5 replies to this topic

[Donkeymog]

So I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, and it's okay. I've never really had a plan and I'm pretty pleased with how things have turned out. In fact, I positively revel in my lack of plans. That is, most of the time anyways.

 

I'm getting older. And I have a big family full of impressive people who have done lots of mighty fine things with their lives. I have spent most of my adult life smoking bongs, playing computer games, tripping balls at epic parties and generally being an irreverent smart-ass. I am happy with these things. These things have made me lots of very valuable friends who fill me with wub.

 

But I have no idea what I am doing next. Do any of yous guys know what you're doing? Do you know already what the next year entails for you and what it's working towards? What about the next 5 years?

 

Apologies for the bizarre RTS inspired thread title. Sleep deprivation is a thing.

[kspr]

we already have a stamp process for winning at life: 1) go to school, sit still, be quiet, pay attention, and like it. 2) go to college, sit still, be quiet, pay attention, and like it. 3) go work in the field you get a master's in, keep your head down, sit still, like it, and retire in 30 years if you're lucky enough not to get murdered first. i didn't do any of these, and my life is what i have to show for it. moving somewhere cheap in a few months, and going back to school. in 5 years i should be qualified to teach middle school, but probably working at radio shack or something

[lazlo falconi]

I had plans but they didn't work out the way I expected. I'm pretty happy with my life, but also very frustrated that I really have no way to improve it. In 2007, when I was in college, I had a no day like today mentality that still haunts me to this day. I wracked up a lot of debt, and not all of it was due to college. After the economic collapse in 2008 and a series of blunders that left me jobless for almost a whole year, and making barely more than minimum wage after that, I had a child that only pushed me further into debt.

I'm now trying to pay off a $20,000 defaulted student loan so I can hopefully use the money that the government is giving me for being in the Army to go to school, but I have to pay nearly 50% of my monthly income on payments for almost a year. I don't know if I can do this, because if I'm late even once I have to start all over again. And that's just so I can start making regular payments on it to be eligible to go back to school.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my plan is to live in poverty for the next year until I can (hopefully) get back into school and hope that that leads to a half-way decent job where I can be home in time to kiss my daughter good night.

[Vicious Parker]

Goal setting is something that I've only really tried within the last year. I grew up "wanting" to do this and that, but without a clear idea of where I really wanted to go, I never quite went anywhere. I still don't have a specific goal in mind for the future, but I'm taking steps in a direction that I hope leads somewhere.

 

For instance, I'm not just doing the weekly updates and sci-fi posts because I've got nothing better to do. They are kind of a baby step in to doing other more creative things (Such as Games for Explorers, which I haven't given up on, but obviously haven't done anything with just yet). The idea being that if I am doing something that requires at least a tiny bit of creativity on a regular basis, I will get myself used to doing other creative projects on a regular basis, instead of just "when I am in the mood." (Working 40-50 hours a week and raising a child makes it much harder to be "in the mood." Kudos to those who pull it off with style, but they are the exception, not the rule). Waiting for that creative mood, or muse, or however you want to define it, is likely what killed any creative projects I have started in the past. This is the main reason I have actually been so regular with these topics, and why I actually enjoy doing them. Hopefully I can start something else soon.

 

Another goal that I've had has been to find a place with my current employer until I figure out what career path might suit me better, if any. I've actually been enjoying my job, and have learned a lot of interesting things from different customers. Some questionable business ethics aside (why do I have to push credit cards? Then again, every retailer seems to be pushing that shit...), working in home improvement seems to be a vast improvement over working in fast food.

[Stars]

Most of my plans (get a proper job, move out, find somebody who wants to marry me, etc.) seem to come with the sentiment of: "It can wait until I'm done with school. Things will be less complicated that way." To that end...I am now in my 10th straight year of college, and naturally none of those things have happened so far.

 

On the plus side, I will be graduating (...again) this May, and this time I will be able to join a career field that doesn't involve making over-priced coffee. Then I can start paying my parents back for my last couple years of school (the amount I owe them has been contingent on my grades, and these classes are harsh) and save up funds for my own place.

 

The marriage part is harder to plan for, which is to say there is no plan for it. It will happen when it happens, and I'm not worried about it at this point.

[Puffin]

All I've ever wanted to do is be a published writer. It's the only career I've ever really wanted, but I'm not that fast of a writer and I've yet to publish anything. So... now I'm planning on being an animator so I can have a regular job along with being a writer or at least until the writing thing starts to pay off. Though, honestly, I'm not sure how that will work out, especially since I find that I really just like the planning stages, like concept art. Which is more a freelance field. And I suck at freelancing. Actually, the whole art field for me sucks because it relies heavily with putting yourself out there, taking a lot of risks and talking yourself up to people constantly and I'm... not social. I down right hate being around people most of the time. But at the same time, it's at least some sort of plan and I can change it around if I feel I need to. And who knows, maybe halfway through college I'll publish a book or two, make some good money and then go off laughing while abandoning college altogether and live life as a hermit forever. :p

 

Though, seriously, beyond planning for some kind of a career as an artist, I got nuthin'. I might one day get married, if I meet anyone who I can stand long enough to contemplate it with and I might have kids, but I'm only comfortable doing that one after I have some kind of stable money and even then, I might prefer adopting instead of having my own. Hell, I don't even know what country I'd like to live in yet, I just know I haven't been anywhere I like enough to stay.