Rayvin

Assuming you have the £27k or so it'll cost to do this over three years (unless you take Alex's option which may be cheaper), what do you think university will give you that quitting your job, keeping yourself afloat for a year or so, and simply starting to write things, won't? Do you want to write, or are you thinking of going into marketing or perhaps journalism? I can absolutely see the benefit for the latter two, but not so much for the former. Having said that, I appreciate you're not looking for a critique of your actual decision - with respect of being a mature student, it can be tedious with all the young ones around getting bladdered every evening, but you'll probably find you outstrip most of them anyway just through diligence. I absolutely do think it was rewarding when I did it, and helped me to re-frame the way I was looking at my life up to that point. I'm tempted to go back again in future, if the circumstances are right, which is likely a good sign. Learning things can be incredibly satisfying.

It's not quite the same although I was technically a mature student, but I did a masters degree when I was 27 and just had to apply to the institution directly. Didn't go through UCAS. You're gonna get hit with fees though, and the loan arrangement is different as I understand it for mature students. What do you hope to gain from what you're doing though?

Riiiiight. So whatever is wrong with Arsenal fans is apparently contagious then. Londoners man...

Am now 285. Started the raid tonight and Fuck. Me. It's not hard in the conventional sense like, but it's fucking brutal in terms of non-conventional difficulty. Worth a run at though. We spent 3 hours on it tonight and cleared one room.

That sounds useful cos despite what Ant says, it's really hard. We just don't have enough time left by the end. Ant, how much time did you have when you got there?

It's ok, we don't understand why he's on there either.

...you know that's our Fish, right? He just can't help himself.

I'm pretty sure that by any reasonable metric, you're now both nazis. Just saying.

Maybe I've just missed the joke from Fish then. Wouldn't be the first time.

I assumed you played poker professionally...

I feel the need to make more of a point about this issue being on both sides now. It's not just the SJWs with their will intentioned but highly disruptive nonsense. The entire discourse is dominated by snowflakes. Video games were the line that should never have been crossed IMO. Tempted to argue we'd have averted Trump otherwise...

Tempted to argue this is Wolfy's point - you do what you need to survive, and as the need to survive diminishes, you become more free to pursue other things.

Well, you and me both then.

Decent post.

That's actually an encouraging thing to read, that last bit. Although having said that, is he happy?

I think the argument runs that 'where do you draw the line'. Gun toting Pandas? Mid-war alien invasion? Guns firing cotton-candy? EDIT - Also, if inclusivity becomes more important than historical accuracy, wouldn't you have to go all the way with all social labels? Don't disagree with doing so actually, but you can't just half-arse it if inclusivity is your priority. Having said that, it doesn't bother me what gender anyone in the game is. It also doesn't bother me really whether the nazis are wearing nazi clothing. What bothers me is the infantilization of our culture by one group of people trying to protect everyone else from everything, and another group actively trying to wind them up by going to further and further extremes, and the inevitable overspill into normal life that we're now seeing. The culture war. For idiots, by idiots.

Kind of agree with this.

...and what if you don't want to be an artist

What if what you enjoy doing comes with external disapproval, thus instilling guilt and feelings of inadequacy?

It's definitely what I just said then

Good point - never been arsed about a legacy myself, but I think it's important to arrive at your death bed and have as few regrets as possible. Although I guess this could be mitigated by arriving at your death bed and working through a bottle of whiskey until you feel better or die. After which, it doesn't really matter anyway. What if you need to feel a sense of success in the moment, as you live through your life?