First let's start with, I am Gen X. So the Internet was not a thing yet. Cell phones only existed for the very rich, which we were not. And I grew up "adjacent" to a small farming community town of between 12,000 ~ 18,000 depending on which years specifically you were looking at.

There was one main highway (40 MPH +) through the town,  everything else was a town road (25 MPH or LESS). 

I went to public schools all my childhood, and while looking back I could have done better, I cannot deny they gave me a damn good base.

My high school had "Certificate Programs" they tried to push us to take which were prescribed class schedules for the entire four years, but I rebelled and would not budge. I wanted a BROAD base, not four years of specialization in Art or Music or something else I had no skills for. 

So I took Spanish, Latin, Physics, Math up to Calculus, Chemistry, Electronics, Metal Shop, Wood Shop, Home Economics, Citizenship (I am sure they call this something different now, but it was a broad overview of the US Government/local governments and the rights and responsibilities of US Citizens to properly protest or get laws made or changed within the guidelines of the US Constitution. Where your taxes go, etc.), along with all the required course work. 

The last two years of highschool we were allowed to go to Vo-Tech ("Vocational Technical" training), which for me and those that went to my high school was literally right next door. Other highschools in our county had to bus to the vo-tech up to 30 minutes either way. I just had to walk to the next building.

I had so many ideas, but art was NEVER in my skillset, so I could not properly express them or communicate them to others. 

There were Hairstylists, Plumbers, Carpenters, Electricians, Chefs, Computer courses where I saw them using punch cards which I knew were on the way out, and many other courses available to us to take during the last two years of our high school journey. At no extra cost to us. 

I chose to take "Drafting". The teacher was Mike Alban and he changed my life for the better whether he knew it or not. 

For the next two years he taught us how to draft: Architecturally, Mechanically, Engineering, Civilly - any way that an engineer of any sort would be able to draw in order to communicate how to put something together and make it work - He taught us. 

First we learned to do everything by hand. He wanted us to understand the 'mechanics' of how we were doing things. Then he unleashed us on AutoCAD. 

My first 'formal' exposure to a computer. 

There is not a crack or meth addict on the planet that has it worse than I did for that computer. It tranformed my mind in a way I still do not understand. And I have spent decades reflecting on it. 

The first year of Vo-Tech, the drafting class would design a house, all verified and signed by the actual architect Mr. Alban. The second year of Vo-Tech, the Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, etc. would BUILD the house and I am not sure how the finances worked, But I think the County sold it to cover the costs and make a profit for the school. Drafters that wanted to, could help the building process to learn more about how what they drew was accomplished in reality. And how somethings, while easy to draw and imagine, were VERY difficult to accomplish. 

"Oh, I have a missing 3 inches? We'll just make this wall two inches thick instead of 6."

IMPOSSIBLE to construct easily in the field. (Read, "THIS is going to cost a LOT!")

A life lesson that I firmly believe NEEDS to be learned while you are still hormonely challenged from thinking clearly. 

At the time, you were eligible to get a "Learner's Permit" license to drive a car at, I think it was "15 years and 6 months old".

You had to do a certain number of hours of training with a certified instructor before you were allowed to "Take The TEST" and get your Learner's Permit. Which allowed you to drive with a properly licensed adult IN THE CAR, until you had enough hours of practice to go and take the REAL TEST. 

You were not ALLOWED to take the Real Test until you were 16 years old. 

I cannot convey, with all the words at my disposal, how MUCH everyone I knew wanted that REAL Driver's License. It symbolized FREEDOM to us.

Once we all got our licenses, or at the very least had a friend with one, one of the main ways we entertained ourselves was to drive The Circuit. 

Which was our way of making driving/parking/driving again/parking again in the same 'circuit' at one of the main intersections through our town - sound Interesting and Cool. 

We actually did it because:

1) The cops did not trouble us in parking lots, we were driving too slow to harass

2) It had three places to eat, go to the bathroom, that were within our price range as high school students

3) You knew, if you waited long enough, whoever you were looking to meet up with, would eventually come THERE.

4) At the time gas was around $1.80 a gallon and $20 in Taco Bell could feed a basketball team of hungry teenagers.

I, like EVERYONE else, spent a lot of time there. 

I had been 6 foot 6 inches since about the age of 14. Which was when I was "informed" I "needed to" and was getting my first job. 

It was $2 per hour, under the table, to do grunt construction work. 

I assume this was to tire me out so I was not so rebellious anymore at home. 

It actually ended up with me working with a wheelbarrow, pickaxe, shovel and gravel rake most days digging out basements by hand so they could be finished or 'improved' in some way by the handyman paying me. 

By the time I graduated high school I had worked in two different factories, one building doors and window frames for modular homes, and one as a certified forklift driver in the warehouse. I had worked a fast food job as back line cook and odd-jobs guy. Grease traps are the second worst experience I have EVER had in this life. 

I had done... countless "laborer" jobs, one-off types. Including mucking out stables and throwing hay bales, etc. 

But most of my last two years in high school I worked as a nighttime stocker at several of the in town grocery stores. 

I survived mostly because I was young, and was taking boxes of caffeine pills every day. 

Summer was nicer because I could sleep more. But it also meant bugs, snakes, and other dangers that I had to think about. 

As soon after graduation as possible I went to the military recruiting stations in our town. Air Force and Navy both told me I was two inches too tall to be posted anywhere other than "mechanic" on the ground. All their 'vehicles' were designed for people NOT my height. 

I decided on the U.S. Army. 

Everything seemed ok, I was 18, had already registered with the Selective Service, and could be called up if there was a draft, there was just one little problem. 

I was still wearing braces. 

I said "Thank you. I will be back tomorrow."

That night, I had off, and I went to The Circuit with some friends. Borrowed a pair of rusty needle nosed pliers from one of my buddy's car toolboxes (we all had them eventually), went into a gas station bathroom and took off all my braces myself. 

Next day I joined the U.S. Army on a delayed entry program. I had been told to ALWAYS give at least two weeks notice before leaving. I gave my job my two-weeks notice.

By the time I got my degree I had been studying meditation and martial arts, informally, for over a decade. 

Combined with the new Philosophy Learnings, I was primed to turn inward and start examining myself in every dark corner of my soul. 

The Army mail order courses were not free, but they were greatly reduced from the cost of 'normal' college or university. 

So it seemed like a "Revelation From Above" when I realized I was one of the lucky few that I knew who was capable of learning from just/mostly READING alone. 

Why should I spend the money to ATTEND college, when I could just order the mandatory and recommended coursebooks from several colleges programs - And READ THEM?

Want Biology education? What books are required or recommended by Harvard, Oxford, Johns Hopkins, etc.

Technology? MIT, Stanford, Berkley.

Physics? MIT, Harvard, Dresen University, etc.

Continue for the topic YOU desire as an example.

There were times as a child my mother would startle me by shaking my shoulder and telling me that she had been calling me for 5~10 minutes to come for dinner. But I was so engrossed in a book, I honestly had NOT heard her. 

I read everything. By the time I moved on from one school, there was nothing in their library that I wanted to read and had not read at least once.

I think my parents got tired of me asking what unfamiliar words meant, so they taught me to read with a dictionary nearby. Anytime I didn't know a word, I looked it up. 

I thought a more effective use of my time would be spent reading the dictionary. So I did. Then I read the entire encyclopedia. We had one from the 50's in our house second hand I think. Then I read the ones at school. Then at the town public library. 

And I never slowed down from then on. 

Because I don't 'specialize' in things such as epidemiology and infectious diseases, I still today stumble over "insider knowledge", like the word "Zoonosis" (a disease that can jump species). So I still read with a dictionary. Electronic or physical, doesn't matter.

But that doesn't stop my curiousity about it. So I keep absorbing as much as I can about EVERYTHING. 

If it applies to me, those I care about, OR can help understand how something works that can affect me or those I care about ....

I WANT TO KNOW IT!

With all the subjects, topics, little side detours into specifics and everything else that I have EVER learned in my life, two things stand out as the MOST IMPORTANT lessons of my life. 

1) It is within MY POWER ALONE to educate myself. No ONE can do this for me. I HAVE to do it for myself.

and the slightly more important lesson...

2) THERE IS SOOO FUCKING MUCH I STILL HAVE LEFT TO LEARN!

...

...

...

The Universe and Human Stupidity are supposedly without any limit. 

Good thing My Curiousity is also without limit.

Stay curious, and humble enough to learn from anyone or any THING.