Barnes & Noble is criminal

I guess that's where I had an advantage. I had a little time to mature before I hit the real world -- not in college.

At 18, I'd already spent a year in the Army, as well. Something about those drill sergeants. They'll toughen you up, I guess.

 

Definitely.

I dropped out for a year when I was 20, gained a lot of life experience (a.k.a. made a lot of mistakes), but it gave me some time to grow up, figure myself out, before I went back to school.

I saw a world of difference when I did go back -- the classmates who didn't have any real-world experience had no clue as to the realities they were about to face upon graduation. No fucking clue.

And I felt bad for 'em, really. How can they expect to have a clue when they haven't been exposed to real life before?

 

I certainly can't speak for buckdub , but when it came to handling the "business" side of my life and managing money, I do/did have the mental toughness to separate wants from needs. If I didn't, I'd have an insane amount of personal debt, and I don't. I've just never had the income to match the needs. See my post about $13K, above. Three_bags, I respectfully say that you're lumping people into one big group and that's unfair.

 

See, I had no money ... flat-broke college kid.

I didn't have to worry about any of that fancy "wants and needs" stuff.

 

I appologize for what seems to be an unfair generalization on my part.

But I went through a pretty tough situation about four years ago that I was able to fight through like a champ -- and I'm damn proud of it and where and how I landed.

 

You can't. People aren't fully formed adults until they're at least 30.