During the pandemic, I survived brain surgery, fell in love, made two board games, and was featured in the Washington Post! I'm here to tell you that life is short so go do that thing you've always wanted to do! AMA

“Clocked over 300 hours of Nintendo Switch gaming.”

So about halfway through Breath of the Wild, then?

i actually dont have that many hours of breath of the wild. but if you look at these screenshots you'll know that i've pretty much 100% the game

Hmm, Well I have 1200 hours on smash bros. So those are still rookie numbers :P Not that it’s a competition.

my dota2 hours

i dont play anymore though lol

Lol. I haven’t looked in years, but I’m sure my League of Legends hours are around there. MOBA’s are a completely different animal, ha.

yeah im trying to stay away from games that dont have a ending...genshin impact was the last one and it sucked me in like crazy

Oh man. I had to stop myself from jumping on genshin. It looks like a ton of fun, but I learned my lesson with Gacha games after getting hooked on Fire Emblem Heroes years back. The same reason I shy away from MMOs now. They take over your life if your not careful and I have kids to raise lol.

if i still worked at my old corporate job i'd definitely be playing a MMO of some kind right now

I have kids to raise lol.

Bah, they can raise themselves.

they can raise themselves

i have games to play!

Kinda crazy how I see 2k Dota 2 hours and think it's low.

yeah i only started playing in college. im not an OG dota player

I quit after about 4000 hours. At some point it was just not worth my sanity. I still have friends who play daily and they already had well over my number of hours before I even quit...

i quit once i realized i wasnt enjoying 50% of the time i spent playing (aka losing). too much unnecessary toxicity in my life. its actually a drug. the highs you get from some of your wins are crazy

Hey my first brain surgery is this upcoming Tuesday! Any advice for mentally preparing to go in? What was waking up like?

hey! good luck on your operation!

honestly it was kinda surreal. like i couldnt believe it was gonna happen all the way into the operating room. i guess it helped to think about the time off from working that i was going to get to recover. and that was nice. since im self employed im usually riddled with self-induced guilt that im not working hard enough and it felt really nice to be able to relax guilt-free and recover. as you can tell from this nintendo switch hours played photo, april was a very relaxing month.

waking up i was just in a drug induced daze. just a throbbing in my head i guess. its hard to remember now.

dont worry! im sure you're in very capable hands :)

EDIT: just saw your username. justrelaxyo. very apt lol

How was this funded?

how was what funded?

You know, surviving, thriving, everything in-between?

There are those of us, who having had brain surgery, might not fare so well.

For instance, if I had such an ailment, I would languish alone, I don't have anyone who would care for me. My family is absent, my parents worth half a damn.

The above poster is asking how you half survived so long outside of these issues.

well i think i'm very lucky and privileged to have a great support system around me. that includes my friends, my girlfriend, and of course my family.

for a long time i lived at home while starting everything up. i was fortunate to have parents who also had entrepreneurial backgrounds and they were willing to give me a shot and let me live at home rent-free while i tried to find my footing.

my parents came to the states with very little and were able to successfully start a very successful printing company here. i am hoping to carry on their will while doing something that i find enjoyable instead of working for a faceless corporation.

if you're getting paris hilton/kardashian vibes, that's also just half of the picture. i saved and worked hard during my time in corporate america, paid down all my student loans, saved up a decent sized runway. created a startup company from scratch with my brother and sold it to a competitor. i worked odd jobs doing web dev (a skill i taught myself). i was in no way just sitting on my ass getting fat from the hard work of my parents.

i don't live at home anymore but sometimes i kinda wish i did, i miss living with my parents (sometimes)

if you aren't in a similar situation then im truly sorry. i know parts of my story might not be applicable to everyone but im hoping that by typing all this out that maybe i can inspire you to find that thing that brings you joy and to work towards it just a little bit more.

I always wanted to do nothing. Unfortunately it's impossible.

yeah...damn breathing, digesting, blinking, thinking, standing, sitting...

Mate your story is not applicable to the majority of Americans, who are living paycheck to paycheck while working 40+ hour weeks and barely scraping by.

I'm glad you had fun, but all you did is shit for yourself. People are fucking struggling out there, and this sort of "do what you really want" attitude reeks of entitlement.

all ive ever known is work. im the child of immigrants, i came to this country at 8 knowing 0 english and i was forced to study and work my ass off just so i can get on even footing with the peers around me. starting from elementary school i attended extra schooling just so i can learn english. then all throughout middle school i attended prep school so i can attend a specialized high school. then the same throughout high school just so i can attend a good college.

yes all of that may have been afforded by my parents. but they worked their asses off too. i woke up at 6:30AM every day in queens NYC just so i can commute 1.5hrs one way to my high school in manhattan. my parents woke up at the same time to prepare for work and drive me to the train station.

then i worked throughout college so i can get a well paying job at a large corporation. and you know what? it all paid off and i was making decent money straight out of school and never really had to work "paycheck to paycheck" but then i realized that it wasnt what i wanted to do with my life and made concrete choices to leave and do my own thing.

maybe this is entitlement because my parents were able to afford me my education and if that wasnt the case for you or for others in america, then that truly sucks. but if you think i wont accept the help of my parents just because others dont have the same kind of privilege, then thats some fucked up logic. or if you think i will take the opportunity my parents gave me and just frivolously waste it, that's also fucked up.

im really sorry you think im entitled, i also think i am. but if you think i didnt work to get to where i am then thats where you're wrong my friend

Can you please tell us how you managed your time?

i dont use any apps or productivity tools if that's what you mean. it's kinda hard to describe but i feel like my productivity or work ethic is a sort of muscle like any other in my body. it gets tired and needs rest.

so i work until i feel like ive worked enough and then i make sure to play games or hang out with friends to recharge.

lately though i feel like ive been working a lot because im kinda afraid to start playing my next game which is xenoblade chronicles 2 and im sorta afraid that it'll suck me in and i wont do anymore work lol. im the type who likes to finish things after starting them

The way I look at it is that you can't really try and optimize your time by a forced schedule. You're better of planning around your energy.

So do the things that are high priority and require energy when you have the energy to do it.

The old advice I often hear from elderly to do the chores or so first so you have them done is to me bad advice because I might then be wasting all my creative energy on that. Some people might need to follow that advice though.

regarding chores i usually do them immediately if its <5 min of time required. things like cleaning up cat poop, putting dishes in the dishwasher, making my bed, watering plants, etc.

but things that take more time i sorta mentally schedule them throughout the week. like buying groceries, doing laundry, vacuuming the apartment, etc.

Advice:

Don't start Elden Ring

I'm obsessed and probably 60+ hours of actual game time in.

haha ive never played a souls type game and was considering elden ring for my first one. but i wouldnt play it until it reaches like $20 in a few years. i have too many games i want to play right now. im more of a /r/patientgamers type of person

I've got a few things in the works. I'm struggling with getting people to find my stuff? How did you manage to launch your board games?

Congratulations on making it through surgery.

i am still to this day struggling with marketing and getting people to find my stuff. every day it feels like im in a vacuum yelling out into the deep void of the internet. and its incredibly disheartening especially for someone with a webdev background. for webdev, you update your code, refresh the page and immediately you are presented with feedback.

for marketing, you post something and you only get one metric really—eyeballs. and you have no idea why something does well or why something did poorly. you can make educated guesses but you'll never be 100% correct. so many more variables, timing, copy, political atmosphere, images, etc.

what you can do is just work at it a little every day. i make sure to dedicate my mornings to marketing. and that means going on twitter/instagram/reddit/social media to post random stuff about my game. post random stuff about my life. anything really.

for example only a few weeks ago i created a random discord server to document my journey as a game dev. and right now it's at 6 members for some reason. i have no idea who they are or why they joined but it's 6 more followers than i had before. and i guess it can only go up from here (knock on wood)

if you can give me some more details on what exactly you have "in the works" then maybe i can give you more specific advice.

thanks! i dont think i know anyone else personally who survived brain surgery :D (not to say i know anyone who died from brain surgery)

Well since you asked... It's a children's book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QZ1GM85

Not sure if that link will work, but we'll give it a shot.

Marketing is so difficult for me. Got any good resources for leaning more about how to do it.

Thanks for doing this AMA

hmmm well im not very well versed in childrens books. but to be brutally honest, i feel like its something that should look better than what yours looks like. i guess im not really familiar with the popular childrens books of today but the artstyle for your book looks more like its a funny webtoon or webcomic and not something you'd see in the childrens section of barnes&noble.

i learned from my first board game that art is extremely important and it's the first thing your customers will see when taking a look at your content/website. so for my second game i made sure to hire a professional illustrator to make great art.

besides that, i feel like you could use a better photo on your amazon page. you only have one photo of the book. you should have more on the page to help sell the book. the decription says "in this wonderfully illustrated book" but you only have one picture to prove that?

also another thing i learned is that people are not dumb, they can tell when a review sounds ingenuine or fake. this is again my personal bias from just looking at your artwork and not having read your book, but gordon's 5 star review on your page sounds like either you paid him to write that or he is your good friend who wrote it for you. sorry to be so brutal. :( i hope you dont take it personally. (i know its hard to, a lot of people gave me similar feedback on my first game and some days it just makes me want to crawl into a hole and die)

EDIT: maybe check out /r/marketing?

Love the corporate twist to Sisyphus! How did you get stuff printed/made at an economic price? I started dabbling in board game making too and have been printing paper to trial it, not sure how to get to that next step of having nice cards and figurines.

do you mean getting something made for a prototype? or for final manufacturing?

for a prototype you can use companies like the game crafter or make playing cards

although i would highly recommend you dont spend too much money on making a nice prototype until you are 99% confident in the gameplay and that none of the mechanics will change drastically.

i used index cards, pens, highlighters, etc. until i was confident. then i spent a bunch of money getting a nice prototype made and then realized my game sucked ass so i had to redo it all from scratch. for figures/meeples you can either reuse them from other games or use legos / coins / random trinkets you have around the house

Yeah I've spent so much in prototypes already but I think I'm close to final manufacturing now. What did you use for that?

protip, change your linkedin to include that you are a boardgame developer and you'll start getting tons of random chinese manufacturers contacting you haha.

i used GAMELAND. they were great. not the cheapest quote i got but their samples were great quality and i really enjoyed working with my contact. if you want, email me at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and i can send you her contact information.

Awesome, thanks! Will do.

good luck! mind sharing your game? id love to see it :)

I have nothing I can show at the moment, just a physical prototype. At some point I'll need to build some kind of assets and get into the whole marketing nightmare you were talking about lol.

im sorry but it shouldnt be "at some point" it should've been "since the very beginning."

start today! take photos, make a blog, create a website, create social media, upload more photos, etc. dont get stuck in the "if i make something great, people will come" mentality like i was

Have you explored paid advertising or doing more traditional media and influencer engagement?

The latter two are far more nebulous in terms of Impact because it's an earned value and visibility into down funnel data is super limited, but paid ads you'll have lots more ability to analyze and optimize based on engagement and viewership feedback.

If you haven't already, start using utm links in your social posts so you can get insight into how your audience is interfacing with your website.

I do digital marketing in the gaming industry - happy to give any pointers if you think they'd be helpful!

ive tried many influencers and getting my game reviewed by them but none of it really seemed to make any impact on sales. same for paid ads actually.

what are UTM links? i feel like im so lost with all the technical stuff i can be doing for digital marketing...

Give this a read: https://agencyanalytics.com/blog/utm-tracking

Essentially, it encodes a URL (to, for example, your storefront) with campaign parameters that enable you to track attribution better through analytics tools, like Google Analytics.

It's pretty simple but enables you to get a better idea of how effective an ad, influencer campaign, etc. might be. There's still alot of experimentation and guess work that goes into it, but the more data you have, the better.

For example -- if you gave a copy of your board game to a YouTuber and in return they post a review and the UTM link you provided, you could know with more clarity how many people visited your store because they watched the YouTube video.

Worth noting that engagement rates with links in general are very, very low -- like usually less than 0.5%. 2% for ads is considered phenomenal.

wow very interesting. thank you so much!!! i'll take a look

Is it OK if I just want to read books and play video games all day? And also binge shows.

if you want to and can afford to, why not

Cause ppl judge

they're just jealous lmfao if i could afford to play games and watch shows all day then i wouldn't give a shit what others thought.

What are your favorite board games right now?

the isle of cats hands down.

EDIT: oh wait it was plural. umm. crosstalk is great for parties. also recently played bananagrams for the first time (been really into word games lately thanks to wordle). trying to buy a copy of ransom notes but its sold out until april. scout is great to bring to any event since its so small and very replayable.

cant wait for my copy of canvas to arrive, it should arrive any day now

Love the shout-out for bananagrams. I'm an addict and none of my friends are really as hyped about it as I am.

i think it was wordle that got me hooked on word games and now im just an addict looking for the next fix

I actually asked you some questions on your last AMA about distribution and manufacturing for your Kickstarter!

I wound up using the company you recommended, got my prototype back, and am launching my Kickstarter next month! Thanks for all your help man, I'm glad to see that you're doing well!

What's your next project look like?

wow wtf! that's crazy!!!!!!!! i looked at your profile but couldn't find a link to your KS. can you please link it here so i can be reminded when you launch???

this is a link to my next project and the website here

I know right! When I saw your AMA I knew I had to comment haha

So this is my personal account so I don't have my business stuff up here and I don't have the Kickstarter published quite yet, BUT here's the link to my website/newsletter about it!

thats an instant subscribe. that's awesome! i can't wait.

here's some more unsolicited advice, i think you should have the KS pre-launch page up ASAP. even if your page is not 100% done, you should submit it to review so you can get that handy pre-launch URL. Once you have that URL you should blast it out to all of your customers / subscribers / followers to get as many people to click that green button as possible. and dont worry im 99% sure you can edit everything except the payment details.

for example i have the KS prelaunch page for my next game up but the page is no where near ready to be published. but this way i can get a head start on collecting as many potential customers as possible while simultaneously working on the KS page

good luck! see you in april

Thank you so much, I appreciate all the advice you can give!

I didn't even know that you could have a prelaunch page and I've watched like 100 YouTube videos haha I just followed your project as well, it looks so fun!

So cool to reconnect, hope we both get fully funded ASAP!

actually pretty crazy, ive been meaning to host a murder mystery party since before COVID but then COVID lol

We're actually the #1 best seller on Etsy! I only sell PDFs or handmade box kits right now and I'm so excited to have the fancy professional box kits!

But we've sold over 8,000 parties so far and have 700+ 5-star reviews so (not to brag) but if you want to host one, mine are pretty good 😂

wow that sounds like a really successful KS in the makings :)

For curiosities sake, what company?

i'm not the person you replied to but here - https://www.murdersincorporated.com/kickstarter

Congrats on the progress, love life stories like these they give me a lot of hope about the meaning of life.

Two questions if you don't mind:

1) How are you doing financially? What do you do for income?

2) What secured you mentally in being willing to take the risks you have and know things will be okay? How did your family react at the time of your decision?

Thanks for doing this.

1. I am doing just okay. Kinda sorta just scraping by. Definitely no where near what I was making with my old corporate job. Right now I'm kinda dumping all my eggs in my next game's basket and hoping for the best. If that doesn't pan out then I might actually have to get a day job again lol
2. Mentally I was extremely secure. Both sides of my family come from very entrepreneurial backgrounds so I'm pretty lucky to have understanding parents of the "entrepreneur itch" And I was young (still kinda am) so I don't have kids or a family to take care of financially so I figured no better time than now.

Thanks for the questions!

How's Astoria treating you guys? I miss it, always something to do/someplace to eat!

astoria is fantastic. i had a bunch of friends in the area so it honestly felt like i was coming home. i grew up in queens so in a sense i guess i was.

the sense of community here is awesome and really makes me want to be a better community member myself. i participated in the local holiday market, the local artists collective (QNS) and consider myself pretty active in the subreddit (not the discord though yet)

Dang, all of this made me so happy to read. I’m happy for you OP, you seem like a very well rounded person with loving people around you. I wish you continuous good health in the future ❤️

What is one memory you’ve really cherished this past year, more than anything?

one of my most cherished memories is my loving girlfriend coming with me to PAX unplugged and helping me out for three days straight, helping me set up, grab a table, grab me food during the events, help teach my game, and take photos of the event for me.

a close second is watching my parents read about me in the washington post.

Damn, did your parents model as a sidegig? Good looking mfs

if you have any modeling gigs i'll let them know!

This is so inspirational. Thank you for sharing brother. I hope you’re doing well, and I wish nothing but the best for you!

Can you attach a link to your board game?

sure thing!

game 1.

game 2.

I have a board game idea, how do I get started?

borrowing my answer from a previous question:

​

You write down your board game ideas in a notebook.

Then you buy some index cards and make your first ever shitty prototype.

Then you sit and brood over the game for many days until a vaguely fun turd of a game emerges.

Then you take that and you pester all your friends and family to playtest it.

Then you playtest it some more with people you don't know.

Then you refine the design based on feedback.

Then you playtest it at least a couple hundred more times.

Then you make a "final" prototype via places like thegamecrafter.com (I'm not affiliated with them, they are just the company I used)

Now you have the game!

Your awesome. Thanks for that.

please reply back when you have something to share, id love to see. or if you want to keep me updated via email that works too - [email protected]

You seem to be doing great and enjoying life!

Have you had any deficits from the moyamoya disease? How about recurring TIAs?

I also have moyamoya on the same side and had my surgery in 2019.

sorry im not sure what a deficit or a TIA is :(

Most folks who had moyamoya first learned about it after getting a stroke or transient ischemic attack (temporary stroke). Some folks recover without side effects. Others will get partial paralysis.

After my surgery, there were a few weeks where I couldn't form words well or have trouble moving my right arm and leg. I only get some symptoms if I get overly dehydrated or tired nowadays and only rarely.

i only learned about it after checking into the ER for headaches. luckily i wasnt far along enough for strokes or any attacks. it was really a miracle how they discovered it on accident.

luckily i didnt have any problems after the surgery forming words or moving.

hope you're better now!

Surviving a brain surgery really gives u a fresh look on life, im glad ur okay! The pulsating head is pretty funny.

Did the surgery affect ur daily life in any way?

not really? i do sometimes feel a small bit of pressure where the scar is but aside from that it's just something im not too aware of on a daily basis.

i kinda wish it gave me telekinetic powers or something, that would be so sick

damn wish i had telekinetic powers, im asking cause my left eyebrow is paralyzed after the surgery, and i thought ur would be too.

no wrinkles at old age at least.

woah i definitely dont have any paralysis in my body. is that normal? did you ask your doctors? lol

Not yet, it was quite recent but i gotta ask them finally cause i always forgot to

yeah you might wanna get on that haha you never know! i went to the ER cuz of headaches and i walked out diagnosed with a rare brain disease

At least the brow is in a neutral position so I just got problems with facial expressions, we got the same scar thats why I wanted to ask

i think a lot of brain surgeries end up with this scar because simone giertz (the build random stuff youtuber) has a similar scar

grew up in Astoria and haven't been back in a long time. hows the greek street food cart scene these days?

maybe you'll hate me for this but i've only tried one greek food cart so far (King Souvlaki on 31st and 31st) and it honestly wasn't that great. maybe i got the wrong order or went to the wrong cart. i'll try some more and see if its any better

Lottery winners to all non winners 'you just got to win'. Doesn't bo burhnam have a joke about famous people giving advice on being famous?

Definitely live your life to the fullest and take your chances/ make your opportunities, but lucky and famous people are not good sources of advice(and most of it is luck), they are anecdotes, as are we all, but collectively we form something more valuable: Data. :).

luck is definitely a part of it but i also worked hard to position myself to be in a place where i can take advantage of any luck i get in my life.

for example, pretty lucky thing that happened to me:

- i was featured in the washington post

​

to get there i needed to:

- have a successful kickstarter

- have a story that resonated with the journalist who contacted me

- have had experience working in a corporation (so it aligned with the story the newspaper wanted to tell)

​

maybe all of that had some luck to it, but i'd like to thing that my efforts and hard work helped each little step move towards the end result of me getting in the newspaper

I've heard success is doing a lot of work to be ready for the luck that may never happen, but not doing anything assures you're not ready. :)

Definitely not an excuse to.not pursue your dreams, but don't be crushed if it doesn't work out, as more often it doesn't, and be ok with pivoting.

There are lots of opportunities though, and hopefully lots of potential dreams for everyone.

Many eggs many baskets.

Choose your own adventure. :)

wise words my friend!

여자친구도 한국 사람인가요? 그 힘든 시간 동안 여자 친구가 어떻게 도와줬어요?

저 여친도 한국 사람이에요~ 뭐...그냥 밥 해주거나 옆에서 이것저것 도와주거나...구체적으로 뭐 했냐면 생각이 안 떠오르네요 ㅋ 멘탈서포트??

What was it like leaving your corporate job? It’s something I dream about daily, but I can’t find the courage to leave when I think about everything I could lose haha. I’m trying to work up the courage somehow!

the story i always tell is

i have distinct memories of sitting in conference rooms, muted on the speaker phone, and staring at my networth chart tick up and down on mint.com. and i thought to myself that that was no way to live a life.

i'm not saying you should or shouldnt quit. if you want to quit then you can start taking concrete steps to quitting. either get a new skill, find new jobs, move to a different team. it all seems very daunting but you just need to break it down into smaller bite-sized portions.

You're like the Nathan Chen of real life... so many achievements!! I've seen several of your posts on Reddit and didn't know it was by the same person. How many hours do you sleep a night on average? And how's the sleep quality?

i have no idea who nathan chen is haha but i just quickly googled him. a figure skater? i barely know how to skate lol

i sleep probably 8 hours an average and my sleep quality is decent. im very very prone to canker sores if i dont get enough sleep. i actually have one right now cuz ive been waking up early for marketing :(

idk if this has been asked, but are you still selling the board game?

yes i am! you can find it on my website if you google my username

How difficult was it to manage your time?

regarding time management, i answered that here

and i guess i dont really find it difficult to manage time. i just have a mental checklist of stuff i need to get done and just work my way down.

Do you have any advice for someone working on their own board game? While not a traditional board game (as a TTRPG), I still wonder if there are any insights you have to offer.

you're making an TTRPG? to be honest i've never played one so im not too familiar with them. i think in one sense they are easier to manufacture since it's just a book at the end of the day and you dont need intricate pieces or boards. but on another sense it feels like it'll be even harder to differentiate yourself from the other TTRPGs out there.

you can try joining IGDN it was originally a TTRPG specific group that grew to include regular board games as well.

aside from that i only have really general advice like

• playtest playtest playtest. especially with people who dont know you
• market market market. start right now. make a website, make a blog, take photos, film videos, etc.
• use pretty artwork. if it's a book for a TTRPG, then make sure your cover art is eye-catching and that the style works with your theme.

Hey, man, thanks for taking the time to get back to me. I'm very much isolated in this development process so outside perspectives help tremendously. Your closing points especially gave me a lot to think about, especially in regards to playtesting and getting the game into other people's hands. Sounds to me like I need to extend my reach a bit!

have you played it with your friends and family yet?

making my game would not have been possible had i not had the help from playtesting it with countless strangers

I have not. But those of my friends and family interested in TTPRG's have entertained the occasional infodump and have even contributed some intellectual property, like monster concepts and even a game rule now and again. I'm close to playtesting and they've agreed to help, so I'm eager to hear their feedback. Once I've refined what there is to refine, I'll very much look into public playtesting.

that sounds great! yeah you should definitely play with some close friends first before opening up for public playtesting.

I will heed that advice!

Thanks for all your time, man. I appreciate you taking some time out of your day to offer up some insight.

not at all. so many countless others have helped me on my journey and the least i can do is pay it forward!

What Boardgames?

Successfully funded my first ever boardgame on Kickstarter and sold a bunch of copies thanks to Reddit.

Made a card game about mythical creatures living together in a reality TV show (inspired by my love for Terrace House)

What if all i want to do is watch porn, masturbate, and ppay videogames?

if you can afford to, then why not? that sounds like a great life

Its empty and shallow. lol

but if you want to do it then why not? does it give you enjoyment?

Successfully funded my first ever boardgame on Kickstarter and sold a bunch of copies thanks to Reddit.

Can you explain what you mean by "thanks to Reddit"? Did someone help you market it or something?

Did they help you

no its more like i posted about it on reddit and a bunch of people checked out my kickstarter and backed it.

so in that sense yes they helped me. nobody helped me market it, god i wish i had help lol

That's just as great. Congratulations on your project!

thank youuuu

Dude where did you learn to build things like that?

I have always wondered if that’s something your parents are supposed to teach you. I’ve heard of people renovating their homes on their own and I’m like how do you know how to do this stuff?

The only thing I know how to build is maybe a gingerbread house and I’m in my 20’s hahaha.

you mean the DIY stuff? not sure really. i watch DIY videos on youtube casually and just kinda thought i could make that.

it also helps to have all the necessary tools available to me at my dad's factory haha. im just a novice DIY guy, i definitely cant renovate my home or anything serious like that

i've never built a gingerbread house so you got me beat!

Should I just drop out of school...do a bootcamp instead and dedicate my time to what I TRULY like to do (play guitar)? I’m getting too old to be a broke college student...not to mention I have debt racking up because I only work a shitty part-time

a bootcamp for guitar??? is that a thing?

what are you in school for?

I’m going to school for computer science...not passionate about it but I think it is interesting. The bootcamp would be for coding so I could simply skip the school part and get a job faster.

The pandemic occurring right after both of my parent’s health crisis’ put me in a “survival” mode where all I could think about was trying to become successful through practical means as fast as possible...but I’m afraid I’m losing my soul and connection to my passions

ahhh...if i could go back in time i would change my major to CS. its definitely one of the more employable fields right now.

i personally know a bunch of people who did coding bootcamps and ended up in well paying jobs. whether or not they are happy at those jobs is something im not sure about.

from what i understand though the bootcamp would also be very expensive so you'd need money for that. or maybe one that takes from your first job paycheck when you graduate.

however, i wonder what people will think when they realize you dropped out of a CS degree at a school to do a bootcamp. i feel like a bootcamp is mostly geared towards people without a CS degree and who want to change their careers into CS. versus in your position, you've never had a career so you can still major in CS. know what i mean?

how old are you if i may ask?

I’m 25...just desperate to not be a broke college student...currently working a physically exhausting job that just makes it even harder to study. Maybe I’m just complaining too much.

Maybe I can get good enough at guitar to make some side money off of it...that would be amazing

i dont want to discourage you or but this sounds way harder than college / bootcamp

do you have a degree in anything? or are you getting your first degree?

I have an associate’s in liberal arts if that counts for anything

yeah then in your case, i might try for the boot camp to get a job asap instead of going for the degree. what year are you in?

What's your favorite brand of gum?

trident orange, i used to chew that shit every day in HS

Do you believe in a G(g)od(s)?

no i dont

Shut up?

and sit down?

Where did your parents immigrate from?

south korea!