If I were doing it all over again, I would be...

I would have gone into welding or machining and gotten a certification instead of getting my biochemistry degree. I figured out I don't really like working in labs and would rather build stuff and get dirty.

I'm an architect and I enjoy the heck out of the career. I don't think I would change that, but I might have taken a flyer and headed somewhere hipper than back to the East Coast after grad school in STL. That might have been more fun.

If I could have been sure of being able to retire at 40 with independent means, I might have done the high-pressure investment thing. That would have had a very finite lifespan, though, and would only have been a means to an end.

I would like to have started autocrossing earlier, and have already moved on to racing by now.

Duke wrote: grad school in STL.

Wash U?

<-- WU Arch. undergrad alum here. No graduate degree. Haven't been able to convince myself that it would be worth the debt/lost income with the likely result of making slightly more money and having slightly more responsibility doing essentially what I am already doing. I like what I am do, but I can't say that going into (or continuing in) this field was a fiscally responsible decision.

i'm an auto tech and i really like building things and working with my hands.. however, i don't like flat rate or bullE36 M3 commission paid work , so i'm not sure really.. can any one tell me where i can use these skills but not have to rush a job for fear of being canned or not making any money?

i went back to school and got a bunch of prereqs for mechanical engineering, but realized i don't want to work at a desk unless it's writing for a magazine. i'd like to be some sort of custom car or precision engine builder. custom carpentry looks awesome. i also dream of opening a bar and/or owning and operating a food truck. i like to cook.

In reply to BARNCA:

Worst Idea I've ever had. They give me buying power I shouldn't have access to.

iceracer wrote: The US Air Force wanted me to become an instructor in radar school. This as back when radar was in its infancy.

My father was a USAF radar school instructor between '50 and about '54. I know he was at Keisler and also in Gulfport, MS. Later he was in the middle program at Canaveral, I believe. Same vintage as you?

Josh wrote:

Duke wrote: grad school in STL.

Wash U? <-- WU Arch. undergrad alum here. No graduate degree. Haven't been able to convince myself that it would be worth the debt/lost income with the likely result of making slightly more money and having slightly more responsibility doing essentially what I am already doing. I like what I am do, but I can't say that going into (or continuing in) this field was a fiscally responsible decision.

Small world! I got my Masters there in '89. My undergrad degree was not professional grade so I needed to go further. It's a bad job market now, indeed. Nice to be registered, though.

Lesley wrote:

bravenrace wrote: In reply to Woody: Single.

Funny, I was gonna say "not single". Spent too much time working my butt off, traveling the world, staying up all hours of the night to make deadline... and here I is, a crazy cat lady with a fleet of busted old cars.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all those things are necessarily a result of being single, right? And maybe if I had met a girl that was as into cars as I am, not being single would be a little better.

bravenrace wrote: And maybe if I had met a girl that was as into cars as I am, not being single would be a little better.

That can be a double-edged sword. Trust me. My g/f loves her cars (she has 4), but as a result I have trouble making the time to work on my own cars... and she has ZERO interest in racing or auto-x.

Ian F wrote:

bravenrace wrote: And maybe if I had met a girl that was as into cars as I am, not being single would be a little better.

...and she has ZERO interest in racing or auto-x.

Then she wouldn't be as into cars as me, right?

I love my wife and my kids, and I wouldn’t have them if I had done this one thing differently. But when I was 20, I was HATING my life. I couldn’t stand the town I was in, I didn’t see a future in what I was studying (I was right), and I just generally didn’t care much about anything. I was >< this close to heading to the nearest army/navy/airforce/marine recruiter and signing up, just because, and in spite of tossing away my paid-tuition scholarship. It would have been probably a dumb, juvenile move, driven by depression and boredom, and I’d have probably got blown up in Afghanistan a couple years later, but I still regret not serving.

I met my wife the following fall, and everything worked out fine.

Hard to say, to be honest, she LOVES her cars. She will even do some mechanical work. Most of the major jobs fall to me. Often much to the neglect of anything I want to do.

Lots of things I would have done differently, but the only thing I regret is not punching out a kid back in high school.

mtn wrote: Lots of things I would have done differently, but the only thing I regret is not punching out a kid back in high school.

It's not too late - high schools are still full of kids that need to be punched.

A few things for me that I would like to have a do-over on. Got my girlfriend preggers way too young, but got 3 really nice kids out of the deal. Would not want to do change that. Sold my alarm company in Ohio in 1976. Economy there took a terrible dump shortly after that when the mills closed down, but I probably could have weathered that. The move to Fla led to my divorce, which probably would not have happened if we had stayed in Ohio. Maybe. Anyway, shoulda, coulda, woulda does not work in the real world.

Maybe I should have taken that assistant-manager job working in Burger King in the Bahamas when I was 18.

Or taken the Peace Corp job several of my friends took right after college (in 1972!).

Instead, I stayed in engineering school (started grad school at age 21) and ended up teaching in a college.
Modest pay but high quality lifestyle. No regrets.

You know, I'm really glad to hear those of you who have no regrets - That's great! I have a good life, but I also have many regrets. I sometimes wonder if it has anything to do with my personality, which is to be somewhat of a perfectionist, analyzing every little thing, never satisfied with the result, etc... Maybe it's a cup half full versus cup half empty thing. Anyway, I wonder if anyone's view of their past has something to do with their own personality and how they view things. See, I figure that no matter how good the outcome, it could have been better, so I end up regretting the decision I made. To be honest, that's a terrible thing to live with, and not as easy to change as you might think. So getting back to my first sentence, I am sincerely happy and envious of those of you who can say they would do nothing different. After all, we only get one shot at this.

In reply to bravenrace:

Absolutely. No life is perfect. Even if you don't royally screw it up, you will have to make some decisions between things, and one can't help but wonder what the other fork would have done...

There was a girl who talked to me on a bus while I was in college that I would like very much to have had sex with.

In reply to Osterkraut:

Well duh.

bravenrace wrote:

Ian F wrote:

bravenrace wrote: And maybe if I had met a girl that was as into cars as I am, not being single would be a little better.

...and she has ZERO interest in racing or auto-x.

Then she wouldn't be as into cars as me, right?

You trying to hook up with Ian?

There's soooo much that I wish had gone better but not much I could do differently to make things better, especially without magical knowledge of the future (you guys buying Apple and MS stock? You're totally cheating).

"Better looking" and "born richer" are options? Any of those are fine.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

bravenrace wrote:

Ian F wrote:

bravenrace wrote: And maybe if I had met a girl that was as into cars as I am, not being single would be a little better.

...and she has ZERO interest in racing or auto-x.

Then she wouldn't be as into cars as me, right?

You trying to hook up with Ian?

...or take my g/f...

I wouldn't have gone to UTI for the short time that I did. Can learn the same stuff a local community place for a third of the cost. I quit because on a trip home one weekend, my future wife became pregnant. Doing what I figured was the right thing, quit school and came home to raise my family. One week later she miscarried. I always figured that was God telling me where I was supposed to be.

At the age of 20 I was offered to go on the road and work for a Monster Truck team, my absolute dream job. I even wound up in the driver's seat.

It was surreal. We mostly raced in the midwest, a good 14 or so hours from my family and girlfriend here. Well we were in Mississippi, about an eight hour drive, and my family and girlfriend drove down to see me.

It was there she gave me an ultimatum, it was this, or her.

You can guess which I chose.

I don't regret choosing her over that. I've now got a gorgeous wife and a beautiful little girl.

But the one thing I regret the most, is cheating on my then girlfriend not two weeks after we got together. I'm lucky she kept my sorry ass. She says she's over it, and it's been over six years, but I still sense some friction from time to time.

That's the one thing that still haunts me to this day.

As far as careers, that's still kind of in the open. I'm still young, 24, and could realistically go to college, get a degree and yadda yadda, but I still don't know. I've always been really interested in history and science, and really enjoyed high school. I wasn't one of those who challenged myself taking all the comp classes and etc. If anything I was a bit of a slacker, but I only skipped school once.

Maybe I'll be a chemistry teacher, and learn kids about tire compounds.

Duke wrote:

iceracer wrote: The US Air Force wanted me to become an instructor in radar school. This as back when radar was in its infancy.

My father was a USAF radar school instructor between '50 and about '54. I know he was at Keisler and also in Gulfport, MS. Later he was in the middle program at Canaveral, I believe. Same vintage as you?

Sounds about right.