[mikewarot]

I'm 62, and I never had huge goals. I wanted to be a programmer back in the 1980s, but I was ready to swear on a stack of Bibles that there was NO money to be made in software, in the 1980s, so I studied Electrical Engineering instead, then dropped out.

I have learned that there is no straight career path. Your best bet is to have a large group of friends and acquainted, and keep in touch with all of them. They will present you with opportunities all the time, if you're open to them. I was interested in machining after decades in IT, and I got a job making gears. It was really rewarding, but the pay and commute sucked. I still miss it, even though I got yeeted out of the work force with Long Covid.

Don't wait to do the things you enjoy, take photos, write stories, visit with friends now, while they're all still here. Work is what you do to pay for your life, not the other way around.

My biggest regret is not keeping a journal. I really appreciate the huge number of photos I took between 1997 and about 2016, recording my life with abandon. Now I'm mostly too tired to do anything sustained.