Transition and Decision
September has been a month of transition for me, personally. I’m back in school for the first time in 20 years. My car is off the road because I can’t afford it. I’m still not working. I’ve been learning how to live my life under a much different set of parameters than I have in a very long period of time. It’s been different, and it’s been exceptionally difficult at times.
As the transition began, I was forced to really consider what I was going to do with my spare time. As much as I love writing and love being active in social media circles, I knew that I had to be focused on school and doing the best that I can to succeed. That’s my first priority… over games, over writing, over just about everything. I didn’t know how hard the transition back to school would be.
So, at the beginning of this month, I had decided to drop all of my writing commitments and seriously scale back on social media presence. It was a very difficult decision to make; I had a foot in the door of a startup writing project that I had to let slide by the boards because I had to put school first. I was prepared to cut ties with my current writing partner in Popzara Press, as well.
It’s been over two weeks since I started school. I’m happy to report that I’m doing well. I’m active in my classes, algebra hasn’t become difficult just yet, and I’m starting to find my routine for homework. I found that, while I don’t have as much free time as I did before school began, I do have a bit more free time than I thought I’d have.
Algebra: So far, so good!
So… this is where I’m at:
I will be continuing to write for Popzara Press. I’ll be accepting whatever review opportunities that I’m offered (just in case anyone in PR is reading this), though I won’t be buying any new games for the foreseeable future due to money and transportation limitations. Based on the number of games I saw at E3 this year, hopefully my review slate will be more full as the busy season wears on. I’ll also still be working on some industry analysis pieces, though I am no longer privy to full data– so I’m a true Armchair Analyst once again. I would ask, if you enjoy my writing, that you stop by the Popzara website and take a peek at the work that I’ve posted there. I really do appreciate that kind of support; knowing that someone is reading the words that I type makes spending the time to write all the more worthwhile.
My social media presence will continue to be somewhat curtailed. While there won’t be 100-tweet days as often anymore, I will be making an effort to be at least somewhat active on Twitter every weekday. My presence on Facebook will continue to be more personal than gaming-related, and I’ll still be posting from time to time on Google+. I am thankful for the people who follow me on Twitter; it’s special to me that someone who’s not a professional can attract over 2,000 followers as I have.
As far as gaming goes, it’s interesting to note that I’ve moved back to current-gen consoles as of late– most notably the PlayStation 3. I just recently reviewed Double Dragon: NEON for the PS3, and am hoping to do more as the busy season gets underway. I’m not playing games on my Xbox 360 as much, but I still do turn it on from time to time. I still do play games at Retro Central– which is my bedroom, with NES/SNES/Genesis/PS2/Gamecube– but my free time has been spent more on games like Borderlands, NHL 13, and Zen Pinball 2.
I’m still very much in a transitional period, which certainly has a lot of challenges attached to it. I’m glad that I’ve been able to find the time to keep writing; I know that my life would be a bit emptier without it. I may not be as chatty as I’ve been known to be over the last couple of years, but I think that I’m finding a better balance in my life than includes gaming, writing, and self-improvement through education. That balance has been missing for a long time, and it’s nice to finally find it once again.
Thank you all for your continued support, conversation, interaction, and everything else. It’s been a big boost for me personally.
Good to hear, and good to hear from you. I seem to miss most of your tweets so this update is almost the first I’ve caught from you in a while. Good luck as always with school, writing, gaming and managing it all!
Nothing worth having comes easy.
Keep that focus!