For all that my goal for the year has been to game more, I'm actually gaming less. I've missed 2 monthly meetups of my local gaming club, which had been a ritual since they restarted after COVID. It's fair to say that I haven't been gaming at all this year.
It's easy to blame the job for scheduling me on those Saturdays. I could request the day off, but that's something that I'm terrible at. I still remember my first job and my boss, Shawn, telling me "The more time off you request, the more time off you're going to get." It typically takes me a while at a particular job before I'm comfortable requesting time off for gaming, and I've only been at this for 2 months now. Worse, I only have 2 months left. I'm working at a tax office that is only open for the tax season, so once April 15th rolls around, I'll be cut loose.
Which means that I'm still looking for other jobs. And I haven't gotten any significant nibbles. No emails, no phone calls, no interviews all year. I'm learning to spot the devilcorps: the unscrupulous people who send out armies of poor schlubs to knock on your door and plead for donations or sell you AT&T services. I worked at one of those for a week when I first arrived in San Diego 7 years ago. It's one of two experiences that tell me that I'm not a salesman.
If things don't start looking up, I'm planning to go back to school in the fall. I graduated high school and never moved on to college, even to drop out of it. But I have gotten suggestions for careers that would suit me well, but would require the education. Typically teacher, but I've also gotten theologian. I'm not particularly religious, so I don't know how that last one would work.
It would mean getting financial aid of varying types and navigating that whole process. Not student loans, of course. Just seeing everyone else having to deal with those is enough to put me off. As many grants and scholarships as can be managed, though. Starting at the local communnity college to keep my costs low, then transferring to a 4-year school. I hope there's a gaming club. That would be fun.
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