$10k+ in debt and not enough money to eat AND pay the bills. Several days no eating (not in a row). Now I make good money and have worked on several of the biggest games of the last 5 years.

• You don't need to eat as much as you think. It's become habit for so many of us to eat so much.

• "At least I have my health" really is the most important thing.

• The universe does not owe you the life that MTV and your public school teachers say everyone deserves.

• "Risk vs. Reward" is a very important concept to learn in the school of life. The graduate school version is "Risk = Reward."

• I don't waste money, calories, or time on garbage food, other than a few guilty pleasures. I'll just go hungry rather than eat something that no one put any love and effort into. I don't own very many gadgets or showy items, but my monthly dining/drinking bills are a little high, and I don't regret it in the least.

• The fervor of confidence in their own expertise of critics is almost always inversely proportional to the amount of effort and risk put forth by the critic in their own lives to put their own works forth. I find that the more someone understands what it takes to truly succeed in a creative medium, the more easily they find value in the work, heart, and truth put forth by others.

That's all that comes to mind for now.