This is a classic case of the tl;dr syndrome. Read at your own peril, or amusement.

Hey guys! I've often thought of creating a thread with some info about myself, as I didn't create any form of newbie thread, so I figure there's no time like the present!

As a brief profile check will suggest, I'm a 16 y/o male from Florida (USA). My name is Drew, and here's a quick pic of me (sorry for the terrible-ness, I look awful in pics): Me and my boss cat. I was originally born in, guess where, Canada!

What? You saw a cat? Yep, we've actually got 2 of them! You saw Milo earlier, but here's a pic of both of our cats, Milo and Callie (over 2 years old, this pic is). We've also got 2 hilariously awesome dogs! Charlotte (also an old one), and Jack (this pic is easily 3 years old, perhaps 4, but cuteness factor is too high to ignore) *punches wall*! These animals sure can spice up my life, and we've become best friends over the years.

Now, more about me. I'm currently enrolled in a program called CollegePlus!, read the following link for more info about the course: Link. It usually is taking between 4-5 hours per day, but (as I'm not in a routine yet) it can end up taking a lot longer due to time spent here on Vizzed. I'm taking a few different courses right now, though only one is worth any actual credits. I'm taking Navigate, Critical Reasoning, and a Worldviews course (this one is for credits), as well as keeping up with drills for two complete courses: Speed Reading and Dynamic Memory.

Navigate is, in essence, a course designed to help me navigate through college and through some years afterwards. So far, the focus is on me, and it's really helping me learn more about myself. As I get further in, though, I will be beginning to discover what degree(s) I'm designed for, as well as what careers may interest me. Critical Reasoning is a pretty straight-forward course, I basically work to improve my Critical Reasoning skills (surprise surprise, eh?). Apparently, this will help immensely in my college courses, so I'm not skimping here. To be perfectly honest, I haven't yet started working on my Worldviews course. I should be 1/8th done already, but my Wisdom teeth surgery (I'll get to that later) really halted my progress last week.

Now, the two drills I mentioned. The Speed Reading course has vastly improved my reading speed, from 38 lines (in an average book) per min to approx. 108 in around 45 seconds. This is an absolutely amazing course, here's a link. The Dynamic Memory course didn't help quite as much, but I'm still working on that quite a lot. It's basically designed to improve memory using pictures or key words to help you retain info. Hopefully I'm able to get this down, but I'm still stuck on one drill: Memorizing "I Have a Dream".

I suppose it's not fair to mention school only, so I'll also mention a few different events that have happened recently. I'll include my trip to Canada, the recent surgery I had, as well as what I do on a normal day outside of school.

On a normal day, I pretty much spend my time (outside of school) either playing Black Ops 2 online with cousins or mlb789, hanging out either here or on facebook, playing minecraft, or doing stuff with cousins (watching football, playing around outside... whatever we can think to do). Sounds kinda boring, but that's my life.

My trip to Canada was so amazing! We did all sorts of stuff, from simply going out for breakfast with a great view to going skating at the Olympic Oval in Richmond, BC. I guess I should mention that I stayed in Chilliwack, BC. Beautiful weather, incredible scenery... it was just awesome. Some highlights included Ice Skating at the Olympic Oval (as previously mentioned), walking the Sea Wall at Stanley Park, enjoying the company of my aunt and grandma, and even getting to see a cousin and uncle who came from Alberta. I got back on Monday, the 21st, at 5:00am ET. Ugg, lol. My mom came to pick me up, and we spent most of the day either in Orlando, or driving home from Orlando.

Thursday (the 24th) morning, I 'got' to go to the dentist for a Wisdom teeth surgery. They knocked me out, and cut out all 4 wisdom teeth (OW!). Not one of the teeth were protruding from my gums either, so it's pretty painful. :/ I'm taking lots of meds (including Vicodin, though only when necessary), and am slowly getting better. Best news so far? I can spit without my mouth bleeding like crazy (yeah, really reaching)! As if that wasn't enough, I also discovered today that they accidentally sewed my cheek to my gum. We're going to the dentist office tomorrow morning, so hopefully they can help sort that out. If not, the stitches are supposed to dissolve in a few days.

There is a plus side, though! I get to eat lots of pudding, soup, and Ice Cream!!!!!! Tomorrow will be really special, I get jello! Gosh, I feel like a old dude with no teeth. :/ SAVE ME FROM THIS!!!

Uh, not really sure what else to share. :/ Uh, places you can find me?

PSN: zirram
3DS: 073472303952
Facebook: Link
Email: mrfeking@gmail.com

There's more, but I'm not one to advertise.

Questions? I guess I'll take a few. Please don't spam this up though, cuz then it'll have to be closed. :/

Secret summons... o.o

Ir seems like none of the best members made Newbie threads I knew about half of that already, but it is great to know the other half! Your cats are adorable! Hopefully you get your mouth all fixed up soon!  And be careful with the Vicodin lol.

tgags, That's why we're the best. It's probably just a coincidence... *cough cough*

Thanks! I definitly hope my mouth gets fixed up soon too, it's kinda rough not being able to chew or talk much. :/ I'm making up for it with this thread though!!! haha! I'll definitely be careful with the Vicodin, everyone I mention it to says "Woah, don't get addicted". lol.

User, I figured you'd know most of that (same with tgags), but not everyone does. If you want more info on the College stuff, pm me.

So, I forgot to mention how I came to Vizzed. (people have asked, people shall now know)

I was (surprise surprise) searching for how to play a retro game online. lol. More specifically, I was searching for Fire Emblem, my favorite game series at the time. I found what I was looking for, created an account a few days later (after deciding this was like one of the best sites ever), and promptly went inactive from early August to the last week or so of November (2012). I got back online, started posting again, and here I am!

I totally forgot to mention my friends here, so I guess I'll give a quick shout-out to a couple.

By far, my best friend here is Singelli. She was so quick to befriend me when I joined up, and she's definitely helped keep the site fun and interesting to me (I really only needed help with that when I first became active again). After Singelli, I gotta mention play4fun. Words can't describe my appreciation for these two, and I certainly wouldn't be even close to where I am now without them.

k, end post.

Huh, another old member making a thread like this... It's making me sort of want to as well to be honest and I've been considering it for a good while now. What do you think Murphy? (Well... Spell check named you Murphy so I'm sticking to it for now.) It might be worth it? How about anyone else who reads this? Send me a PM please.

But let's get back on subject here, shall we? College programs on a high school level? Impressive. Is the program free because that is something I might want to look into, especially if I can find something centered around Psychology. And where exactly in Florida do you live? It's not likely but given your age you may know some of my family due to age and possibly school area assuming you still go to public schools on top of College plus.

Oh, and I'm sure that it's safe to say this for all males (And probably females.) in our age group but we seem to share a love for food... Great.... Now your post is making me hungry, or am I always like that? I don't know anymore and I'm not sure I care. But let's pop back to education for another moment.

I'm also self-educating for the most part with over view from my mother, but I would actually have a pretty fun time talking more about your education so far because to be honest I'm lacking a little bit of organization and it would be interesting to talk to you on the matter. As for speed reading, well.. That's something I really want to learn, I love reading but I'm not sure I'm quite as fast as you but I definitely have some speed, at the very least in comparison to most kids my age seeing as I've been an active reader since the age of four. Still though like I've said I don't think I am quite on your level, any tips when it comes to speed reading?

I like how your cat is just chilling on your back like, "Whaddup fools?" Regardless, I remember the day I met you. It was early last year on a Sunday, when I commented on your warning fire image in your photo album, and one thing led to another [INSERT RAPE FACE] and well, now we are "the bro-cookies."

Too bad the 'welcome to vizzed' joke is getting old. 


Now I have even more info... xD Btw, your cats are quite the cute ones! I have always wanted cats alongside our dog, but too bad that won't end pretty.

Wisdom teeth are fun, huh? You are so lucky that your dentist put you out. Mine didn't, but my dentist didn't cut mine out either. No, I spent the better part of an hour with Dr. McAllister's knee in my chest. Also, there was the comforting sound of breaking teeth to make me feel all warm and cozy. Personally, I think he enjoyed himself!

You know, in that picture of you with Milo you look a lot less like a bouncer and a lot more like a... lab technician. You have access to Ebola, don't you?

Frodlex : I've been called many different things, Murphy is small potatoes (get the pun?) compared to some... If you want to create an about me, I don't really see a rule against it. Just be sure to give me a link.

It's certainly not free, but it's a lot cheaper and has a lot higher value than most college courses. For me, it'll probably cost about 30k(?) to graduate with my bachelors. Perhaps more, it'll really depend on my degree. I live near Gainesville, FL. I don't go to public school at all, but depending on what kinds of things your cousins do I might have met them...

haha, food is awesome. Just sayin. Of course, stuff like Spinach is abominable. lol. I don't know who in their sane mind would even try the stuff, unless it's in very small pieces mixed in with heavenly food. Just try to avoid thinking about the pizza and Jello I had today, I'd hate to torture you (I'm in pain, I get a break from only healthy foods lol).

To avoid another tl;dr, I won't mention everything the course went over. A couple tips are: Use your hand. Train your eyes to follow your hand when reading, and then move on to the following drill. Find a 'for fun' book (non-fiction), something you know well. Open to the first chapter, and read (following your hand with your eyes and going all the way from each side of the page to the other) for exactly one minute at your comprehension level. Then, double that speed for a min. Don't slow down or stop for anything. Start with this one at the beginning of the first chapter as well. You should go doubleish the distance, and not understand many words. Next, go back to the beginning of the first chapter. Read at triple your first comprehension rate for exactly a minute. You shouldn't be able to understand hardly anything, since you're going so fast. Comprehension is not the goal when doubling or tripling your speed. Now, read from where you stopped this last time at your comprehension rate for another minute. Repeat 3 more times. Drill should take around 16 mins, and will help train your brain to read faster. Do this daily, hopefully you'll see improvement. The course is soooo helpful though, he gives you tips for hand positioning and everything! If you have money allotted to schooling, and have some extra, I'd recommend trying this out. Feel free to PM me or chat anytime about school.

BluemageKyle : haha, he's just that awesome. XD Usually, he won't even let people hold him or whatever, but he was feeling extra affectionate that afternoon. Btw, notice the swelling on the jaw? I <3 surgery, lolol.

FunnyFurret : Lol, I think that got old after the first time.

hehe, you're adding to your mrfe file? o.o stalker! Our dogs have learned to fear our cats, and our cats ignore our dogs, so it works out. xD

thephantombrain : Ouch, that really sucks lol. I often question the integrity and sanity of some dentists, they seem a bit happy to accidentally under-dose you with meds or something.

lab technician? I guess I'll just say I'm a guy with many interests? xD

mrfe : Wait a minute, something doesnt seem right here. You are only 16? I expected you to be in your 30's.

zanderlex : haha, really? You were only 14 years off, close enough. I actually get more than a few people thinking I'm older than 16, lol. I've been mistaken for 18 when I was around 10-12, so I guess I just am good at deceiving people or something. lol.

Yet another brief update. I'm going for my first attempt at my full drivers license in just a couple hours!!!! I'm pretty confident, but still a bit nervous.

Nice to finally get to kniw you more. (i wish i was at florida right now..instead of being here in the cold weather).... Anyway..have a nice day.

tgags123 : Well, some of the well known users has made a Newbie thread and some don't, so we're more going to say half of the well known users on Vizzed

supercool22 : Heck naw dude. I live in Florida and ive never seen snow. Its 85 degrees in fall. Let me just say this I get cold when its 70 degrees. I bet id get hypothermia at 50 degrees lol. jk probably not at 50. But on christmas last year it was like 80 degrees. Anyway just saying Florida is not all what people say it to be. Yes they say its warm but 100 degrees in the sumer? No they leave that part out. But it is freakin hot in the sumer and warm in the winter. Just once I want to see snow............. Not saying I dont like Florida I love it just I wish  I have seen snow. How does it feel? how does it feel to truly be cold...............

supercool22 : Naw, it's waaaay too hot! D: It's in the 80's F today, as usual for this time of year. :'(

IgorBird122 : But the didn't side is awesomest since I'm on it.

Firestarthecat : I live in FL, like you. We used to live in Chilliwack, BC, Canada (just southish of Vancouver), so I have seen snow though. Trust me, it'd be cold. lol. It is quite beautiful though, and fun to play in!!!!

So... I got my drivers license!!!!!!!! I also pre-registered to vote (I'm with the elephants, woot woot! ). I'll get my Voter ID card around the time of my 18th birthday, but I don't have to do anything else! Now, which Vizzed user to travel to first...

mrfe : That is true, because anyone that created a thread in the Newbie board don't really last long, only a few manage to keep on going for a good, long time

IgorBird122 : Not necessarily... There are some members who did create a noobie thread and lasted for quite a while. Still, my presence on this team makes it the epic one.

tgags123 : "seems like none of the best members made Newbie threads" I am trying so hard not to take offense to that right now... *closes eyes and grunts several times* Nope, I just can't do it. O-ffense is officially taken.

mrfe summon fail: Man, I never saw that coming. I totally had you pictured as looking different. Oh, and I love the pets! Especially the cats! I used to have a Calico named Cally as well.

Eirinn : You made a newbie thread? I have just noticed that if I look at the threads made by *MOST* of my favorite members, they didn't make a Newbie thread. Sorry!

mrfe : Yeah. Snow must be nice! I might be going up to kansas to see my brother this christmas so i might see it upthere! he saw snow the first day he arrived. (He's in the army so after christmas he will be going to kuwait.