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Last news post was boring and wasn't really conducive to any quality discussion -- not that that really ever happens on NG anyways.

I've been in a bit of a lull recently with not a whole lot to do. I'm in a transition period between just getting on with my life and starting fresh at university, which leaves me very little to do for the time being. My NG time has vastly benefited from this, but obviously life in of itself requires a little more than sitting in front of a computer all day watching flash cartoons and posting on the BBS.

The only thing I really have to do right now is get fit for rugby season, which starts in September, less than a month away. I'm already in a decent physical shape, but I've been working on my upper body too much, and neglecting the cardiovascular workouts which I should have been balancing with the strength exercises.

I watched a program about SAS (Special Air Service) selection last night, which showed the first 48 hours of the process. It gave me a lot of motivation to get fit, because I know that if I wasn't so fucking lazy, I could probably pass the SAS selection if I worked for it.

The first 48 hours of the process was as follows:

- Point to point: A self-navigated hike over harsh, steep, boggy terrain to several rendezvous points in turn, wearing full gear (combats, burgen, rifle), spanning over a time of about 12-15 hours.

- Long drag: Takes place straight after point to point - again in full gear, each candidate has the weight in their burgon increased to 55lbs (using bricks), and must complete a similar self-navigated distance as in point to point in under 20 hours, through the night.

- Crossing a river: After long drag, the candidates have to strip down to their underwear, store their combats in their burgens, and cross a rapidly-flowing (and likely very cold) river, being careful not to lose balance or drop their rifle in the water.

- Ass kicking by the staff sergeant: After these tests, the sergeant decides who has passed to a satisfactory degree, and who has failed and is to be RTU'd (returned to unit). If a candidate's times were too slow on the first two tests, for example, they will likely be dismissed.

After watching that, the selection process looks extremely tough even compared to the Army officer selection board I attended last November. I need to get off my lazy ass and start exercising a lot more rather than just lifting weights and doing push-ups. I'd love to take up hiking again, though, but I haven't done it properly for a few years since I injured my shoulder doing ten tors training.

TL;DR -- Stuff.

Anyway, give me ideas for what else I can do for the month and a bit until I move out from home and go off to university. If your ideas aren't good you will be be raped -- you've been warned.

Leave a comment and I'll tell you what I honestly think of you, no bullshit. CAN YOU HANDLE IT!?

Some of you may know that I applied for University this year after a somewhat uneventful year out from education. These same people may also know that I've now been accepted by my first choice University. For those who didn't know that... now you do.

A few days ago I finished all the admin work that needed to be completed before heading off in September. This basically consisted of filling out a big old form to get myself a student loan, contacting my University to inform them that I'm actually taking up the place they've offered me, and applying for accommodation.

The student loan form was the biggest job. Some parts of it were extremely vague, so I needed to contact my local council office to clear a few things up. It's one of those things that you worry about messing up (especially as I'd already messed up the first form and had to attain a second one). Took me ages to do because I did the second form in pencil first to avoid any serious mistakes, and then went over it in ink. Sounds silly, but I was seriously paranoid about messing up a second form and having to start all over again.

Applying for accommodation was fairly easy in comparison. All I had to do was fill a preference form on the University website. There's 3 types of accommodation available: Standard (single room with a sink, communal bathroom for every 7-10 rooms or so); En Suite (single room with a private bathroom); and Studio flats (for couples). I applied for En Suite, as I don't fancy sharing a bathroom with several other people. Can you blame me?

All there really is left to do at this point is wait for my loan to come through, and to find out what accommodation I've gotten. I'm hoping I'll get what I applied for, but I'll have to wait and see.

So yeah, basically. Life is moving on now. Come September, I'll be living in a different place, and generally living a different life. Hopefully it'll all be for the better - I'm sure it will.

Alcohol. Discuss.

I figure it's time for a new news post.

I don't have a whole lot to say this time, but for one thing, I really feel like I need a vacation. My gap year should have served as such, but between holding my family together and not achieving anywhere near as much as I wanted to, it's been much less of a vacation than I'd originally hoped.

After seeing Tom's new thread announcing that he and April are off to Jamaica, I thought about the time I've spent in the Caribbean. It's amazing out there, and even though I'd only ever been there on family vacations, I've always wanted to go on my own, or with a friend or girlfriend. I'd hoped to take my ex-girlfriend there when we were still together, but we broke up, and as I'm not looking for another relationship right now, I guess if I could go, I'd go with a friend.

Unfortunately, Jamaica is a long way from England, and with accommodation expenses, flight costs, etc., it's a slightly unfeasible fantasy right now. My best friend is going out to Spain this summer though, as his father owns a villa out in Murcia, and he's said that I'm more than welcome to go with him, so hopefully that will work out.

Anybody else got any vacations planned soon?
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:::EDIT 5/25/08:::

Finally got my university application sent off today! I'm quite pleased. All that's left to do now is to wait for any offers to be sent to me. It's a big relief to get all this crap finished and done with at last, and now I can go find a job to get myself some cash to tie me over until the end of the summer.
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:::EDIT 6/4/08:::

Got an UNCONDITIONAL offer from my first choice university! It's too early in the day to celebrate with alcohol, but tonight I'll be having one or two drinks to commemorate my ascent into higher education.

HUZZAH!

So, video embedding, huh? I always wondered if this feature would be introduced to Newgrounds profiles, but frankly, now that it's here, I have to say I'm not too fond of it.

For one thing, it seems too much like Myspace, which is always a bad thing. I don't want Newgrounds profiles to turn into a Myspace-like overstatement of one's determination to be an individual (which, ironically enough, seems all too often to be done by copying the masses). Hopefully, though, the Myspace similarities will end with video embedding. I guess the new admin Rob had to introduce some new feature to mark his place in the NG community, and I suppose he could have done a much worse job.

I do hope that some other features are implemented, and/or fixed, though. For example, the little flash animations that used to be shown when the last vote was cast to blam or save a flash need to be restored. They were great, but now all we have are little messages, which is a massive shame. I'm sure there are other little post-redesign kinks that need to be ironed out, too, but I can't be bothered to list them all ATM - it is, after all, 4:30am here in England, so give me a break :P

If you can think of any other little features that need to be restored or fixed, though, leave me a comment, as I'll be interested to hear about them.

As for myself, some of you may know that I'm applying for Law school right now. It's pretty stressful to be honest - trying to find the balance of a good University in a good location that will make me an offer this late in the application season is proving to be somewhat tricky, but I'm persevering. I have to visit my old school next week to see one of my teachers about writing me a reference. He's a nice guy, so hopefully he'll write me a good one, and maybe also help me out with some other parts of my application.

I do feel now that I'd have been much better off doing a serious application in my last year of school, but at the same time I feel that I needed this gap year to clear my head, take some time out, and think about what I really want to do with my life. It's definitely been a success in that respect, which is a good feeling.

Hopefully my application will be finished soon, though, and I can just enjoy the rest of my gap year in peace.

Thanks if you've taken the time to read all of this. :)

~NEVR

First off: People I like list is still updated if there's anyone who should be on it.
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Well I wanted to make a new news post, because I got bored of seeing the old one in my profile. I don't really know what to write about, though, so this news post is now a place of discussion - ask me anything you like, and it will be answered.

Go!

This is a list of NG users that I like. If you aren't on it, leave me a comment, and if I like you I'll add you to it.

If you are already on it, feel free to express your gratitude, or just converse with me.
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LIST (arranged alphabetically):

absent
aldlv
alrd
AnalPenguinFarming
Auz
Bahamut
BananaBreadMuffin
BaronVonBadGuy
Black-Lightning
Black-Ops
BlueHippo
BobbaQ
Casualty
Coop83
CTM222
darksigns
Fragment
gfoxcook
Haggard
Hybrid-Of-Souls
I-Love-Caitlyn
iscrulz
Jake
Joshiwa
kidray76
killslasher
life
Life-Stream
lilhunter03
Lorkas
Lotus
Malachy
Mechabloby
NintendoMadness
Odyssic
PantyWipe
Phantox
PossiblePancakes
PureLionHeart
ReconRebel
RSQViper
SBB
Scarab
Seamonky
Sentio
SevenSeize
Shanus
Shreddy
shunshuu
Sir-Nuts
Skat0r
SlashFirestorm
Sterockicy
sweet-tooth-pico-fan
TheNossinator
thegreatmorph
TheThing
Timmy
Tri-Nitro-Toluene
Unmechabloby
Zendra
Zerok

That's all I can think of for now.

So earlier on I posted in a thread - this thread to be precise. My post was a simple 3 and a half line explanation, nothing too taxing to read. Automatically, I get a 'TL;DR'.

I'm frankly astounded at the level of idiocy that seems to be accepted as the norm these days on NG. Granted, the thread I replied to was in the General forums, but that shouldn't mean that you have to reply to everything with a one liner that just screams "I'm trying too hard to be funny".

Come on guys. 3 and a half lines really doesn't qualify as TL;DR material. Even if something is a really long, unyielding wall of text, if you're not going to read it, don't bother replying to it. If anything, it's the stupid one-line posts that I don't bother reading, because they're usually devoid of any measure of intelligence or depth - just some retard who thinks they're funny.

Perhaps I should just stick to the Wi/Ht and C&C forums, where people have the patience to read longer, more intelligent posts.

(Who will be the first incredibly witty retard to reply to this with 'TL;DR'?)