The Side Quest That Became the Story

Sometimes the thing you loved before it made sense... is the thing that quietly shapes everything you become.

There was a time when just hearing “You got mail” made me feel like the future was talking directly to me.

Not metaphorically. Literally. That robotic voice lit something up in me. While other guys were glued to football, I was glued to a CRT monitor, logged into IRC, trying to connect with people on the other side of the world. Not to make money. Not to post. Just… to see.

I didn’t know what I was looking for. But I knew it wasn’t on TV.

At first, it was music. Then pictures. Then message boards. Then code. The early internet felt like this secret world where everything was a puzzle… and if you could learn the language, you could belong.

So naturally, I did the logical thing: I majored in Accounting.

Then I switched to Computer Information Systems ... lasted one semester. It made me hate computers. Too rigid. Too complex. I gave up. Changed majors twice more before graduating with a Political Science degree.

And yet, my first real internship? Web development.
My first corporate job? Network services.

Somewhere along the way, the thing I thought I had to leave behind… became the only thing that made sense.

That’s the part I keep coming back to.

I wasn’t trained for this. I didn’t “follow the right path.”
I was just a curious kid clicking hyperlinks on a grey-background Yahoo page in 1995.
And somehow, that was enough to shape the rest of my life.

Now, almost 30 years later, I’m feeling the same pull with AI.

And I’m not talking about using it to chase trends or go viral or crank out “content.” I’m talking about using it to speak. To express the things I’ve carried for years but never quite had the right tools to say out loud.

But here’s the thing that hurts ... a little.

Everyone’s using it now. Fast. Loud. Repetitive. Surface-level.
The same tools. The same style. The same voice. Just a different message each time.
It’s like watching a sacred instrument become a party trick.

Back then, if you wanted to build something, you had to understand the machine.
You had to learn its logic before you could bend it into art.
Now… people skip the learning. They skip the listening.

And maybe that’s why it feels off.

I’m not here to be an elitist. I’m proud that technology is catching up to imagination.
But I still think we owe it a little reverence.

Because when something changes you…
You can’t help but want to protect its essence.

If I could talk to that younger version of me ... the one huddled in a corner while everyone else watched football ... I wouldn’t tell him to study harder or choose a different major.

I’d just say, “Keep going. Learn it deeper.
This might end up being your bread and butter someday.”

Sometimes, the side quest becomes the story.

Sometimes, what starts as curiosity becomes calling.

And sometimes, if you’re lucky…
The thing you loved before it was cool ... or useful ... or profitable…

Is the thing that quietly shapes everything you become.