End Game

I use chess a lot to describe my feelings and attitudes about the things that go on around me. I guess it's the rules of movement and lack of absolute chaos (pieces have set rules for movement and placement) that appeals to me. It also, I guess it shows my force of habit. A Knight will always move as a Knight. Queen, Rook, Bishop it will always be the same for every game.


Except the Pawn. There is an interesting rule called Promotion that allows a Pawn to become something else upon reaching the far side of the board (Rank 8). It may become, in normal games, anything else but a King. This is a very useful endgame strategy because making an extra Queen on the play field will put an opponent at a severe disadvantage.

But imagine a game, for a moment, where a Pawn did not get promoted. Either due to lack of motive or ability to actually be promoted the pawn stays in the 8th rank and just sits there. I don't just mean promoted in a job, I mean in life it just sits there waiting for things to happen around it and to become better because of it.

To put this post in a better perspective: I have a been a Rank 8 Pawn for too long. I've played out my moves on this board, I'm bored (pun intended), and I just need to move on. I am a creature of habits and patterns that needs to shake up things. Just toss all the damn pieces off the board, make new ones with interesting, exciting, and most importantly different rules.

So where does this feeling leave me? I started getting this feeling back in May, after ending a relationship with someone for the 2nd time this year[1], that I really needed to look inside to find out what I wanted. I looked around after the dust settled and realized just how much dust there really was. I had lived in my current city for half my life, rarely traveled. I ate at the same places, sang karaoke at the same bar for 2 years. I just had gotten so wrapped up in patterns and predictable moves that nothing seemed interesting any more.

So after some introspection at the beach in June I started a ball rolling. The plan now is, in part:

• Find a 4 year college, transfer my credits for the classes I've already have taken over the years and get my bachelor's degree.
• Sub-Plan: I am literally 1 class, English, away from my AA. I am looking to finally get that class and complete it this coming spring
• Get out of this job I’m in now. I’ve been with the same company 9 years now, in IT for 6 of them. I need a career change. Which leads to the next item.
• The schools I have been looking at have been in Game Development and Programming. I've thought about this for years but I'm deciding to make the jump.

So there it is. With any luck/perseverance by this time next year I'll be in college, working part time (possibly with a different company) and finally getting my life on a different track than waiting for someone to promote my piece. I spent some time today with a couple of other people in my company to feel out other jobs there that I might be able to do part time. I'm waiting until the 22nd when I register for classes at OCC to see if I can get my English class squared away. Then I'll apply for other colleges (UAT, Digipen are my top 2 pics, have 2 other more traditional colleges as backups. I think I'll be able to swing UAT, Digipen is a dream)

[1]I'm actually not blaming the 2nd one for anything, though the 1st one I mention (my friends would know whom I speak of), was toxic but did ignite a certain sense of accomplishment and probably set me on this course. Possibly the only thing I got out of that relationship. The 2nd one just fizzled, much to my disappointment.