I think about this very thing WAAAAY too much.
My biggest regret? Realizing at the age of about 8 or 9 that I could coast through a big chunk of life with little effort. I think if I had not realized that, I would have wound up putting more thought and effort into my life/career choices and would, for instance, be driving that new or nearly new car instead of trying to come up with THE best LOTTO picks.
4eyes
HalfDork
7/29/11 7:29 a.m.
I would have chosen mechanical engineering instead of architectural engineering in college.
And I would not have wasted so much time on the tall, blue-eyed, Italian girl who lived across the street.
Jay_W
Dork
7/29/11 7:30 a.m.
I'da taken that 5 grand I put into that clapped out 308 I got into with my old man and a good buddy of his, that we bought right before the ferrari market crashed, and put it in Microsoft stock instead.
That, and I never woulda rallied in Open class, and done gp5 instead. But oh well. The way things went built character, just ask my wife!
If I could go back in time, I'd go back to 1979 and buy a big pile of Apple stock.
I regret not signing Michael Shumacher to a personal services contract when he was 8.
I distinctly remember being very good in Basic Programming class, and having friends who were building their own "computer for personal use" and thinking that they were all dorks and that computers were never going anywhere and that chasing girls was way more important.
They are all internet gazillionaires and I am...well not.
Jay
SuperDork
7/29/11 9:42 a.m.
I'd go back to age 12 or so and buy the domains beer.com, porn.com, and pharmacy.com. Wait 3-5 years, sell for eight figures.
My first car at 16 would have been... hmm, well, I was really into 4x4s at the time... Maybe a Lambo LM002 instead of the crusty VW Fox I ended up getting. Yeah, that'd work.
There was that Wiccan girl with long dark hair and big casabas when I was 20 .....
No regets, I did what I did based on the information I had at the time.
You may miss an opportunity because you're dwelling on lost opportunities, put on your big girl panties and suck it up.
Dan
Y'all need to stop stealin' my panties!!!
Luke wrote:
I'm too young to have any big regrets, though sometimes I wish I'd not started my Surveying degree, (which I aborted half-way through), and gone straight into Marine science instead, (as I'm doing now).
I would have worked for a year out of high school, and then taken a 2 year diploma engineering technology program at a a country-renowned technical school after all of the crap I've been through.
Went into engineering, withdrew after a year, worked to pay off my small debts and save up money to go back to school in a year and a half, then went back into a technology program. Could have done all of that, had less debt, and had a house by now... but that is the way things go. I know if I ever have kids, they will be helped (if they want it) a lot more with their decision making over simply being pushed into engineering.
I wouldn't have that part cut in my hair in flat top fade days. Nothing grows there now, which requires a bit of creative brushing.
I would have done what ever I had to to get into professional racing. If I found that I didn't really have the talent to be a driver I would have enjoyed being a race team mechanic.
pete240z wrote:
I would have come up with the storage locker concept along with the storage pod concept. We didn't need these when I lived in St. Louis back in 1969.
We're a spacious people...
pinchvalve wrote:
I distinctly remember being very good in Basic Programming class, and having friends who were building their own "computer for personal use" and thinking that they were all dorks and that computers were never going anywhere and that chasing girls was way more important.
They are all internet gazillionaires and I am...well not.
If it makes you feel any better, most of us computer guys' pay is somewhere between "average" and "E36 M3."
I think I would have changed majors to Mech Engineering. They had an ENGINE DYNO ROOM for berkeley's sake and I STILL didn't get the hint. Instead I have a Polymer Textile Chemistry degree (which is useless) and won't pay off the student loans until I'm 50.
But hey, it could be a lot worse. It's not something I dwell on or worry about. Most of the college folks I know don't use their degre either....and I like my life pretty well as it is!
I'd like to start over and try not to spend 12 years of school being a stressed out nerd who got beat up all the time. Also wouldn't have stressed through 6 years of night school to get a degree in general studies just to sell car parts. Lots of heavy drinking would have cured all of the above.
Drank less and studied more in college.
I never should have sold my grandpa's Malibu.
I would have started investing/saving at age 16.
1-I wish I gave a damn in school. When I lived in Virginia, I was an honor roll student, but when we moved to NY I just stopped caring.
2-Drop weight and enlist right out of high school, or if I had #1 above, enter Annapolis and try to become a fighter jock. Except, the plane I love, the F-14 was retired right around the time I would have entered flight training
neon4891 wrote:
2-Drop weight and enlist right out of high school, or if I had #1 above, enter Annapolis and try to become a fighter jock. Except, the plane I love, the F-14 was retired right around the time I would have entered flight training
No worries, the Turkey was a terrible jet. Never meet your heroes.
I would have actually worked this winter, and not coasted through it. I mean I have worked my ass off for 3 years, since before I was 18, and hardly had more then 7-10 days off once a year.
But had I worked/done anything making income, I wouldn't have been depressed/lazy, I would have had my 240sx in a much better position for this year, and I would have maybe had a quality friend of the womanly persuasion. (talking about 1 in particular).
But then maybe I wouldn't have bought my 300zx, and its been the best car Ive ever bought.
I donno, I think about these things a lot, and I wouldn't change many things (even my last GF, she was bipolar and caused lots of issues, but that experience taught me a lot so...it was worth it) about my life, but hindsight is 20/20 (a bitch?) and had I not slacked off this winter, I could possibly be 10x better off and happier. But now I'm always improving everything in my life, so eh.
Any way I'm going to bed. Its drift time in about 7 hours....I hope I wake up in time....
~Alex
KATYB
HalfDork
8/6/11 7:21 p.m.
i woulda made the changes ive made in my life in past 3 years about 15 years ago when i had a chance then.
One. I should have pursued and completed a mechanical engineering degree.
Two. I'd have been a LOT more serious about motocrossing. As it was, I got into girls and beer instead.
Three. There's one girl I should have held onto... aw, what the heck. Never look back.