[masraum]

Has my path been what I expected? No, absolutely not, but then I didn't really have a "plan". I don't spend a lot of time focusing on the future or trying to plan it out. The only future that I think about is financial.

I always figured I'd go to college, get a job, family, etc.... Pretty much follow the "normal" path.

Well, I went to college, but didn't really have any idea what I wanted to do or what was available for me to do so I was aimlessly wandering through with no motivation. I quit college because I didn't have the motivation to put in the work. That's when the adventure started. A series of what for me was odd occurrences led me to where I am now. I worked at a retail auto parts store for a couple of years until I became a manager. I quickly realized that the retail biz was no good for me. I then met a woman and moved from FL to TX 2 months later because this is where she lived. She knew someone that was a manager at a night club that got me into the bar business. I bartended at topless bars for about 5 years. I realized that I didn't want to make a career of bartending or topless bars and started looking for my calling. I ended up getting into IT on a rocket ride. I went from my first IT job at $10/hr to $100k/yr in about a year. Then 2001 happened. I got laid off and the money went away. I started over and have worked myself up to where I'm doing well. I'm happy and still with the same woman that caused me to move to Texas after almost 17 years.

Everytime something has happened that has seemed at the time like a bit of bad luck, I've always been able to look back and realize that it led me to someplace better than I'd been before.

Nope, not at all like I'd have expected, but I think much better.