How is everyone doing?

[DarkTrinity]

Wellp, I recently got hired from a temp to a full time employee working at Fantasy Flight Games(means I also got a raise), racking up that dough! Also celebrated 6 years with my boyfriend in October. Currently not in school, still not sure what to go for :/ Also started playing WoW, yup... I'm a Warcrack addict.. :>
And don't feel too bad, I'm 23 and still have my permit. lol.

Nothing too exciting beyond that, but I'm doing good.

Oh, I should probably add that I *was* in community college and got my AA degree/Liberal arts(Aka generals). And then stopped going because I still didn't figure out a major I'm interested in.

Nice to see you're still alive Axel :P

how about graphics arts?

I considered it, but so does everyone else under the son. It's a competitive field apparently. Plus it usually leads to a job in advertising. (I have 2 cousins that went for graphic design, though different fields in it) Also, I'm not so sure that I want to have art as my job, I don't really want to make things that other people want me to make. Plus I continuously hear the saying "do what you're good at, not what you love". And therein lies another problem, I have no idea what I'm good at :/

[Scotty]

Plus I continuously hear the saying "do what you're good at, not what you love". And therein lies another problem, I have no idea what I'm good at :/

Ah, I see you've heard my rants.

[TheZro]

@Scotty and DT: Of course I'm alive, did you think I'd die just like this! :D

Plus I continuously hear the saying "do what you're good at, not what you love". And therein lies another problem, I have no idea what I'm good at :/

Ah, I see you've heard my rants.

On a more serious note, apologies. I must protest. Doing what you're good at makes no sense to me personally, it all comes down to a simple question really, what is important? What do you desire? If it's money, then by all means go do what you're good at, but that is just messed up, because in total honesty all you're doing is getting stuck in a never ending circle of misery. Consider this "you'll be doing things you don't like doing, in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don't like doing. Which is stupid" - Allan Watts.

Point is, if you really love something, make it your job, because it will make much more sense and you'll eventually become a master at what you do (I'll get to that) because loving what you do is what drives you to be better at it.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, but there is always one thing, just ONE thing that you're better at than most people (but then again that same quote applies to about 7 billion people so...) never play by someone else's rules, and never be limited, never accept someone else's way of thinking, define your own. Sure it might not all work out but in the end, can you really say that you wasted any moment pursing your dreams?

[crozier]

Welcome back zro.
Glad to hear everyone (at least that has responded) is doing ok.

Well, yeah I've got soo much going on with my life. I've got university in less than a year, last year of high school right now. Finishing with around a 3.66-3.75 gpa-ish. I've going to try to be a studio art major, with emphasis on graphic arts. So I've been making pixel art almost every day it seems like, trying to get really good. I kind of gave up video games and computer games, with the mild exception when I play nintendo with my family (I played Banjo Twoie with my little bro last weekend, shame on me). I've got guitar classes as school and am practicing every day. Been playing guitar for about 3 years now. I'm not even that good cause I haven't put that much effort into it. Just filled out the fafsa last week, and my application to University of New Mexico  was accepted. So that's likely where I will be going for (at least) the next two years. I've got to sign up for another ACT (didn't do THAT well on my first one, almost a year ago- a 25). And I failed both of my AP-college tests (US History and Psychology), so I only have 1 advanced course this year. Hopefully I can get credit for one University class if I pass the AP test in May.
But to sum it up, a lot of school, a lot of art, and no fun. It's not too bad though
And heres the graphic art stuff I was talking about earlier. Finished this one today: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/75470.htm this one two weeks ago http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/75155.htm and a wip that I haven't finished yet http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15676

As for the zro-Scotty/DT debate (if you could even call it that), I would have to side with zro. If you like something enough, then just put in the extra work to become good at that. See, that's what I plan on doing with my life. I am only half-decent at art right now, but if I go to university and practice every day until then, I am sure I will be at a professional level. Might get stuck at creating flyers and boring stuff like that, but so be it; somebody has to do that, right? Nobody has the perfect job. At least I will be having a little fun doing something mundane and tedious, instead of hating to do that mundane, tedious occupation.

[DarkTrinity]

@Scotty and DT: Of course I'm alive, did you think I'd die just like this! :D

Plus I continuously hear the saying "do what you're good at, not what you love". And therein lies another problem, I have no idea what I'm good at :/

Ah, I see you've heard my rants.

On a more serious note, apologies. I must protest. Doing what you're good at makes no sense to me personally, it all comes down to a simple question really, what is important? What do you desire? If it's money, then by all means go do what you're good at, but that is just messed up, because in total honesty all you're doing is getting stuck in a never ending circle of misery. Consider this "you'll be doing things you don't like doing, in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don't like doing. Which is stupid" - Allan Watts.

Point is, if you really love something, make it your job, because it will make much more sense and you'll eventually become a master at what you do (I'll get to that) because loving what you do is what drives you to be better at it.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, but there is always one thing, just ONE thing that you're better at than most people (but then again that same quote applies to about 7 billion people so...) never play by someone else's rules, and never be limited, never accept someone else's way of thinking, define your own. Sure it might not all work out but in the end, can you really say that you wasted any moment pursing your dreams?

Well mostly the reason I say that is because I love art, but if art becomes my job and I end up doing art for other people and whatnot then eventually I won't love it. On the other end if I make art that I like and try to sell it, that would also be an awful job to have. I'm not worried about being rich or anything, but yea a steady paycheck is something I would like. So in the case of art, I think doing what I love isn't a good option for me.
In the case of my sister, I lean towards your opinion. She loves animals, and she got a job working with and training animals and is currently living in Florida and she loves her job.
Guess it all depends on the thing you love doing, lol.

[Yankyal]

@Scotty and DT: Of course I'm alive, did you think I'd die just like this! :D

Plus I continuously hear the saying "do what you're good at, not what you love". And therein lies another problem, I have no idea what I'm good at :/

Ah, I see you've heard my rants.

On a more serious note, apologies. I must protest. Doing what you're good at makes no sense to me personally, it all comes down to a simple question really, what is important? What do you desire? If it's money, then by all means go do what you're good at, but that is just messed up, because in total honesty all you're doing is getting stuck in a never ending circle of misery. Consider this "you'll be doing things you don't like doing, in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don't like doing. Which is stupid" - Allan Watts.

Point is, if you really love something, make it your job, because it will make much more sense and you'll eventually become a master at what you do (I'll get to that) because loving what you do is what drives you to be better at it.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, but there is always one thing, just ONE thing that you're better at than most people (but then again that same quote applies to about 7 billion people so...) never play by someone else's rules, and never be limited, never accept someone else's way of thinking, define your own. Sure it might not all work out but in the end, can you really say that you wasted any moment pursing your dreams?

you make what you are good at your job so you are financially secure enough to continue doing what you love as a hobby.

its nice to think that you can do what you love but unless you're a !@#$ing legend or what you love makes bank its hard to support yourself.

and in a lot of cases making what you love your profession can ruin that, its the same for a lot of people who became professional gamers or something becuase they get stressed the !@#$ out trying to maintain their skill and it ruins the experience for them

[Lingus]

Point is, if you really love something, make it your job, because it will make much more sense and you'll eventually become a master at what you do (I'll get to that) because loving what you do is what drives you to be better at it.

I think DT pretty much covers it. You don't usually get lucky enough to make a living doing what you love. And if you do end up with a paying job doing what you love, you'll eventually do it so much, or in a way that becomes tedious, that you no longer really love it, and sometimes you come to hate it. So really, you should do what you are good at, what you are able to make money at, but also make sure that it doesn't consume so much of your life that you don't have time for what you love.

To add to that, what you love might not be something that's even marketable. What you love could be your family or friends or sitting on a rock all day. You can't make money from those intangible things. But you do still need to balance your life so that you spend time with them.

That's basically the gist of my life right now. Without going into detail I've been working on the balance of making money and being extremely stressed out at work, and sorting out my personal life. I'm optomistic about the future and I know that things will work out. As long as we can keep that mindset we can always be happy no matter what is going on around us.

[(-.-)]

Heeeeeeeey!

[aedan]

Wow, It's been a VERY long time since i've talked to any of my good friends on here. I've been good, Got a job at Webers Shooting Sports (Gun Range). I'm 16 now, Getting my license this weekend! Got a truck and almost have enough cash for a Honda Civic I want. I've gotten more into computers and recently built my first gaming computer. Hopefully will be able to build more soon, I want to get a job/career building computers.

Wow, Really surprised to see TheZro on here again. Hopefully more past SO family members will come back.

Nice to talk to all you guys/girls again! :)

[Specialboy]

I'm doing pretty great. I'm in second year university now, at the University of Waterloo. I was originally in a math/business program, but I realized I didn't like business and decided to try majoring in computer science and pure math, but now I settled on pure math and statistics. I found I really love math, like proofs and stuff (On the off chance any other pure math majors are here, I'm taking smooth manifold theory and complex analysis, and some other stuff). That's about it.

[Jackabomb]

On balance, I'm doing all right. I'm a senior in high school. Got a good score on the SAT and got into the colleges I applied to (Liberty, Neumont, and Baylor). The problem is they're all private schools, which means I may have trouble paying for them. I've got my Dad's GI bill benefits (he never used his), but there's a limit to how much they'll pay for a public school. They pay the whole thing for in-state public tuition. I'm currently applying to UT Dallas because I forgot to apply to any state colleges when I did the initial rounds of applications in January. An oversight. High school's beating me over the head right now because I've got a D in three classes and an F in another. Why? I didn't give a rip about my homework for about a month. That tends to sink you fast.

On an unrelated note, in all honesty I've been doing pretty terrible lately. Let's just say I sympathize with Forum.

[Yankyal]

On balance, I'm doing all right. I'm a senior in high school. Got a good score on the SAT and got into the colleges I applied to (Liberty, Neumont, and Baylor). The problem is they're all private schools, which means I may have trouble paying for them. I've got my Dad's GI bill benefits (he never used his), but there's a limit to how much they'll pay for a public school. They pay the whole thing for in-state public tuition. I'm currently applying to UT Dallas because I forgot to apply to any state colleges when I did the initial rounds of applications in January. An oversight. High school's beating me over the head right now because I've got a D in three classes and an F in another. Why? I didn't give a rip about my homework for about a month. That tends to sink you fast.

brah i'm a senior in highschool too. all that stress i've built up in ap classes and shit is finally getting to me. haven't turned in an assignment in months.

i'm applying to colleges too. shits expensive, hope i get some great scholarships or i'll be getting !@#$ed by debt for years to come.

[Lingus]

That's basically the gist of my life right now. Without going into detail I've been working on the balance of making money and being extremely stressed out at work, and sorting out my personal life. I'm optomistic about the future and I know that things will work out. As long as we can keep that mindset we can always be happy no matter what is going on around us.

I just reread this and realized it was so vague and somewhat depressing that it made it sound like something bad happened to me. Nothing bad has happened, just the balance of my life has been shifting towards working extremely hard to keep "my" business running (it's really my mom's business, but I have a department that I run that is separate from what the rest of the company does). I had to lay off 2 people in my department, which means we have basically been cut in half in terms of work force, but we still have the same amount (if not more) work to do. With that in mind, the two of us that are left are doing considerably well, which is part of the reason why we laid of the other two people (they weren't quite carrying their load).

Meanwhile, after spending the second year of our marriage living at my mom's house (we were there for a little over a year), my wife and I finally "gave up" on trying to buy a house and moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. We're still sort of looking, but the real estate market is just ridiculous.

So yea, we're just trying to stay positive and in between working our asses off, making room for fun and what not (such as getting an annual pass to Disneyland and going on a 2 week camping trip.)

Hope everyone else has been doing well.

[venuse]

well im still working at walmart as a cartpusher, been thinking about trying to get a new car but car prices are just silly. work keeps getting sillier since we are constantly understaffed and they keep trying to get us to perform other peoples jobs which ends up preventing us from doing our main job of getting carts and doing carry-outs, like today me and my coworker were painting stuff. as soon as we tried to start painting here they come asking us to get shelving for people, or like how they were trying to get my coworker to do maintenance this morning even though they had a maintenance woman there to do the job.

[Lucifer]

Ouch, seems like ya'll are working pretty hard. I'm in a good place right now, working two low-stress part time jobs, one on monday-thursday in a warehouse for about three hours, and the other on fridays for about seven hours doing data entry. I'm also taking three classes at my community college, two history and one philosophy. My community college is incredibly cheap, $46/unit and about $44 for health and transportation services, including free bus transportation anywhere throughout the city. It's pretty expensive to live here though, but my mom is still letting myself and my sister bum around at her apartment because she's pretty awesome like that, :).

I'm still rather lost on what exactly I'm doing/where I'm going, just slowly but surely taking more classes and completing my general ed/igetc requirements. I'm very interested in history at the moment, but I also love math but I haven't done very well at it, and I also really want to take some political science classes but... wait I really need to take some intro earth sciences and physics classes too! Agh! I have a ton of possibilities right now and I'm not being pressured too much to make a decision, so I feel pretty fortunate.