FDOJ vs. Summer of Dreams

I've moved up my intended graduation date from June to April. I've decided it's time to start working hard on my creative work -- combining my coding, art, and writing to build my fantasy universe. While the M.S. will definitely help me with this, it's also kind of a hindrance. When I get off work, I can't relax much with some video games or a nice movie, because I have to study. When I start work, I have to get there early and study first. So, this degree must be completed ASAP. I can and will continue to study fluid simulation during my allotted coding blocks; I am just tired of having to sacrifice everything else for it. 

In other words, working full-time AND studying means that these two things have a monopoly on your time. They suck out everything else that's important to you. My routine is basically wake up, go to the gym, study, work, study again, paint like 2 brushstrokes in Photoshop and write like 2 sentences of my novel, and go to sleep. School is slowly becoming more of a hindrance than a help. 

I love my research area, but I don't want this to continue. It is very tiring. I want to divide my spare time between coding, art, math, and writing. Then, have a little bit left over for games, shows, taking walks, daydreaming, and practicing music. I want my weekends and evenings to be my OWN. 

Of course, the money is nice, and I love my job -- though it's tiring too. But I am not scaling back. 

So I'm still gunning for FDOJ, but above all, I have to finish this degree by April (so all the coding needs to be done as soon as March). That's the most important thing right now. I'm intentionally choosing the simplest foam simulation problem that I can, though it will still probably be thorny. For the final time, I will put my other projects somewhat on the backburner, BUT still push as hard as I can, with the time that I allot for them. When I get started on coding my actual foam simulator, I will try to add back in a little bit more art and writing time, because that'll be the beginning of the end. 

Then, when I'm done with my degree, I'll have a few more months to gun for FDOJ, but more likely it will turn into a "summer of dreams" where I balance being outdoors and enjoying the beautiful weather with finally studying and creating the way that I want to do it. Then alongside this non-school-related studying, I can start getting my art noticed, get a Patreon, start working towards publication with my writing, make some fun games and put them on Steam...

Then I'll worry about moving and the future. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unleashing my inner Disney Princess ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ at the 2024 Disney Princesses Half Marathon

Image
TL;DR it was amazing and perfect  and we are going to make this an annual tradition. I may edit this with photos later, but I'm probably going to forget.  Recently, I spent 5 wonderful days donating my dollarbucks and soul to the evil mouse in Orlando. I did it for the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  Just look at that happy little alligator musician. He's so CHONKY. It's adorable. I love him. How could you NOT run a half marathon for him when he's cheering you on?  (My dad says it's weird to say the word "adorable" as a man, which makes zero logical sense and obviously means I need to use that word as often as possible. I will also continue to wear my rings and maybe I'll start flashing my pink protein shaker. Just to cause a little discomfort, because it's funny.)  I haven't seen the movie yet actually so idk if the gator is a major character or not. But JUST LOOK AT HIM.  My cousin and I had been planning a Disney trip, specifically centered
Read more

The 20-something types of Computer Science majors

Image
I've been way too distracted with this blog lately, and I need to hurry up and start getting crap done. But...I've been dying to write this lol.  The advanced neckbeard A rare variety. When a neckbeard is forced out of his mom's basement and into college, he becomes an Advanced Neckbeard. You can always tell when he's coming, because you can smell him from half a mile away. He is very overweight, and wears shirts that are either plain or adorned with anime/gaming graphics. These shirts are either stained with sweat, Hot Cheetos, or something a little bit more, ah, suspicious . He is so socially unskilled that he makes everyone else in the major look normal. Age 30+, GPA at a 2.0 or just barely above it. Will never drop the major despite his lack of effort, because he simply doesn't care if he gets bad grades. In fact, he is probably highly intelligent, but his grades will never reflect that. Nevertheless, he will get a much higher paying job than a regular neckbeard
Read more

The Evenstar

I've never liked this world much.  Ever since I was a little kid, I always dreamed of going somewhere else. I created this alternate version of Earth that had everything and everyone that I loved, but with all these improvements to it. Magic was real. So were dragons. Dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct. Technology allowed people to fly. A network of glass corridors provided transport between this world and mine, snaking through streams of stars, galaxies, and lightyears of blackness.  And more than anything, I wasn't alone. I don't remember why I spent so much time alone as a kid. I really wish I did. All I know is that when I was in my  world, I always had someone by my side.  The feeling of being out of place here was overwhelming. It still is. That sense of not belonging, of longing for somewhere else, it has never gone away.  When I was in middle school, being bullied daily, I escaped to that world. The boys who tripped me and spit on me disappeared, replaced by tropical
Read more