 11:02 PM' timestamp='1288044134' post='701303'] In short you're just all pretentiousness, probably because you're getting married and decided not to invite me. Pff. At least say you detest novels in general if you're picking out some select pretentious novels to like. Vicky, Vicky, Vicky. [/quote] Pretentious?! I'm about as pretentious as Paris Hilton =p. And I didn't have MSN or anything! It broke. But you're invited, I told you. Jeez man, I'll send you a plane ticket an' all! =D I loves you boy. (PS: Further added evidence to my lack of pretentiousness and rather pointing to the fact I have good taste: I like 'Kathy's Story' by Kathy O'Brien. It's not 50 years old and it's very modern. I also love 'Goat' by Brad Land, which is totally modern - so HA.)

Please no... No offence to any avid DB fans but I think the entire thing went on too long. And trust me, I loved the series like a drug. Every day, every movie, every comic (and some in Japanese that I couldn't even read) but in all honesty the DB legend is long gone and dead. I had a very soft spot for Kai and Kabito Kai. That's about it after the Cell Saga as well and I loathed GT. It was like a sad effort to bring back the original Dragonball with quirky theme music, a young Goku and a Bulma lookalike. Horrid. If they did do it I'd like to see the kind of intensity around just up to the Cell Saga and I certainly don't want to see it end up like all the Fusion and Buu sagas. That's where it fell down completely in my opinion.

Our schooling is shocking as well. We did have sets though: Set B, Set C .etc. Set B was the top. But even then, the class had a significant divide - 7 or us were the smartest of the class by a unique standard. We were good friends, too, and the only kids to get more than three A*s. We didn't have a set 'higher' class or whatever beyond Set B, but they did let us take Philosophy and Sociology at A Level. Long story short we never set the exam due to unforeseen circumstances (the teacher made a massive boo-boo and fu**ed it all). It's all crap anyway. I learnt 5 times what I did in school by teaching myself; they never told us investing in gold is the legal form of a tax dodging-income, did they? You get what I'm saying.

'Iya. I bet you were expecting a piece of written work. Well, not yet. I want your opinions first =). It's a known fact that a lot of good writers have a keen sense and taste of music. Well, most of them, I have a shamingly mixed music taste. But anyway, I've started a project. My idea is to have the most amazing piece of music, feeling and words I've ever written. I've so far spent 16 hours on 300 words. Insane? Yeah, but it's a learning curve. Our brief for our 1,750 word personal writing was to 'connect to the reader's emotions through words and any other medium'. Something along those lines. Here's the idea: I've written a piece that takes 3:44 to read. This is the exact length of Raindrops by Sash. The piece takes place in a subway tunnel where me and 25 friends had a massive rave with bass speakers to Raindrops and I kissed a girl. Nothing special but when I listen to Raindrops it brings back a flood of emotions and makes me want to jump around everyone. It's hard to explain, near impossible in fact, so I wanted to give the reader the exact same feeling. Through description and words. The idea is that word follows the beats of the song. For example, when it builds up I build up that exact tension in the piece. When the beat is insane and crazy the words are a mess of excellent insanity (though easy to read) and, with the combination of listening to Raindrops and reading my piece, you should get some kind of brilliant rush. You should start reading the piece when the music begins and finish when the music ends. Can you see what I'm trying to do? Unfortunately, I ran into a few problems. 1 - I don't know if this effect will work at all, because people read at different speeds. 2 - Can you actually concentrate with the words and music at once? 3 - Is this an absolutely pointless combination? 4 - Can I even DESCRIBE places in detail - I mean, I have to focus on feelings and expression. Sentences like "Bodies in motion moving greeting drinking swinging breathing". Most of the time I'm completely ignoring grammar rules - is this acceptable? So I just wanted some feedback. Just basically if you think it's a good idea, if it's possible, and whether you'd enjoy reading it. Any tips you might have, maybe you've tried this before. I don't know. I'll post the piece when I get feedback - if any. Ciao!

[quote name='Ol' Fighter' date='25 October 2010 - 07:02 AM' timestamp='1287986525' post='701287'] Coffee is what is needed to get this thing I call my body to function properly. If I don't have it you can consider me dead. Side note. I'm totally downing a cup of [b]hazelnut coffee[/b] as I type this. [/quote] That's disgusting. Coffee. Just coffee without the messy bits, just pure black heaven. That's where it's at. None of this hazelnut and mint crap. Takes the high away.

[quote name='Allamorph' date='24 October 2010 - 07:45 AM' timestamp='1287902737' post='701277'] [FONT=Calibri]I'm sorry, but you're not going to get three pages out of me in thirty-five minutes. Not even two. Maybe one and a half, and maybe if I have forty minutes, because it takes me a half hour to get my thoughts corralled and lined up. Unless you want a bullshat essay, and I can sure as heck bullshit you an essay. I can bullshit it so well it'll be in an English format that not even 4chan understands. And even then you're only going to get a two-point paper most likely, unless you chose an intelligent topic and not a craptastic generic "let's all get the kids acquainted with current events" topic or a feel-good generic "let's all get the kids to start exploring themselves" topic because holy crap balls, Batman, that's like asking me to write an essay on why up. Freaking English nerds. Can't even make up a decent paper topic and get off on teaching the same three damn plays by Shakespeare because MacBeth yay! oh yay! "double bubble toil and trouble" and rub your hands together or aww love story Romeo and Juliet "wherefore art thou Romeo"â??which incidentally she's not asking where he is, she's asking why he has to be a freaking [i]Montague[/i] you idiotic people who can't even understand the damn language you studiedâ??aaaaaaaand with Hamlet they get to watch Mel Gibson make out with his mother. If I ever got a literature professor who taught something like The Tempest or As You Like It I would have a heart attack and die. Which would suck, because I want that professor.[/FONT] [/quote] [/rant] or what? =p

At the moment: [b]1984 by George Orwell[/B] And before that: [B]A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgress[/B] And previous to the latter: [B]Animal Farm by George Orwell[/B] And further before that: [B]On Poets and Poetry by T.S. Elliot[/B] I only read these because I detest most modern novels and fiction writers, save a few. Dan Brown is a particular dislike in my world.

[quote name='Zombie_Nosh' date='23 October 2010 - 02:23 PM' timestamp='1287840232' post='701258'] Damn I love a good cup of coffee. No sugar, maybe a drop of milk. Nothing like it. When I was in work and college, I downed coffee like nobody's business. I have since significantly lowered my intake. [/quote] It's the only way to go! I quit my Stock Control job because they moved me upstairs and had a strict 'no food no drink' policy for the office staff. Jokes or what? Self employed = x10 million coffee intake =D. It also means I'm tax dodging which definitely isn't good...