[Androgeos Exeunt]

Every little bit counts.

And my personal view is that it's the small things in life that matters the most, which is why I get very riled up about things like punctuality.

[iamzack]

it's a small worl;d after all?

[Dilmah G]

This thread is like a big internet group hug.

And?

It's been a while since I've had group e-hugs, I was due for one anyway

@Lucika

I'm only a year older than you, and I remember feeling the same way last year. I was nearly failing everything at school, and I was floating through life in that semi-conscious state where you think there's nothing to look forward to. I also felt most of my FRED work was sh1t to the max, been there, done that

Is there anything you've dreamed about doing your whole life or something similar to that?

For me that was what really got me down, especially when I got a C for maths I thought my dream was completely out of reach. So inflated my self-esteem through wearing baggy jeans, expensive caps, chains (a 50 Cent look-a-like pretty much, I almost felt like we had something in common when I listened to his music so by looking like a gangbanger I felt/still feel like I have the confidence to go where I want, do what I want, and identify with people who I used to fear, odd way of working it out but that's how I get by ) and "Living". You'll find something/some-way of getting by life and doing what you do. Now I used that ambition I've had all my life to step-forward and volunteer for things I usually didn't do and to knuckle down in front of my room heater with my ipod and a textbook and study like my life depended on it (it almost does for me). When I was 14 my average was something like 40-60% for maths, which was something that always ate me up inside, last maths test I had I got the highest score in the class, it wasn't an A, but 70% is a helluva lot closer to an A that 40% is. Just find something to dedicate your life to and throw everything you've got at it. Typing all that got me "In-The-Zone" for schoolwork so I'll be off to do my maths homework soon.

Once you feel something you've worked hard for is in reach, everything'll tend to seem a bit better. 

[Lucika]

This thread is like a big internet group hug.

@Lucika

Is there anything you've dreamed about doing your whole life or something similar to that?



Once you feel something you've worked hard for is in reach, everything'll tend to seem a bit better. 

I love e-hugs
By the way, my greatest goal is to become a writer (and the second is to win the WSOP)
Still working on that silly novel, but I start to hate the idea more and more, so I might just rewrite a performance I directed in school.

[Dilmah G]

This thread is like a big internet group hug.

@Lucika

Is there anything you've dreamed about doing your whole life or something similar to that?



Once you feel something you've worked hard for is in reach, everything'll tend to seem a bit better. 

I love e-hugs
By the way, my greatest goal is to become a writer (and the second is to win the WSOP)
Still working on that silly novel, but I start to hate the idea more and more, so I might just rewrite a performance I directed in school.

I see

Yeah I used to write as a hobby since fifth grade, you'll find yourself writing many, many different pieces. In my experience, don't put all your hopes on one story, the more you write the better you get basically. I wrote a 250 pg narrative about a bomber crew who were shot down over Europe in WWII and they have various conflicts between each other, meet with french resistance, get captured, so on etc. Then when I lost it I found I could write at a much higher calibre working on lots of smaller pieces.

Second most important piece of info I can give you about writing is WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. I mean story ideas, plot twists etc, my desk is full of little pieces of paper and overturned english tests bearing every plot twist/device/storyline you could possibly think of, it helps when you're writing and stuck dry on ideas.

If you don't like the idea don't feel pressure to keep going with it, you can work on it as a "Backburner" project while you write something else as a serious narrative. I tend to do that when I write, I'll get sick of whatever topic I'm writing and pull out an FS2 fanfic and work on that until I'm in the mood again. Are you an "Have-to-be-in-the-mood" writer or "I-can-write-on-demand"?

[Pred the Penguin]

I used to love to wright stories, until I moved to Taiwan and could barely even understand Chinese.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I've learned Chinese for ten years and I only manage to scrape through using it in real-life communication.

[Mika]

- never released corkroaches during a math lesson
- never smoked a cigar yet
- never ever "forgot" to attend on a lesson
- never cheated on exams

How any of these is a bad thing? I didn't do any of those as far as I can remember during school and college. In the University I learned to skip lectures that I didn't like or felt I could learn it better from a book. And I have never tasted a cigar, me being 26.

What it comes to personalities, I'm pretty much the opposite. I have never had trouble to learn anything, the biggest problem in learning have pretty much always been my own prejudices or attitudes. And bad teachers.  Then again, I think everybody has his strengths and weaknesses.

Just don't expect to get good in a couple of days and give up after it doesn't work. When I was learning to do splits, it took me well over a year of stretching to get it. Advice of the people who you know to be good at something will give you a good starting point.

Also, there are lots of gifted people who got great grades in college and failed miserably in the university. Being once part of the student council, I recall that the college grades didn't actually correlate with grades obtained in University.

Speaking of FRED, I think I managed to write a couple of interesting missions back in 2003, I still have the first of them and I think they are quite good for the time being. A single mission took a couple of months.

Mika

[Lucika]

Mika:
I don't feel these to be a problem, either. Just I mentioned that I hardly have any common with those who are at my age, at least with those who I usually interact with.
No problem with grades, either.
My problem isn't a lack of self-confidence, but the lack of trust towards myself.

[Mika]

Ah, you are thinking about average person. There is no such thing, and especially among the young. The advise I was given is simply do what you feel is right. Quite a lot of people don't actually understand all the repercussions of their actions at that age. On the other hand, some of the things are just meant to be a harmless joke.

What it comes to self-confidence and trusting on oneself, difficulties in personal life, work or studies will increase increase your self-confidence as you start to see you did something right. If it went wrong, think what was it and don't repeat it. Trusting on oneself is a matter of discipline (or at least I think so). Just set yourself some goal and push yourself through it. Increase the difficulty time by time. But just don't over-do it. In the end you will have quite a collection of thingies that you managed to do. This will give you trust on your abilities.

Mika

[Lucika]

Ah, you are thinking about average person. There is no such thing, and especially among the young. The advise I was given is simply do what you feel is right. Quite a lot of people don't actually understand all the repercussions of their actions at that age. On the other hand, some of the things are just meant to be a harmless joke.

What it comes to self-confidence and trusting on oneself, difficulties in personal life, work or studies will increase increase your self-confidence as you start to see you did something right. If it went wrong, think what was it and don't repeat it. Trusting on oneself is a matter of discipline (or at least I think so). Just set yourself some goal and push yourself through it. Increase the difficulty time by time. But just don't over-do it. In the end you will have quite a collection of thingies that you managed to do. This will give you trust on your abilities.

Mika

No problem with self-confidence. I know my strengths and I am proud of them.
The issue is that I am just floating around without an idea where and how to go.

[IceFire]

Ah, you are thinking about average person. There is no such thing, and especially among the young. The advise I was given is simply do what you feel is right. Quite a lot of people don't actually understand all the repercussions of their actions at that age. On the other hand, some of the things are just meant to be a harmless joke.

What it comes to self-confidence and trusting on oneself, difficulties in personal life, work or studies will increase increase your self-confidence as you start to see you did something right. If it went wrong, think what was it and don't repeat it. Trusting on oneself is a matter of discipline (or at least I think so). Just set yourself some goal and push yourself through it. Increase the difficulty time by time. But just don't over-do it. In the end you will have quite a collection of thingies that you managed to do. This will give you trust on your abilities.

Mika

No problem with self-confidence. I know my strengths and I am proud of them.
The issue is that I am just floating around without an idea where and how to go.

You aren't the only one.  May not make you feel much better but I know exactly the feeling and I've yet to shake it.  I'm a ship in the ocean without a sail or a rudder...just going where the currents take me.  I'd love to have a long term goal...I'm a long term goal sort of person...but I have none right now.

I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do...but my suggestion is focus on the present and the very near term.  Figure out what your goals are right now and for a moment...try and shift away from thinking about the bigger picture.  And if you're like me then thats damned hard to do.

[Mika]

I also think there are lots of people who don't know what they are going to do, or what they want to do. Unfortunately, I lack the wisdom to aid there, nor do I know if it is a problem other people should solve. It is basically your life.

Yeah, but I do feel sometimes something related when doing my work. "Does this really matter?" "Will my work aid the society in the supposed way?" I face questions like these, and sometimes I see I do make the difference, sometimes it is just a huge blur.

Mika

[Androgeos Exeunt]

...sometimes I see I do make the difference, sometimes it is just a huge blur.

The latter occurs in my mind more often, and I'm not too fazed by it.

[blackhole]

You aren't the only one.  May not make you feel much better but I know exactly the feeling and I've yet to shake it.  I'm a ship in the ocean without a sail or a rudder...just going where the currents take me.  I'd love to have a long term goal...I'm a long term goal sort of person...but I have none right now.

I've known exactly what i want to do since I was 17. My long term goals extend some 10 years into the future.

All it does is shift the pain somewhere else.

[Dilmah G]

You aren't the only one.  May not make you feel much better but I know exactly the feeling and I've yet to shake it.  I'm a ship in the ocean without a sail or a rudder...just going where the currents take me.  I'd love to have a long term goal...I'm a long term goal sort of person...but I have none right now.

I've known exactly what i want to do since I was 17. My long term goals extend some 10 years into the future.

All it does is shift the pain somewhere else.

I've had a career/life goal since the day I was born.

I find it makes the pain more bearable and justified.

[Enigmatic Entity]

I can actually totally relate here, I have a serious lack in self-confidence about my 3d work, so much that i don't even think about applying to a lot of the art jobs around here because I think i'm not good enough to do it.

My solution is to just focus on school and build a portfolio in my spare time, and to not think of the future whenever i can help it. 

Also, I would look up the diagnosis of ADD, it's a lot more than just not being able to focus on something for an extended period (sometimes, it can be the exact opposite, and I've definitely experienced that).  Knowing that all of your problems might not even be your problems is a good comfort.

By even being involved in a modding community, you have an unbelievable step up on the competition.  You wouldn't believe all the noobs in the game dev program here who don't even do it in their spare time!  I know that for every 10 people in this field who are better, there are 50 that are worse.

You'll be fine *reassuring smile and pat on shoulder*

If it gets too bad, get hold of some marijuana :-P. 

Just a note, you gave me an idea with da drug

I am - tho as I stated, far from the "loser geek" stereotype - rather different than my classmates.
Imagine: I am 14, and
- never released corkroaches during a math lesson
- never smoked a cigar yet
- never ever "forgot" to attend on a lesson
- never cheated on exams

And so on. I guess that you lack FS-lovers in your neighborhood too... what I really want sometimes is a friend who and I have a loooooot common - interests etc, I guess you take my meaning

(There is someone, but he makes me mad at school. The Saturday lanpartys still and will exist tho )

The main difference(s) between you and I is that you are 14, you live somewhere on the other side of the Earth, and I'm supposedly good at "schoolwork".

Imagine:   You want to make friends with someone. You see him almost everyday. You never exchanged a single word in 2 years. You search for someone almost exactly like him, hoping he'll have similar interests to you, but as yet there isn't anyone.

And I seem so different to everyone else. I do get entertainment from my enigmatic sense of humour and the things I create, though other people either don't understand it or don't like it (think it's lame, not that I've made anything that can walk...). I have actually put a large amount of time into making enigmas for people to figure out - except no-one's discovered them yet, I don't think.

And so the saying below is true for me...

[Lucika]

I can actually totally relate here, I have a serious lack in self-confidence about my 3d work, so much that i don't even think about applying to a lot of the art jobs around here because I think i'm not good enough to do it.

My solution is to just focus on school and build a portfolio in my spare time, and to not think of the future whenever i can help it. 

Also, I would look up the diagnosis of ADD, it's a lot more than just not being able to focus on something for an extended period (sometimes, it can be the exact opposite, and I've definitely experienced that).  Knowing that all of your problems might not even be your problems is a good comfort.

By even being involved in a modding community, you have an unbelievable step up on the competition.  You wouldn't believe all the noobs in the game dev program here who don't even do it in their spare time!  I know that for every 10 people in this field who are better, there are 50 that are worse.

You'll be fine *reassuring smile and pat on shoulder*

If it gets too bad, get hold of some marijuana :-P. 

Just a note, you gave me an idea with da drug

I am - tho as I stated, far from the "loser geek" stereotype - rather different than my classmates.
Imagine: I am 14, and
- never released corkroaches during a math lesson
- never smoked a cigar yet
- never ever "forgot" to attend on a lesson
- never cheated on exams

And so on. I guess that you lack FS-lovers in your neighborhood too... what I really want sometimes is a friend who and I have a loooooot common - interests etc, I guess you take my meaning

(There is someone, but he makes me mad at school. The Saturday lanpartys still and will exist tho )

The main difference(s) between you and I is that you are 14, you live somewhere on the other side of the Earth, and I'm supposedly good at "schoolwork".

Imagine:   You want to make friends with someone. You see him almost everyday. You never exchanged a single word in 2 years. You search for someone almost exactly like him, hoping he'll have similar interests to you, but as yet there isn't anyone.

And I seem so different to everyone else. I do get entertainment from my enigmatic sense of humour and the things I create, though other people either don't understand it or don't like it (think it's lame, not that I've made anything that can walk...). I have actually put a large amount of time into making enigmas for people to figure out - except no-one's discovered them yet, I don't think.

And so the saying below is true for me...

I can't wait for the time when your knowledge will be important more so than the PE lessons...

[DarkBasilisk]

**** you're 14?

Wait for about 7 years, and if you're still feeling the same way, have this crisis then.  If I was involved in this stuff when I was 14, I know I'd be in a better situation than I am now.

(oh, and i'd wait till you're about 16 to start tryin drugs)

I'm having a massive crisis NOW because habits that could have been easily corrected when I was 14 weren't, now I'm 19 and I'm trying to dig my way out. Turambar I don't mean to go after you, but a lot of people said the same thing to me and it turned out the worst advice I've ever gotten

About feeling different than everyone else. Kinda a useless answer: but it's either true or it's not It's a common part of human perception to think that way starting around you age for the next 6-8 years, but it also doesn't always have to be wrong. My mom describes both me and my father as being "born old." It's not entirely consistent, but at a very early age we showed a level of maturity in many manners that would always remain far ahead of anyone else at that age. This sounds great on paper, but it also means we very often didn't find  the same things funny or acceptable as the people at that age. And of course the more people grow up often changes what the way they think about relationships and what they expect from them.

Not to be elitist, but it's all expected as soon as you give the hint that you're more intelligent than average that you feel different from others, because you probably are Thinking more about things tends to come with the territory, and when you think more about things, you learn and mature more. I don't recommend the drugs (that's more of my personal preference on avoiding anything potentially risky that I don't have any real need to do in the first place), and be careful about the ADD thing, it gets misdiagnosed ADD all the time. I'd say if you really try to pour all your will and effort towards focusing on something and it still goes bad, it's time to talk to a psychiatrist and see what he thinks. What most people don't realize is a lot of times it's not the problem of not being *able* to focus, it's just not wanting too. If your motivation to do something isn't strong enough, you won't get anywhere, that's the general rule for anything.

I can't wait for the time when your knowledge will be important more so than the PE lessons...

Everything's important, potentially. Basically everytime you encounter something that wasn't thought of or created by you, you can learn from it PE often gets screwed up, but the point of it is not only to get you some exercise but try and teach you some ways you can go about it outside of school. Exercise is good, I'm injured currently which made me stop my daily exercises, and it's only now hitting me how much keeping to that daily routine helped my focus, and discipline, not to mention my psychical health in general.

I know I don't post much, but I am usually lurking around and I live for these kinds of topics  (I don't get all that much interaction with people myself, so I counterbalance it by absorbing as much information about how people think as I can. These kind of posts are always a goldmine for that ^_^ ). So talk here, send me a PM, whatever of your choosing. Don't be shy, keep talking until you get things worked out

[Dilmah G]

Yeah well I'm a firm believer in throwing your weight behind something you love/a career. From what I've gathered your passion is creative writing? My advice is to hunker down on that every time you feel bad or whatever, or go to the gym, that also helps. And no matter how much of an asshole you act like, women will always flock at you if your arms are the size of treetrunks, so that's a nice benefit