Personal Woes and Advice 2

[Grinner]

Because perfection is what you need to pass the road test. You make one little mistake, if your bumper so much as touches one of those flags, you're done, you have to start over, and on these later tries I have to pay to take the test, which is another expense on top of my student loans and stuff!

Oh. An obstacle course...I'm so sorry.

That's what my dad and my psychiatrist have both said, but that's not the standard my mother holds, and it's my mother who keeps nagging me to go into professions I hate because they use my degree and otherwise I wasted my time and money.

That's a value judgement, an opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.

Because when various family members have caught me...admiring...fan art of various television and video game series female characters depicted as obese, the response has invariably been "You're disgusting" and "Don't look at that stuff on the computer."

That's also a value judgement.

Also, was the disgust directed more towards the characters, or the fact that you were "admiring" them? I think the distinction there is important.

And I think most people would view a bucket-list consisting solely of video games to be pathetic, compared to doing things like owning a house, getting married, or starting a metal band.

Another value judgement. Owning a house, getting married, and starting a metal band are not objectively superior goals (and, in the first and third cases, are a bit overrated anyway).

And that's something I stress over so much I never get started. I can't count how many times I've been afraid to even start writing because I'm worried it's gonna come out like crap.

That's why you write a rough draft. I think the key is to get something down on paper. Once you've got something to work with, the rest should come a bit easier.

Try giving your subject a name and basic concept first. I've found that helps me focus a bit.

Also, write on actual paper. It's too easy to get distracted while on a computer.

I don't know anymore. I don't have any real idea of where I want to go beyond "pay off college debt so Mom stops berating me about it."

Well, at least you've got a good start.