Back in the Saddle
"What do you do?"
"For a living, or for fun?"
"Either one."
"... Nothing."
Well, it's been a long time since that fateful New Year's Eve at Imrie, and plenty of things have happened in the span between then and now. Unfortunately, one very important thing has NOT happened since then: I have not managed to figure out what I want to do with my life, and seem to be even further from figuring it out than I was then. In the words of a character from the film Stripes, "You're going nowhere, John, and it's just not that cute anymore." Most recently, I had a couple of awkward social interactions when out with friends that called attention to my current state of being (see the opening quote) and had a difficult telephone conversation with my mother in which she expressed her concern for my future and for my attitude, claiming that I've become "too passive" and that I need to "get mad at the world" for putting me where I am today (though not at myself, because that really wouldn't do much good in terms of motivation.)
So, with that in mind, I have begun my multi-phase rehabilitation process...
JOHN'S ROAD TO BECOMING A PROPER GROWN-UP, PHASE 1
Step 1: Unplug the Xbox and hide the controller. We may be saving money by not having a cable subscription, but using the Xbox as a media center has the unfortunate side-effect of sucking up huge chunks of my free time (and it's all free right now). Sure, I enjoy playing video games, but I need to start exercising some self-control and only playing AFTER I've done enough productive things to consider the day a step forward.
Step 2: Put the past behind me. As much as I'd love to believe the contrary, I'll never return to the comics industry. It's sad, but admitting it frees me up to find something else to do with my life. I should also admit that a degree in Business Administration/Management from a small, public liberal arts college may not be the only credentials I'll ever need to succeed.
Step 3: Figure out my strengths and passions. I'm sure this doesn't require much work for most people, as they have the personal insight to know what drives them and what their strong points are. For whatever reason (be it genuine inability or some sort of subconsciously forced modesty) I have an insanely difficult time with both of these tasks. Since I can't just do this by sitting in a room for a few minutes and writing what comes to mind, I'm going to try a few external methods. I'm going to look for a reasonable (in quality and in price) career counselor/coach (If you know of a good one, please tell me!), and see if I can take the Strong Interest Inventory test again. Unlike the MBTI, it measures your interest in different lines of work and different roles within an organization. The last time I took it was in the middle of high school, and it would be safe to say my perspective has changed quite a bit over the past ten years. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to see a pattern that reaches higher than "entry level administrative assistant."
Step 4: Find a recreational interest that involves creating rather than consuming. I would like to avoid another moment like the one I had at a party this past weekend, where I was completely stymied when someone new asked me the most basic and innocuous of questions, "So what do you do?" Not only do I not have an answer in terms of what I do for a living, I don't even have a very good answer in terms of what I do in my spare time! My answer was something along the lines of, "Nothing. I selfishly sit on my couch all day and play video games, watch movies, read comics and listen to music."
I'm nothing if not honest.
This is actually where the LJ fits in. I'd love to jump back in to recreational blogging and start WITWAR up again with a solid direction and articles that are more than simple reviews of comics and video games, but before I can do that I need to get back into the habit of writing in a general sense. This isn't designed to be read by the general public, so I don't have to try to write for a wide audience (not that I ever got above 80 views per month anyway, and most of those were people who found the pictures in the entries via Google image search.) Plus, writing down details of my day-to-day life forces me to look back on things I've recently done, and that can help when looking forward to things I would like to do.
That's phase 1, such as it is. Phase 2 will likely involve such exciting activities as determining what sort of job fits my passions and strengths, what credentials are needed to start a path toward said job, and how to get them. In the meantime, I look forward to making these changes, and to being a part of an online journal community again (I haven't actively posted on such a thing since 2001, back when I was a member of OpenDiary.com.) Here's to life!
"For a living, or for fun?"
"Either one."
"... Nothing."
Well, it's been a long time since that fateful New Year's Eve at Imrie, and plenty of things have happened in the span between then and now. Unfortunately, one very important thing has NOT happened since then: I have not managed to figure out what I want to do with my life, and seem to be even further from figuring it out than I was then. In the words of a character from the film Stripes, "You're going nowhere, John, and it's just not that cute anymore." Most recently, I had a couple of awkward social interactions when out with friends that called attention to my current state of being (see the opening quote) and had a difficult telephone conversation with my mother in which she expressed her concern for my future and for my attitude, claiming that I've become "too passive" and that I need to "get mad at the world" for putting me where I am today (though not at myself, because that really wouldn't do much good in terms of motivation.)
So, with that in mind, I have begun my multi-phase rehabilitation process...
JOHN'S ROAD TO BECOMING A PROPER GROWN-UP, PHASE 1
Step 1: Unplug the Xbox and hide the controller. We may be saving money by not having a cable subscription, but using the Xbox as a media center has the unfortunate side-effect of sucking up huge chunks of my free time (and it's all free right now). Sure, I enjoy playing video games, but I need to start exercising some self-control and only playing AFTER I've done enough productive things to consider the day a step forward.
Step 2: Put the past behind me. As much as I'd love to believe the contrary, I'll never return to the comics industry. It's sad, but admitting it frees me up to find something else to do with my life. I should also admit that a degree in Business Administration/Management from a small, public liberal arts college may not be the only credentials I'll ever need to succeed.
Step 3: Figure out my strengths and passions. I'm sure this doesn't require much work for most people, as they have the personal insight to know what drives them and what their strong points are. For whatever reason (be it genuine inability or some sort of subconsciously forced modesty) I have an insanely difficult time with both of these tasks. Since I can't just do this by sitting in a room for a few minutes and writing what comes to mind, I'm going to try a few external methods. I'm going to look for a reasonable (in quality and in price) career counselor/coach (If you know of a good one, please tell me!), and see if I can take the Strong Interest Inventory test again. Unlike the MBTI, it measures your interest in different lines of work and different roles within an organization. The last time I took it was in the middle of high school, and it would be safe to say my perspective has changed quite a bit over the past ten years. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to see a pattern that reaches higher than "entry level administrative assistant."
Step 4: Find a recreational interest that involves creating rather than consuming. I would like to avoid another moment like the one I had at a party this past weekend, where I was completely stymied when someone new asked me the most basic and innocuous of questions, "So what do you do?" Not only do I not have an answer in terms of what I do for a living, I don't even have a very good answer in terms of what I do in my spare time! My answer was something along the lines of, "Nothing. I selfishly sit on my couch all day and play video games, watch movies, read comics and listen to music."
I'm nothing if not honest.
This is actually where the LJ fits in. I'd love to jump back in to recreational blogging and start WITWAR up again with a solid direction and articles that are more than simple reviews of comics and video games, but before I can do that I need to get back into the habit of writing in a general sense. This isn't designed to be read by the general public, so I don't have to try to write for a wide audience (not that I ever got above 80 views per month anyway, and most of those were people who found the pictures in the entries via Google image search.) Plus, writing down details of my day-to-day life forces me to look back on things I've recently done, and that can help when looking forward to things I would like to do.
That's phase 1, such as it is. Phase 2 will likely involve such exciting activities as determining what sort of job fits my passions and strengths, what credentials are needed to start a path toward said job, and how to get them. In the meantime, I look forward to making these changes, and to being a part of an online journal community again (I haven't actively posted on such a thing since 2001, back when I was a member of OpenDiary.com.) Here's to life!