h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It was '69 when mum turned my shoulders to watch and old AWA black and white Tele and said 'Watch the picture screen! You won't see this again'. Well I was two at the time and still remember that and subsequently saw the Challenger disaster live in '86. So I hear you ask, "You want to be an Astronaut when you grow up?" - Well answer was yes however physical fitness seemed to be a prerequisite as was being a US test pilot. However there was an answer - the horn-rimmed scientists in mission control that sent them up and got them back... Well - that seemed the go!!

The only role models for a youngster around '75 seemed to be limited the mad scientist and superheroes i.e. Batman. So how do you get about being one of them but, of course, on the side of good and not evil?

The insurmountable task of learning everything of course. Specialisation didn't appear to bother Batman and the other heroes. There was none of this, "Oh! An electric fence - What a bother - Don't know a thing about 'em. Right then Boy Wonder - Fancy a pint?".

Reality hits back pretty hard but not before a sizeable amount of weird facts and figures have been absorbed and shaped your personality. The computer offered an mature outlet for the things I wanted to accomplish as it let's you do things without to many hard bits i.e. simulations.

So my job now is a systems administrator and recreational programming is a real thing people do. But as a sysadm I take care of some really big stuff and occasionally get to play at being the Super Hero when one of those small, collected and useless pieces of knowledge comes to the fore and saves the day. Didn't make scientist but had a lot of fun trying!

*grin* I'm going to genetically engineer an army of flying monkeys and take over the world...