Ever wonder how life would have been

[OldAgePensioner]

had you taken a different path or different job, say, ice cream truck driver

I studied astodynamics with several very important professors in that field Dr. Herrick, Dr. Baker, Dr. Makemson and all encouraged me to get my PhD. Well, I decided to go to work in the aerospace industry in LA. Work was exciting and interesting and I never looked back. I did get my Master's while working.

But I could be a tenured professor at UCLA now if I had listened to them. I do wonder about the choice from time to time.

Anyone wish they had taken the other road(s) in their life.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

OAP, nay, your career as either a) an ice cream truck driver or b) tenured professor at UCLA would have been a short career. Either job puts you in touch with way too many temptations, and I'm not talking about eating 10 snow cones in one sitting.

I know I would need to wear dark sunglasses all the time as a professor. I'm now taking summer classes at a local college, and let's just say that as soon as the temperature goes above 79 degrees (I was going to say 69 degrees, but as fun as that sounds, that stretches even my imagination), the girls start wearing tiny miniskirts (with side split) and low-cut tops. Ah, just trying to walk down the hall without running into the walls is a challenge.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

BunsofVeal,
Back in my days at school, all the girls wore skirt to their ankes and bobby socks.

Yeah, but just think as a ice cream truck driver you got to wear that cool white uniform and hat.


I just started the thread to see if any other had a chance at a job and went the wrong way.

My best friend is a drummer of considerable talent and when the Eagles broke up in 1982, he was 22 years old and got offered a job playing drums in Glenn Frey's new band. He was about to get married and turned it down. Marriage last less than a year. Bad choice.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

seeing what we do pales in comparison to knowing who we are.

"had i the chance to do it all over again i would have made a whole different set of mistakes." ~~saying

"whosoever would undertake some atrocious enterprise should act as if it were already accomplished, should impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past...this web of time -- the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries -- embrace every possibility." ~~jorge luis borges garden of forking paths

 

[haha]

OAP, nay, your career as either a) an ice cream truck driver or b) tenured professor at UCLA would have been a short career. Either job puts you in touch with way too many temptations, and I'm not talking about eating 10 snow cones in one sitting.

I know I would need to wear dark sunglasses all the time as a professor.  I'm now taking summer classes at a local college, and let's just say that as soon as the temperature goes above 79 degrees (I was going to say 69 degrees, but as fun as that sounds, that stretches even my imagination), the girls start wearing tiny miniskirts (with side split) and low-cut tops. Ah, just trying to walk down the hall without running into the walls is a challenge.

Wisdom here for sure. My brother taught 13th grade in Ontario back in the early 70s. He made the young women cover their thighs with towels that he borrowed from the gym for the day.

Couldn't get away with that anymore, I guess you would just have to chow down on saltpeter every morning.

Half dressed lovely young women are a hazard; an attractive nuisance I suppose. Yowie 

Ha

 

[d]

i've often thought of some of the more disasterous unfortunate decisions i've made, and how i should have done otherwise ... only to realize that had i done so, i would not have all the good things i do have as a result of the path taken. 

 

[heyyou]

Since I'm satisfied with my current situation, I'm skepticle of how some of those other paths may have worked out. I believe I chose what was best for me, instead of meeting others' expectations. As a new retiree, my future seems so bright, I can't imagine changing any of my past. Plenty of poor decisions back there, but those helped form who I am now.

 

[JB]

But I could be a tenured professor at UCLA now if I had listened to them.

Or you might still be working on your dissertation!

I went to grad school with a very smart Iranian. He was 4 years into his phd when someone published extensive work in his area. He had to start over. I quit and got a job, no regrets.

Could have joined Microsoft in '92.... but I'd probably be here typing this message from a nicer house with an ocean view.

 

[dex]

OAP, nay, your career as either a) an ice cream truck driver or b) tenured professor at UCLA would have been a short career. Either job puts you in touch with way too many temptations, and I'm not talking about eating 10 snow cones in one sitting.

I know I would need to wear dark sunglasses all the time as a professor. I'm now taking summer classes at a local college, and let's just say that as soon as the temperature goes above 79 degrees (I was going to say 69 degrees, but as fun as that sounds, that stretches even my imagination), the girls start wearing tiny miniskirts (with side split) and low-cut tops. Ah, just trying to walk down the hall without running into the walls is a challenge.

I was thinking about becoming a high school teacher. I went to a few classes to see what the work was like. I could not believe how "mature" the high school "girls" were. I no think the sexes should be seperated in school and only taught by those of their gender.

 

[Outtahere]

I always wanted to be a history teacher, that is up until my US History teacher in my junior year of high school. He was THE worst, I just barely made it thru his class and I love history, that changed my mind and I never thought about teaching again. Maybe if I had I'd be retired by now with a nice little pension.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Damn, you guys are making me want to be a high school teacher.

I was never over-fond of them.

I just had a honey-lime chicken sandwich with avocado from Box Sandwiches on Kearny. Almost in the same category as nubile HS girl with short skirt. But NOT>

 

[Arif]

A friend of mine and I were just talking about this topic. I got out of the military in December with 11 years in (9 shy of retirement bennies) and he ask me if I regretted it. I said no way life is good in Panama and the quality of life is far better. I followed that up by saying if I had went OCS instead of ROTC (with a 3 yr break in service) I would have had 14 years of service and probably would have stuck it out for 6 more years. After I though about the rest of the day several key events probably would not have happend:

1. Meeting my wife in ROTC
2. Meeting a 0-4 that convinced me to invest in real estate after I got commissioned.

So with that small change in direction my life would have been very different. Money wise I think I am ahead of that choice as well as quality of life issues. So still no regrets, just enjoying life.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it!"

Yogi Berra

 

[Andre1969]

I've often thought about this, such as if I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, and do something different. For instance, one thing I often dwell on is my failed marriage. That disaster put my life in danger on more occasions than I'd like to remember, as she was a bit on the psychotic side, and hung out with the "wrong" crowd. Plus, in the end it put me about $27K in debt, forced me to take on a second job, and move in with my grandmother to pay the bills down.

But, had that marriage never happened, I might not have had the incentive to start working so gung-ho, paying that debt down fast, and then saving up so that the next rainy day wouldn't be so wet. Sometimes things just have a way of working out for the best, even if they don't seem it at the time.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Andre1969,
From age 15 till 21, I got enough of life's bitter lessons that I think life said "enough, enough, anymore and you'll kill em". There were no forks in that 6 year long road and I think I took my beating well, at least I like to think I did.

And since then, like Yogi Berra said I took every fork in the road and they've all worked out pretty well. No complaints

Just wonder about some of those forks and compare where friends back then ended up. At 18-19, we were 7 inseperable guys, 1 dead of cancer, 1 dead of heart attack, 1 spent lots of prison time for drugs, 1 owns a transmission shop, 1 is a highway engineer marrried w/2 sons, 1 killed last year in motorcycle accident, and there's me.

Odditities:
Only one ever married. Odd cause all were very handsome guys, had lots of ladies.
All but me stayed put.

Hmmm, maybe should write this all down somewhere before senility.