I spent high school in front of my computer

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60 comments, last by swiftcoder 12 years, 3 months ago
Regrets are pointless. Once you realize that, you won't spend your time wondering whether you wasted your highschool years or not.
"I will personally burn everything I've made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."
~ Gabe
"I don't mean to rush you but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
~ Cavil, BSG.
"If it's really important to you that other people follow your True Brace Style, it just indicates you're inexperienced. Go find something productive to do."
[size=2]~ Bregma

"Well, you're not alone.


There's a club for people like that. It's called Everybody and we meet at the bar[size=2].

"

[size=2]~

[size=1]Antheus
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Biggest issue with statements like this, at least in my opinion is this is _MY LIFE_, not yours.[/quote]
Exactly it is ALL OPINION. So why is this a thread. We have a side you have a side. Why is our side stupid? If you want to live life by working on a computer with yourself then thats your life and opinion. We are all programmer/computer people, but our point of view we were other things too, and we feel those other things were more important than worrying about how good of work we would do for future employers.

NBA2K, Madden, Maneater, Killing Floor, Sims http://www.pawlowskipinball.com/pinballeternal

Wholeheartedly agree with OP.

The way I see it, doing is the single most important force we have, and you're almost never too young to start doing what you are passionate about.
[/quote]

You can also say, at a younger age you will have more free time to do; far more time to tinker and have fun doing things (AND learning) that you may not otherwise explore when you're older since you simply do not have the time.

Wholeheartedly agree with OP.

The way I see it, doing is the single most important force we have, and you're almost never too young to start doing what you are passionate about.


You can also say, at a younger age you will have more free time to do; far more time to tinker and have fun doing things (AND learning) that you may not otherwise explore when you're older since you simply do not have the time.
[/quote]

The fact is that people don't make decisions. We have a base program from our genes, and then we process the determinist input from the world around us. Fun is totally relative. You are taught by input that some things are fun. If you had different input different things would be fun. Thus you can have a fucking blast your whole life doing nothing but being alone with computer shit, and you can have fun "having fun" aka chasing girls, using substances, doing various activities. If we have learned one thing from countless memoirs, journals, blogs, and biographies is that EVERYONE has regrets. Having a different lifestyle has no effect on regrets. Regrets are a function of missing things. And because all the possible activities in the world exceed our capacity, even with an infinite lifetime because every action we take creates new possibility we cannot avoid missing things. Now we can only regret what we can imagine. We are given a message about what we should be doing and if we aren't doing that we regret things. However the number of messages we get as well as our ability to enforce our actions on others, ie you regret not dating some girl but of course you can't make her date you you can only try to influence her to, limits our ability. For instance I have received both messages that the ideal life is a long term loving relationship with a nice nurturing girl, and that I want to bang as many hot girls as possible. I cannot both bang all possible hot girls and have a long term monogamous relationship with a "nice" girl. Therefore even with only 2 options I will have regrets. I also get messages about being a gamer, a punk, a skater, and a slacker, and at best I can taste each life only a little. Because of that I will always have regrets and so will you. I want to make a movie, a game, a play, do poetry, write a book on and on and on. I can't do it all. I will always wonder what if. So will you. If you are honest with yourself.
I agree, this advice is complete rubbish.
I think it's also fairly superficial. Doing "normal" stuff will get you being "normal"... good luck with your "normal job for normal people" those days!

Previously "Krohm"

I guess swiftcoder point was more about "nostalgia from your childhood" is really valuable later on. But what I think he misses is that any memory will do. Personally I have fond memories about me playing basketball in my junior year, aswell as me playing monkey island when I was 10. Anything will do, as long as you enjoy it. The point I think he is completely right about is that fitness at younger ages, specially at puberty, is important for the rest of your life (by no means this means you have to give out on learning whatever you enjoy, but you should balance it).

Cheers

P.S: You can chase redheads even after high school, no big deal about that!
I think most of you are missing the point swiftcoder was trying to make. Of course he didn't say "stop learning to program and just be a normal person." It's all about living a well balanced life. You don't have to chase a redhead, you don't have to learn to fix motorcycles, you don't have to learn a new sport. People, that was a small sample of options from a potentially infinite list of things someone can do to help them have a well balanced life.

You are the master of your fate, and so I hope you choose what you love, but for the love of all things holy I hope you learn to love more than just programming. It doesn't have to be something swiftcoder mentioned (obviously). Do what you love, and while you're at it, find new things to love too. When swiftcoder said "usual high school things" I think he meant there are tons of options in high school (and all throughout life, for that matter) to be explored (and many of us probably had some similar options, therefore the "usual high school things"), and you should at least try exploring some of them. Take a metal/wood shop class, join a club (you can start a robotics club and do a FIRST competition, for example), make a bon fire with some friends, learn to play an instrument, learn to draw/paint (I wish I would've fostered my creative side more, 'cause it would help me with making some games), etc. Of course I'm not saying you need to do those exact things, but what I'm saying is that you've got options to explore!

There are some things you get to do in high school that you don't get to do when you're older (or, there are things you can do when you're in high school and when you're older, but high school may be the best time to try it as I doubt you have a mortgage, family, full time job, etc to worry about). At least try some of them out! You don't have to love everything, and you don't have to be (and I hope you're not) a cookie-cutter jock!

I think we all spent part of our youth programming. Some more than others, maybe. But I honestly hope, for your mental well being, that that wasn't literally the only thing you did. It may have been one thing you loved most and did most, but I doubt, and hope, that wasn't the only thing you did. Social interaction is a very critical part of a youth's development (read any book on the matter). That doesn't mean you have to be the popular kid (duh)! But you should be getting some kind of social interaction while you're in high school! You don't have to hang out with the normal kids doing normal things, and you don't have to hang out with people every night. But don't throw away the chance to have some social interactions during a critical part of your mental, social, and physical development.

Being a well rounded person* will give you a head start in life and a much better hiring potential in the workforce. That doesn't mean stop programming, stop being a geek, stop following your passion. It means that you've realized the world is a friggin' big place with tons to be explored, and that you've taken the opportunity to explore some of it!

*Gosh, people keep going on about being normal and how you don't have to be normal. You don't have to be normal! Being a well rounded person who lives a well balanced life is different from being your average Joe.
[size=2][ I was ninja'd 71 times before I stopped counting a long time ago ] [ f.k.a. MikeTacular ] [ My Blog ] [ SWFer: Gaplessly looped MP3s in your Flash games ]

I think most of you are missing the point swiftcoder was trying to make. Of course he didn't say "stop learning to program and just be a normal person." It's all about living a well balanced life. You don't have to chase a redhead, you don't have to learn to fix motorcycles, you don't have to learn a new sport. People, that was a small sample of options from a potentially infinite list of things someone can do to help them have a well balanced life.

You are the master of your fate, and so I hope you choose what you love, but for the love of all things holy I hope you learn to love more than just programming. It doesn't have to be something swiftcoder mentioned (obviously). Do what you love, and while you're at it, find new things to love too. When swiftcoder said "usual high school things" I think he meant there are tons of options in high school (and all throughout life, for that matter) to be explored (and many of us probably had some similar options, therefore the "usual high school things"), and you should at least try exploring some of them. Take a metal/wood shop class, join a club (you can start a robotics club and do a FIRST competition, for example), make a bon fire with some friends, learn to play an instrument, learn to draw/paint (I wish I would've fostered my creative side more, 'cause it would help me with making some games), etc. Of course I'm not saying you need to do those exact things, but what I'm saying is that you've got options to explore!

There are some things you get to do in high school that you don't get to do when you're older (or, there are things you can do when you're in high school and when you're older, but high school may be the best time to try it as I doubt you have a mortgage, family, full time job, etc to worry about). At least try some of them out! You don't have to love everything, and you don't have to be (and I hope you're not) a cookie-cutter jock!

I think we all spent part of our youth programming. Some more than others, maybe. But I honestly hope, for your mental well being, that that wasn't literally the only thing you did. It may have been one thing you loved most and did most, but I doubt, and hope, that wasn't the only thing you did. Social interaction is a very critical part of a youth's development (read any book on the matter). That doesn't mean you have to be the popular kid (duh)! But you should be getting some kind of social interaction while you're in high school! You don't have to hang out with the normal kids doing normal things, and you don't have to hang out with people every night. But don't throw away the chance to have some social interactions during a critical part of your mental, social, and physical development.

Being a well rounded person* will give you a head start in life and a much better hiring potential in the workforce. That doesn't mean stop programming, stop being a geek, stop following your passion. It means that you need to realize the world is a friggin' big place with tons to be explored, and that you've taken the opportunity to explore some of it!

*Gosh, people keep going on about being normal and how you don't have to be normal. You don't have to be normal! Being a well rounded person who lives a well balanced life is different from being your average Joe.


If that was what swift coder meant, which you haven't proven, just speculated on with no evidence, perhaps that is what swift coder should have said, instead of saying what he actually said. If swiftcoder spent so much time learning to socialize, why didn't he gain more effective communication skills?

I think most of you are missing the point swiftcoder was trying to make. Of course he didn't say "stop learning to program and just be a normal person." It's all about living a well balanced life. You don't have to chase a redhead, you don't have to learn to fix motorcycles, you don't have to learn a new sport. People, that was a small sample of options from a potentially infinite list of things someone can do to help them have a well balanced life.

You are the master of your fate, and so I hope you choose what you love, but for the love of all things holy I hope you learn to love more than just programming. It doesn't have to be something swiftcoder mentioned (obviously). Do what you love, and while you're at it, find new things to love too. When swiftcoder said "usual high school things" I think he meant there are tons of options in high school (and all throughout life, for that matter) to be explored (and many of us probably had some similar options, therefore the "usual high school things"), and you should at least try exploring some of them. Take a metal/wood shop class, join a club (you can start a robotics club and do a FIRST competition, for example), make a bon fire with some friends, learn to play an instrument, learn to draw/paint (I wish I would've fostered my creative side more, 'cause it would help me with making some games), etc. Of course I'm not saying you need to do those exact things, but what I'm saying is that you've got options to explore!

There are some things you get to do in high school that you don't get to do when you're older (or, there are things you can do when you're in high school and when you're older, but high school may be the best time to try it as I doubt you have a mortgage, family, full time job, etc to worry about). At least try some of them out! You don't have to love everything, and you don't have to be (and I hope you're not) a cookie-cutter jock!

I think we all spent part of our youth programming. Some more than others, maybe. But I honestly hope, for your mental well being, that that wasn't literally the only thing you did. It may have been one thing you loved most and did most, but I doubt, and hope, that wasn't the only thing you did. Social interaction is a very critical part of a youth's development (read any book on the matter). That doesn't mean you have to be the popular kid (duh)! But you should be getting some kind of social interaction while you're in high school! You don't have to hang out with the normal kids doing normal things, and you don't have to hang out with people every night. But don't throw away the chance to have some social interactions during a critical part of your mental, social, and physical development.

Being a well rounded person* will give you a head start in life and a much better hiring potential in the workforce. That doesn't mean stop programming, stop being a geek, stop following your passion. It means that you need to realize the world is a friggin' big place with tons to be explored, and that you've taken the opportunity to explore some of it!

*Gosh, people keep going on about being normal and how you don't have to be normal. You don't have to be normal! Being a well rounded person who lives a well balanced life is different from being your average Joe.

^This.

I was waiting for someone to take the reasonable approach and actually try to "get" what Swiftcoder was saying. Look guys and gals, this isn't anything controversial -- all he said was (translated between the lines): "Learn something new, experience life - you are only young once; take advantage! Programming will still be around when you get back."

Is there really worth such a huge fuss over something so trivial as a comment encouraging a youngster to enjoy a bit more of what life's got to offer?
"I will personally burn everything I've made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."
~ Gabe
"I don't mean to rush you but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
~ Cavil, BSG.
"If it's really important to you that other people follow your True Brace Style, it just indicates you're inexperienced. Go find something productive to do."
[size=2]~ Bregma

"Well, you're not alone.


There's a club for people like that. It's called Everybody and we meet at the bar[size=2].

"

[size=2]~

[size=1]Antheus

If that was what swift coder meant, which you haven't proven, just speculated on with no evidence, perhaps that is what swift coder should have said, instead of saying what he actually said. If swiftcoder spent so much time learning to socialize, why didn't he gain more effective communication skills?


Maybe he did and maybe I did understand him correctly? That's how I've understood him from the beginning, and he later added the importance of living a well balanced life, thus reinforcing my understanding of what he said. I seriously don't mean to be a dick when I say this next statement, but... maybe he's not the one lacking effective communication skills?

Swiftcoder, if I've misunderstood what it was you were trying to say, please correct me. I doubt I have though.
[size=2][ I was ninja'd 71 times before I stopped counting a long time ago ] [ f.k.a. MikeTacular ] [ My Blog ] [ SWFer: Gaplessly looped MP3s in your Flash games ]

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