[epbrown]

At 23, I'd quit college after deciding I didn't want to be an accountant like 2 of my 3 siblings; I moved from a small town in KY to Chicago where I knew no one, got a job making good money but working 70 hours/week, got my own place living on my own for the first time (after 3 disastrous months with deadbeat "roomies"), and started living, learning, and growing.

Only thing I'd do differently is I would've changed majors in school, rather than quitting altogether but at the time, it seemed like I had to get out, period; I should have searched around to find something I liked more and gotten a degree in that.

That and I'd have slept with more of the women that were throwing themselves at me at the time, though likely it wouldn't have happened so often if I hadn't been so hard to get - I had a very religious upbringing and though I'm an atheist, I wasn't much for pre-marital sex. Lots of girls seemed to find that a challenge: deflowering some wide-eyed kid from Podunk. Maugham once said the most successful playboy he knew pretended to be a virgin.

Oh, and I wouldn't let my dumb-ass brother talk me out of getting the black 944 I wanted back then! It was 10 years before I bought a Porsche!

Emanuel