A general Rambling I suppose...

[clydebink]

Sounds like you are playing out of habit rather than out of enjoyment. Whenever this happens to me, I wash dishes or take a nap. If it feels more long term, get curious about what other circles obsess over. I've been watching Korean dramas obsessively for a month. Playful Kiss is the best thus far and it's on Netflix. There are a ton on Dramafever.com
My moods fluctuate, accepting this has improved my living-standard.

[MultiForce]

I jump between FX2 and Pinball Arcade, playing them for a while when new tables come out. If/when we get Pro Pinball I think I'm going to live in front of the TV, and I'm actually a PC guy.
I do tend to jump from FPS to MMO and what not just to get things going again and it kinda works. I don't have any responsibilities other than work so I have to keep it alive.

[Corpsesmith]

I've been going thru a similar funk with pinball and generally the Xbox as a whole. I'm sure my various Xbox friends are wondering where I am. I still tend to log on every now and then, but not nearly as much as I used to. Truth be told I am spending time on my other hobbies (board gaming and miniature war gaming). I know I'll return to the 'life magnet' at some point in the future, but at the moment painting WWII British infantry is proving to be more fulfilling for me.

Dude, I was an English teacher before this summer. The HORROR OF READING ANOTHER BOOK...ARRRHHH!!!!

Yes WAS...

Decided time to change professions, trouble is, I can't find anything I enjoy. I can always go back to teaching, but my heart wasn't really in it anymore.

I am just fed up with everything in general at the moment... I am uninspired by life but can't overly afford a holiday, or a month's trip or anything to inspire said soul.

I think it bugged me the most as usually when I feel a bit aimless, at least something like Peggle / Pinball relaxed me for a few hours. I am waiting on some interviews, got a management interview for a bank so fingers crossed for that...

But yeah in general I feel a little *lost* atm. I was just particularly sad that even pinball wasn't distracting me at the moment.

I did something similar about 8 years ago. I used to be a well paid financial adviser for a UK high Street Building Society. However the 'pit of dread' I used to get on a Sunday night before the working week was starting to make me unwell. I thought about what I genuinely enjoyed about the job and looked for a job that would offer me that satisfaction, but without the pressures of selling. The thing that REALLY floats my boat is customer service. Nothing more rewarding in my eyes than knowing you've done the best for someone. I left the Building Society and joined a local firm of Funeral Directors...and have never looked back.

I now genuinely love my job. I may have lost about £10k/$14k yearly but I've never been money motivated, I would much rather be happy in my work than well paid. The point I think I'm trying to make is: find what motivates YOU and look for that in life. Don't be afraid to change your stream in life and try something totally different. You have already shown a great strength of character in admitting to yourself that what you were doing wasn't fulfilling you. The next challenge is gonna be finding what will.

Good Luck!

[theRonlyConly97]

Lepruk86 don't harsh our mellow

When you were an English teacher you had purpose. Now, even though you may have disliked your job, you need that purpose. The students gave you that more than anything else in your life. Pinball will not give you purpose, unless it is your true passion. You need to find your passion and let that guide your soul towards inspiration and gratification. You can't relax and have fun playing video games when you are stressed by anything.

[BarbieBobomb]

Dude, I was an English teacher before this summer. The HORROR OF READING ANOTHER BOOK...ARRRHHH!!!!

Yes WAS...

Decided time to change professions, trouble is, I can't find anything I enjoy. I can always go back to teaching, but my heart wasn't really in it anymore.

I am just fed up with everything in general at the moment... I am uninspired by life but can't overly afford a holiday, or a month's trip or anything to inspire said soul.

I think it bugged me the most as usually when I feel a bit aimless, at least something like Peggle / Pinball relaxed me for a few hours. I am waiting on some interviews, got a management interview for a bank so fingers crossed for that...

But yeah in general I feel a little *lost* atm. I was just particularly sad that even pinball wasn't distracting me at the moment.

Good luck with your interview! I hope you find the inspiration you need

[Lepruk86]

Dude, I was an English teacher before this summer. The HORROR OF READING ANOTHER BOOK...ARRRHHH!!!!

Yes WAS...

Decided time to change professions, trouble is, I can't find anything I enjoy. I can always go back to teaching, but my heart wasn't really in it anymore.

I am just fed up with everything in general at the moment... I am uninspired by life but can't overly afford a holiday, or a month's trip or anything to inspire said soul.

I think it bugged me the most as usually when I feel a bit aimless, at least something like Peggle / Pinball relaxed me for a few hours. I am waiting on some interviews, got a management interview for a bank so fingers crossed for that...

But yeah in general I feel a little *lost* atm. I was just particularly sad that even pinball wasn't distracting me at the moment.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

I always play for fun more than score... lol que the clever comebacks

[lexandro]

Get yourself some quality literature and start reading more. Whenever I get bored or burned out gaming, I pick up a good book. The contrast between the two types of entertainment is what makes it easier to pick up gaming again when you are up to it. The rest will do your hands good, and the literature should improve your vocabulary.

[satch]

I kind of know where your coming from and even though im a big pinball fan i some times just loose interest for a few days. I think some times we get so rapped up in talk of scores, leader boards,physics etc etc that we forget to just play a table for fun and not worry to much about the final score.

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

Also, sometimes breaks are good for you. I don't know how many times I've taken a week, two, or even longer pinball break, and when I come back my skills have magically improved.

[maink]

playing pinball needs a lot of time , especially if you want big scores , after work i am so tired i cannot dedicate any time to any game, just got the weekends to game . but you seem to be fed up thats normal with any game if you over do it.

[BarbieBobomb]

I'm the same way. Sometimes I play a game for so long and so often, that after a while, just the thought of it makes me dread it. I either just play something else for a while, or just do something else altogether. Eventually after a couple weeks I can get back into it

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

Understandable yeh its best to keep things fresh, play something when you want and not for the sake of it. I personally vary my Arcade & Retail game play to avoid burnout, yes some games see more attention which is only natural. I tend to lauch PFX2 at least once a day btw, probs more lol.

[DarkKodiaK]

You sound just burnt out on games in general.

I feel the same way about a lot of other games. I'll get heavily into call of duty or battlefield 3 online for a good 3 months or so. Then I won't touch the game for a few weeks or a couple months.

Same thing happened with me after the infinity gauntlet tournament. I played the living crap out of that table and then just put the game down for a few weeks.

I just started playing the game again on just the older tables that I don't play too much the other day and this is what happened:

Played the living crap out of Speed Machine. I gave this board too much crap earlier. I've actually learned to like it, and actually finally hit the wizard mode on it twice in one game, although, BOTH DAMN TIMES ALL 3 BALLS DRAINED NEARLY INSTANTLY not getting me that uber score. uug.
Finally hit over 100m points on rome. Crazy thing about this, I had no idea that i was doing good. Didn't even beat many of the garrison missions.... This really surprised the living hell out of me. I like the table a lot, but that table also annoys me.
FINALLY actually beat a fighter on the SF2 table (Goddamn why is unlocking the fights so stupidly cryptic?) and getting the achievement.
Increased my personal best on spiderman (yea i know the progressive game to game jackpot increase breaks the game, but hey... almost broke a billion on it. I'm not good at the front page photo exploit). I love the flow to the table and the missions, however i hate having long game sessions and I can keep a ball alive for a stupid amount of time on the table. Oh well.
Decided to punish my balls by playing extreme... and actually for some odd reason for liking punishment... i enjoyed playing it and got a pretty decent score on it.
I didn't actually puke and throw my cat across the room while playing Blade or Iron Man.
Hit over 100 million on Agents. A table i rarely play, also finally got that achievement for locking the balls into the oil tanker.

so yea... taking some time off from a game you play heavily is actually nice. When you go back to it you tend to actually do better.

go figure.

[shogun00]

You're experiencing what we call "Pinball Burnout". I had that a few times in the past, but it usually goes away in a few months.

I recommend playing other games and just avoid playing pinball for a while.