Ask me anything......

[Flushdraw]

Fuck = MSN

Have we met in real life?

How old are you?

You don't hang about Michelle

[V for Vendetta]

It strikes me that you have worked very hard the past few years, as your posts indicate (and a brief in person conversation I had with you at the IO in 2009) that you have been very hard pressed in your day job (s) while adding the pursuit of difficult to attain professional qualifications into the mix as well. Did you always work that hard, or was there a tipping point of personal realisation that you could fit more into your week? If there was such a defining line, can you talk about it?

Great Question Lloyd.

Firstly I don't work very hard. It's like when I did the leaving cert I did 6 weeks hard study and I got 570 points (I should have gotten 590 and I'm still bitter about that). I'm blessed that certain things come easily to me. Some people I know work much harder then me and get less reward then I do. I want to put that on record first.

I drifted a little bit after college as I had stumbled out of it having bitten off more then I could chew with Theoretical Physcis and then having to repair the damage in my final year to get a 2.1. I had a lot of options but I ceded control of my life to suit other peoples agenda without realising it as I was just trying to rebuild myself and I had no expereince or mentoring to draw upon. It was 2008 before I regained full control and confidence and had a serious chat with myself and realised what I had done.

I then took a number of decisions and started building bit by bit towards my end goals. One step at a time and in big and small things both academic, professional and personal development wise. I've read this book recently and I wish I'd read it when I was 23. In my own way I'm trying to live the concepts in this book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pledge-Your-...7376843&sr=8-2

On that point, while your hard work (and plan to work hard in a structured way over the coming years) is likely to serve you very well in terms of financial security, do you ever wonder about what is potentially being sacrificed in its stead? Are there not times where you'd rather spend a bit more time with the feet up / purely doing things you enjoy or would that actually drive you mad?

I have a fantastic personal life. I am incredibly blessed by my wife and my family. Perhaps if I have kids I will need to reasses the balance of things in my life but I think I am in a content place and will be able to balance things appropriately when the time comes.

I do occasionally shut down completely for a few days btw and whilst from the outside that seems unhealthy it does renew me.

[SatNav]

Have we met in real life?

How old are you?

Whats the most you have ever won in a poker tournament?

Do you watch the Xfactor?

[Ziggin&Zaggin]

A pint with Bono with an indepth discussinon of your choice or a kick about with Ronney and a few gargles afterwards down the local?

[Keane]

Ideally I'd vote as follows;

Sean Gallagher 1st
David Norris 2nd
Gay Mitchell 3rd
Michael D 4th

However, I will only vote if the vote looks tight and I'll probably vote tactically based on the preference list above and how the polling is looking. I hate wasting a vote on a futile cause.

Why Gallagher #1? I asked on the BBV why he's even running and got no answer - seems bizarro to me...

[LuckyLloyd]

It strikes me that you have worked very hard the past few years, as your posts indicate (and a brief in person conversation I had with you at the IO in 2010) that you have been very hard pressed in your day job (s) while adding the pursuit of difficult to attain professional qualifications into the mix as well. Did you always work that hard, or was there a tipping point of personal realisation that you could fit more into your week? If there was such a defining line, can you talk about it?

On that point, while your hard work (and plan to work hard in a structured way over the coming years) is likely to serve you very well in terms of financial security, do you ever wonder about what is potentially being sacrificed in its stead? Are there not times where you'd rather spend a bit more time with the feet up / purely doing things you enjoy or would that actually drive you mad?

[V for Vendetta]

who will you be if you are to vote be voting for in presidential election?

Ideally I'd vote as follows;

Sean Gallagher 1st
David Norris 2nd
Gay Mitchell 3rd
Michael D 4th

However, I will only vote if the vote looks tight and I'll probably vote tactically based on the preference list above and how the polling is looking. I hate wasting a vote on a futile cause.

[Ziggin&Zaggin]

who will you be if you are to vote be voting for in presidential election?

[V for Vendetta]

Before the collapse of the Irish economy Ireland was veiwed as a single state with its own ruling.

I never belived this. I looked upon Bertie and as like a Senator for the state reporting to the his Bosses in Brussles. Was I rite in my thinking.

Today yes we are but were we not always?

We are a cork bobbing on a wave, always have been and always will be. Control and the trappings of control is an illusion to pacify the masses imo. A lot of the current panic is because people are beginning to get a little glimpse behind the curtain and they don't like what they see.

[V for Vendetta]

supplementary Q; did you borrow it from your Ma or your Da?

lol. I was living away from home at that stage.

I'm a fat unfit guy and never like to get into a row but I can occasionally get very angry and violent. My father taught me one thing in relation to fighting which was to jump to the end point of the fight and take that action first. He never actually sat me down and told me that but he lived it.

[Ziggin&Zaggin]

Before the collapse of the Irish economy Ireland was veiwed as a single state with its own ruling.

I never belived this. I looked upon Bertie and as like a Senator for the state reporting to the his Bosses in Brussles. Was I rite in my thinking.

Today yes we are but were we not always?

[Raoul Duke III]

I carried an iron bar in my bag for a week

supplementary Q; did you borrow it from your Ma or your Da?

[V for Vendetta]

Whats your say on Debt Relief Companies.

Are they to be trusted. Watchdog last week or so had a special on them and seems they are as cronnie as the banks that lent us the money in the first place.

Some people are stupid and need their arses wiped and so they go to a debt relief company rather than do some hard work themselves. A 100% honourable and trustworthy debt relief company would never make enough money to pay its staff.

[V for Vendetta]

If you had to fuck, marry or kill out of the people below who would they be?


MSN, bubbleking, Flushdraw, Raoul Duke, Connie

Fuck = MSN. I get on well with a number of gay guys and don't think I'm a homophobe but at a college party once two straight male friends of mine were dared into snogging. I'm still disgusted that they went ahead and did it over 12 years later. The idea of man on man is too much for me.

Kill = Bubbleking. Mainly because that would be a good challenge as he'd fight it. However I'd be unbelieveably violent in my approach so much so that he'd probably die of shock. I once had a guy messing with me and I had a feeling the next time things kicked off it would come to blows. I carried an iron bar in my bag for a week waiting for something to start so I could crack his skull open. He never came near me and there is still a part of me that is a little bit disappointed about that...

Marry = I'm already taken!

[Ziggin&Zaggin]

Whats your say on Debt Relief Companies.

Are they to be trusted. Watchdog last week or so had a special on them and seems they are as cronnie as the banks that lent us the money in the first place.

If you had to fuck, marry or kill out of the people below who would they be?


MSN, bubbleking, Flushdraw, Raoul Duke, Connie

[V for Vendetta]

Longer reply for RDIII....


Socially

You’d have to think that people at the lower end are going to get squeezed big time. There isn’t enough incentive for the middle classes at the minute with benefits so high and so there is going to be a major squeeze (by stealth of course) on the poorer economic classes.
However, the sympathies are low and so we will store up massive unrest for ourselves. Drug use and alcoholism will rise. Our relative pay compared to the rest of Europe is going to continue to fall but the people at the bottom will get hit disproportionately more.

As for what that means Politically well I think Labour have played their hand badly and so you are going to get fringe groups and Sinn Fein grabbing more and more power. If these groups get their hands on government then I think we won’t have a lost decade but maybe a lost 50 years.

Economically. As I said I don’t think this will be as bad as it should be (provided the fringe groups don’t get control) as we will get very cheap money ultimately and we have been anointed to be a “success” in much the same way as the basket case BOI has been anointed to be an Irish banking success. It’s BS but if Europe wants a poster child then we are it and they have the ability to allow us to paper over the cracks for long enough whilst things are very very slowly kicked into shape.



Should anyone with a brain have an exit strategy and if yes, what should it be?



Definitely. I was stupid in my twenties to pigeon hole myself quite badly as a specialist in a particular area. I will never make that mistake again. Having transferrable skills and globally recognised qualifications is the only way forward even if you never leave this place as it strengthens your hand at every negotiating table.

My own personal view is that London will remain the financial hub of Europe for the foreseeable future and I am ruthlessly going to ensure that I am very marketable in London finance circles. This includes getting some CISI qualifications and working on a number of UK and Irish projects to build up my knowledge, experience and reputation. Everyone should do something similar in there own knowledge/experience sphere.



What opportunities do you see arising in Ireland in the near time for those who still have funds and a risk appetite?

Things will get cheaper and at some point it will be significantly cheaper to employ Irish people, to lease or buy a premises and there will be a lot of incentives for Irish startup business. My plan is to own multiple businesses in time and get a diverse number of income streams with mainly foreign clients/customers. The return on that will be greater then anything else I can think of and will be more robust. Trusting other people to make more money then I can myself seems foolish to me. I haven’t met too many people who I think can and those that can aren’t looking for an investor.

[V for Vendetta]

What is your favourite curse word?

It changes from time to time.

Based on the numbers of times I use it clearly its fuck but at the moment if I'm really displeased I say cock.

[CHDad]

What is your favourite curse word?

[V for Vendetta]

You're a man with a certain clarity of thought when it comes to matters economic.

So crack open your crystal ball there; what's going to happen in this country over the next generation, socially, politically, economically?
Should anyone with a brain have an exit strategy and if yes, what should it be?
What opportunities do you see arising in Ireland in the near time for those who still have funds and a risk appetite?

Wow you really want an essay don't you!

I'm going to have to do this in parts.

I actually think it's not going to be nearly as bad as we deserve. We've gotten lucky in that the Europeans have made a mess of things and instead of cutting us off at the knees have allowed our mess to infect them. As a result we'll get away from the noughties lightly but a decade of little real growth is still probable.

I do feel that the quality of what we do and our productivity will improve and our systems will get a lot better (both public and private).

As for a life boat you betcha!!

I'm going to answer in some more detail later on.

Finally...Cardiff. Did you cry like a girl?

On which occasion?

For the Grand Slam I'd taken a finger in the eye after ROG dropped the goal in the celebratory melee. As a result my eye was watering at the end but there was no emotional tears. I couldn't drag myself away from the stadium until it was almost entirely empty though. It was an incredible feeling of unreality and delight for the team and the long slow progress to reaching that point.

The recent Heineken cup final was just an absolute happy party and a buzz that lasted longer then any other immediate buzz I've gotten from a sporting event. Not even close to tears though as I was just too busy dancing like a fat fool.

[V for Vendetta]

For people who don't know V very well, he is a certified genius (except at poker ), knows a lot about long-term investments, is an excellent public speaker and has shocking taste in ties.

Just to clarify the bolded parts....

I started my college career studying Theoretical physics because I thought I might be that good but I realised quickly that I wasn't. There is no shame in it but it was a harsh realisation.

I have a lot of opinions about long term investments but knowledge has yet to be proven.

I take pride in how much my public speaking has improved but I'm still on the journey.

F**k you!!

[Raoul Duke III]

You're a man with a certain clarity of thought when it comes to matters economic.

So crack open your crystal ball there; what's going to happen in this country over the next generation, socially, politically, economically?
Should anyone with a brain have an exit strategy and if yes, what should it be?
What opportunities do you see arising in Ireland in the near time for those who still have funds and a risk appetite?

Finally...Cardiff. Did you cry like a girl?

[V for Vendetta]

V for Vendetta was an awful film why did you pick that name.

Have you ever seen Raoul Stuntman and BCB in the nude, and if so what were they doing.

I love the film. It's way over the top sentimental but I like it and unlike 90% of films I've watched it on numerous occasions. Also the reason I changed my name was I was too identifiable with my previous username. The V for Vendetta moniker was pretty tongue in cheek in relation to someone who I felt was watching my posts for sneaky real life purposes on boards.

Also Boards were making some swinging changes to their rules to use peoples posts on their forum for publicity purposes and it was a small snipe at that. I no longer post on boards except for adverts.ie for that very reason.


I've never seen either of them in the nude but I was there to witness the finger willy incident "in the flesh" as it were by BCB. Still makes me laugh.

[Raoul Duke III]

For people who don't know V very well, he is a certified genius (except at poker ), knows a lot about long-term investments, is an excellent public speaker and has shocking taste in ties.

[Wesley Harms]

V for Vendetta was an awful film why did you pick that name.

Have you ever seen Raoul Stuntman and BCB in the nude, and if so what were they doing.

[V for Vendetta]

This is my 1,000th post on this forum. I've taken a great delight in how well we have transitioned from the old place which was the wrong location for the community to be gathered for a lot of reasons imo.

In the early days I tried to support this forum as much as I could despite the fact that I play poker very rarely these days but now that it's up and running I post a lot less but I still enjoy reading the threads.

I enjoy the range of topics on here and over the years have read many fine wells and specialist/hobby topic threads.

Some people would like to ask me questions (perhaps because I have spouted off on the odd occasion in the BBV or whatever) so in order to give something back for many a fascinating hour spent reading about an obscure topic I'm starting this thread.

If you'd like to ask me questions about anything then this is the place for one day only.