Life gives you one "do over"

[budw38]

I just wish I had grown up faster . I spent too much time in my teens and twenty's focusing on women , cars and sports . Not that I do not love my life , I would have been better off with more focus on work/career . I do feel lucky now , I have a work ethic and a lot of fine friends ; family and live in the good old USA . Oh , and I did not grow up in cowboy/eagle or giant country

[CRedskinsRule]

I think, given my earlier thoughts, if it was a one point in time decision, it would be my decision to go in as an MP, that was almighty dumb, I had an outstanding DLAB(Language Aptitude) score and wanted to go Military Intelligence but changed at the last minute to MP. IF it was a time frame, I would say July 2001-Dec2001, I handled depression/divorce et al in an absolutely horrid way and my life would be radically better had I had even an ounce of common sense in my body at that part of my life.

[redsk1]

I would have chosen a more defined major (like engineering) or gotten Masters Degree. I wasn't very disciplined in college, as i just tried to get by the first couple years.

[redskinjim]

i was crossing the street got hit by a car never should have let the doctors operate on my knee it was much worse after the surgery that was 15 years ago.i got zero dollars

[over the mountain]

hockey chamionships. im the star player on my team and really the league. had something like 41 goals 42 assists that year in 20 something games. i carried my team.

OT shootout for the chamionship. good size crowd down in reston. im deciding whether to do the youngblood move where i skate by the puck at center ice and kick it with my back skate to get started. i decide not to.

i come down the ice, im left handed in hockey, pull the puck to my right then back to my left, goalie moves to his right opening his legs (i think 5 hole but pass on it), i then pull the puck back to the right, goalie is frozen he cant move back to his left, i got a fairly open net, on my backhand . . .DOH! didnt put the puck in the net, put it wide off the boards. didnt concentrate and watch the open net and watch the puck go in the net.

earlier that game i scored just inside the blue line with a wicked shot that hit the upper right corner perfectly. i could put that puck anywhere anytime. when i skated off the ice i had the churchill coach waiting, wanting me to play for them since i was going to churchill next year.

that or not switching and trusting my left hand shot in lacrosse when we were playing west virginia.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

hockey chamionships. im the star player on my team and really the league. had something like 41 goals 42 assists that year in 20 something games. i carried my team.

OT shootout for the chamionship. good size crowd down in reston. im deciding whether to do the youngblood move where i skate by the puck at center ice and kick it with my back skate to get started. i decide not to.

i come down the ice, im left handed in hockey, pull the puck to my right then back to my left, goalie moves to his right opening his legs (i think 5 hole but pass on it), i then pull the puck back to the right, goalie is frozen he cant move back to his left, i got a fairly open net, on my backhand . . .DOH! didnt put the puck in the net, put it wide off the boards. didnt concentrate and watch the open net and watch the puck go in the net.

earlier that game i scored just inside the blue line with a wicked shot that hit the upper right corner perfectly. i could put that puck anywhere anytime. when i skated off the ice i had the churchill coach waiting, wanting me to play for them since i was going to churchill next year.

that or not switching and trusting my left hand shot in lacrosse when we were playing west virginia.

In a similar vein-high school baseball. What turns out to be the last game of my career. I'm the starting pitcher, we're playing our rivals at their new stadium under the lights. I'm tossing a no-hitter but it's 0-0 at the bottom of the final inning. Walk, error, error, hits batsmen (I hit his damn shoe!). Winning run walks home we lose 1-0, our playoff hopes dashed...I'd like that final pitch back

[over the mountain]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

In a similar vein-high school baseball. What turns out to be the last game of my career. I'm the starting pitcher, we're playing our rivals at their new stadium under the lights. I'm tossing a no-hitter but it's 0-0 at the bottom of the final inning. Walk, error, error, hits batsmen (I hit his damn shoe!). Winning run walks home we lose 1-0, our playoff hopes dashed...I'd like that final pitch back

dang man a no no going into the 9th, thats brutal. concentration. its easy to lose concentration when your doing the same thing youve done a zillion times. ive taken a billion shots on goal and concentrated on where i wanted to put the puck.

i really blame our coaches. they were horrible. with young guys they should have pulled us aside and calmed us down and gave us pointers and thoughts like . . . put the puck on net. dont skate in too fast, etc...

funny how sports moments and thier details stay with you. i can replay that shot and a ton of other sports moments like i have it saved on video or something.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

dang man a no no going into the 9th, thats brutal. concentration. its easy to lose concentration when your doing the same thing youve done a zillion times. ive taken a billion shots on goal and concentrated on where i wanted to put the puck.

i really blame our coaches. they were horrible. with young guys they should have pulled us aside and calmed us down and gave us pointers and thoughts like . . . put the puck on net. dont skate in too fast, etc...

funny how sports moments and thier details stay with you. i can replay that shot and a ton of other sports moments like i have it saved on video or something.

Technically, the games were only 7 innings in High School. So no no going into the 7th.

I rarely got the start. I was usually the closer. But because our starters had pitched their max innings for the week, I got the start.

[redskinjim]

this is very cool post gives a guy a chance to reflect just how FAST time is flowing by,time is very short before you know it you are old!

[Gmanc711]

If I could, I'd have left home after college. I had a couple interview offers for jobs in DC and actually one with ESPN in Bristol and I turned them all down because I didnt want to leave home at the time... so I took a sales job which I was awful at, and now work in customer service with Paychex. ITs a great company to work for, and certainley I have alot of opprotunity, but I certantly dont love what I'm doing.... and now I want to move... funny how that works.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by Gmanc711

If I could, I'd have left home after college. I had a couple interview offers for jobs in DC and actually one with ESPN in Bristol and I turned them all down because I didnt want to leave home at the time... so I took a sales job which I was awful at, and now work in customer service with Paychex. ITs a great company to work for, and certainley I have alot of opprotunity, but I certantly dont love what I'm doing.... and now I want to move... funny how that works.

Damn man, I know a lot of people who did the same type of thing.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

Damn man, I know a lot of people who did the same type of thing.

More often than not I think people fall into their careers.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

More often than not I think people fall into their careers.

Yeah, I'd take falling into a career over just working jobs though. Shit sucks. I mean I could turn retail management into a career but it's not what I want to do forever by any means.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

Yeah, I'd take falling into a career over just working jobs though. Shit sucks. I mean I could turn retail management into a career but it's not what I want to do forever by any means.

Retail is tough man. I worked for CompUSA for about 8 months and basically hated every second of it. That was my first and last experience working in retail.

[firstdown]

When I was 21 I played in a country band and we got an offer from some agent to go to Nashville. Its a very very long shot to make it big but I wish I took the gamble.