Ok so here's another "I'm stuck and I need advice" post, this post also has a link to University in it (which ones don't?!).

I have the opportunity to buy a 2004 registered Citreon C2 LX. It's in good shape and it's cheap. Insurance is still expensive but I can just about manage because the car's so cheap. Here's the thing though, I'm not sure how much of a necessity a car will be when I move to Cardiff. I would guess it's just as useful in Cardiff as it would be here as I'll have to travel to a hall 40 minutes walk away for kickboxing plus I'll be shopping at Uni.

But do I buy a car, keep it for a few years and build a no claims bonus; or do I keep my money and be a bit more financially secure for when I move to Uni? I think I'm abusing this blog by posting these "help me" questions. I guess I need someone to tell me "yes" or to tell me "no" or I just feel like I'm acting on impulse – which technically I am.

So buy a car or be exceptionally financially safe? Hmm.

I have definitely lagged behind with a post this week. It is with a heavy heart that I have to say there is not very much going on in my life this week.

Kickboxing has been going very well; I've had to go on my own for a few weeks now because my partner has taken quite a bit of skin off his hands. This has led me to go further, training with different opponents at a much better skill level than me. I know I am better now for a few reasons. Firstly, all the black belts commend me in training and after sparring, this is good, I know I am progressing and that makes me want to go further. Also we stretch our legs before we do any kicks. When I started I could barely get my leg 2 foot from the floor without screaming in agony. But now I can keep my leg on the shoulder of a 6 foot man without whining. It hurts but it's bearable. This is good progress on my part and hopefully I'll be able to touch the goddam floor!

I am starting to take kickboxing very seriously as well. I've just bought hand wraps, new gloves, shin pads, shorts and a gum shield. I need the hand wraps to protect my hands as they start to hurt now I can punch faster and harder. I need new gloves because my current ones are about to fall apart, but I guess that's what you get when they only cost £7. I need shin pads because the ones I use when I get there are used every week and never washed…yucky. I need shorts because my tracksuit bottoms are too long and restrict me when I'm kicking; plus they look cool. Finally I need a gum shield because I would like to keep my teeth. Now I tend to spar with 5 guys each week I need the gum shield as some guys can get rough. :)

Ok so I don't want this whole blog post to be about kickboxing, so I'll waffle about college and University for a while. College is still boring as hell and I'm still not learning anything. Very soon I'll be building an interface for a flower shop till using CodeIgniter and AG Complex Auth. This will probably be the highlight of my college work; working with CodeIgniter on my Mac in the middle of the room whilst everyone else works on the slow PC's on the terribly slow college network. I'm not being elitist but I'm being elitist!

I'm sorting out my student loans application. I'm almost ready to send off some forms so they can properly asses me for bursaries and all sorts of fun stuff. I've been looking at student bank accounts and it looks like Lloyds TSB is the best in terms of 0% interest overdraft and the benefits you get (free NUS Extra Card etc).

So there you go, that's what you missed in the last week and a bit of my life. I have more time on Friday to write a post before kickboxing so I will probably put up another post then.

It's F1 weekend folks. For those of you who haven't been following me on Twitter that long this is the time when my tweet stream turns into mostly F1 related tweets! (But only on race weekends!)

This weekend's race is in Bahrain and as it's the first race of the season it cannot be missed! Plus we're already getting into controversy with McLarens new rear wing. If you're not following there is basically an air duct in the car which directs air through the rear wing, decreasing drag and bettering the cars straight line speed; all operated by the drivers knee.

Thoughts on the McLaren Rear Wing

As a relative newb to F1 I don't want to comment to heavily on this, but I want to say my piece on the matter. A number of teams have stressed that this is illegal and should be removed from the McLaren, even though McLaren liased with the FIA throughout the build process. In the eyes of the FIA, it's legal. I think the other teams are having a bitch-fit because they didn't think of it first.

I am very excited for the new F1 season, it's good to have Michael Schumacher back, great to have a "British" team and great to have something decent to watch on the TV now!

Confidence comes in many forms, and is sometimes mistaken for arrogance. Some people feel I am being arrogant by writing a book; and being 17 this doesn't help in deferring them from thinking I'm an arrogant git.

I have been asked this quite a few times now when I tell someone I'm writing a book; the question is usually something like this.

Aren't you worried people will tear you apart if something is wrong in your book? Doesn't it scare you that you'll have such a large audience that are bound to nitpick you?

My answer is always "Absolutely not" for one simple reason. I've had code up online for well over a year now in the form of tutorials and libraries, and all the comments I've had have been constructive. Not once has somebody laughed at me if something is wrong, or I miss a semi-colon or put the wrong type of quote mark in a query. Everyone has been helpful. That's the key here, people want to help others, rather than shoot them down.

So, yes I am confident enough to write a book and put myself out there and I don't need to worry about people picking my code apart and asking questions. And if somebody is out there to get me and they start giving me negative comments, I'm big enough to take it on board and ignore it if I need to.

To all those who asked the question above, I'm not worried; I've no need to be worried. If someone wants to pull my code apart, let them. Let's see them write a book to the same level as me and then see whose a better coder. :)