-A disclaimer, I'm not asking for people to run my life for me, just advice from fellow gamers which will be much welcomed-
A little about me, I'm Dakota, 19, and facing quite the doozy of a choice. After high school I tried university right out the door and through over romanticized notions of post secondary life, and taking on too much classes for something I no longer wanted to do (history doctorate, also to transfer to the campus I wanted needed a 95% GPA) I became nigh suicidally depressed and had to drop out. Irregardless of whether or not I should've done so, or found another path in-Uni I've had to live with and is in the past. It is a year since then and I am getting tired of just working (a basic water treatment job) and gaming, working and gaming, working and gaming. I know I need change, but how and where are the questions thats keeping me up at night, and time grows short to make a choice (so I feel).
The first is the Art Institute of Vancouver, specifically for the Game Art and Design Diploma program. As an avid fellow gamer and one who frequently creates worlds to live in his own head, I believe I can turn these into something that can be used to support myself, and to give something back to an art and media I've loved and enjoyed since as long as I can remember. I will be moving to Vancouver from Kelowna to do continuous studies, which will take only two years, but will be expensive. However if I am employed after studies I will be able to comfortably support myself. I will be leaving friends and family behind (a bunch of friends are moving to Van too however) and I will miss them greatly. But they cannot support me financially in a career, nor I believe should they tie me down. The opportunity to make new friends is also something I look forward to, as well as the opportunity to live in a place I've dreamed about living, and perhaps wish to regardless of which path I take. Overall the newness will be overwhelming, but I hope satisfying and rewarding.
The other is to stay home (relatively as I want to move out of my families' place) and study at the Okanagan Collage for a more traditional post secondary education. I will be able to stay close with friends and family (even though a few are moving away) and live in a more familiar and "secure" place. I will have to of course upgrade courses, and get an 'N' license (finally) should I stay and move out of home, but these should be accomplished if I move along this path (though they will be tedious). I believe this path would help me secure a respectable job as well (but in more time), and once more to stay home and not be overwhelmed alone with schoolwork or work. I could also join the Canadian Forces Reserves sooner than after my studies in Van.
Suffice to say, both paths seem equally good, equally beneficial. Both have pros and cons. I post this to all of you, to gain some vital outside perspective, or just to wake me up to realities I need to face. Maybe in the end as the old Talaxian saying goes "when given a choice between two paths, take the third path." As the Army full time, going more into water treatment, or something completely new for a military history/sci-fi/gamer guy to consider.
A little about me, I'm Dakota, 19, and facing quite the doozy of a choice. After high school I tried university right out the door and through over romanticized notions of post secondary life, and taking on too much classes for something I no longer wanted to do (history doctorate, also to transfer to the campus I wanted needed a 95% GPA) I became nigh suicidally depressed and had to drop out. Irregardless of whether or not I should've done so, or found another path in-Uni I've had to live with and is in the past. It is a year since then and I am getting tired of just working (a basic water treatment job) and gaming, working and gaming, working and gaming. I know I need change, but how and where are the questions thats keeping me up at night, and time grows short to make a choice (so I feel).
The first is the Art Institute of Vancouver, specifically for the Game Art and Design Diploma program. As an avid fellow gamer and one who frequently creates worlds to live in his own head, I believe I can turn these into something that can be used to support myself, and to give something back to an art and media I've loved and enjoyed since as long as I can remember. I will be moving to Vancouver from Kelowna to do continuous studies, which will take only two years, but will be expensive. However if I am employed after studies I will be able to comfortably support myself. I will be leaving friends and family behind (a bunch of friends are moving to Van too however) and I will miss them greatly. But they cannot support me financially in a career, nor I believe should they tie me down. The opportunity to make new friends is also something I look forward to, as well as the opportunity to live in a place I've dreamed about living, and perhaps wish to regardless of which path I take. Overall the newness will be overwhelming, but I hope satisfying and rewarding.
The other is to stay home (relatively as I want to move out of my families' place) and study at the Okanagan Collage for a more traditional post secondary education. I will be able to stay close with friends and family (even though a few are moving away) and live in a more familiar and "secure" place. I will have to of course upgrade courses, and get an 'N' license (finally) should I stay and move out of home, but these should be accomplished if I move along this path (though they will be tedious). I believe this path would help me secure a respectable job as well (but in more time), and once more to stay home and not be overwhelmed alone with schoolwork or work. I could also join the Canadian Forces Reserves sooner than after my studies in Van.
Suffice to say, both paths seem equally good, equally beneficial. Both have pros and cons. I post this to all of you, to gain some vital outside perspective, or just to wake me up to realities I need to face. Maybe in the end as the old Talaxian saying goes "when given a choice between two paths, take the third path." As the Army full time, going more into water treatment, or something completely new for a military history/sci-fi/gamer guy to consider.
