Where do we go, where do we go now?

Hello readers! There isn't many of you - but that's my fault. Nothing worse than an infrequent blogger - but to be honest, I've got some excuses. I'm actually trying to peg my efforts at something - and I'm achieving it, to a degree. The last time I graced this blog with mediocre vocabularly was over 3 months ago, and much has changed. In fact now, I should be able to post here at least monthly - (I would say weekly, but lets not get hasty, I have things I need to do).

If you recall (or indeed just read my previous post), I was trying to sort out all of that University hoo-ha, to little avail. The mission seemed simple, complete the degree, worry from there. However I forgot one crucial factor. Motivation. The best way to generate motivation is to visualise the outcome. For me, the completion of that degree had no clear income. The only income I could conjure up in my imagination was me receiving a diploma, wearing a graduatory scholar's hat - and to be frank, it didn't seem particularly awe inspiring.

  Although to be honest, this does look hella' fun

So with no motivation, everything began to slip. First I fell behind in Japanese. Not just a little behind, very behind. The pace was alarming. I recall in high school, my friends and I used to comment on how slow our German studies were. Heh, well the Japanese language faculty at Monash University don't know the meaning of the term slow, nor moderate speed for that matter. What I did (which if anyone reads this is going in to an art degree heed my warning), was assume that one or two subjects would be the bulk of my work load, and ultimately shape my degree, while the other two would be more "hobby" subjects - i.e. skills to pick up along he way for fun. No subject at Monash is structured this way. They are all treated as if you will eventually major in them. I learnt it the hard way and was forced to discontinue my unit.

This made me realise just how career focused everyone around me one. Whether they wanted to be doctors, IT specialists, engineers or business associates - everyone had at least a vague idea of where they were going. I did not. The epiphany caused the complete and utter destruction of my motivation. My work rate for both History and Psychology plummeted, and a mild interest in Literature was the only cause for any work I got done. About a week before my final exams, I discontinued both History and Psychology - as I hadn't done a drop of learning for either after the mid-semester break. I did however, manage to complete my Literatue unit and probably a level in between half-arsed and studious. Average, I guess you would say. Anyway, I'll be getting my results for the unit back tomorrow, but honestly, they mean little to me.

 "We're doctors - behold  our fashion sense!"

"Hang on, hang on", I hear you say, "You dropped out of University?" Well no, I haven't technically dropped out. I'm on defferal for 12 months, but yes, I don't particularly wish to get back. The only conceivable way I can see myself returning, is if I'm focused on what I want to do, and feel I require tertiary education to do it. "Did you think this through at all? What are you going to do now?" You know, I think we should ban you asking questions from now on audience, I'm sure you're creating the illusion that I'm insane. Ahem, but yes. I did think this all through. I discussed it with many a people: my mother, my girlfriend and many friends and eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to be doing something that would motivate me. The idea would be to get a job, and hope that it would at least, provide me some financial independency. "So what are you doing now?" Shut up.

My first call to port was to work out what I wanted to do with myself in live, or at least strive for. This took a lot of time and effort. I spent many hours pondering what I could actually do with myself. I couldn't seem to list any real skills or areas I excelled in. Ironically, I could have found the answers in a very simple way. You see, there are probably six things I enjoy most in life. Spending time with my friends and family, reading, writing, watching films, listening to music and playing video games. Yes, I'm not particularly interesting. Oh wait, I forgot to include "making random noises/flapping my arms all over the place/screaming". Alright, I'm kinda interesting. However I never made the connection that some of these things, perhaps even all of them, could be formulated into a career. This is how I discovered my dream job. "Dream Job? How lame". Seriously, audience, you're killing me here!  Anway, yes. Dream Job. Video Game Journalist. It's doable and it incorporates everything I love: story, music, cinematics, gameplay, writing, reading and even an social element of discussion. Maybe not the screaming and yelling stuff, but I do that when exciting news is announced, so all is forgiven.

 An artist's impression of my crazed antics

So how did I start down this road? Well my first step was to create a second blog. The Game Over Blog, is my answer to this. It's been up for a few months now, and I used it as a platform to both reveal some opinions of mine regarding the industry and its developments and also to hone my writing skills. I took it a step further this month (July), by applying for a volunteer news writing postition at Vooks, one of Australia's premier Nintendo websites. I've written a few articles there now, and you're bound to stumble across one by me if you search through the latest headlines. Everything is going well in this department - the dream job is heading places. "How about that financial independency job?" Well this is a problem.

I'm finding it difficult to acquire work. I think it's because of my age, and lack of experience. I'm too old for places like Kmart, but not experienced enough for places like Dick Smith. It's a vicious cycle. I've posted resumes online, and carted a few around to different shops, but no responses as of yet. However, I'm admant I will get there. I've had my license for about 3 weeks now, and it's helping greatly with independency. It's a little painful though, as not having a job makes the fuel cost hurt. A lot. My best option is to just keep at it. There isn't really much more I can do. In the mean time I can use the extra free time to work on the dream job concept.

Speaking of that concept, what is the next step?  This is where the current dilemna lies. If I lived in Sydney, the answer would be easy. Work Experience. However, for some strange reason, nearly all Australian video game publications are located in Sydney making this near impossible. I'm searching for some in Melbourne, but so far to no avail. If anyone knows anywhere that might be suitable, please give me a line. In this light however, my options are limited. I will probably press the question to a contact of mine, who is in the industry and see what he thinks/knows. However, if there is no work experience available in Victoria, what will I do? Well I think the best thing to do would be to strengthen my position at Vooks as much as possible. I intend to do this anyway, but there will be extra drive there if I can possible gain some freelance work from other online publications through my efforts.

Looks like you're not the only thing Sydney has afterall

Honestly my blogy faithful, this is a mountain we are all faced with sometime in our life. Some deal with it well and easily, some don't, but ultimately the important thing is we support each other, and do not judge individuals just because they haven't found their path in life. We're still teenagers after all. We're not smart, the world tells us this all the time. So if we're not smart, we can't be expected to know what we want to do over night, now can we?

I hope my friends who are students enjoy their Semester 1 break, and those that aren't, like myself, are putting their best into their endeavours, what ever they may be. We're all in this together.