Fierce_LiNk

That was a really bizarre game of football tonight. I've never seen a United team take so long to get going. We didn't start playing until the 80th minute or so and still didn't really look interested when we got a goal back. There was one amazing, mind-blowing moment where we had a corner in the 91st minute or something and Mata had to SCREAM at our players to get into the box. I couldn't believe it. It's going to be a long few years. The ambition and drive in the club needs sorting out.

God, this last page is brutal. You are in my thoughts, everyone. I hope you all make it through these tough times ok.

Right, well... I originally started off as a Year 3 teacher in the school. I had a rough first year as the class were an absolute mess and needed a lot of taming. The second year was great and my breakthrough moment and I was then asked to teach my first class again as the Year 5 teacher. I remained year 5 teacher for 4 years and basically did a great job. Three of the junior staff (out of 5) went off on maternity leave during one year and one of the others was also my Junior HeadTeacher, who was up to her eyeballs in work and workplace politics. So, I was effectively her unofficial number 2 and we formed a good partnership (as everyone else was basically off getting pregnant!). We did a lot of good things such as introducing proper assessment tracking, good planning/work schemes, put lots of things in place to help the kids, etc. I did a good job of improving things around the school. We're a private/independent school, so we need to keep our numbers high as kids = money. I've got the biggest class in the junior school this year, I had the biggest one last year and they've generally been pretty good in this area. I've been successful with recruiting good pupils, too. I get on really well with parents, so that's a bonus. Every time an opportunity comes up or a chance to help out, I've done it. I revamped the library last year and electronically tagged every book there before adding it to an internet-based system, which is nothing even remotely similar to what we had before. The list is long. I do an after-school football club, which we charge for. Again, my numbers are high and I have more than double (in most cases, triple) the amount of numbers other clubs do. We had a MASSIVE play the year before last and I took on a huuuuuge part, despite me not particularly wanting to do it. That was a huge time consumer, but I did it because the school needed it. I'm in charge of the Christmas Play every year. I taught Spanish across the junior school and introduced proper planning and progression, as there was nothing beforehand. That's become a huge success now and a major hit with the parents and kids. There's a lot of other things too, it's a pretty decent list and my CV doesn't look bad at all for 6/7 years. So, what's the issue? Well, my Junior Head left in the last term before we finished for the summer. So, that's issue one. Issue two is that we didn't have a Year 6 teacher. We do this weird thing where the Junior School suddenly stops at Year 6 and they have a different teacher for every subject. The problem with this is that the kids have to move from room to room and over a big area. This led to problems with discipline, problems with organisation and parents hated it. So, to solve that problem, it was agreed (before I had any knowledge that my Junior Head was about to leave) that I would become Year 6 teacher and one of the senior English teachers would basically be retrained by myself to become the new year 5 teacher. So, I agreed to this as it would be solving a huuuuuge problem, as the current class would be an absolute car crash waiting to happen if we kept everything the way it was going. In addition to that, the (new) year 5 teacher is great and I knew that we'd be able to do amazing things there. We've straight-away introduced groupings/setting to Literacy and Maths, for example. I agreed to it, despite there being no planning for year 6 and no apparent classroom - this required a major reshuffling and was a huge ballache and caused lots of issues, but is solved now. I did it because it was the right thing to do and there was nobody else to fill that role. The HeadTeacher said that he loved the idea of this as there would be "a strong man at the top of Key Stage 2 who would be able to lead and keep things tight there". Now, the issue is that my HeadTeacher decided to send an email out literally days after this to announce that a colleague/friend of mine would be getting what is effectively the new Junior Head's job...or at least, it's a stepping stone to that role and is a major promotion. There's no rationale behind it. He hasn't done anything even close to what I have achieved and we are light years apart in terms of attitude and work ethic. He's the type (and has a reputation) for being the last one to arrive at work and the first one to leave. He doesn't attend staff meetings! He doesn't volunteer for anything and he always does the absolute bare minimum. He doesn't get on with half of the other staff there and he alienated himself with the former Junior Head by clashing often with her and also didn't get on at all with the one previously to her. So, why did he get it and I didn't?! I've had chats with other members of staff and they couldn't think of a reason why or the logic behind it. In the end, I had an hour-long discussion with the HeadTeacher and didn't get any answer whatsoever. Not one clear reason about something the other guy has done or achieved or skill he possesses that means he should get the job instead of me. It's completely demoralised me and it's a huge slap in the face considering everything I did for the school. The job I'm going for is effectively what I'm already doing, but with an official title, a bit more money and the knowledge that it is a pretty big deal. The Head has said that he does have plans for me, but he hasn't been able to discuss these or say what exactly what it is, so it almost seems like he's saying whatever comes into his head or is making it up as he goes along. I've had tons of support from people in work, so that's something. It's an unbelievable situation though and one that just doesn't make any sense whichever way you look at it. You're supposed to reward hard work, not laziness! Short version as what I wrote was looooong: I did everything asked of me, plus more. Yet, my lazy friend who I work with gets the promotion that I should have received.

Today was unexpected. Last week, I sent off applications for two different jobs and joined a teaching agency. I let my HeadTeacher know that I had applied for other jobs because it would have been fucking awkward had he received an email or letter asking for references and I hadn't given him a heads-up beforehand. So, we had a meeting and he told me that I'm definitely a big part of his plans, but he hasn't had anything finalised yet and it may not be for some time. Fast forward to today, I check my emails at 10-ish to find that I'm being asked to go to an interview. The job is for a Year 5/6 Phase Leader, which is virtually the job that I'm doing at the moment but currently without the job title and without the pay attached to it. The downside is that it's in Southampton, which is a bit of a drive away. Again, I had to go and tell the HeadTeacher and request/notify that I would be having time off. We had another chat again and he again reiterated the same stuff we talked about yesterday. Throughout the day, I passed on the news to my friends at work and received a whole range of responses. Some wished me the best of luck, some were genuinely gutted, one or two looked very tearful and another one was angry that I'd been placed in this situation in the first place. The fucking plot-twist is that the other school I applied for got back to me just as I was packing up and have invited me for an interview, too! This is completely different to my situation when I first started out teaching. I must have sent out 40 applications in Wales and got nothing back exception 2 rejection letters. In England, I sent off 2 at the start of my career and received an interview for both, where I obtained a job in one of them. Again, I've sent off two applications and received an interview in both. So...I'm able to get interviews in England. Somehow. I've got a lot of things going on in my mind now. So many choices and decisions to make. I'm obviously going to both interviews, because it would be fucking stupid not to go. There's also a hidden choice where I keep looking until I find an even better job because a bigger role may come up, since I am able to at least be somewhat successful in getting the interviews in the first place, which is half of the battle. Part of me is fucking annoyed by the whole thing. Why are certain people who I work with allowed to be lazy and receive credit/promotions, yet I have to go through all of this crap?

When people are disillusioned, pissed off with their lack of prospects and potential for wealth in their area and are tired of seeing politicians constantly lie, they're more easily fooled when somebody parades around confidently and gives off the aura that they have the answers to everything, even if they don't.

It's mind-blowing how Trump is even getting this far. It displays everything that I hate about US politics. The mantra of US politics seems to be that "if you throw enough money at it, it'll work/win" which I just don't agree with. It doesn't mean the best candidate is right for the country. It's about greedy (rich) people who already have tons of power obtaining even more power and the money that comes with it.

MEEEEEEERRRRRGEEEE THEEEEEEEEEEEM! I've been chatting with @Shorty in the mod-boards and we generally agree that the forums do need an influx of new, fresh and maybe younger faces. I'm hoping that the Switch will be a success because this place could attract new fans. We need that. I wonder if maybe people would create more threads if we abandoned the large mega-threads. At the moment, you could argue that the majority of threads could be condensed into three or four. The problem with that is that it makes the front page of Gen Chit Chat look empty. I remember back on C-E and in the early days of R-E where there were loads of threads each day. It's a bit of an illusion, but there is something to be said for having a busy front page.

I'm shocked at that. The email scandal is really fucking with Hillary's plans. I think both candidates are awful, though. Neither should be President and they are two poor choices to represent their country.

I've been thinking about this quite a lot lately and I'm just trying to figure out where I'm at. Generally, I'd say that I am (or maybe I used to be) an optimistic person. However, these days, I wonder if my balance has shifted and I'd class myself as a bit of a pessimist. I'd say that I'm a lot more cynical these days, mainly down to bullshit with work. Just curious what others thought about themselves, too.

I wish the Dutch one had the fluency bit. I'm quite curious about just how far along I am. I'm doing pretty well, if I do say so myself! My vocabulary has definitely improved and I'm much more used to the sentence structure/word order, which can be very tricky. My one weakness I'd say is that I'm not particularly great at anything past a simple sentence. I guess that'll come in time. I've got a 17 day streak going. I'm a bit annoyed now at those days where I didn't attempt it!

We've signed our contract and are just waiting for our vendors to do the same. If only they weren't the slowest fucking people on the entire planet! Our preference would be to move in before Christmas. It's pretty disappointing that we're not already in by now. I'll be seriously surprised if we're in by then. I wouldn't say the process is stressful. Just fucking annoying more than anything. We seem to be spending a lot of time just waiting on people.

I bought this recently and played through some of the first one last night, just after we finished watching Have I Got News For You. By the time I turned around, it was 1:30! There's something addictive about this game. It's threatening and there's a definite survival horror element to it, but it's also eerily welcoming and simple to get into. For some reason, I'm getting the same sort of vibe in this game that I got when I played through the Arkham games earlier this year. That grungry-gothic type of feeling. Safe to say that I'm really enjoying it. However, I won't be able to play any more until tomorrow night as we are going to Brighton this weekend!

The lack of faith that some of us are showing in GAME seems to highlight just how poor our high street options are these days. I'm more than ready for somebody to come along and challenge GAME. We used to have GameStation, who were always amazing to me. CEX seem to be the only other alternative, but they specialise in second-hand gaming. Too bad we don't have a Grainger Games near us.

Ah, yes that was quick. Consider that payback for that awesome moment when we played Ninja at the Meet!

I'm a bit shocked by all of the negative press relating to the gore of the premiere. It's meant to be a traumatising scene, and it definitely was! Unfortunately, I think the negativity has overshadowed the praise that should be given to the fantastic acting of the cast.

I assumed he was referring to this: Apple raises computer prices

I've just finished the story and made it to the credits screen. I loved it! Very satisfying.

Transformers: Devastation was added to Plus last month (I think) and I was feeling in a somewhat nostalgic mood, so I gave it a go. First of all, the graphics are excellent. The game does a great job of making you feel like you're in that Transformers universe. The sound is also pretty good, especially the battle music. It's cheesy in places, but I think that just adds to the whole vibe. I really like the gameplay. Some may find it repetitive, but it's very satisfying. The upgrading and weapon synthesising aspect is also pretty well done and you can definitely feel your characters getting stronger throughout the game. No real issues with it, as far as I'm concerned. There's a decent amount of collectibles and challenges if you want more from it, but I was just content to play it through to the credits screen. I loved it and it definitely left me satisfied. Games of 2016 Flower - Finished Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Finished The Unfinished Swan - Finished Grim Fandango Remastered - Finished Race The Sun - Finished The Wolf Among Us - Finished Injustice: Gods Among Us - Story Finished The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Ico - Finished Tokyo Jungle - Finished Grand Theft Auto 5 - Finished! Batman: Arkham Asylum - Finished Batman: Arkham City - Finished Life Is Strange Uncharted 4 Heavy Rain (PS4 Version) The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine Unravel The Last of Us The Last of Us/Left Behind Virginia Transformers: Devastation

I'm getting this purely for Disney. Donald Duck.

Wow. Half of those games didn't end up releasing in the end! Aliens: Colonial Marines, Dirt, Ghost Recon Online and Metro Last Light all didn't release on the WiiU.

Under a large marquee, with tea lights, candles and scones.

Maybe a Town Crier, too. Or a barbershop quartet.

I think all CVs should come as scrolls and should list every single thing that you can do.

It's expected, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it. Things are a bit ridiculous with additional controllers needed, shells, classic controllers, pro controllers, etc. I was hoping Nintendo would leave all that behind, but I guess there's money to be made there.

The GBA player by itself was useless though, was it not? You needed to attach it to the GameCube. The dock by itself is pointless. You can't do anything with the dock unless you attach the Switch to it. The Switch won't attach to any existing consoles like the GBA did with its player. You can look at it that way if you like, that it's just a handheld with TV-out. It's true and I'm not denying it. But, you could also look at it as both a handheld and a home console. Whichever way you do look at it, the end result is the same. You can start a game on the move before docking it and playing in on the tv. That's the main selling point.