The most annoying thing happened to me about a couple of days ago.

As you may have noticed, i have been lotering around these forums considerably less than before (if you havent, then you dont care about me).

Anyway, i was in the conservatory at night, happilily playing Age of Empires 2 one day and suddenly i am concerned about a certain burning smell in the air. I tolerate it for about 5 minutes because after all, i need to send some Longbowmen to the front.

The smell keeps getting stronger, and my brain finally manages to un-phase itself from the game-world and put me in a state of concern.

I look down at my AC adaptor, and i notice it looks much blacker than before, so thus, i pick it up for further inspection.

Upon closer observation i notice a crackling and sizzling sound is coming from the device. I start to worry. I quickly save my game, and return to looking at the adaptor. I take out the lead, wait a while, and put it back in. Still the sizzling and the burning persists. So i decide to quit playing and figure this out. As soon as i reach agains for the adaptor it makes a loud POP sound and ceases to work.

The next thing i experiece is picking myself up, slumped on my chair, absolutely shit scared. I check my underwear, no accidents. I leave the room saying to myself, no more game tonight. Read a book, sleep and have the weirdest of dreams in my entire life.

....yeah pretty much...

Hah! Serves you right for playing Age of Crap II! And didn't your momma teach you that your pc will self-destruct if you download porn?! Nasty Derf hehe



Nah, seriously, that sucks, but on the bright side your pc is fine. And to a lesser bright degree, so are you! An adaptor shouldn't cost much now, should it?

lol well said ox. and fran.

but hey, nasty business there. don't think i'd have touched it if i was you though. maybe make mole touch it...he's bigger than me. probably take a shock better lol.

not really your year is it derf?

lol not really only £117.

should be delieverd 2morrow.

eeek! that much? i can't afford that much in pence lol

thats strange, your student loan should have you saying otherwise, you still have some left over?......dont you?....

lol funny thing happened today.

So i was sitting in the "Consumer behaviour" lesson today and a classmate walks up to me and sits next to me, he needed to plug his laptop cord into the power switch and just then when he plugged it in a loud bang and all electronics cease to work in the room

He was lucky, adapter wasnt so lucky

lol it SHOULD be but i spent waaay too much on a certain someone for christmas/birthday *glares at mole* my student loan covered me fine last year when i didn't know him...lol

tut tut, mole, look what youve done to Pev.

Peltz, there must be some strange sub-concious, para-normal link between me and this other guy.

Perhaps we are a new breed of super-humans, maybe we are born to be super-heroes with incredible electrical powers.

or not...

Franny, youre always bustin my bubble! I will show you now as you get an electric shock through the internet!! Muah ha!

No really, i got the adaptor today and i have been doing nothing but playing Commandos II.

OHARA OWNS YOU MUTHA TRUKKAZ!!!

i do my work well


i guess at least you've stopped playing Age of shite in a can 2...

and no i didn't get an elctric shock....unsuprisingly

Can anyone explain the concept of a "student loan" to me? From its name and from vague memories i seem to know that it's like a (relatively cheap) bank loan to pay your college with aye?

But i'd like the indepth explanation, so go for it!

ok here goes

if you go to university you have a couple of options here. you can get your parents/you to pay for it all (expensive business) or you can apply for a student loan.

if you go for the loan, you can either do it non-income assessed, where you'll get a certain fixed amount (probably best if your parents earn lots and are just tight) or you can go income assessed. this means they'll find out how much you/your parents earn each year and will give you a percentage of the total loan available based on that. I think the max you can get is around £4000.

anyway you get the loan in 3 installments through the year: sept when you start, jan ready for the new term, and april to finish you off over exams. you have to re-apply each year too.

basically its different to taking out a loan from a bank because:
1. there's no interest to pay back on it. you borrow £3000, you pay back £3000
2. you don't pay it back until you're earning (i think) £11000 or more a year. and then you never see the money, they just take a small amount out of each wage packet. pretty much like taxes. you never see the money that goes on them, it's just taken.

also i think one of Blair's "brilliant" ideas is if you take a student loan, study to be a nurse or teacher, then work as a nurse or teacher for 2 (maybe 3) years, then the government will pay the loan back for you.

that help?