First: Sorry about my English which isn't perfect because it's not my mother tongue.

I'm a woman in the mid-thirties. As a kid and later as a student I loved to play especially RPGs and strategy games a lot and up to 12 hours a day. To be honest, they really were part of my everyday life.

Today I have a law degree and a very good job in a leading position with roughly 100 employees and excellent career opportunities. I am single, don't have any children and basically, I can buy more than I need (I'm not rich, though). I work about 45-55 hours a week which of course leaves little time for any other activities. For health reasons, I go to the gym three times a week for 2 hours each. For the remaining time, I mostly sit at home and watch Youtube Let's Play videos or read some literature for the job.

I hate this life. Really:

I wish I could turn back time or go back 15 years with the current income in my backpack so I can play all day long and buy what I want.

I should be grown up but I ain't. People/employees look up to me, I know that some of them envy my for my position. Most of my employees are also older than me. Nobody knows that I really wish to play video games again.

I don't want any children. I love children but I'm not the mommy type. I also don't want to marry. A partner, yes. But no marriage which basically binds me to another person. I love my freedom and in my spare time, I wish to do what I like: meaning playing video games.

Where the heck did the time go?

I can relate, I've been working 60-70 hour weeks for a while now. Though, today they told me I can't work three shifts in a row any more

Well you can never get time back.

But let's do some quick calculations.

you work about 1/3 of the week yeah? So roughly 8 hours every day

Average sleep is the same amount.

This should leave you 8 more hours, but let's take away a few more (you gotta eat, shower, drive to work, whatever).

So let's say you have 5-3 hours every day. that's still not a bad amount.

And you know instead of watching let's plays, you could actually... well play.

This is true.

Three weeks ago I bought X-Com Enemy Unknown plus addon (Enemy Within) on Steam. After the installation was done I wanted to install a mod from Nexus. Which didn't work for me. I tried for about two hours without result. In the end it was Saturday night and 11:30 p.m. already. I was tired. Usually I sleep about 10 hours at the weekend because I hate getting up early. Next day I had to visit my mom because she's the only person I still have in regards of family. Being 3.5 hours on the streets again. Then I came home, evening again, time to hit the sack.

During the week I am just too tired when I return home. I don't have to work physically but I work with many highly-educated people which often are lawyers as well. Many of my staff are also people with college and university degrees. They have high expectations and I have to do everything correctly. I often just feel "burnt out" when return home. Just sitting down, eat some basic food, no motivation to cook. I have a great kitchen, though which is almost brand new. But I don't cook.

I think being female and having this much responsibility isn't the perfect life for a woman. I like the money. I like the prestige, too. But in the end, I am alone. Being the boss means having no friends. This is okay for me but still after some years I cannot manage to find the time to do something I would really enjoy.

Maybe I have to rethink my time management...don't know.

This is a question most of us ask ourselves when we reach a certain age. I've had to learn to budget my time, make priorities for myself. As I get older I find myself thinking about time in larger increments. I think in terms of weeks and months and years now, instead of hours and days as I used to.

For me, taking the longer view is less frustrating. I may not be able to play my favorite game today, but I can squeeze in several hours over the course of a week. When I think of it like that, it is less frustrating to me.

Lately I've even begun thinking in month-long blocks of time.When I take this approach I find it is easier to shift obligations around, to find time to do the things I want to do.

Well I'm just 21, so I don't have a whole lot of experience, but I would say it's all about the priorities.

And if you miss Video Games more than you love the money and prestige, you could try to find a less demanding job, but it probably won't pay as well.

OR, find yourself a man, get him whipped, have him do all the boring stuff (cooking, cleaning, you name it).

Good point.

Strangely, I'm currently on the look for an even more demanding position with more responsibility and higher income. I'm totally aware that this would mean I had to work even more. At least for the first few months because I have to get aquainted with the new people and the general setup.

I think this is a girl thing of the 21st century. Girls strive for high educations and want to be like the guys. I'm not very feminine by the way. That's why I'm successful in my job.

Besides, I like young men. Very much. Sometimes I date young guys around your age. I meet them at the gym or when I go shopping. Talk with them, exchange cell phone numbers. Luckily, I still look quite young as well (<30 years). But I doubt I would find somebody dumb enough to do my household...

Another good point.

Basically, I think the same way but maybe I'm not concious enough about it. When the weekend comes closer, I often plan something which I want to do on Saturday and Sunday. It's strange that I don't find the time to play. Maybe I just should try it again next weekend.

I need an advlt!

No but in all reality, I can guarantee that there are quite a few people that would be dumb enough.

Another solution would of course be to work like crazy and end up in one of those jobs where you have both way too much time and way too much money.

But I guess that's kinda like the patience experiment where you can have one marshmallow now or wait 30 minutes and get two.

It's going to get worse. I'm nearly 50 and I have to struggle just to fight for my weekends to play games. Between traffic, the job, and daily chores, finding time to play gets hard.

I hear retirement is a good time to catch up playing games, provided there's no arthritis or other ailments to contend with.

*sigh*

Kids have no idea how lucky they have it today.

*slaps them