Life Changes

Flashback to 1986: The coach of the freshman baseball team at Southwest High School commented that I was the best catcher he'd ever seen at that level. I loved playing baseball and dreamed I was going to someday be a major leaguer. WRONG!! Two problems. Number one, I truly lacked anything close to the ability to play at that level (very average arm, average hitting ability at the high school level). Number two, as if it mattered after number one, I tried so hard to prove my ability my junior year that I blew out my arm, tried to play through it, and messed up my throwing motion. I was never a starter again after that.

Forward a couple of years to 1989: Ok, so I don't have a future as a baseball player. That wasn't realistic anyway. I'm going to write computer games. I love computers and computer games (that's right, I was a computer geek). I'll make millions writing hot video games that sell like crazy. So I major in computer science at The University of Texas. Problem is, I soon learn that I really don't like sequestering myself in a computer lab for several days and nights on end with little human interaction, and what there is I can't relate to at all. It's just not me. But I'm still fascinated by technology, so I stick with it. My grades reflect my lack of true passion, as I graduate with a 2.71 GPA. No job at Microsoft for me (although I thought the interview went well, I never heard from them after sending my transcript - strange).

Flash forward 10 years: So I've never written video games, much less a blockbuster that made me millions. I stuck with computers, moving through several jobs when the market was hot, watching the dot-com craze but never truly joining the fray. In June of 2002 I married my soul mate and bought a house. Two months later I went back to school to get my MBA. Two years further down the road, my wife and I are trying to have a kid through in vitro fertilization, we're attempting to get equal visitation rights to her two beautiful daughters from a previous marriage, and I'm wrapping up my MBA and looking for a career change. I still have many high hopes and dreams, and I'm as happy as I've ever been, but damn it's funny how reality will slap you around every once in a while.