jhado wrote:

no lol can you tell?

I guess I would be considered to be well educated. I was reading and writing before I could walk - started school a year early, won scholarships to a school for 'gifted children' though my parents chose to put me into 'normal' schools - started protests about girls not being allowed to choose football in games, school dinners being kack and tormenting substitute teachers - tbh I was bored in school I wasnt being pushed enough and felt like my creativity and critical thinking skills were being held back - so I was a pain in the arse to compensate. I did my gcse's a year early and was horrifically bullied for being clever. Outside of school my parents filled up pretty much most of my time with brownies, trampolining, home tuition, gymnastics, visits to museums, places of historical and literary interest, trips lasting whole summers traveling along the Maginot line - trips to the center for alternative technology in wales, camping in woods and learning to make fire, fish and identify plants etc. Evenings out at the opera, theatre and ballet, learning to horse ride and kayak - days out on farms learning about animal husbandry and growing food - looking back it really was a rather full and interesting childhood.

Since leaving school I have done an NNEB, A levels, A Degree and various art, craft, first aid, cooking, animal husbandry, computer and sewing courses for fun

That is a full and interesting childhood thor I wish mine had have been as full of activities as that

I wasn't gifted though I was happy watching cartoons and playing video games

irrepressible wrote:
I think you're a creative type, but you are frustrated and need an outlet. If you don't mind me saying so, I think that's a contributing factor to your episodes of existential angst and emptiness. You need to to express yourself. You enjoy posting online, so isn't some sort of writing a logical choice maybe? That's enough psychoanalysis though. GCSE's aren't the only option; there are loads of other interesting and creative subjects you could learn about in evening classes. You might even meet a good woman

Thanks Lesley I think you're probably right about the writing thing. Although I thougth most writers started out from an early age, carrrying notebooks around with them, observing life, etc etc. I never did that. But like you say, I do like posting online, and I like saying stuff online
On the half a GCSE course I did, I wrote 2 essays. One was about my trip to Japan, the other was a stroy about some stupid ring and gansters where involved...it was a crappy comedy type thing I read and reread them over and over...I said "that's a B" and "that's a B as well". The tutor gave me a B for one, and a B+ for the other My first and only essays (thus far)
I think I allowed my creative fire to die down and the flame is all but extinguished...not that I'm some big artist or anything

I'll explore my creative side much more. I used to draw, paint models, etc. So it would be a shame to never do anything llike that again.

get super baked outside and stare at the clouds and draw what you see.

batou wrote:
<---- that kind of thing bat?

I only take caffeine

@irrespressible. I never intended to write for a living. In fact, given some of my crappy posts with typo's and bad grammar you probably wouldn't guess that it's my bread and butter. I didn't find out that I could write until about 4 years ago and it wasn’t until I had to write an article for the selection process when applying for a job (which I got). I got A’s for Eng language and Eng lit at GCSE, but then forgot about writing really.

I always thought I would be an artist or a designer because I used to draw all the time and was actually very good at it. I'm not earning a fortune freelancing, but it's going in the right direction. Tbh I write about some disparate and rather dry subjects, but I enjoy researching and finding out about any new subject. I have always had a head for miscellaneous trivia and what I do just comes naturally.

I could chuff on and post shite in forums all day. The only drawback to my paid writing is that it get's in the way of forum posting

I think you are a fustrated writer

I didn't know you are a writer Lesley
It's definately something I'll explore. I used to write little stories as a kid, about skeletons in forests and that kind of thing I used to draw mostly though, and smash stuff
I set fire to my Millenium Falcon once, and I had a period of burning my toy cars
I had many frustrations as a child. I had parents who were...lazy and self absorbed. Every time I displayed an interest in something I'd beg them to buy me it, whatever the thing I was interested in was at the time. Even if it was only a notepad and pencils or a sketch book or something, it was always "no!". Bastards!
I starved for stimulation, and the gits paid no heed. So I then did the only thing I could...nick my grandad's ciggies and smoke them with my mates. Trash my room. Stuck tissues into the fire while my mum was asleep on the couch, almost setting fire to the carpet one time...good times

Frustrated writer...You've inspired me to get off my arse Lesley

It's never too late to learn new skills irrespresible

I went back to Uni when I was 26 and studied graphic design. Being a graphic designer or artist had been my ambition since I was a nipper. Got a job as a junior designer and found out I hated it. People think it's a good job, but often it's a thankless job and the money's not actually that good for the amount of arse ache you get.

I have a couple of regular design clients, but mostly it's writing these days. Not cool writing though. I mostly write business content and copy for websites, but also articles, a bit of sales copy, creative copy, blog posts, white papers and ebooks. Anything I think I can do basically. I want to eventually be earning good £££'s from it. I make a living from it, but not as much as I'd like, but then I've only been doing it seriously since Feb this year.

That's a pity about your folks. My parents were both teachers, I always had loads of art and craft materials and loads of interesting books to read. I used to read encyclopaedias for fun as a kid.

Mind you, my mum was ill with ME for years and my dad was mad as arseholes because of his manic depression. I just dealt with it by drawing and making stuff and had my head in a book the rest of the time. I am starting my group art therapy soon and I'm quite excited about that. When I am doing something creative everything feels ok, even if it's just writing stuff for a website or marketing material.

I'd love to be good at art...I mean I'm okay at art but I can't really draw anything out of my head. I used to be able to copy well.
You'd think graphic design would pay extremely well, that surprises me. It's in your locker anyway, if you wanted to pull it out one day It's a handy thing to have as backup I would think,
I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do when I was a kid. I just wanted to play really. But yeah it's never too late to learn new stuff, or to rediscover old stuff.

That's briliant that your parents gave you all those materials and books and that, I would have loved that as a kid, whether I gave my full attention to them or not, at least the stuff would have been there for me to use. I did like reading as a kid.

When I used to do creative stuff, it quietened my mind. I used to get into a flow of painting or whatever and go all relaxed and that

Definitely not.
I don't feel to bad about it because as far as i know the school i went to didn't produce any great climbers of the pyramid.
Wrong tie

humanspirit wrote:
The school I went to was demolished about 10 years ago That's how bad it was

It's just houses now.

I went to the typical American public school in a small town. I found a lot of the rules and rituals to be completely arbitrary, and the teachers to be mercurial. It became clear to me at an early age that I was in school to be trained to be obedient, rather than to learn real world applications and concepts like critical thinking. I focused on the essentials and did the minimum to cheat the school system and get by. After graduating high school, I started what I hope is a life long learning experience at grand design university.

irrepressible wrote:
Yep lots of that going on round the uk.

Went to grade school and had many clashes with the faculty and some students for being 'different' and always questioning things. I found that self-educating myself was much more pleasant and fulfilling. I later went on to an art college to study media arts and animation because of my love for video games and graphics. I loved it there and did quite well, maintaining a 4.0 but then I drifted elsewhere. I am still self-educating

I've just been looking at adult ed courses at my local college. There is absolutely nothing there that interests me...although they do run trade union rep courses for trade union reps, which look interesting. I'm not a rep however and I've a feeling that this kind of training would not endear me to potential employers, either.

As for school...hated every minute of it. Dropped out half way through A Levels and took a compooter course at local tec instead, as I wanted to be earning the moneez and get as far away from my family as possible.

That plan never really worked out unfortunately. Still, I wouldn't change a thing...

*weeps at the loss of his youth and a life seemingly wasted*