I’ve been buried alive at work and after yesterday, I have now resurfaced – better, stronger, and more convicted to building my games.

Unlike development work which requires collaboration time and meeting with coworkers during regular business hours (except during crunch time when you are bunking at the office), server maintenance is a job that purposefully avoids times when normal people are working.

My wife and sons have been very gracious to me in keeping odd working hours, sleeping in even odder hours, and being available at the oddest times of the day. It was heartbreaking having to cancel two weekends in a row, including a holiday weekend.

It’s hard, but I want to push through this and really get things going with my own projects and ideas. My dream is to have a business where I my sons can come home from school, break out their homework and work alongside their father – so they can see what I do and so that I can show them how what they are learning at school applies to what I am doing.

There is no field of academics that games doesn’t apply. From the hard sciences like biology, chemistry and physics with mathematics to the humanities such as history, composition, story construction, psychology, sociology, art and economics. More than anything, I want to show my children that what they learn at school really matters.

And one day, my greatest hope is that we can work on a game together.

It is these thoughts that help me pull through these long arduous nights and grueling schedules. The hope that these days are making me strong enough to build my dreams for my children.