What would you do differently if you had a chance?

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 23 Jan 2013, 09:43

asmaahsan wrote:
Bighuey wrote:Thanks, Asma. Ill check it out. Thats probably what I should have done different, improve my vocabulary.
It was your retirement plan, remember? Lazing in the sun, doing field research on the Paca and their generations to come, with a dearly beloved Webster in your hand as your trusted sidekick. Good planning! Now you can impress the younger generation with your fancy words courtesy dear Web.

By the way, I am an Oxford person. I was brought up on the british system of education.

That I do. But about the only research I do these days is sitting on my front porch with a can of cold Tecate watching the cars (or sometimes goats) go by.

Oxford sounds pretty classy. The highest education I have ever had is the school of hard knocks.

asmaahsan · Post by **asmaahsan** » 23 Jan 2013, 14:25

I meant Oxford dictionary. Opposition of your Webster. We are on opposite sides.

what kind of goats?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 23 Jan 2013, 18:35

This is one for the Kerryman's answer when he was asked for directions .... "I wouldn't start from here at all"

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 23 Jan 2013, 19:51

@ Asma, I see. I thought you meant Oxford University. As for the goats, I dont know. One goat looks like another to me. They are brown. As Jules Verne called them in one of his books, a poor man's cow.

asmaahsan · Post by **asmaahsan** » 24 Jan 2013, 01:09

I wish I had gone to Oxford.

I worked for their press back home for three years.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 24 Jan 2013, 09:49

I sometimes wish I had taken some kind of higher education, something I really liked. Music, ancient history are something I wish I knew more about.

asmaahsan · Post by **asmaahsan** » 24 Jan 2013, 20:37

Ok....do it now...study music on the Internet. Free courses, even paid ones if you like. As for higher education, well, I have read all the subjects I missed out on and realized that my favourite remains english literature. I read, I edit, I write. I am pretty good I think if I may say so myself. My highest boss in office commented that I did better as freelance than the editors in office on one particular project and that was really something!

I was least educated than all of them but my work was top class because I learned in the field what people learned in classroom.

When I was younger, it mattered because people made me feel stupid. Now all people in that category are younger than me and they don't care what my credentials are; they see my work and admire it, making me happy too that kids today can appreciate what my seniors and fellow age groupers didn't.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 24 Jan 2013, 21:25

Free courses, thats something I might check into. Id like to learn to read music, it would be a big help to me. I have several old songbooks with interesting songs I would like to learn.

Wow, it sounds like you have become very successful in your field.

asmaahsan · Post by **asmaahsan** » 25 Jan 2013, 01:33

I ain't successful at all. I am just grateful that I got a chance to work for a short while as a freelance editor in a big company that's known worldwide. I am the grateful type.

Do you know that even Harvard university offers free courses. Anyways, those are mostly for professional so I don't apply for any but I am looking for free or reasonably prices courses myself to improve my creative writing skills. I don't write properly. My style is more like a diary style of a teenager. I feel at a disadvantage because I was too irresponsible to get a good degree in college and never went to university. I was too busy socializing in college, and didn't study properly.Now people with better credentials can make me feel at a disadvantage. People do judge you by your education in social circles, if not at work, and you never really land the top job if you don't have a good education record. I am now making sure my kids get good grades so they are top in their relative fields.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 25 Jan 2013, 09:55

A person needs a good education, thats for sure. My kids have been successful in their fields, nothing college related, but they make good money at doing what they like to do. I think thats important to do what one enjoys doing. So many people study for some field, spend big bucks for education and find they dont like it, or cant make any money at it. A person really needs to do some heavy thinking before they jump into something they will be sorry for later on.

asmaahsan · Post by **asmaahsan** » 25 Jan 2013, 10:23

I think it's good luck. I got married and gave up my career dreams to build my husbands. Later, when I thought I should have some skill at least, incase I need to help him support the family, I learned to edit. By Gods help and pure luck, I ran into someone who got me an editing job. So I learned a skill. I am that qualified now that with a minimal of training, I can work for any newspaper, magazine or handle any print media related job, even as a freelance editor, and earn a living at it.

It's about finding the job that's right for you and the field that suits you most. Then it's sheer luck you get into it.

Fate has a lot to do with it, but I think you also need to work hard to reach your full potential.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 25 Jan 2013, 10:44

Luck has a lot to do with it, and also hard work. They say you can get almost anything you want if you work at it. I was never that ambitious, but Ive done OK. Never got rich or really successful, but I usually liked the choices I made.