college girlfriend got ahold of me last year. she was a true obsession. we reviewed the last couple of decades. it would have been a disaster if we'd gotten married.

Always trust your first instinct.
Never doubt your decision.

late 90s i had two job offers. work at sony and storyboard starship troopers the animated series or go to nickelodeon and work in development on this retarded thing about a talking sponge fry cook.

what do you think my first instinct was?

Of course. I’d known where I wanted to go since I was a little kid - the only thing I ever wanted to do was “design cars”. So by the time I was 17 or so I decided that I would not just go to art school, but also engineering school because I wanted to know and study it all. When I was nearing the end of that, my big decision was whether to take a year or two off for work before going to art school, or go straight into it. I went straight into it, and burned out comprehensively due to the insane stress of CCS coming on the heels of 4.5 years of engineering school. So my career has always been in engineering. It took probably ten years for me to be okay with that, and i occasionally wondered if it would have been different if I had taken a bit of a break from school.

The other big decision point was when I took a job in Chicago for the relationship I was in rather than staying in the auto industry in Detroit.

In hindsite I would have put more effort to maintain teenage and college friendships into adulthood. Its hard to make friends as an adult and I lost contact with many good folks.

Saw my former partners parents recently.
Great people. The only thing that I regret about that relationship ending was losing people I considered my family.

Paul did not take the fork in the road. ;)

I have a lot of regrets about things I did, but from the start, I'd rather that be the case in my now old age VS regretting things I wished I did..........

I had a pretty great run. Now, as I stand here in the smoldering ashes of my former life, I sometimes, wonder .

Be the Phoenix.

I often wonder. In the early 70's after graduating with a BS in Geology, a prof referred me to a company hiring for work on the north slope - just what I majored in geology for. Pay started at $24K/yr. (now $170K according to the CPI inflation calculator), health insurance, retirement, 6 weeks vacation w/ paid plane tickets anywhere in the world, onsite relocateable lab & living facility, four weeks on & one week off, apartment for me & wife in (Anchorage), & rented car during the week off. She didn't want to do it. I asked her what she thought I should do then. She said a teaching job might be a good idea.

I am first generation American. I was the first in my family with an opportunity to got to college. That’s out of 17 aunts and uncles and 46 cousins in my generation and I was the first.

I wish I hadn’t fallen for the college is the only path to financial freedom trope that was common when I was in HS.

I was led to believe that Trades/Public Service were for the unintelligent or those without choices.


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In 1984 I made a decision to put my family first. I was commuting on my Honda Hawk about 70 miles each way and shaving off a minute here and a minute there. One day I realized if anything larger than a squirrel got into my path, I was going to go down hard. I couldn't trust the nut holding the handlebars. I slowed down to a legal speed, made it home and sold the bike.
Of course since then there have been a couple of Porsches, an MR2 and a Miata, so I don't regret it. I got to hear my granddaughter say, "Faster, Grampy! Faster!"

Best
Les

I had a similar epiphany, oldE, when coming home one day on my V45 Sabre.
Found myself splitting lanes at 50mph going thru Carson one day on the way home on the 405 Freeway.
Traffic was moving but not fast enough to hold me up.
Decided that night that I better sell the scooter so I could see my kid grow up.

I sometimes wonder why the other fork wasn't found sticking outta my azz with folks commenting "...he's done!" :D

1) Could have played D1 college baseball
2) Law school where my grandad went

Then the Marine Corps came calling.

I wouldn't go back and change a thing, though. I never seriously consider what might have been, as making any choices other than those I've made would change everything I am and, far more important, everything and nearly everyone I have.

_

two big ones were both ex girlfriends that gave me the "we get married or im out" and thats not a reasonable way for a relationship to work, so i have said good bye. commitment through ultimatum is a poor way to live life.


at 28, i still remember the day, the moment, i figured out that rationalism doesnt work as the only source of human wisdom. that understanding emotion and passion were at least as important as logic and math. i struggle to think what my life would be like without that turn.

also when i decided i couldn't compromise what i wanted to do in life, with having children.

^ Exactly

All things given I am lucky to have not only survived but flourished despite a few foolish decisions when I was out of high school. I was never afraid of hard work, multiple jobs, and effort to look presentable. I could hang out with blue/white collar folks second nature, even the silver spoon folks even though I really had no money.

I had zero clue what I wanted to do professionally so I worked odd jobs and spent a few years every 6 months backpacking through the world. Less than $5/day budget, some 'interesting' times and some fantastic ones as well. Very free and absorbing time of my life. I tell stories to young engineers that I work with who aced university and immediately went to work for the corporate and they just look at me like an alien. Some have asked for followup conversations to dive deeper. I have no regrets.

The 'fork' in the road for me was a long term GF who just could not punch up and grow. I was in love back then but realized it would end badly. The break took a good 6 months to finalize and I was on my own for a good 4 years before I found my now wife and best friend. As a team we both have benefited immeasurably and she is my savior as I think she would say the same of me.

Best to you all, David

Flanker and Lock.

I was always fast in karts but I didn't spend the money like new tires for every race. But now and then someone would go by showing real talent, definitely on the edge and making it work. That's when you know you're not going to be a pro. No amount of better equipment will make you that guy.