I sincerely doubt the next time there's a dire emergency in a school, that the maintenance guy responsible for shutting this thing down, will be willing to go running in to do it.

A Game Designer, as job description, is not the same thing as Game Programmer or Engineer. So focus on what it is exactly that you want to do. If you want to be a programmer, listen to these people talking about languages and it's hard and stuff. If you want to be a Game Designer, it's still hard and stuff, but has little to do with programming. Instead it's about game theory, storytelling, resource management, play mechanics, architecture, lighting, and puzzle and quest building. Game design is like being a movie writer/director, and sometimes cinematographer as well. You are the one who designs the game, the story, the mechanics, the levels and level design. All those really smart programmers write the stuff you need to make your game. There are usually proprietary tools with each studio, 3d tools and scripting tools, so being flexible and skilled at quickly learning new applications is vital (good exercise is to pick up 3DMax or Maya or Photoshop, and learn how to use it cold, no documentation. Most in-house tools are sorely lacking in instructions, so get used to that.) A Game Designer is a swiss army knife of skills, but seldom is one of them programming. And there's really no school for that.

Yes. It is a terrible idea to want a career in the entertainment industry, one of the rare GROWTH industries during this economic downturn. And it would suck to get into game design, as unlike the movie industry, is virtually union-free, removing a serious barrier for entry. I can't imagine a worse career than one with a starting salary above $50,000, senior salaries in the six figures, doing something creative, and consistent job security. Sounds awful.

For some reason, smokers get four or five 10-15 minute smoke breaks a day, outside of the normal break schedule (this holds even more true if the boss is a smoker). So claim smoking, then string all your alotted smoke breaks together, and go to the gym for an hour mid-day, or split it with a 30 minute walk/run, and a 30 minute self-directed calisthenic workout. A fake unhealthy habit is your ticket to good health!