Last Friday, me and Fluffy went over to help Evyl to help grab a chest of drawers from her ex-husband's place. He just got kicked out and left a bunch of crap that he didn't want and she wanted it, plus I had a big enough car. As a form of thanks, she took us out to yummy IHOP.

Over dinner, we got to talk about future plans. In specific if Fluffy and I were considering our masters. We have both been thinking about it. For me, it makes financial sense since it would be easier to get a job outside of Company X if it ever comes to that. My projects for this year are pretty well packed, with NaNoWriMo next month and working on Ponies Among Us for the four months after that. I was vaguely considering starting next year in January back at Capella. Yeah, it would be tight and a pain in the ass, but I will always find an excuse not to do it if I chose. I really don't like getting further in debt either.

The problem with college is projects. Pretty much my days and nights are filled up with work and everything else I do. To start up a new long-term project, like going to school for two to three years, means something has to suffer. Right now, I am spread out all over the place with writing, gaming, and programming. I have my obligations to my gaming group to keep on running every other week for Exalted and every four weeks for Changeling. I have my Debian and other open-source projects that I've started and continue to maintain. I have my desire to be a writer, and to keep writing stories. I also have my one a year novel goal I wanted to maintain. Naturally, I also have Fluffy, since I like that whole being married thing.

So, something has to give. I highly doubt that graduate school is going to be as easy as undergraduate for me the third time around. I think I allocated almost two entire hours a week for two years and graduated with a 4.0 and magnasumma cum laude. I suspect that when I've already experienced everything in the class, it is easier to write. Plus, the bulk of the Capella coursework is writing essays (I'm good at writing), conversing via forum posts (I'm good at writing), and figuring out the technical details (which I've already done in my various jobs).

I don't like school, but it is something I should do. I know I should do it, it would make it easier for the Master Plan, easier to get a job, and maybe a bit easier to earn the respect of a certain parental unit (though, the doctorate program after the masters would probably be a more effective goal for that).

I know, that as long as I can game and write, I won't burn out. Long hours are nothing as long as the written word is in front of me. It pretty much means I can't give up those, which means Fluffy or programming. Since Fluffy would hurt me, it means that I'm going to have to drastically reduce my programming projects, and probably a bit of writing.

Decisions, decisions.

Edit: Looking at my diploma, it says summa cum laude, not magna cum laude. Drawbacks of writing without looking at the diploma two rooms away.

Summer Biking: (326.1 of 400.0 km)