My Actifit Report Card: March 1 2022

Rough day today, but I got a lot accomplished. I released the game I’ve been working on, which is a love letter to classic video games, Tron, Wreck-it Ralph, and just generally the wholesome parts of my youth.

I also did a nice housekeeping announcement over at @loreshapergames, had Tuesday-night game night, and even got out for a little exercise, though yes I am aware that I have not gotten in anywhere near my goal of 12,000 steps and no I do not have a great excuse other than just spending all day literally in a frenzy as I worked on stuff.

If bumping up against deadlines burns calories, I’d be thin as a rail.

The rough part was that I had some of the stuff I had going on catch up to me. Although physically I’m back to speed, I have some financial stuff coming up with the medical bills from my ER visit last month. I’ve got plenty of time before that becomes an issue, and the money itself isn’t a problem, but I need to assess my situation realistically.

My last day of regular work was December 10. At that time, I figured I could be self-employed until the end of March even if I didn’t have any revenues until that time. The perks of saving up for a car and then not needing it, eh?

That assumes a somewhat paranoid three months of job searching, which is probably unrealistic in the current economy but I’ve always had the worst possible luck when I try to find jobs. I have theories about why that is (and my openly nonconformist political beliefs don’t help, though I don’t exactly walk into a job interview and spout anarchist theory), but the fact remains that I wind up desperate for jobs that undershoot my CV.

Now, I had thought about the chance of having medical stuff go wrong, so I’m not going to be in a crisis mode, but I need to step back and look at things realistically. I’m a game designer/writer who can do graphic design and layout work if it doesn’t involve drawing things (and even then, you work so much with stock assets in some fields that I can fake it). I don’t get much freelancing work either, though I’ve lined up three potential clients over the last couple months that have all said they’re basically going to work with me when they’re ready to (which doesn’t mean those gigs will materialize, since they’re waiting on illustrators and content and they haven’t signed a contract with me). Together, that might last me a month or two.

Fortunately, I might have less liability when everything comes together than what I’m billed because of negotiations and whatnot, but I’m really not sure about the shape I’m in. I had planned on some minor tax liabilities (I don’t know why, because I’ve had refunds after earning more than I did last year), but I actually got a significant return (turns out that finishing a MFA and then working for four months at an unrelated entry-level job doesn’t impose much of a tax burden). If things get bumped down, then I’m good, and if they don’t then it’s probably time for me to stop trying to be self-employed.

I’m anxious about that. My experiences freelancing in the past have been better than my experiences in the workplace, and I’m hoping to emulate that by being self-employed.

Only the most recent employer really did anything that I’d consider wrong by me by basically capitalizing on asymmetrical relationship dynamics while simultaneously failing to hire people so that I could move up to positions I was told I’d be moving up to.

Of course, that wasn’t really their fault in the grand scheme of things, because there’s a labor shortage, but it’s an issue for me because the pitch when I signed up was “well, yes, you’re overqualified, but we’ll move you to a better position.”

I liked the work in general, but I couldn’t stick in a position where my upward mobility was not materializing and company policies seemed designed to drive talent away rather than keeping it.

This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Walking