The Bikery. The Downfall of My Life.

when i was looking for my first job, i wasn't thinking Stop & Shop for 3 and 1/2 years. I was mostly thinking that i should get a job because that's what teenagers did and it was time i had dipped my hand in the job market. as i was searching my cousin was really big into bikes. i was too but the difference was that i liked freestyle bikes, like the ones you'd see at the X-games or something. my cousin on the other hand was into mountain/marathon kind of bikes. when i mentioned i was looking for a job he took me to the bike shop he goes to called The Bikery up in Montclair. right away i was thinking 'man these bikes are for old folks.' they sold Gary Fisher bikes. i mean come on right? you yourself may not know much about bikes but i was big into the freestyle brands like GT, Haro, Schwinn...and Gary Fisher? needless to say i wasn't too excited, but my cousin kept recommending, "yeah you should work here, they are real cool and you'll learn a lot." immature me was thinking "man idk, these bikes aren't my thing and i'll be afraid to mess up. on top of that i'd like to make friends my age, not become buddy buddy with the late 20's/early 30's crowd." days later i remember that i called them up and the owner said 'yeah come by for an interview.' I never did...instead...i chose Stop & Shop and spent the nearly 4 years of my teenage life rotting behind a self-scan machine. it seems like a minute detail in life now. i mean everyone's had those 'bottom up jobs we'd like to forget' but looking back on it, i clearly think i made the wrong choice. instead of standing around for years at Stop & Shop, i could have been working with my hands, learning, making use of my mind. who knows, maybe that could have changed the course of everything. maybe instead of being weeks away from graduating Rutgers with a psychology degree, i would have been graduating NJIT with engineering or something. maybe that's a stretch, and i guess i can just file that under one of the many 'what if's' that i'm leaving as my trail.