Ikar

I think regarding diet, the baseline is relatively easy: fat people should eat less, the intake needs to be lower than expenditure. If you are skinny and want to get buffed, you need eat more to gain weight (protein), then you can then "shape" into muscle. It depends on your goal. Secondly, it also depends on your body. I can eat dairy products all day every day. I have never had problems with it. I however have problems with sugary cereals - they give me stomachache and acne if I eat them too much. Legumes and eggs give me farts! Take your body into account as well. Don't get discouraged, stick to the basics and try something 🙂

I hope this thread will serve as an inspiration and a place to share your successes! What have I achieved since I quit games? What have YOU achieved since you quit games? What can YOU achieve if you quit games? Yes, I know 1347 days sounds intimidating, but 1347 days are going to pass anyway, so it's best if we make them count. Almost three years ago, @BooksandTrees made a post how his life changed after a year and a half of no gaming. I did the same, except I made the time-span to be almost five years even before I quit games. --- 2018: I got my first girlfriend ever. I left the army in August 2018. During the time I worked some odd jobs, I streamed games daily and had my first English students, while still studying at the university, even if just once a week. 2019: The year of my personal reconstruction. I quit games in April 2019. I started my Excel "calendar" in June 2019. I went to Iceland for work in June 2019 and came back in September. I moved out to the dorm away from my parents in November 2019. There are just a few sentences, but I made some very important steps that year and got a lot more agency and clarity over my life. 2020: The year of my professional reconstruction. At the same time, I was flirting with three job ideas - Forex, financial advisory firm and its management and English teaching. I didn't continue with the first two.* I got my English teaching website up. as well as my official registration for English teaching. I started getting some serious (online) English course-load from language schools in autumn 2020. I got my gun license. I switched over to Google Calendar from Excel. I started to let my finances get managed externally. I started get involved with women naturally for the first time, not only via online. 2021: Got a job I could call a job at this point. I got my bachelor's degree from Economic Geography and Regional Development. I started to passively manage my finances internally. I got some more experience with romantic relationships. I didn't go abroad seriously due to CV restrictions. 2022: I really enjoyed the time I spent with my Georgian girlfriend. It's hard to say what comes out of my new relationship now. I've done some traveling abroad. I participated in business mentoring. --- Above is the very basic information about what happened in the last five years and what have I achieved or done. I didn't include anything that happens on a continual basis and where it's hard to track "progress", such as reading books, exercising, writing or family relationships, although I'd say they universally got better from the point where they were when I quit games in April 2019. Overall, I'd characterize myself as a guy who wants more, who wants to do better and who knows what he wants. It's apparent when I look at the way I manage my work/business, finances and relationships over the years. I'm not even talking about my mental health. Yes, there are still things I do that I don't like or that I need to do that annoy me, however compared to the time when I was gaming, it is really a breeze. --- *I didn't continue with the first two because: a) I was pushing myself to do Forex and financial advisory and management, because they weren't truly my ideas. I have only ever had three job ideas myself: army, streaming games and English teaching. The other ones were interesting fillers, but they showed me what I didn't want to do in the end. b) I didn't see any money from them. It's hard to start a business with no prior experience in the field and knowing how it works. Gotta be in the first line with the troopers to be a good leader after. c) I started getting some serious (online) English course-load from language schools in autumn 2020. I was able to do what I really wanted, so I cut the other bullshit. I can say what I want about language schools now, but I needed them for the last two years, not the least because they provided me a stable paycheck for the work done. I didn't care they charged their clients 20$/hour and paid me 10$/hour. I got the necessary experience to start building my business and to get where I am now at the end of 2022.

What have I achieved since I quit games? What have YOU achieved since you quit games? What can YOU achieve if you quit games? --- 2018: I got my first girlfriend ever. I left the army in August 2018. During the time I worked some odd jobs, I streamed games daily and had my first English students, while still studying at the university, even if just once a week. 2019: The year of my personal reconstruction. I quit games in April 2019. I started my Excel "calendar" in June 2019. I went to Iceland for work in June 2019 and came back in September. I moved out to the dorm away from my parents in November 2019. There are just a few sentences, but I made some very important steps that year and got a lot more agency and clarity over my life. 2020: The year of my professional reconstruction. At the same time, I was flirting with three job ideas - Forex, financial advisory firm and its management and English teaching. I didn't continue with the first two.* I got my English teaching website up. as well as my official registration for English teaching. I started getting some serious (online) English course-load from language schools in autumn 2020. I got my gun license. I switched over to Google Calendar from Excel. I started to let my finances get managed externally. I started get involved with women naturally for the first time, not only via online. 2021: Got a job I could call a job at this point. I got my bachelor's degree from Economic Geography and Regional Development. I started to passively manage my finances internally. I got some more experience with romantic relationships. I didn't go abroad seriously due to CV restrictions. 2022: I really enjoyed the time I spent with my Georgian girlfriend. It's hard to say what comes out of my new relationship now. I've done some traveling abroad. I participated in business mentoring. --- Above is the very basic information about what happened in the last five years and what have I achieved or done. I didn't include anything that happens on a continual basis and where it's hard to track "progress", such as reading books, exercising, writing or family relationships, although I'd say they universally got better from the point where they were when I quit games in April 2019. Overall, I'd characterize myself as a guy who wants more, who wants to do better and who knows what he wants. It's apparent when I look at the way I manage my work/business, finances and relationships over the years. --- *I didn't continue with the first two because: a) I was pushing myself to do Forex and financial advisory and management, because they weren't truly my ideas. I have only ever had three job ideas myself: army, streaming games and English teaching. The other ones were interesting fillers, but they showed me what I didn't want to do in the end. b) I didn't see any money from them. It's hard to start a business with no prior experience in the field and knowing how it works. Gotta be in the first line with the troopers to be a good leader after. c) I started getting some serious (online) English course-load from language schools in autumn 2020. I was able to do what I really wanted, so I cut the other bullshit. I can say what I want about language schools now, but I needed them for the last two years, not the least because they provided me a stable paycheck for the work done. I didn't care they charged their clients 20$/hour and paid me 10$/hour. I got the necessary experience to start building my business and to get where I am now at the end of 2022.

22nd Dec - 25th Dec: Spent some time with my friends and my girlfriend, worked on the yearly reports, read the book, worked on my uni paper and spent two days with my family. Back on my usual track tomorrow.

17th Dec - 21st Dec: I've been working on some school papers the last five days, normally in the morning when my focus is the best. It was relatively easy, as I had the presentations, and therefore the structure, already at hand from my previous presentations on the topics. I have one more paper to go, but I still have to decide what will it be about tomorrow. - I went to a get-together with my high-school classmates on Saturday and It was OK. There's also a hike planned and another get-together on Saturday, but I'm not very interested in that and I don't think I will go there again. There's a bit of a fluctuation with my courses/students from the next year, but it seems like it will balance out the next year. In aggregate, I raised the price of my lessons by 25% this year, however the inflation has been around 15%. I also know that on average the "real" wages overall have decreased by 10%. The economy has been tough, but I wanted to factor in my will and determination to grow my business, especially in the last three months. It will also help me with motivation, as even if I got to the stage where I have enough time and don't have enough lessons, I can always pick up more for language schools or just do something else. I'm planning to expand more the next year and I need to think ahead. I'm sure gonna succeed at this. - I went to the theater with my girlfriend and it was fun. I also sent my online students a card for Christmas and New Year and hand-delivered a card to my F2F students. I read about finance and I also started a new book by Milton Friedman - Free to Choose. Overall today's been a very relaxed day, I spent it all by myself and did what I wanted, so I decided to take some time to ponder my thoughts and write here 🙂

Good job Books, remember there are many jobs you can actually enjoy and be good at them. I hope the current one treats you better.

I think that's what happens when we know what we are doing isn't healthy. We get somewhere and it's not fun, nor it makes us any money. So why do it? I wanted to become a pro streamer, but it was not possible with the selection of games I had. Sometimes the way to win is to quit. My family relationships got 10000% better every time I wasn't at home with my parents long-term, I remember you had to move out of the house too. I agree with the last paragraph. I am close with my grandma, I have good relationships with my brother and father. My mom unfortunately has a mental disease that turned her into a bumbling character and I believe that she'd get worse if she went to the mental hospital. It what it is.

I've been doing this for three years! I'm gonna do some large-scale comparison of annual report of 2020x2021x2022 and planning for the 2023x2024x2025. Should be fun!

I'm using the template I used the last time. 12/11/22 - 17/12/22 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. --- Books/Reading articles: L: Still getting through "The Magic of Thinking Big", as it's a book to read multiple times. Keeping up with the newsletters. T: I didn't read almost at all this last month. Possible direction/goals: Continue getting through the newsletters. (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: There are two family projects I need to take care of, both of them regarding my grandma. One is getting her a new kitchen unit instead of the derelict one she has and to organize a trip to visit her sister by car with other family members too. I want to get these done by Christmas. T: My grandma's sister actually visited my grandma and I am still pondering the kitchen unit. Nothing else is happening otherwise. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Continue working on bettering the relationships with my family. University: L: The internship is (finally) over. I've grown to dislike the GIS editing, as it seemed that there was no end in sight to it - the job was quite monotone and because it was hard for me to find time to actually do it. The summer tasks regarding the internship were more interesting. I'm not sure if I already put it out here, but my plan for some time has been to do the main part of my diploma in summer 2023 and to do the defense and finals in January/February 2024. With my university duties taking 10-15 hours a week and English teaching taking 25-30 hours a week, on top of other activities like the business mentoring, social meetings and one-off things, the last thing I want is to add more to the university bucket. T: As far as the university currently goes, I'm actually fairly caught up on the projects as of now. The exam term comes after Christmas, but it seems like most of the study load was actually focused on the projects and that the exams will (hopefully) not be too demanding. NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university. Possible direction/goals: Internship finished. Find more sources for my upcoming masters' thesis during the summer. Work on the assignments in a timely manner. Job/English: L: I've been having the mentoring classes and bi-weekly seminars (decided to make time for them) and they've been a great help in terms of moving my business forward and coming up with new ideas. I'm gonna implement some of the easier improvements this weekend. For example, I did a business analysis of my students/clients a few weeks ago to better understand the people I meet. Maybe I've mentioned it before, but with my job position and demand secure, I'm more able and willing to reschedule or even cancel classes in case I want to do something, mainly in the evening. I enjoy having this option thoroughly. Classes are at a stable 25-30 hours a week. The business seminars/mentoring are still going on, so a lot of ideas are coming in. I'm likely going to outsource a few of the projects, such as the modern re-design of my website, SEO and perhaps some more advanced marketing stuff. My students have also been helpful as far as this goes. I have many upcoming projects in the pipeline. T: So the business mentoring is done after three months. I brought away many ideas - honestly so many, there's work for months ahead! It's been really great and I am very happy and grateful that I was able to take part in it. I'm gonna write down specific areas and what I want to do in them. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Possible direction/goals: Continue going to the business seminars/mentoring at the uni. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. Write down specific areas and what I want to do in them. = Update my website to reflect the new ideas and inspiration from the web. Get a customized redesign and SEO for the website. Networking events. Variable pricing. Look into strategies in becoming truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between. Exercise/Movement: L: I've been biking regularly to work/uni. This month I even cycled to my family (35) or to pick up my car (20). I enjoy the fact I do not have to be "actively" dealing with this area of my life, as it's technically part of my job and uni duties. I just have to be on lookout if that was to change. I sometimes go for a walk over the weekend, as I normally don't have time to take a two hour walking/reading session during the week. Still walking and cycling regularly to see my students or when going out in the evening. T: Winter and snow set in, however I am still walking outside to my students, even though it's more difficult. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape. Women/Dating: L: T: It's been going well with the girl. I wouldn't dare to call her my girlfriend yet, but we've spent several afternoons/evenings together, so it's pretty serious dating now... I believe now she's a girlfriend. Possible direction/goals: Set up at least two dates a month. ----- I've been doing this for three years! I'm gonna do some large-scale comparison of annual report of 2020x2021x2022 and planning for the 2023x2024x2025. Should be fun! I found out I quite like to give presentations, if I really believe and enjoy the topic. This goes for both my school and business presentations. Better keep that in mind. --- What to do if I am bored? Replacement activities for 1 hour: reading, cleaning, washing the dishes, business ideas, uni work, blogging Replacement activities for 2 hours: going to the gym, going for a walk ----- Additional thoughts/activities: My hobbies are: personal finance, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging and geography. This month, I did these cool activities: working on my business, visiting Slovakia, giving presentations, playing table football tournament, going to the theater. --- I think quitting games matured quickly and brutally overall, including in my relationship to women. I can say I am attracted to the girl I have been seeing. She gives me more than enough signs that its mutual. I don't think I am wrong, but I've been surprised before 😄 I have to scout her behavior for a longer time to see how (in)secure she is. She's capable of being independent, based on the things she's done in the past, so I am not sure whether she's just trying to seem more "approachable" for me to make a move on or whether it's a bigger issue. I don't want to have a clingy girlfriend. --- Add-on: I enjoy writing articles, however I am not enjoying the process of how to actually set up the blog, whether I should try and make some money off of it. I think I will, but I won't go on writing e-books, providing courses and whatnot. Just a few affiliate links for the services I like. This allows me to focus on writing and not fret over something I don't even know I want to do. There are tentative plans to meet the Georgian girl again in a few months. I'd like to combine it together with some Erasmus+ project as well.

2nd Dec - 12th Dec: I've been working on the business presentation for my business mentoring project and tomorrow I am going to present. I also worked on updating my LinkedIn extensively. School and my English classes have been steady. I'm going out about three times a week to relax in the evenings, drinking very little, if at all. Getting deeper into the relationship with my girlfriend as well.

I've talked to a few of my friends and told them I probably wouldn't go to the uni if I wasn't be there now. Mind you I actually don't pay anything to study and I get a favorable tax treatment as a uni student, but it obviously still costs me my time. My bachelor studies gave me some structure after the breakup with my first girlfriend (I was 21, now I am 25) and during quitting games, but I was actually already finishing the first grade in bachelor when that happened. Regardless, since I went to school only once a week (due to the fact I attended the "combined" form intended for working people), it taught me that it's important to work on my own and that if I work on something long-term and consistently, I can do it. My master studies are a bit different (daily studies now too; this semester maybe 10 hours a week at the uni + 5 hours working on projects). Profs focus more on discussion, presentations of our opinions and maybe via that training us to be more confident and outspoken. Many schools focus obedience (I mean, how else can one teacher manage 20-30 kids in class at school, let alone 100+ students at the auditorium?), so I am happy that my uni classes are in small groups of mostly 10 people and that we all know each other. The funniest about all this is the best course I had at the uni was not even related to my study field, credited or compulsory - a course on how to start a business (or how to start as a self-employed), its management and mentoring. I'm planning on attending some networking and entrepreneur conferences the next year for sure! I'm sure these courses will be more common in the US (even if they are not for free). As for the stats, I believe the diploma calculation is biased based on what degree you take. I linked you the article below: https://www.getrichslowly.org/the-value-of-a-college-degree/ I honestly prefer this kind of informal education myself. But you have to go through it yourself, as there are no profs or credits watching over you.

10000%. I don't understand how people can live with the phone flashing and beeping all the time. The phone is there for me; I am not there for the phone. I'm default invisible on my WA, the same with Facebook/Messenger.

Hi Yan, welcome to my diary thread 🙂 I think I got the idea once from @BooksandTrees. I may not remember what he wrote exactly, but it was something of the sort that gaming is a thing of the past and that the number of days without it doesn't hold much significance to him anymore. Plus I remember I sometimes missed (or added) a day or two in the calculation, depending on whether I counted the day of the last entry and the day of writing. Orienting in the normal day/month format is easier.

Just be careful not to watch too many sports, as it would be no different than watching YT all the time or binging Netflix series. There's too many sports to keep track of. I hardly ever watch sports. I know my father or my brother watch rugby, sometimes basketball or football and maybe hockey in the season, but it's definitely a weekend hobby after a week's work. Not something to be done during work-time 😛

25th Nov - 1st Dec: I set up some more details regarding grandma's new kitchen. I also did some work for my business regarding my LinkedIn and investor presentation. I spent Saturday with my family and Sunday with my girlfriend. Played at the table football tournament, finished second. I've been busy with university projects as well. I watched "Drive" and "V for Vendetta" as well. I feel this week my work/growth/life/relaxation balance is good.

I've recently had an inner tingle that I might be as passionate about English teaching as I was about gaming. That's after about three years of teaching regularly. That's a really long time and these things do take time. To me, it's both scary and comforting at the same time. You already have the basics for what you want to develop in the future. Definitely, overdoing one activity is not healthy. Doing multiple hobbies and seeing where they lead is a good strategy.

12th November - 24th November: There's been a lot going on and not really that much time to stop and think, so that's why this is only my third entry for November. I decided to spend yesterday evening and today evening only for myself; to write this entry and to go through some unfinished work and to relax. --- First thing in order is that I do have a girlfriend now. We normally see each other once a week, though sometimes we also meet during the week. I like that. Second is that I might have my first English company courses directly from January. It's in the making as of now, but if it works out, that's effectively a 30-40% boost in pay over the courses I have for language schools. I also got a few offers to teach kids, however I declined those, as it's not the direction I want to be taking now. The business mentoring has been going on as planned. It's good for me, as it gives me good ideas. I think my mentor has very good compatibility with my personality. I went to Slovakia with my geographers' group for networking, hiking, as well as some drinking for four days. I met two friends I haven't seen for two months one on one. Fun times, the time flew and it was enjoyable. I had two presentations at the uni classes and I actually enjoyed giving them. I'm gonna have a presentation for the business mentoring on 13th, so I'll make sure to prepare that well and enjoy it too! --- I definitely need to create more free time to spend alone with the ideas I already have, so I want to make entries more frequently here. I'm gonna do some huge annual report, comparing my 2022 to 2021 (and maybe even 2020) on Christmas when I'll have two weeks off.

Information is not the problem, but I don't have time nor passion to go into money/finance more than my current intermediate level. I don't think it's likely I will overhaul my financial system completely. I believe I've already made my "big" financial mistakes and I believe they were the effect of "big" life mistakes/misconceptions too. The important thing is that I learnt from those mistakes.

I'm using the template I used the last time. 15/10/22 - 12/11/22 "L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term. I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period. --- Books/Reading articles: L: I read "Master and Margarita", currently getting through "The Magic of Thinking Big". Restarted the newsletters. T: Still getting through "The Magic of Thinking Big", as it's a book to read multiple times. Keeping up with the newsletters. Possible direction/goals: Continue getting through the newsletters. (Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report. Family: L: Met up with my family members separately on different occasions. We've been dealing with the issue of future inheritance and we have all agreed on it. T: There are two family projects I need to take care of, both of them regarding my grandma. One is getting her a new kitchen unit instead of the derelict one she has and to organize a trip to visit her sister by car with other family members too. I want to get these done by Christmas. NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family. Possible direction/goals: Continue working on bettering the relationships with my family. University: L: 105/120 hours on the internship. The uni starting, projects for classes, diploma thesis... it's been a lot. I feel like I am scrambling to prioritize right and execute, though I'm confident I can manage all of it. I'll do whatever is necessary and I'll be fine. T: The internship is (finally) over. I've grown to dislike the GIS editing, as it seemed that there was no end in sight to it - the job was quite monotone and because it was hard for me to find time to actually do it. The summer tasks regarding the internship were more interesting. I'm not sure if I already put it out here, but my plan for some time has been to do the main part of my diploma in summer 2023 and to do the defense and finals in January/February 2024. With my university duties taking 10-15 hours a week and English teaching taking 25-30 hours a week, on top of other activities like the business mentoring, social meetings and one-off things, the last thing I want is to add more to the university bucket. As far as the university currently goes, I'm actually fairly caught up on the projects as of now. NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university. Possible direction/goals: Internship finished. Find more sources for my upcoming masters' thesis during the summer. Work on the assignments in a timely manner. Job/English: L: I had 29 hours this week and 28 hours the last. My workday (I'm including the uni too) usually begins at 7 or 8 and finishes around 8 as well, normally with at least an hour or two of free time during lunchtime, but sometimes more. I've been having the mentoring classes and bi-weekly seminars (decided to make time for them) and they've been a great help in terms of moving my business forward and coming up with new ideas. I'm gonna implement some of the easier improvements this weekend. For example, I did a business analysis of my students/clients a few weeks ago to better understand the people I meet. Maybe I've mentioned it before, but with my job position and demand secure, I'm more able and willing to reschedule or even cancel classes in case I want to do something, mainly in the evening. I enjoy having this option thoroughly. T: Classes are at a stable 25-30 hours a week. The business seminars/mentoring are still going on, so a lot of ideas are coming in. I'm likely going to outsource a few of the projects, such as the modern re-design of my website, SEO and perhaps some more advanced marketing stuff. My students have also been helpful as far as this goes. I have many upcoming projects in the pipeline. NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid. Possible direction/goals: Continue going to the business seminars/mentoring at the uni. Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students. Update my website to reflect the new ideas and inspiration from the web. Get a customized redesign and SEO for the website. Look into strategies in becoming truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between. Networking events. Variable pricing. Exercise/Movement: L: I've been biking regularly to work/uni. This month I even cycled to my family (35) or to pick up my car (20). I enjoy the fact I do not have to be "actively" dealing with this area of my life, as it's technically part of my job and uni duties. I just have to be on lookout if that was to change. I sometimes go for a walk over the weekend, as I normally don't have time to take a two hour walking/reading session during the week. T: Still walking and cycling regularly to see my students or when going out in the evening. NOT: I don't want to become fat. Possible direction/goals: Keep in shape. Women/Dating: L: T: It's been going well with the girl. I wouldn't dare to call her my girlfriend yet, but we've spent several afternoons/evenings together, so it's pretty serious dating now. Possible direction/goals: Set up at least two dates a month. ----- Digital maintenance - removed, no news. Keeping it around in case there are some changes as placeholder. --- What to do if I am bored? Replacement activities for 1 hour: reading, cleaning, washing the dishes, business ideas, uni work, blogging Replacement activities for 2 hours: going to the gym, going for a walk ----- Additional thoughts/activities: My hobbies are: personal finance, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging and geography. This month, I did these cool activities: working on my business, attending the geographic conference, playing at table football tournament, buying presents for my family for Christmas. --- I think quitting games matured quickly and brutally overall, including in my relationship to women. I can say I am attracted to the girl I have been seeing. She gives me more than enough signs that its mutual. I don't think I am wrong, but I've been surprised before 😄 I have to scout her behavior for a longer time to see how (in)secure she is. She's capable of being independent, based on the things she's done in the past, so I am not sure whether she's just trying to seem more "approachable" for me to make a move on or whether it's a bigger issue. I don't want to have a clingy girlfriend. --- Add-on: I enjoy writing articles, however I am not enjoying the process of how to actually set up the blog, whether I should try and make some money off of it. I think I will, but I won't go on writing e-books, providing courses and whatnot. Just a few affiliate links for the services I like. This allows me to focus on writing and not fret over something I don't even know I want to do. There are tentative plans to meet the Georgian girl again in a few months. I'd like to combine it together with some Erasmus+ project as well.

Are you afraid that she would touch you during conversations? Or that in her department you'd just spend all the time looking at her instead of working? Regardless, there are solutions; some people like to have physical contact with the other person, but the other person can set boundaries and say they don't want that. And if she's just so pretty you can't stop looking at her, then that's something in your power to change and stop doing. Anyway, it's not a criminal offense to consider other women besides your wife pretty. We've had women in the workforce for at least a few decades and I don't think that's going away in our lifetimes. Unless you work in construction or some heavy industry, you are going to have to deal with women in a constructive way. I don't think avoiding them completely is constructive, but it's on you of course.

Send me a picture, so I can evaluate that manager's attire myself 😛 Now to be serious. Look, if your company is good, competent and makes money in an honest way, they will not have this manager in that position just because she looks good, but because she's competent. I know for some people it works very well for their confidence to dress nice and to look good. You may be right to think she's vulgar (and that the rest of the company/bosses are stupid enough not to see it and that they lose money because of her), but it's also possible that you are just afraid to deal with her based on her looks and not her actual competence.

29th October - 2nd November: I visited my family on Saturday, went out with the girl on Sunday and have been having a normal week, except the fact that I caught a cold. I'll get through it, even though it's annoying to not be 100% for the last few days.

20th October - 28th October: I haven't been in the mood to write much here the past few days, but I'll give some brief update: Went to a geographic conference from my uni on Thursday. I translated for and kept company to one Swiss professor. The organizing professor promised me some stipend for my service. It's pretty cool that I can also branch out from English teaching by going to events such as these, so I hope to keep the trace warm for the future. Been busy with the family as well, I will be involved in a reconstruction of the kitchen for my grandma. Business mentoring by the uni is going well, definitely getting a lot of new ideas for the future and working on some of them now. I kissed the girl I've been going out with roughly once a week for the past month. I can say she did a good job leading me in. We've been taking it slow; kissing on the fourth date is mostly considered "late" 😄

16th October - 19th October: At the weekend, I worked on the internship assignment, went for a walk, baked, read about finance and met with the girl. Played table football tournament on Monday and worked as usual yesterday. --- Copying the below to my upcoming monthly report: I think quitting games matured quickly and brutally overall, including in my relationship to women. I can say I am attracted to the girl I have been seeing. She gives me more than enough signs that its mutual. I don't think I am wrong, but I've been surprised before 😄 I have to scout her behavior for a longer time to see how (in)secure she is. She's capable of being independent, based on the things she's done in the past, so I am not sure whether she's just trying to seem more "approachable" for me to make a move on or whether it's a bigger issue. I don't want to have a clingy girlfriend.

I don't know how much you gamed and for how many hours a day, however for me it has easily been several years (since 13-14 until I was 21) for dozens of hours a week. Cut yourself some slack. You can feel like this for weeks and months just to get out eventually. I'm sure I loathed my lifestyle/gaming for at least a few years until I came here. Stay with us 🙂 I am 25 and I enjoy my life, however I think this "senseless nostalgia" truly sets only in the heads of weak-minded people. That's not to say I don't have some nice memories of being a kid or teenager, but I wouldn't want to live that time again. I wouldn't want to go back to the time of gaming all day, my parents telling me what to do all the time, not having money to do anything (and going to school instead) or being rejected by any non-virtual social group. I believe the best time to live is "now", no matter what age you are.