Hey guys! I hope you're doing great. I enjoy reading other people's thoughts and experiences, so I thought it would be nice to be the one sharing for a change. Of course, if you're not particularly interested, that's fine too. The link to the small train is at the end. :)


About 2 years ago, I opened a fundraiser because I was in some deep debt, mostly medical stuff related to my wife's delivery. A few smaller debts were my fault, since I was never taught proper financial decision-making. I was very depressed and those were pretty rough times. However, quite some time has passed and... we're still working on it, but things are going really well.

Yeah, raising a baby is pretty damn expensive—especially one who, for some reason, loves to poop about 3 minutes after he just got his diaper changed, lol. We're working really hard. My wife is doing an excellent job with our toddler, teaching him things every day and making sure he's growing as healthy and smart as possible. I've been working night shifts and weekends for almost a year to provide for them the best I can.
We're succeeding big time, because Aaron is the loveliest toddler I've ever seen! Beautiful smile, loves to hug and kiss us, shares his toys with everyone, and his flirtatious little look melts everyone.

The best part about killing my brain cells with night shifts is that the debts I had with five different entities are now down to just two, which is pretty damn great. It’s taken a lot of time and effort, but it's been so worth it—especially because I've learned a ton of things (the hard way, of course). I'll make sure to teach them all to mini-me so he doesn't make the same mistakes I did. Hopefully his mistakes will be cooler, like messing up his own rocket or something.

Right now, I’m dealing with a small speed bump. I broke the side of my right hand a couple of weeks ago, so my income has dropped a bit and some new costs have popped up—but it's fine. I got some much-needed rest, had time to look for new jobs and attend interviews, and got to spend more time with my baby.
The only issue is I haven’t been able to play much during my free time. I’ve mostly been watching other people play online, or reading a visual novel here and there. But yeah, 'gaming' with just my left hand is not very fun, lol. Maybe you guys know of a game that's simple to control but still fun? I’m open to suggestions.

My plans for the next few years are pretty simple:
Within 1 year, we’ll move to a better apartment and I’ll finish paying off my remaining debts (and when I do, I'll celebrate with an awesome train!).
In 2–3 years, I want to buy a car, get a fish tank, and finally get a Steam Deck so I can play more than two hours a week.
And maybe—still under discussion—within 5–6 years, we’ll move to another country.
I’ve always dreamed of living in Norway, but my wife’s a bit afraid of the language barrier. She’d prefer somewhere like the U.S. or Canada. We’ll see how everything goes.

So overall, I’m feeling good—motivated, job-hunting to see if I can get paid a little better (and sleep like a normal human again), and working on being the best version of myself while enjoying the little things in life. Maybe that’s why I’m writing this and making my first train ever in the first place. It’s been a long and difficult journey, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t change a thing. And if I make it to 70 and still remember anything from this time, I know I’ll feel proud and probably wish I could live it all over again. Hell, I’m still living it and I already miss it.

To close this, I want to leave you with a silly but sincere bit of advice:
There’s always help. Try your family, try your coworkers, try your friends, try the internet, try tutorials, try ChatGPT, try vitamins, try medicine, try therapy, try books, try art, try sports—try whatever you need to improve whatever you need. But never, ever give up.


Vroom vroom!
Here comes the train! 🚅

Also, feel free to add me! I love checking out people’s profiles, seeing what everyone’s playing, and growing my friends list.
Thanks for reading :)

5 days ago

Comment has been collapsed.

Bumpazo

3 days ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thanks for sharing your story, and glad to hear you're through that difficult patch!

as for games you can play with one hand, i would think mouse-driven turn-based games would work well. some of my favorite genres are tactics and 4x under strategy and point + click adventure games. every now and then there's something that requires you to react quickly but there are plenty in those genres were you get all the time you want to plan and think

2 days ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sign in through Steam to add a comment.