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Thank you for sharing. I really appreciate your story. Reading it reminds me a lot about some of the "wild" decisions I've made along the way.

I was also my family's black sheep. My story is different I suppose (briefly): I left full time scholarship to study arts--I went to Florida with $500 my brother lent me. I didn't have money for food so I ate Starbuck's left over pastries for the first 2 weeks. I ended up taking 6 courses that first semester and worked 2 jobs to support myself. It was tough time but it was the most lucid time in my life.

While I did well at the arts school, I didn't end up doing arts after all. I am a web developer now--happy hacking my after-hours projects and chasing dreams. Taking good care of my family is also one of my dreams!

I usually think to myself, people should have ambitions and dreams. But only a real man/woman is willing to lay his/her life down for those dreams.