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Greetings, my fellow eSouthAfricans, this is Derek Van Groovin, your favorite troll, and I have absolutely nothing to say, but I feel like posting something anyways. I am inspired by the genius of Travis Granger and I hope to emulate a scintilla of his profundity. I also want to address some questions that both of my loyal readers may be wondering.

As you notice, I have a new name for my paper. Actually it is a new paper, as my old paper, Van Groovin News, still exists (see http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/van-groovin-news-197038/1), but I don't have access to it. Many moons ago, another citizen gave me a paper and we duly recorded the transfer, but it never went through and I figured it slipped through the cracks and went ahead and bought a newspaper. Suddenly the admins get around to processing the request, and I had a new paper entitled "For Sale - 0 Gold". Of course I wanted to change the name, but Van Groovin News was already taken. The logo that you see was already set, so I decide to run with it for the name, for the moment at least.

What's up with my username? Well, that actually is my name in RL - N. Derek Vanderhoofven. It's a good Americanized Dutch name, I think the original was something like "Van der Hoven" but when my great-great-great-grandfather went through immigration it got mangled. When I signed up for eRepublik, I had no idea that whatever name I chose I would be stuck with forever, or I would have chosen something shorter and more clever. A while back I got the nickname "Van Groovin" - it apparently comes from what you do for fun in Vancouver after dark. So I prefer to be called "Derek Van Groovin" here.

Why am I friends with Ajay Bruno? Well, he was the first person to ever PM me in the game and was my 2nd friend (the first quit after a couple of days). I was living in eColorado and he was seeking my vote, which he didn't get by the way, I voted for Daphne Lilac, but I thought he was cool. I did think he got a raw deal in having his party PTO'd in August, and when he decided to relocate to South Africa I decided to come along and watch the fireworks. I had no idea that there was such a great community of people here or I would have tried to fit in better. My beef with Ajay has to do with his foul tongue, like using the "N" word. If he would apologize to those he has offended (not me), then I would be one of his supporters; however, I don't expect that to happen.

Why am I living in Spain? The short story is because that is where I can earn the most for my skill level (22 pesetas where 33 ESP = 1 gold); also I can fight in the North American battles. I can buy 4 guns per day and get more than 200 damage points. I hope to make General in a few months. I would encourage others to move to where they can make the most money, as you can still vote, except for party president.

A few more points in my rambling, noncoherent speech:
- I didn't really know Gabriel Borien as I only had a brief pm exchange with him, but he struck me as being extremely dedicated and honest. I am sorry to see him go.
- I am very impressed with Deniz Khazari and I hope he runs for Congress again.
- I still think there is a way for the RBSA to be making a lot more money on the market; however, this will have to wait until Congress can issue more currency. I think the RBSA could be earning almost as much every day as the country is collecting in taxes, and I would like to see some discussion of this point. Please don't just reset the rand to 0.01 when the new currency arrives.
- I think more diamonds could be sold with better marketing in the eUS, eSpain or eGreece. Even with a Q5 hospital, it is still worth buying gifts because they might let you fight 5 times instead of 4, or even a 6th time. How many SA gift companies export? I think there is a need here.
- I think it is ironic that the day after a resistance war pops up in Free State that an agreement is made to repurchase Free State, via a resistance war. Is there a connection there? Maybe. I think having more unauthorized resistance wars is a good thing, and is not a breach of contract. Let's make friends with the Theokoreats, and make Brazil sweat a little. It might help the negotiations.
- I think it is funny that when a country is overrun, it still has a president who can propose laws by himself and vote on them. Look at North Korea.
- There is a resistance war going on in Chagang, North Korea. If it is successful, maybe former CDA members could relocate there.
- An article in the eUS press is criticizing people for fighting in California, and not following DoD orders. I think if people are in the military they should follow orders, otherwise they can make up their own minds on where to fight.
- I think it is funny that Sol missed a wargame because the president of ePhilippines feel asleep and didn't start it on time.
- I see that Ajay is running for eSA president. I thought that he had promised not to run, and that he was only interested in Congress.
- San Franciso had a resident named Joshua Norton, who proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States. eSouth Africa has its own self-proclaimed Kaiser Alex, who is president of his own 1-person party, and is now running for president of the country.
- Remember those who died on 9/11.

--Derek Van Groovin