Not Another Day

1990s Washington Post Ad

I woke up with the parrot from an old Washington Post commercial playing in my head. For those from Gen Y and Gen Z who might be reading this, The Washington Post once upon a time was an old school print newspaper, though it still exists as an online news site today. But anyhoo, back in the day, there was no Indeed or LinkdIn or other such apps for finding a employment. If you wanted to change jobs, you looked in the wanted section of the newspaper. Barbaric, IKR?

So in the commercial that’s been growing louder and louder in my head squawking out the words: “I can’t take this, not another day, not another day.” Then some poor shlub shuffles through the door in the background lamenting, “I can’t take this not another day.” He’s clearly just gotten home from work and the gist of the commercial is that he says this so often he’s inadvertently taught his parrot the phrase. The commercial then goes on to plug the employment section of the Post.

What strikes me about this ad is I can wholly relate to the guy’s dilemma. And I pray he moves on to green pastures. Why? Because for the vast majority of my adult life, I’ve worked jobs I could at best tolerate, but at worst thoroughly hated. And ahhhh, that it were so easy as to flip open the newspaper or put myself out on Indeed and find that dream job doing something I love.

Out of all the activities I engage in, I can only call two of them passions. As I’ve stated before that’s writing and gaming. Only once in my life was I ever paid to write and though it was about a topic I wasn’t in love with, it was the happiest I’ve ever been in terms of career. Churning out erotic romance novels didn’t leave much time for gaming, though. And of course the cottage industry fell apart with the advent of self-publishing on Amazon. Unfortunately the fans who bought my books weren’t Cindy Jacks fans perse, but fans of my publisher, Ellora’s Cave, so when they went out of business I could never recreate the success I’d had with them. But that was okay. Great author of chick porn wasn’t really on my bucket list.

Through an unfortunate series of events, I found myself with the time and means to start this blog and game and write all day. But then a most fortunate event (falling in love with my soulmate, which I highly recommend) pushed this endeavor to the back burner. Funny how life works that way: gives with one hand, takes with the other.

So I fell back into what’s comfortable and an easy source of income, lying to myself that I would continue to game and write just as much. We all know how that went. Too mentally exhausted from forcing myself to focus at work, I rarely have the energy to write. Though I still game quite a lot. Perhaps a little escapism if I’m keeping this 100.

The cycle feeds itself over and over. And every FPS fan knows the definition of insanity. Let’s all say it together, hearing the brilliant voice acting of Michael Mando in our heads: The definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over, expecting a different result. It’s time to stop the insanity.

Vaas, antagonist from Far Cry 3

But how to make at least a little income from gaming and writing? Being from the Atari generation, I can say, at this particular moment in history, there are the most opportunities to earn money gaming. And with sites like ko-fi and Patreon, getting paid for creating on your own terms is easier too.

I find inspiration all over the place these days. Other bloggers. Twitch streamers. E-sports competitors. Modders. YouTubers. We have the tools in our hands to create magnificent things. This does require, however, that we use them. I’m working on internalizing that, lol.

It’s often said one should find something one loves to do and do that as a career. Sage advice because I can tell you a lifetime of doing something just okay eats at the soul. I find myself muttering, “I can’t take this, not another day.” So it’s time to stop the insanity and do things differently.

Thank you for reading my work! I’m not a paid blogger…yet! Your support can help me reach that goal. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, subscribe to my blog or hit me up on Twitter @cindyjacks. If you’d like to buy me a coffee or leave a tip you can do so at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/grownupgamergirl or cash app $cindyjacksbooks. All donations to my online content are much appreciated, but definitely not required to keep coming back to visit! Game on, my friends!