Animedragon

Watching anime sounds like a good plan.

Wait, wait.... You have more than one Christmas tree in your attic??!

I've used the same artificial tree for years, my father bought it many, many years ago in the January sales when the local garden centre was looking to off load its remaining stock.  It's a very realistic tree, it even sheds artificial pine needles, so I have to vacuum the carpet each year after I take it down.

That sounds like you had a lot of fun. I don't think I'm going to try skating as I don't have a great sense of balance. When I was in junior school roller skates were the "IN" thing so I borrowed my friends pair to try out, it was not a good experience and I nearly did myself a nasty injury.

What you say is true and makes a lot of sense.

I've been retired now for several years and while I am a bit sad that  I've never had a proper girlfriend and remain single and live alone, I have had, and still have, some good friends which I've spent, and still spend, good times with.  I would have liked to have had a Special Person to share my life with but I've come to realise that being single isn't the end of the world.

You have a girlfriend and you hold hands and hug, you're a fortunate person. I never got that far in school or out of it, no one wanted me as their boyfriend, and I don't see that changing now.  I did go out with a girl twice, but neither occasion was really what you'd call a date and nothing came of the relationship.  So I hope your relationship improves and you move on together.

Like you I didn't like going to senior school, but unlike you I had very few friends and was the No.1 target for the school bully. Staying for a 5th year was optional so I took it because I wanted to take the exams and get some qualifications, but only one of my friends did the same, and he left halfway through when his family moved away. My exam results were mediocre which gave me the opportunity to turn down the offer of staying for the 6th year. Cherish those friends of yours they can make school bearable, being totally on your own at school is horrible. 

Oh Froggy, I'm so sad to hear that after you'd looked forward to it so much and worked so hard to save up the money.

I think you're wise to step back a bit and not rush into anything while you build up your prospects for life outside high school.

6 hours ago, froggy said:

Oh wow! It's been a while since I was on the forum. But, I have certainly learned allat about interacting with others. First off, people judge others for being rude, then gossip about them?? I didn't think it was humanly possible to be that annoying! And so many people alienated me for acting like a boy, as if that matters. Anyways, the efforts of my hard-work, art, and self-care practices are finally coming together! It's like the strings have a been pulled, and now I can have friends! Yay!

As the "new kid on the block" it can sometimes be difficult to become accepted into a team, but it looks like you've managed it. Well done for that, your hard work and perseverance has paid off. Now you can build on that and become a valued member of the team.

I'm really impressed that you've managed to save up so much money for your trip, very well done, and excellent achievement.

It sounds like you've got a good itinerary planned out so all that needs to happen now is that you have a great trip and enjoy yourself, which I'm sure you will.

5 hours ago, froggy said:

As of right now I work in childcare, which is fun because of the kids, but my coworkers are absolutely unbearable at times. Its my first job and I'm learning a lot of new skills though, and I may be blaming the uncomfortably of those frustrations on my coworkers.

It's always hard being the new person at a workplace, you get given all the grotty jobs that no one else wants to do, and because you're new you don't have the skills your coworkers have. The trick is to treat everyday as a learning day and also look beyond your workplace, use the Internet to find information about your job read up about products and procedures that way you'll build up a solid base of knowledge that over time your managers and coworkers will come to recognise and appreciate. But do not flaunt your knowledge, that's the best way to annoy people! Just get on with things and apply your skills quietly.

Final tip: If you're offered any training courses, grab them with both hands especially if the company is offering them for free.

7 hours ago, FaintStain said:

ah yes, the great commute, a reason I think why it will always remain just a fantasy. 
maybe in another life social interactions and crowds will be something I need not worry about anymore  
 

Being a White Collar isn't all it's cracked up to be.  I wanted to be one, but maths and me are not good friends, so I ended up as a Blue Collar and over the course of my career I met lots of White Collars and most were stressed over deadlines and high workloads. One Senior White Collar even told me he envied my job because I had all the fun. He wasn't entirely right, work in an on-site repro unit could be hard but I enjoyed my job and yes, I had a lot of fun doing it.

I encountered the "Ad-blockers are not allowed on YouTube" pop-up yesterday evening and found that if I just closed the pop-up window, by using the normal red X 'close window' method, the pop-up closed and the video played as normal without ads.

YouTube/Google will probably fix that 'bug' soon.

I've watched the "Colors" music video a couple of times and I can't make head nor tail of it. The animation just starts and looks like a series of  random incidents between two girls, then when the song ends the video abruptly ends and gives me the impression that the video was just background images for the song and once the song was over the video was just cut off because it wasn't needed any more.

Overall I found it a rather poorly made music video when compared to Porter Robinson & Madeon's music video "Shelter", which actually told a story.

The character I most relate to is Rin Shima from Yuru Camp.
Like me she's an introvert who is happiest doing her own thing in her own time on her own. But, also like me, she's not anti-social and she will join in with other people and go out with them if she's asked and given the opportunity to decline and is not forced to join in. She is softly spoken and is willing to share her knowledge and interests with people if they're interested, but she won't force herself on people although she does care for her friends, often quietly and sometimes secretly.

That sounds dire, you have my sympathies.

Summer school sounds like a contradiction. Indeed I don't think that the words "summer" and "school" have any business being in the same sentence.

I don't have a guitar but I'd be totally gutted if anything happened to the model railway I've spent the last 4 years building, many of the locos are scratchbuilt by me from plastic card and thus irreplaceable. So I understand your pain and distress.

3 hours ago, deaaath said:

exactly how i'll be doing it!!

sheesh man, well, at least you get to relax after working hard for so many years, you deserve it. i'd probably pick up some hobbies, do what my grandpa does and shoot some hoops at the park, or go on a walk. find some things that you might enjoy,...don't be afraid to spoil yourself either man. goodluck. 

Thank you. As well as watching anime I've got a couple of hobbies that I can now spend more time on I'm also involved with my local church so I keep fairly busy and don't have time to get bored.  I was fortunate to have a job I enjoyed doing, I did it for 48 years so I must have liked it . But I don't miss the daily commute into central London.

One of the good things about being retired is that the whole year is effectively one long break.

One of the bad things about being retired is that I no longer have the energy to do all things I'd like to do.