RpNation

Indeed, it is I, Dom! I think it has been like... 2 years or so since we last spoke?!
I don't think I have told you before but I live in South Africa, hehe. Currently in 2nd year of uni (studying game design) and our course is 100% online. Been stuck at home since March~! So far there are no signs of going back as numbers are still on the rise.

Please do stay safe!! I see things are very hectic on your side at the moment...

What are you thinking for your second degree? And what is it like being in the National Guard?

Daaang, that's crazy to really think about, too. O.o

Ahh, you know what, that actually does sound like something I've heard before. It's ringing some dusty, old bells in my brain lol.
Dang, at least your degree sounds like it would still work well going completely online! Do you have any specific plans as to what you will do with it once you graduate?
Man, I kinda got lucky that I'm in the National Guard in the US because the pandemic activated my unit to assist my state with everything. I've been on active duty orders since late March and man has it paid well. I was unemployed right before this all went down and had been struggling to nail down any jobs for long. >.<

Oh man, don't even get me started. XD Thankfully, I actually had a test done two weeks ago and it came back negative. I hadn't suspected anything, but had to do it for my military unit. My family hasn't been too exposed all in all, so no cases in my family (yet :s ). How's about you? You and your family all good despite everything?
Ironically enough, I actually have a minor ankle surgery next week that I was supposed to get done back in early April before the doctor's office closed down when it all started. >.< It's nothing too crazy, but I will be mostly bedridden for 1-2 weeks after and then won't get to drive until late August. It's going to be super weird relying on others to get around for anything.

I actually want to get into Wildlife Biology, specifically something to do with conservation research. I don't want to interact with a lot of people, but I want to be able to work with animals or even just help with the research for their well-being. I've got pets to keep me company at home anyways.

Honestly, the National Guard is just pure chaos most of the time. XD It gave me a job during the pandemic, though, and it pays waaaay more than any other job I could find right now. I'd honestly be in a pretty bad place financially right now if I hadn't gotten this mission to assist my state. o.o And being on active duty means I get amazing health insurance that actually covers mostly everything, including covering most of my upcoming surgery. It would've cost me over $1,000 USD otherwise. T.T

To be honest... I have noooo idea on the specifics of like... where I want to work or what I want to do after I graduate. I do know that I would like to work in the gaming industry so... kind of hoping I figure out my life by the time I graduate, bahahaha. If not... well, we will see I guess!

Ah have you applied for a course in Wildlife Biology yet? It sounds really interesting! I would definitely like to hear more about it! Though I take it that you are very much an animal person then xD what pets do you have?

Dang I hope your surgery goes well! Please rest up after your surgery x.x

What do you actually do as a member of the National Guard, Lioness?

Haha, hey, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most people don’t have everything figured out when they go to college right after secondary / high school. Heck, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do and then graduated and realized, “Well, shit, I actually really don’t want to do this.” XD It’s tough to narrow it down so early in your life. My only suggestion would be to seek an internship somewhere or even find people or friends who might be working in the video game industry to give you some insight into what it’s actually like. Because tbh, the only reason I’m not in a depression rut over having a useless degree is because my military career is still going strong regardless. ^^’

Nah, I’ve only really taken the one environmental science course when I was at uni. But I’ve known for a long time I’d love to be able to work with animals. I tried to go pre-vet at uni and got obliterated in BIOL-1107K. It was the course designed for all vet and med students. I literally hardcore failed the first exam and the professor told everyone who failed that we should withdraw from the class lmao. At least she was honest with us. XD I aced the environmental science course, though, and I’ve always cared deeply for the conservation aspect of animals and, well, nature. I enjoyed the research side of psychology for my first degree because for the most part, I didn’t have to interact with too many people. XD
I have only a rodent family of pets atm because I live in a small apartment. I’ve got three guinea pigs (Wiggles, Waggles , & Oreo lol), but they’re with petsitters atm because I keep bouncing around for my military stuff and the ankle surgery will prevent me from being able to bend over to care for them for the time being. Then I more recently got a Syrian hamster to keep me company while I’m away from my bigger floofs. She’s named Lily and she just recently has started to let me pet her. :3
Idk if it was ever discussed before (probably was), but do you have any pets?

I will! I plan to have anything I need delivered while I’m not allowed to drive. And I’ve got a friend who’s willing to help drive me to appointments and things afterwards. ^^ I’m just going to feel guilty because I won’t be able to take any of my trash out from my bedroom and will have to put that on my roommate to do for me for the first two weeks after my surgery. :s Luckily, we do have a trash valet during the week. But we don’t have it on the weekends. >.<

Well, so I used to be a truck driver, but obviously the ankle is not allowing for that currently. ^^’ As of last August, I commissioned as an officer, so now I’m more of a desk jockey than anything else. But it’s good for my body to be able to rest more after me busting my butt for the first 5-ish years of my military career. I really made my body do more than it should during that time and can tell it didn’t take it too well. >.< I’m basically in a supervisor position.

Hmm... with regards to internship, I think we have get to go intern at companies next year, which I am really excited for! By then, I hope the pandemic is over, or at least on its way out, otherwise I doubt there will be any time or opportunity for interning and work experience. Our lecturers are also getting a bunch of people from the industry to have talks with us - to give us a better understanding of what we are getting ourselves into LOL.

Bahahaha that is one honest lecturer. What are your plans going forth tho?

OMG smol floofs! On my side, I do not have any pets, (my family doesnt like animals xD) so I hope to get a cat when I am independent and have my own place. I am an all around animal person, though cats are definitely my favourite, lol.

Do you mind if I ask your about your injury? As in what had happened? Also, look at you! Being in a supervisor position! Very Fancy!

Oh yeah, fair. Now really isn't the best time to try anything like that. XD That's smart to have people come in and talk to y'all about the industry, though. It can be daunting to not fully understand what a career will look like with your degree. I sadly just felt too confident about wanting to be a counselor when I was still in college. I honestly didn't fully understand myself back then, else I would've known better. I changed my major numerous times, too, and just never could quite find something that worked for me. Alas, I had a scholarship anchoring me to the uni I attended and that uni doesn't have any solid wildlife biology degrees, so even if I decided on it back then, I would've been stuck anyways. *le sigh* I really hope that the talks give you solid insight and you can decide what you really want to do before you graduate. If anything, I definitely know that either having work or internship experience (or both!) before you graduate is absolutely key to getting into whatever career you do pursue.

For real. XD It was insightful to know that was the time for me to withdraw, though haha. Well, for now, I'm focusing on my military career. There are many different paths I can go down for it, but I definitely don't plan on going back to uni until after I get out of the military first. It's just too complicated and challenging to balance my career and uni now that I've gotten so much higher up the ladder. Luckily, I've got tuition assistance through the government for being in the military, so I wouldn't have to sweat any student debt getting a second degree! I was lucky the first time to be debt-free with the military scholarship and even though my first degree is mostly useless, it does check the box for a certain rank promotion down the line that requires you to have a bachelor's degree.

Yesss, the best part is my guinea pigs act like a combination of a cat and a dog. They're mostly like cats, but they get zoomie and 'popcorn' around their space when they're super excited (look it up on YouTube, you won't be disappointed!). I am absolutely obsessed over getting a cat once I get my own home. My game plan is to actually get my first home in February when I come back from my military officer training (late October to early February). Cats are awesome pets and I will always argue (much like pitbulls) that there are few bad cats and just many terrible owners. I have all these plans to have way more pets once I eventually get another home down the road has a lot of acreage. Wherever my first home is, I don't expect it to have much acreage to start with.

Not at all! I basically severely sprained my ankle about 4-5 years ago and neglected to get it checked out properly (was raised to avoid doctors at all costs and my parents have terrible health insurance). But while on these active duty orders, I finally got the premium military health insurance that practically covers all healthcare costs. So, I went to my foot and ankle doc to get it looked at and discovered a very old bone fragment that has been sitting in my ankle for so long that it's now a bone spur. And my ankle struggled to heal properly on its own, so it decided to make three more bone spurs to make it a party in there. XD So, the surgery is very minor and they're just going in to shave down the bone spurs to encourage the ankle to heal on its own now.

Hmm... I guess to some extent, we really cant ever be... 100% sure of what we want to end up doing. Mainly because there are so many other factors that can affect your overall experience of a career or work. I do feel somewhat anxious because my main reason for studying this degree is because my main interests generally fall into this industry: gaming, arting, music and storytelling. However those are very different from actually being involved in the making of games so.... x.x my lecturers think that I will enjoy it, though only time will tell!

Gosh haha, not going to lie, though it is undoubtedly a lot of work, having a military life sounds very interesting! And certainly full of benefits! How did you get on this path though? Did you have to apply or were you recruited?

I have been told by a friend of mine that cats will not let you forget to feed them xD so that is a plus for me since I often end up randomly forgetting things. For example, my poor potplants never last a week in my hands.... ahhhhh..... but yes, I wish you the best of luck then getting your first home! You must have a house and pet tour when you can, I think it will be fun lol!

Holy frick, bone spurs about bone spurs LOL... that sounds horrible! I have had the fortune of not broken any bones or hurt myself seriously yet... but if I ever do, I will definitely need to get it checked xD that has got to be quite painful, wow!

Nah, you're right. It's very hard to nail it all down until you get some experience in that career path. I attended an information seminar for a master's program in social work last year and was very disheartened to hear my tuition assistant from the government would only pay about 1/4th of my tuition for a master's degree. I couldn't and still can't afford that tuition right now and refuse to get a loan for anything except for when I buy my house.

That's awesome that you're pursuing your love for video games and storytelling among other things. That would be super cool to get paid to write, like you already do for RPs. ^^

Haha, it is most certainly interesting at all times. I actually had to hunt down a recruiter for the Army to get enlisted. Normally, there are assigned recruiters to certain secondary schools and they come to you, but I attended a private Christian school and my assigned recruiter didn't bother wasting his time there lol. It worked out in the end.

Oh man, I totally need help keeping track of that sometimes, too. My guinea pigs squeak loudly at me in the mornings to remind me, but my little hamster will just sleep through the day if I don't wake her for breakfast. >.< The upside is she stockpiles the food I give her, so I could technically just give her a carrot for the entire day and not bother with more of the hamster mix until she eats what she has stashed away. But it is better for her to have fresh food daily, so yeah. Haha, don't fret, I'm just as terrible with little plants. I have tried so many times to even get succulents to survive, but I can't figure out a good balance of watering them. I now have some fake ones in my bathroom lol.

I really do look forward to the day I get to move in somewhere that I can call mine. It's the ultimate freedom I seek. Of course, the only downside is I'll undoubtedly have to furnish the place and that'll be costly unless I give up on interior designing upfront. XD

Ha, yeah, not the most fun experience. ^^' I just thought the pain was normal after a while since it's usually not too severe, but it can build up and become debilitating at times. And it's frankly just long overdue to be taken care of. I really, really look forward to the recovery concluding and the pain ideally going away or at least lessening.

That is very rough to hear... so are you currently saving up or what?

Indeed, only thing is I am very rusty when it comes to writing and wow has my English degraded since I have been in lockdown! Like it is terrible, bahaha! It doesnt help that I also speak a lot of Chinese at home, so that is getting mixed with English quite a bit!

Thank goodness you hunted that mia recruiter down! ...did you know for a while back that you wanted to be in the Army?

I tried many many... many times to grow forget-me-nots and each time, I failed xD then again, this was when I was like..... 12 years old. I cant say that Im much better now...but we will never know...
(Also, the single inverted commas on my keyboard doesnt work, so sorry about my lack of inverted commas xD)

Who need interior design! If you have a floor, you have a bed, a table and chair. Bam! Money saved!! I do understand that freedom though... I got a taste of that from living in university residence, now that was fun! It sucks though, because I worked hard to get this specific room, but because of the pandemic, I dont get to live in it Bahaha.

Gosh yes, I am hoping for your speedy recovery, Lion! And for the bone spurs to be gone yeeted!

Not really tbh. I just finished replenishing my emergency savings after they took a big hit from me being unemployed for a few months. I'll be earning bank at my officer training and am planning to pay off my phone, set aside moneys for a down payment on a home, and then also set aside moneys for some basic furniture. I'll absolutely be leaning on Facebook marketplace to find local stuff to pick up, especially since some people put things up for free just to get rid of it when it won't sell for a long time. XD

Oh man, your English is amazing! I can't even tell it's rusty or that you're not fluent! It's too bad I barely remember any of the two years of Mandarin I took in uni. I'd type out "Sorry, my Chinese is bad" in Mandarin here, but I haven't added in the additional keyboard option on my PC yet lol. Meh.

Yeah, embarrassingly enough, my original motivation for enlisting was playing Call of Duty when I was 14-years-old. ^^' The military just seemed so cool in those games and well, I learned the hard way that they're far from the truth lol.

No problem about the lack of apostrophes (lol XD). And yeah, I just notoriously do not have a green thumb and so I invested in a little invention that will basically take care of plants for me and all I have to do is keep it plugged in and give the plant food here and there.

Aww, man, that sucks, though. I got stuck in cadet housing for most of my time in uni and can't say I really enjoyed the experience all too much. I had the most fun when I spent a year abroad in Canada and actually got to decorate my room to a degree.

Haha, I can't wait for them to be yeeted. XD I'm just hoping the recovery isn't too terribly painful for me. I got as many little things I could think of to help me through it - waterproof and rubber-sole stool for the shower (can put cushion on it to allow me to stand with my leg elevated), additional stool for doing stuff at bathroom sink, knee scooter for getting around in general, proper elevating cushion for bed, and a bed desk. :3 Pretty expensive investment overall, but everything's going to make the recovery that much smoother imo.

Ah, actually English is my first language, so I am fluent in it... it has just gotten a little muddled with my second language, Chinese xD Also, we should definitely have a chat in Mandarin one day, just for the experience xD However, I cannot say that I will do particularly well... since my written Mandarin kind of sucks (as in really, really sucks).

Oh no, I get that! Unfortunately, video games makes everything seem better than it is xD but hey, at least you get some nice privileges!

WHat!! I need that invention! Bestow upon me your wisdom, dearest Lioness! I wish to stop killing plants! (very tempted to get a cactus or something at this point)

Oof, what was cadet housing like? All I can imagine is how soldiers lived in the barracks, as portrayed in movies xD

Wow that sounds like a lot of things that you need to prepare! Though it will be all worth it for your speedy recovery! At least, you will never be short on stools should you ever need one after all this xDDD that is something.

Ohhhh, my bad!! XD The way I read you saying your English had gotten rusty made me think it was your second language lmao. Derp. That’s too cool that you actually have something of a second language, though. And tbh, my written Mandarin is pretty much limited to, “Hello” or fancy “Hello”, “Sorry, my Chinese is Bad”, “My name is...(I probably don’t remember the correct characters for my Chinese name)”, “Thank you”, and that’s about it I think. But hey, you could totally teach me stuff and I could practice my super rusty Mandarin with you.

Haha, true, true.Despite the setbacks I've faced in the military world, it has ultimately been one of my best decisions in life. I don’t really fit in well in the normal world of normal jobs.I actually had a friend suggest to me to go into security work if I still need a civilian job next year when I get back from my officer training. It actually pays really well and I’d have minimal interaction with other people unless someone was being stupid lol.

Haha, it’s PICO on Kickstarter.com. It has already been successful and the campaign ended, but there should be some options for getting it once they ship everything out to the backers first. I haven’t paid much attention to what they’re offering people who didn’t originally backit.

Hahaha, nah, we were college students at the same time, so we did have bunk beds, but everything was a wee bit nicer as university housing. Tbh, I can’t complain with what I got. I had a room to myself most of the time while I was there and you’re supposed to have a roommate. ^^ The worst part was the water being unclean in the area. We constantly had to clean the shower and sink to avoid pink clay colors staining the stuff and mold was a frequent problem. Bleh.

Haha, basically. XD I already love the stool by my bathroom sink, as I can rest my knee on it and do everything without a problem or sit on the stool if my one leg gets tired. I’m loving all the things I got and am just too weary to try out the bed desk today. I think my laptop and mouse pad are going to either barely fit on it together or I’ll have to just use part of the mouse pad lol. Oh well.

Ah no... that was my bad xD I realized after that the way I had dealt with the subject was very misleading LOL! So sorry Also, my written mandarin is quite rusty... but we can certainly stumble through it together! I think it would be chaotic... but fun!

Huh... for some reason, I was under the impression that a job as a security guard does not pay well. But a security guard where though?

Oh I just googled it now! It is my first time hearing of PICO and I must say: it looks very cool!! I am loving it!

Ew, mold... dont even remind me! In my university residence, we have several quote on quote "cursed" bathrooms where there was literally mold EVERYWHERE. The entire ceiling was just mold because of the lack of sunlight and air ventilation in the room. I am pretty sure those are health hazards LOL

A bed desk... I feel like that ought to be quite convenient though? Having a table right over your bed so that you can do your work while warmly snuggled under the covers. Though, I dare not ever use a bed desk... I know for a fact that I will fall asleep if I do how was the bed desk?

Haha, it’s all good, man. It happens. XD Oh boy, our Mandarin conversations will make little to no sense. But! I’m on my phone now, so...对不起，我的中文不好。BAM! XD

Well, so my friend does security primarily for warehouses, which tend to pay more since you’re guarding products. Capitalism in the US is strong lol. I guess if you worked for a big enough company then you could get adequately compensated for guarding people as well. XD But I’d definitely prefer to guard products just because I’m really introverted lol. My friend was earning around $19 an hour, I think? That, or it was in the low 20s range. It was an impressive amount of money for the job and he just moved to another state and within a month of being there, got another security job. It’s ironically a very secure line of work to get into once you get a license for it. I mean, everyone needs security for something, y’know?

Heck yeah! It’ll probably be the only way I manage to grow something effectively. XD I think I’ll also do better when I actually have some soil and land outside to plant stuff in, though. I want to have my own bell pepper plants at some point. Growing my own spinach would be awesome as well.