When I was still in high school, I really enjoyed debate, and I was
pretty good at it.  I could talk and think fast, I was merciless on
cross examination, and somehow, people thought my arguments made good
sense.  I really wasn't all that into math and science at that point, and 
I was actually thinking of a degree in the humanities, followed by law school.
I was 15 then.

<p> 
When I was applying to TAMS (The Texas Academy of Math and
Science), I really thought I was pulling the wool over their eyes.
See, I was just using them to get into college early, and then I was
going to ditch them and go into the plan (humanities and law).  The
point of the program was to get smart kids into careers in math and
science, and so I kind of told them what they wanted to hear when I
was interviewing.  In the end, though, they won.  I found out that I
liked math, especially the stuff beyond high-school fare (algebra just
isn't much fun).  And I liked science too, physics, chemistry, etc.
So, when I left TAMS and when to UTD, I was majoring in Mathematics
and Electrical Engineering.  I gave up math soon after and got a
degree in electrical engineering.

<p>
Shortly after graduating with my BSEE, I realised I had no desire to
be an engineer.  I went back to UTD to get a graduate degree in
computer science, which stopped interesting me as a field of serious
study before I even finished.  But I got a job programming at <a
href=http://www.iexchange.com/>iExchange</a> (formerly
interactivefunds.com) and didn't think much more about schooling for a
while.

<p> 
At some point, honestly probably because my relationship with
Misty wasn't going so well, I started thinking about law school again.
Somehow the thought of throwing myself into something really hard, but
yet that might be really interesting and fulfilling, appealed to me.

<p> 
That was then (well, 3 or 4 months ago).  Since then, I've gotten
a new job (E-praissals in sunny California), I've come to terms with
losing Misty, and I'm getting prepared to start a new life.  Lots of
my old frustrations are gone, and with them, some of the impetus to
start law school have gone too.  It may come back again, I don't think
I've seen the last of that desire.  Hopefully it will come back at
some point where it's a healthier manifestation of my needs.  The fact
that I was thinking about law school as a solution to my problems sort
of destined the desire to go away when the problems did.  

<p>
So, I took the LSAT last saturday (Feb 10, 2001).  I didn't really
want to do it, since I'd kind of started to take a different path
already.  But, recognising that I might consider law school again... I
didn't want to have to wait another year at that point because I
didn't take the LSAT when I had the chance.  And I tried to give the
LSAT a real shot because it wouldn't help to take it if I got a crappy
score.  But it was hard.  Not the test, it wasn't so bad.  But
actually sitting down at 8:00 am some saturday and spending 5 hours of
my time bubbling in answers and writing an essay.  But it's done.  If
all goes well I'll never have to do that again.

<p>
Hmm... maybe I could get a graduate degree in Mathematics... ?