I was talking to a guy I know, a former webmaster for Anderson Consulting who is, of course, unemployed. He recounted his last 30 years in the job market- being laid off, being let go, or the ole employer-tanks-and-yer-screwed. He went all the way back to what he called his Major Career Error:

When he was 17, he was enrolled at a technical high school in a sort of fine arts program. Their career placement office sent him to a monument company that was looking for a stonecutting apprentice. He turned the offer down, not wanting to carve gravestones for a living, and ever since has regretted his choice. The market goes up and down, but people never stop dying. They might buy bigger or larger headstones, but they'll always want a name carved on 'em. He woulda had the ultimate job security.

I have my own career regret, too. When I was about that age, my parents arranged for me to meet a guy who designed animatronic mall displays, elves-at-xmas sort of stuff. He couldn't afford to hire me because it was a slump year, not too many people buying mall animatronics. For some reason (I have no idea what I was thinking), I didn't just apprentice with him for free. Who knows why? I spent all day building model robots anyway. It wouldn't have been work for me at all.

If I'd have taken that job, maybe I wouldn't have had any job security, but damn would I be happy being poor.

I guess I'm thinking about these things because I'm in the process of enrolling in classes at an adult/continuing education high school.