Birthday! · 11:21am Jun 23rd, 2015
It's my birthday today. I am officially 25 years old. Many years ago, I thought I'd have a substantially different life than the one I have right now. This seems to happen to a lot of people. I hadn't planned to get completely obsessed with My Little Pony or to write a stupid knockoff of Cookie Clicker that got explosively popular. I never planned on working at Microsoft. I did, however, plan to eventually quit, which is why I only have to drag myself to work for another week before I am finally free.
In a way, the past 2 years have been me trying to recover from utterly failing at everything I wanted to do. When the life you had wanted to live begins to crumble around you, different people cope in different ways. I'd been watching the show since 2012, but it was in early 2013, right before I graduated college, that I threw myself into the fandom, because I had stopped caring about everything else. I am the kind of person who does not respond well to a corporate job. I had always intended to be an indie game developer, even if it meant scraping by on almost no income.
It turns out I was total garbage at writing games or finishing projects. I had absolutely nothing to even attempt to sell. I didn't even have a game. I was too busy poking at other projects and getting distracted. I had nothing. So, after spending a year in denial, I sent off my resume to Microsoft, and they offered me a ridiculous amount of money. So, I took a job there, and started saving up. It has now been 1 year and 3 months since I started at Microsoft, and I only have 6 days left before I leave.
I have already begun working on my game again. I've learned a lot in the past year. Mostly about how to finish things. I know better than to obsess over tiny details that ultimately should only be worried about a month before you release instead of before you even have a working prototype. I'm a few years behind schedule, but I hope that this year will be a year of recovery. Pony Clicker was an experiment to see if I could hit a deadline, and I did. I hope that my 26th year of existence will be one of triumph and achievement.
I hope that, for my 26th birthday, I will finally have something to be proud of.
Happy birthday! And good luck!
Happy birthday!
Life indeed doesn't always go as planned. Or, it may be more accurate to say it always doesn't go as planned.
That said, I will respectfully submit that developing one's interests while having a steady job offers certain advantages versus doing so without one. There are downsides, to be sure; notably, the drain on your time and energy. But it positions you to take risks with your side projects without risking your ability to pay the bills.
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday!
Hope it's a good one! And good luck!
Happy Birthday!Have a good day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday.
Buon compleano, mi amico! May this day be kind and may it bring you good tidings.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday.
And good luck on your game.
Young'n.
Man. Basically straight out of college, you've got MoneySoft throwing fistfuls of simoleons at you. You've got it rough.
Just kidding kinda.
Have fun and good luck pursuing your dream. 
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday! Congratulations on Pony Clicker (curse you for getting me addicted)! And I hope you are successful!
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The primary issue with Microsoft is that I don't want to be rich - I want to contribute something meaningful to society. Helping Microsoft make billions of dollars certainly helps me, but it isn't helping anyone else.
The other problem is that my contract states that Microsoft owns all rights to everything I invent while I'm working there. And there's a year-long non-compete agreement. I am legally barred from working on personal programming projects that could theoretically compete with Microsoft while I work there. So, if I want to do anything other than work for Microsoft, I have to quit. Yes, this is stupid.
I've got a lot saved up in my bank account though, so I'm set for the next 4 or 5 years.
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Yeah, those things are pretty industry-standard, though those non-compete clauses aren't usually enforced (or enforceable, for that matter, though it depends on your state's laws).
Good luck with your plans, though. It's a good thing our society has people better than me in it who are willing to sacrifice to make the world a better place to live in.
At the point in my life I'm at, I'd take rich. Heck, I'd take just being able to take my family on a nice vacation once every few years.
I'm well past any potential (if ever I had any) to make a meaningful difference in the world, anyway.
These sound like things I should learn. Happy birthday, by the way!
That was the previous year. When you turn 25, you're starting your 26th year.
Also, don't sweat things. Life takes time, and meanders. I just turned 40 and things are going strong for me. It's good to be focused on accomplishment, but your age is just a number (at your age anyway) so don't let it weigh you down.
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhh
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>tfw another followed by me person follows another person who I alslo follow.
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It's true. Hue.
You should also count 9 months of being alive in your mother womb too. You can count +9 month older, also when your parents 'produced' you. Hue!
Oh shit.
Also: Happy B-day.
Stupid me.
3176741 Uhh, no, actually. I followed Cloud Hop because I love his One Last Trick story.