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Originally Posted by Endless Soul
She starts 1st grade next week. So far she seems to be doing great with her learning. She reads books on her own, is doing 2nd grade level math, etc.
Of course I'd like to see her get a Masters or PhD in a field of her choice, but the way my health is, I'll consider myself lucky to see her graduate high school.
Endless "Goals" Soul
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Don't worry! If anything happens, I'll marry her and take care of her!
And I will take care of my future father-in-law - *IS SHOT*.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf
At 38, and at where I am in my career, I no longer have a specific goal in mind. And that's a good thing actually, because up until recently, the constant feeling that I was underachieving was seriously hurting my self-esteem.
I don't like talking about that part of my life, because unless people can appreciate the context, it'll come across as though I am boasting about my past. The simple thing is that I've had a privileged life. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I certainly did have it better than some friends, thanks to my hardworking parents.
Every child is different. Some children might grow up spoilt by such an environment. I grew up instead with a very strong sense of responsibility, a deep sense that I owe it to my parents to do the best I possibly can. They didn't ask anything of me — the motivation was entirely self-driven.
I did well in school, up until a certain point. Then I got distracted, and things fell apart. Although I haven't done badly by any means, there was a time when looking at some of my peers would frequently make me wonder, where have I gone wrong?
It was only recently that I'd been able to put all that behind me, when I found myself truly able to say: "You know what? I don't care any more. I love my job, I think I do it very well, and I find a lot of meaning in what I do.
"So what if I'm not a millionaire or a captain of industry or a top civil servant? The truth is that I'd never actually been keen in money or status — they were merely petty things I thought society thought I needed to match my abilities."
"I thought wrong. Society doesn't care an iota how I feel. Neither do I owe it to society to be someone I am not. I am comfortable in my own skin, and society will just have to make do with what I have to offer."
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Wish I had your train of thought. My parents treated me like how a fund manager treats the firm he/she invests in - always expecting the best. Late speech development pissed them off despite having an accelerated reading ability; apparently reading about the Gulf War at 2/3 and asking about the "Computer War" wasn't enough. They never believed my piano teacher who suspected that I am dyslexic with ADD, possibly mild Aspergers', they simply thought
I was lazy.
Fail a test? More tuition.
Disrupt the class by asking "outlandish" and "unnecessary" questions? Shouted at for the next hour.
Got into a fight in school? Caning.
They were so happy when I got into the GEP, only to be rejected by "special" schools because I couldn't pass the language portion. My sister got into the top class with higher Chinese while I was struggling with it and oral English. After missing the Special Stream in PSLE, I really lost interest to study - everything went downhill.
I am still struggling with "rote learning" at this age - I could easily forget what is being taught to me in class, but I can remember almost anything I read with detailed understanding of how chemical mechanisms, Physics concepts and economic theories - but it is always so difficult to explain it to others coherently because every question seems so......
general.
And there you go. 20 years of reading, thousands of books, and not a single bit of detail appreciated by anyone in my family. What makes it worse is every one of it craving my attention wanting to be analysed and dissected; the only way I can shut them off is to bury myself in work. It affects me in sleep and sports (with the exception of shooting and delicate tasks like driving jeweler screws or wiring an explosive charge).
But one thing I am glad for - I have friends. Even if they are not free, I have the library and my computer. Though what I wish for is more thinking people to converse with, not some puritan bastard who feels insulted when a guy protects his potty-mouthed yet passionate friend using Newspeak and making everyone look retarded when they pick it up.*
* - I admit. It was REALLY fun. Go try it on the next guy who is adverse to the word "fuck" and "bloody hell"! 
Shakespearan is equally humourous, but must be iterated in pure Old English. Terms like "Hath", "Thou", "Ne'er", "Thy" and "Thee" have to pronounced properly for the maximum effect.
Interestingly, Indians are never offended by this. And I have rarely met Indians enforcing bowlderised English.
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That's it really. I'm taking each day as it comes and enjoying each moment as much as I can, with strong confidence in my personal values and my self-worth. I've got no definite plans for the future and, believe me, that's already an achievement in itself. 
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You said it. The greatest freedom you can grant to yourself, is to be able to set your own prices to sell to the person interested in you.