Iun

Argh... I had forgotten all about my student loan. You're supposed to tell them when you go and work overseas, but stupidly I didn't bother. That said, I've been earning less than the threshold for the majority of the time here, so that's fine. But now I earn a decent wage, which is a first in ten years since graduation. Anyhow, they're asking for an update on my details, which is fine and I owe them the money and do want to repay. However, I've no desire to get screwed over for money by these people. I think the best thing to do is tell them I'm unemployed now, then work out how much I need to pay back, then do so voluntarily to reduce the damage - but not be held to a certain amount monthly as this could result in serious financial problems. I know - my fault. I just booked a trip for Mrs Iun to Vegas for her 40th, and I just have enough to pay for that and maybe 1k back to these people without cutting the gound out from underneath me. Advice?

Cats are people too, it still amazes me how some of our fellow human beings fail to see that. I'm sorry for the loss, there will be a little fuzzy hole in that home for a while, but remember the playing and the cuddles.

Still really underwhelmed. Hopefully the movie will be as good as the first, though a slight dip in quality is always reasonably expected.

Don't let my unsatisfying experiences put you off, so long as it's free on the NHS, give it a go. Sorry to hear about the car troubles.

Just ordered Pikachu, Peach and Yoshi - 25 squids for the three, not bad. Can't find Pit anywhere. Mario massively overpriced.

God, that sounds wonderful. And it also sounds horrifically, radically and terrifyingly different to every therapy experience I have ever had. Which has been me talking and the "therapist" sitting in the corner going "Oh dear!" "What a shame!" and other useless noises. My "Psychiatrist" was just reading a list of questions from a sheet, and charging my insurance 250 quid an hour - more like 30 minutes.

Happy Birthday, you ... two?

I bought Little Mac, Diddy Kong, Zelda, Captain Falcon and Wii Fit Trainer to keep boxed. Most places here are now out of Mario, Link and Luigi :/

Well, I'm sitting here in China, the Piracy Capital of the Universe (sorry Altair 4), and if I want to give any money to Netflix it has to be via a VPN. There are licencing laws here, but they might as well be written on toilet paper. In a way it comes down to this: you can have money, or not have money. China is a unique case, however.

I got a Wii Fit Trainer to keep mint, thinking about doing the same with a few others. I will unbox Mario and a few of the others, but I don't see how Little Mac, Falcon and a few of the others will be used in any more games.

Well, if you don't get a girlfriend, there's your backup plan right there!

Sorry to say... don't count on it. Sometimes our siblings need to be thoroughly and convincingly cut off. I'm guessing you're the one who has most of his shit together in your family? Therefore you've always been the one to see the needless and copious amounts of leeway and "last chances" given to your more unreliable siblings, and in a schadenfreude-hope-they-get-their-godamn-comeuppance kind of way, resent being the stupid bastard born with an ounce of responsibility. I'm speaking from personal experience here, but it took my fecal-matter-in-skin brother being rendered homeless twice to turn himself around. My sister, who has always been in a bubble that includes her and my stepmother alone, has NEVER ever in her life felt like the shit has the potential to hit the fan if she pushes it ONE MORE TIME. And d'you know what? Much as I love my niece, and as glad as I am my sister is finally getting into part-time work after years of being a shitty, shiftless layabout: she needed a smack in the teeth aged about 15 the time she "ran away from home" when my stepmother half-heartedly forbade her from seeing one of the local scumbags. I spent an evening searching the fields with my father and the police, until she came home to very open arms and a declaration of "that sort of thing, you can't explain, but I understand why you ran off, I'll be a better mother". Fuck. And your sister, if she's willing to break your mother's heart like that at Christmas, needs to be definitiviely told that she's got work to do. Love, true love, may be unconditional: but the people who love you need better than recent performance to trust you with their love again. Until such time as you are able to show maturity, selflessness and common decency, your sister needs to be left out of the circle. No birthday cards, no weekly calls, no attempts to make the peace. It's on her, and until she has proved that she's worthy of the love, kindness and consideration that she's given, she's on the shit list. I really feel for your mother, it's heartbreaking for a child you've invested your life in to dick you over like this. You'll have to give my forthrightness on this, but really my Sibling Bullshit Quotient has been filled enough for several lifetimes.

This may sound trite, but I've found that the best way to avoid family bullshit is for them to be in an entirely different country. And then just see them once a year. And they call you on your birthday - if they remember. It's also incredibly sobering and lonely. BUT: the bullshit factor is reduced to zero.

Merry birthdays!

Merry birthdaychristmas!

Dude, according to the internet, I have Asperger's Syndrome, I'm a psychopath and I probably have skin cancer. Don't do it to yourself.

Thanks, you made my day!

I just got Fox and Link from Taobao here - 20 quid for both, which I think is okay for shit imported from Japan. I'm considering getting a Marth and leaving it unopened - valuable/not valuable?

So, grandad passed away at the weekend. "Months, not years" apparently meant "Weeks, not months." We always feel that there will be more time... I'll do it later, I don't have time now, I can't fit that in at this moment... But the time doesn't belong to us, it's not ours. It exists independent of us and our wants and needs. And then one day, time has gone.

I drink a glass or two of vodka a night. Neat. I can survive without it, but it's just a calming end to the day. Yesterday I didn't drink, or the night before. I don't think you're addicted.

Belated birthday wishes!

Lol,,, r u probably (still) 14?

Agreed. We were in the cinema watching III when Hayden Christensen shouts "I hate you!" and my friend just shouted "You fucking suck!" Just summed up the whole movie right there. That one line. Three words, so badly written, delivered terribly.

S05E08