[Stratovarius]

Everyone has this huge plan for me. My mom, my dad, my teaches, my counselor...they all tell me how my life is going to turn out and whenever they suggest something to me, I feel obligated to follow it. But since I found out about peak oil, I've definitely been incorporating that into plans and now they all seem like fantasies.

I'm tired of all this attention from people. They all think I'm some kind of huge braniac and I'm going to solve superstring theory or something, so they tell me I'm going to a good school out of state and study there for years pursuing the so-called "dream" which is largely getting a piece of paper that says you completed your phD.

Maybe I am a genius...I don't know and I don't care. I want to run my life and I want people to trust me. All I ever do is think about these things and lose sleep over it. "I'm older and wiser! Listen to me!" Wisdom is not an epiphenomenon of age...shut up. Just because you're old doesn't mean you know how to run my life.

I am so worried about peak oil and they all want me to go northeast to study at one of these special schools for "kids like me". What if I don't want to? What if I'm happy teaching myself in my room costing only books I read and an internet connection?

"Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them." Aristotle

While all the other kids are playing their new Wii or PS3, I'm slamming my head against the nearest wall wondering what in the hell is going to happen to me.

I feel like telling these people about peak oil, but I'm afraid I might be wrong and embarrass myself. What if nothing major happens with peak oil? Then I get laughed at and the trust factor will be lost.

I wish people would stop worrying about me, and worry about themselves. If I need help, I'll seek it.

"The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready." - Henry David Thoreau

[NEOPO]

If you are truly that smart then you already know what to do

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')Listen to others here on this forum and get a practical degree in engineering. A good balance between theory and practicality. An engineer can mend a fence.

[Stratovarius]

A lot the great thinkers I know hated systematic "learning" so they ended up teaching and alienating themselves from society. They turned out fine.

Then there are these arrogant little children attending Ivy League schools and never reach their 10th birthday.

[Stratovarius]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')Listen to others here on this forum and get a practical degree in engineering. A good balance between theory and practicality. An engineer can mend a fence.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stratovarius', '
') "I'm older and wiser! Listen to me!" Wisdom is not an epiphenomenon of age...shut up. Just because you're old doesn't mean you know how to run my life.

[Stratovarius]

Well, I live in Texas and I want to stay here because if the worst happens, my friends are here and they will be good help and good company. I don't want to go to Massachusetts...

Since nobody knows how PO is going to turn out, it's impossible to plan for something like this.

(btw if you were kidding, I'm sorry, I was getting...schmaltzy )

[PenultimateManStanding]

yeah, I was kidding around. So they want to send you out of state and you don't want to do that. Bummer. Why not see if they'll go for a local undergrad program? good luck. If they're going to tell you where you have to go then that's a drag. Are you up to a fight? Or are they just trying to talk you into it? If so, then you could maybe say, "sure, let me think about it and try to get them to commit to letting you decide. Later on you say something like, "maybe I could go to Harvard or whatever for post-grad, but I'm set on this University here because of it has a good program in yadda yadda." Negotiation tactics it's called.

[mmasters]

It's rough, I know what you're going through. Far as people expecting great things, that's not a bad thing. But it sure can be a pain in the ass. Best find people that have a vision for you that makes sense or takes you where you want to go. Bummer though that your parents have a vision that doesn't feel right with you but you're not alone. Even though I'm successful in my own right as an analyst my dad has always yearned for me to some powerful manager figure and command a lot of people, I don't really care about that (that's what he desires). The trick is most people can't step outside of themselves and see others for how they truely are. This problem never really goes away in life, you just have to learn how to make it work for you and learn to manage others' perceptions. Girls can be a pain in the ass in this department particularly. For example, when they think you're their ideal guy and the hormones are flowing and then later when things calm down and they see how you really are they start to blame you for not being what they thought you were. We all project ourselves on others though, it's a matter of understanding when you're doing it and realizing that that's not them, it's just your perception. I mention this stuff because knowing how to read people and read yourself is one of the most powerful life lessons that will take you far in the world. Maybe that all might not make sense now, but someday it will.

Anyways, as another poster said find something you enjoy doing that will be of value in the future. That should be your main mission.

[EnergyHog]

No need for a PhD but keep in mind, without that piece of paper life is much more difficult. Although you may not like what your parents and others are telling you don't let it make you do a complete 180, they are not entirely wrong, just mostly.

And stop worrying about peak oil for crying out loud! Worry about how you will afford the dwindling supplies.

[PenultimateManStanding]

I heard something interesting on the radio this morning about the Ivy League colleges: graduating seniors know less than incoming freshmen! Evidently, the AP courses and cramming to get in gets forgotten in 4 years and they don't get much of value in these prestigious places. Probably the only truly valuable programs in this country are in the sciences, everything else being trendy intellectual fads of no genuine worth.

[Heineken]

Strato, first you have to figure out what you want. And then you have to figure out how to get there.

Once you've done those two things, half the job is done.

But: You may not be able to have your first choice in life, so be prepared to compromise.

Me, I'd focus on gaining broad, deep, sophisticated survival skills; becoming physically tough and strong; saving a goodly pile of money (doing anything that works for you); buying a largish piece of land in a fairly remote area; and building on it a cabin. All that might take about ten years. Then I'd survive there on my place for as long and as well and as independently as I could, with my dogs, guns, and possibly a wife or companion.

[SchroedingersCat]

Hey Strato, tough times. I was there. Top of my class. National Merit Scholar. Destined for 'great things.' MIT, Duke, etc. I turned down appointments to West Point and Annapolis and my dad threatened to cut off my balls and ship me to Canada.

I took a year off and worked any job that came along. Car wash, restaurant, retail, whatever. Read everything I could get my hands on and thought about my plans. I ended up going to the local university and getting a major and a minor that interested me. Mostly to have the paper. I knew that my learning would be self-directed and life-driven.

Academia sucks. Politics and intrigue. Back stabbing and intimidation.

'Follow your bliss' is a bit of a cliche, but it has a lot of truth to it.

As far as peak oil goes, WestTexas over at The Oil Drum says economize, localize and get to the production side of the economy. Learn some skills that are going to be needed no matter what the future brings. Education is life-long. An education is what you get when you don't get what you wanted.

[EnergyHog]

Are you trying to learn something or get a degree?

[ProfitOfDoom]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SchroedingersCat', '
')
Academia sucks. Politics and intrigue. Back stabbing and intimidation.

[Micki]

Have a think and see if there is a career you can enjoy, have value of in a post PO world AND allow your parents to be proud show offs.

For instance, do you think an engineering career could be for you?
Try to get involved in things like alternative energy etc.

Geology, get into exploration, mining etc.

Can think of many non-technical careers now, but use the thinking cap a bit and I am sure you'll think of skills that can be useful and rewarding.

[savethehumans]

You believe that everything's about to hit the fan. So do I, so I sympathize!

You'd like to stay in Texas, the place you know and (like? love?) so that you're here when it all comes down?

You don't mind the idea of going on to college, and training in areas that might actually be useful AFTER TSHTF, as well as beforehand?

The Adults in your life want you to go to a highly-ranked, academically-superior private university/college with a great reputation? And between your brains and their savings, the cost is no object?

RICE UNIVERSITY, Houston, Texas!!

You don't have info on it? GET IT. Even the oh-so-distinguished East Coast fancy-pants schools concede that this school is near, if not at, their level of academic excellence.

If the programs you (and they) are looking at are of a level that pleases all concerned, then why the heck should you NOT stay in Texas?

Just throwing this out there as a viable alternative/compromise to all the plans & pressure about Your Great Future (which you know darn well ain't gonna be happening).

God bless ya, kiddo!

[Heineken]

Academia is doomed, along with the whole bloated infrastructure of it. In the future, most academic degrees will be worthless. A lot of them already are.

I say that as someone with his own fine set of papery credentials. I look at them now and I see them as badges of wasted time and money.

Along with acquiring skills in such areas as gardening, seed preservation, gunsmithing, advanced first aid, chainsawing, cabin building, cobbling, self-defense, etc., here's another suggestion for Strato:

Read these three books:

Your Erroneous Zones
Pulling Your Own Strings
Your Money Or Your Life

I wish I'd read them in my teens instead of my thirties/forties. What a difference that would have made.

They should be required reading in every high school. (There's a reason why they aren't; can you guess what it is?)