[ SECRET POST #3449 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3449 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 38 secrets from Secret Submission Post #493.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Truth or dare

[ariakas]

Truth because you'll have no idea if I did the dare or not.

Re: Truth or dare

[(Anonymous)]

Decision you regret most, in retrospect?

Re: Truth or dare

[ariakas]

It's hard to say, given that decisions I thought were a terrible idea shortly afterward turned out to be for the best in the fullness of time. I turned down a scholarship to the most prestigious university in my country (at the time) to attend the one closer to home (which also offered me a scholarship) for a variety of good reasons, such as I'd be able to live at home and thus accrue less debt, but also bad ones, like being afraid of moving away from friends and whatnot. I regretted that deeply for years.

But now my alma mater is ranked number one in the country, while that other university has slipped, and I've seen the havoc student loan debt has wreaked on my friend's lives, while I have none. I made what I thought was a terrible decision for the wrong reasons, and it turned out to be pretty good in the long run. I also turned down an offer of a grad student position under a researcher I deeply admired in a subject area I loved because I didn't like the school or the location. I regretted that so much I hated myself, especially when I was applying to other schools during the Great Recession and nobody had funding - in fact, the position I did get got defunded the summer before I was set to attend, too late to apply for another one, which knocked my career progression way off track and left a difficult to explain gap yeah and was in the middle of a family crisis to boot.

I found out later, however, that due to politics that researcher from the first school lost his position about six months after I would have started there, and left for a private position in the US. The grad student he did have got saddled with a researcher I absolutely hated as a substitute and was hating his life when I talked to him.

Plus the grad position I eventually did get was in my dream land of ultimate weebness as a result. And I had the time - and need - to start my own business. Which gave me the capital I needed for a downpayment on a home - that never would have happened on a PhD or post-doc's salary. I honed my translation skills to a professional level and got published, something I'm immensely proud of. I got stupidly, ridiculously fit (I'm talking one-armed chin-ups) for a while, because working out took my mind off my regrets and indecision and anxiety, which helped immeasurably when I decided to enlist.

So, yeah. You never know. If you'd asked me earlier in my life I would have had a definitive, vehement answer for you, but now...? I'm pretty content. I love my job, I've travelled the world, and my mistakes and failures have made me a much harder, stronger person than the silly kid who would want to commit sudoku over a single B in school and thought she was right about everything.

It helps that I'm back doing the research I always wanted to do, though, with a socially acceptable reason to shave my head, too ;p

Re: Truth or dare

[diet_poison]

Sudoku?? that is an amazing typo (autocorrect?)

Re: Truth or dare

[ariakas]

Apparently it is an internet meme. Sudoku = seppuku. I learned this on fandom!secrets, no less!

Re: Truth or dare

[diet_poison]

pfft that's awesome. Wish I'd known that. (I was sure you meant seppuku either way, but I didn't know "sudoku" was intentional.)

Re: Truth or dare

[(Anonymous)]

Is your username taken from the villain in that one really bad self-insert Zelda fic?

Re: Truth or dare

[ariakas]

Unfortunately, no, I am not that cool. It is from the main villain of the Dragonlance Chronicles, which I thought were super cool as a seven-year-old or so.