So, what were You doing at age 20?

[Champion Jack]

At age 20:

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and cofounded Microsoft.

Canadian hockey player Scott Olsen founded Rollerblade, Inc.

English novelist Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, which was immediately successful.

Ragtime composer Scott Joplin became an itinerant pianist and travelled throughout the Midwest.

Despite a lack of experience, James Cagney fast-talked his way into a vaudeville dancing job.

Egyptian hermit Saint Anthony gave away his inheritance and joined a group of ascetics, eventually becoming the father of Christian Monasticism.

D. H. Lawrence began writing his first novel, The White Peacock.

Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, her second and most famous novel.

English author Elizabeth Barrett Browning published her first volume of poetry.

Polish-born Joseph Conrad, one of the great English language novelists, began learning English, his third language.

Charles Lindbergh learned to fly.

John Stuart Mill pulled himself out of depression and found that the ordinary events of life could again give him some moderate amounts of pleasure. He decided that happiness is attained not by making it the direct goal of life, but by fixing one's mind on some other pursuit.

Leon Battista Alberti wrote a Latin comedy that was hailed as the "discovered" work of a Roman playwright.

The Greek philosopher Plato became a disciple of Socrates.

Alexander Graham Bell taught a stray Skye Terrier to talk; by training the dog to growl on cue and then manipulating his mouth and throat, Bell could make him produce the phonemes "ow, ah, ooh, ga, ma, ma," to say "How are you, Grandmama?"

[camero]

1. Fighting my ass off

That's when my stepfather was wrecking havoc on my family. I was also an electrician at the time.

[scottcsmith]

20. Age 20: stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Working for the Commander in Chief, United States Pacifc Fleet Public Affairs Office. One of my favorite duty stations during my six-year stint as a Navy journalist.

[woofless]

35. Wow. I worked for the Cheif of Staff of the Air Force

message branch.

[doc03]

37. Beer,wine,drugs, weiner schnizle and winning the cold war for Nixon

[camero]

39. Um, I was fighting Domestic Violence guys.

Even though I did feel like it was war. And since it took 6 years before the fucker understood I was serious. Of course the next step was killing him but thank god I didn't have to do that.

[Cuban_Liberal]

2. I was 'taking the King's shilling'

I was in the Army, at Ft. Polk LA for most of that year (home of the world's largest cockroaches, and where God will give LA an enema).

[Birthmark]

3. You'd have to ask someone else.

I was pretty tanked.

[joeybee12]

4. Well, when I reach the age of 20--several years from now--I'll tell you!

Did you post this just to make us feel bad??????

[Champion Jack]

9. Well, how old are you?

At age 13:

Pablo Picasso was so skilled at drawing that his father handed over his own brushes and paints and gave up painting.

Jodie Foster wrote and directed a short movie, "Hands of Time," consisting of a series of shots of hands portraying life from cradle to grave.

March composer John Philip Sousa became an apprentice in the U.S. Marine Band.

French painter Renoir worked at a porcelain factory, painting flowers on dishware.

Syndicated columnist Walter Winchell started in vaudeville.

Muddy Waters began playing harmonica at local gatherings.

Mario Andretti began racing.

German-Swiss writer Hermann Hesse determined to be "a poet or nothing."

Judy Collins made her first appearance as a concert pianist.

Joan of Arc heard what she believed to be celestial voices. In time she convinced the Dauphin that she had a divine mission to save France, and she eventually turned the Hundred Years' War in France's favor.

Spanish composer Albeniz ran away from home and worked as an itinerant pianist.

[joeybee12]

16. Keep going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You'll eventually hit it!!!!!!!!!

[HEyHEY]

5. Exploring Canada

And learning Frnech...I also got laid a few times. .

[kiahzero]

6. Error: Index Out of Bounds

Haven't quite gotten there yet... :D

[Champion Jack]

11. At age 9:

At age 9:

Daisy Ashford wrote her first and last novel, The Young Visitors, which sold over 200,000 copies.

Actress Shirley Temple became a millionaire before age 10.

Jimmy Carter sold peanuts and saved enough money to buy five bales of cotton, which he later sold years later at a greatly increased price. With the proceeds, he bought five tenant houses and rented them out.

Painter Andrew Wyeth made a book of watercolors, featuring damsels and musketeers.

Mozart began composing symphonies.

Conductor Sarah Caldwell, a child prodigy in music and mathematics , began giving violin recitals.

Tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson began his career by dancing in the street for pennies.

William J. Sidis, Jr. entered Harvard University.

Laurence Olivier first impressed others with his acting ability.

Olympic figure skater Peggy Gale Fleming began skating.

Impressionist composer Claude Debussy had his first piano lesson.

Admiral David "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" Farragut served as a midshipman in the U.S. Navy at age 9.

18th-century French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon began sculpting.

Twelve-tone composer Arnold Schoenberg began learning the violin; he also started composing at this age, without formal instruction.

Hungarian composer Franz Liszt gave his first piano concert at the age of 9, or perhaps 11.

[kiahzero]

14. D'oh

Can't quite get out of that one.

I did start programming a little when I was 9 (really kicked it into high gear in 95, which would be when I was 10). I'm now relatively 1337... does that count?

:D

[slinkerwink]

7. let's see.....last year, I had two bad relationships and helluva lot of

schoolwork. How's that?

[Ysabel]

8. i lived in...

a place called The Whale House - with about 18 real gnarley guys and one other woman besides me (she only lived there for about a month or so - i lived there for about a year) there was always a full 40 gallon keg in the kitchen - we drank a lot and also played a lot of cards...

[Kathy in Cambridge]

10. Going to College, Hanging Out in Punk Clubs, Partying

Adding nothing to society I'm afraid...

[demsrule4life]

12. Was in my third year in the Army

Joined at 17.

[SmileyBoy]

13. Trudging my way through technical college.

Of course, that was only a little more than a year ago.

[Padraig18]

15. I'm 20 now--- working and going to school.

:)

[Bonhomme Richard]

17. Smokin', Drinkin', Surfing and

planning a wedding.

[flamingyouth]

18. Going to college, writing for the school paper

Generally staying out of trouble - generally. :evilgrin:

[Champion Jack]

19. There's still time

At age 55:

Painter Pablo Picasso completed his masterpiece, Guernica.

Italian physicist Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic cell.

Richard Daniel Bass reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Walter Cronkite broadcast two special reports on Watergate, for the first time putting the story clearly before the American public.

Ella T. Grasso became the first woman to become an American governor on her own, not as the wife of a previous incumbant.

Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice President hours before being sentenced for bribery, extortion, conspiracy and tax fraud.

Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, which publicized the indiscriminate use of pesticides and helped rally support for environmental protection.

[VOX]

21. Playing blues harp in a band; occupying the administration building;

bowling while higher than God; making woodcuts; pursuing the ladies and growing my hair. And swimming at every chance.

Which is why I am the high-octane, stellar (cough) executive (cough, cough) that I am today. :hi:

[sasquatch]

22. Trying not to die and working in a factory.

I had a acute asthma attack and was in a coma for three days, a couple of weeks before I turned 20. After that I was on steriod inhalers, working in the Delphi auto plant(in which I was laid off recently from) and attending night school. I was hoping to get in the skilled trades apprenticeship program. If I did, I'd get a raise from $8 an hour to $14 an hour with raises every year. It never worked out though, so I'm now in college studying to become a history major.:)

[izzie]

23. Oh dear the error year. I quit BU and got married.

And my father did say "told you so" so you need not say it. The year was, now holds on, 1954.

[Faygo Kid]

24. Got kicked out of Tijuana on my birthday.

Honest, on my 20th birthday. I figured I must be some bad dude if they were afraid I was going to corrupt Tijuana. Got kicked out of Amsterdam (and Holland) days before I turned 23. Look out for me! Now old and fat, and the long hair is long gone (decided to grow it in my ears at this age, to be fashionable) - but I still have pictures!

[DS1]

25. Let's see

Busting rust, waking up far too early for any rational human being, running around a lot, yelling, sweating, cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, ironing, drinking, cursing, grimacing, hurting, swimming, marching, shooting, tanning.

Just like any other typical 20 yr old jarhead.

[screwfacecapone]

26. I'll be 23 this comming thursday.

at 20 meanwhile, I was in my second year of college at kent state. It was my first year working with WKSR (student-run internet radio station) and it was when I begun work on my website. I also completed 3 1/2 stenography books full of poetry and hip hop songs which I was preforming at various open mics around time. I spent my days attending various computer science classes and my nights playing PS1.

[alwynsw]

27. In the USAF Band

Good gig. All I did was play my horn in uniform. Over 400 gigs a year. Yes, Virginia, there were some days with as many as 5 gigs - Memorial Day, July 4th, Veterans Day, etc.

[peterh]

28. Toughing out the not-so balmy weather of Adak, Alaska…

My 20th year on this planet was nothing more than an *….

[mitchum]

29. narcotics

[NightTrain]

30. Like a damned fool, I left college and joined the Navy.

My dumb ass! :spank:

[KG]

31. having a damn good time.

:)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

32. My 20th year? Ass deep in Cambodian or Vietnamese mud

most of the time. Every now and again when the shit hit the fan, I would get up in the middle of a firefight and try to patch broken parts of my friends back together, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
That would have been my 3rd year in the Navy. I was looking forward to getting stateside, having been in and around VietNam for 2 years at that point, and getting OUT.
Alive, preferably.
Sort of a wasted childhood, huh?

[gator_in_Ontario]

33. Runnin up 101

free of anything

[woofless]

34. Turned 20 overseas in Turkey. Air Force (19 too)

then 6 months in the Pentagon then back home to S. FL to get and stay high.

[gyopsy]

36. I'll be turning 20 in may

I've got less than 3 months to accomplish a few of the many goals listed above.

[MaryBear]

38. Birthing

a beautiful, brilliant woman child, (on edit) a DaughterBear.

[populistmom]

42. Me too!

My daughter was born 2 days after my 20th birthday. She turned 12 yesterday and is brillant, beautiful, and the best daughter a mom could ever wish for. :)

I've been pretty much in responsible mode since the age of 20 (well on second thought, 19 really).

On third thought, 18 really since I was self-supporting a few months after high school.

[FeelinGarfunkelly]

40. I was 20 just 6 days ago..

Not doing much, just going to school and working.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

41. I was in the Navy

learning electronics outside Chicago, and tripping on LSD 3 days a week.

[Kat45]

43. going to college, drinking, getting stoned, partying...

Listened to a lot of Frank Zappa.

Had a good time at 20. :party: :beer: :smoke:

[DancingBear]

44. Window pane acid, I believe n/t

[LuLu550]

45. Smoking pot, protesting the VietNam war, hitchhiking across Canada

I had gotten a two-year degree and took a year off to be a hippie; lived in Venice CA.

[Skittles]

46. I was a sergeant in the Air Force

am damn proud of that, YES INDEED.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

48. As well you should be...

[Ysabel]

47. p.s. by the time i was 20...

i'd done enough acid to last a lifetime - heck - enough to fill 3 or 4 lifetimes...!

all the pretty colors stayed with me - and i still see trails everywhere...

BIG GOOFY GRIN... :)

but i quit drinking a long time ago - glad to say...

[aQuArius]

49. I toured parts of Europe!

France, Bulgaria & Czech-Republic. I also got one helluva job that year, which I never should've left to move here. I turned 20 at the very end of 1998, so I was 20 for most of 1999. Clinton was still in office (thank god), I had NO children (and less stress, lol), was working very hard at my degree, had bought my 1st house the previous year (at 19). Life was much more simple and easy going, but things change and life gets hectic. Ce la vie!

[bearfan454]

55. Hi aQuArius !

Nice to see you ! :hi:

[Gildor Inglorion]

50. Got drafted

Went through basic training at Fort Benning, GA, in May, June & July in 120-degree heat. Thought I was going to die. Then I got posted to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, for 16 weeks of steno school. I was already 21 when I went to Vietnam.

[BiggJawn]

51. Drinking a lot of beer, wowing the honeys with my Harley...

...and taking them home and screwing their asses off....

Maybe I'd been more like St. Tony if I had realized Karma was gonna catch up with me.
No Harley, no beer, and no honeys....

[Goldberg]

52. I was in my sophomore year of college.

That was only two years ago. :)

Now, I'm a senior.

[TrogL]

53. Barely passing University, screwing myself silly and drinking like a fish

[bearfan454]

54. I was serving in the Navy

32 months shore duty in Roosevelt Roads NAS, Puerto Rico. Blue Beach in Luquillo is beautiful. Well, it was back in the day. And don't forget the Black Angus. Does anyone here know what that is ?

[mac2]

56. Working full time in a biomedical research laboratory........

doing Cholesterol studies and going to night university half time (yes I was young). We knew in the 60s that fat was bad for you!!!

Research money started to fall around the 70s. By the mid-80s it was limited to Aids.

Research funds fell along with other funding in favor of defense spending. All of society suffers advancement when too much money goes to military spending. Guns or butter..guns or research..guns or infrastructure...guns or education...guns or enviornmental research...etc.

I'm anti-war because, I spent most my career saving lives not ending them. Didn't protest much because, I was too busy.

Wrote my brothers in Vietnam. I wrote to a cute guy in the Marines..in Vietnam. They all came home safe.

[tigereye]

61. in college with no money

small town girl in the city for the first time, drinking a lot, getting my heart broken, and discovering leftist politics, The Clash and the Sex Pistols, etc., ah 1978, that was a pretty good year. I also met my husband to be. :) Wow where did the time go?

[Nikia]

57. In college

I was majoring in biology, taking classes full time, working about 10 hours per week to pay for books and such, maintaining a B average to keep my scholarship, running varsity track and cross country, was an officer in my sorority, lead a Bible study, and dating my husband. I rarely parited then. I had too much to do. It was wonderful though.

[mdmc]

60. College

Studying political science and art. Smoking pot and drinking.

[aquaman]

58. I don't remember........

That should tell you something.

[U2Fanatic]

59. last year...

I was a sophomore/junior sociology major, and I drove from so cal to cleveland with Athos1126 to see a U2 exhibit :crazy:

but my life was pretty much basically the same as now.

[Cat Atomic]

62. I was working 40 hrs/week and going to college 30 hours/week.

I got 4-5 hours of sleep each night for 6 years. Not exactly Animal House. :/

[TSIAS]

63. I guess I'll find out in 5 months

Probably still working part-time and going to school- nothing really glamorous.

[Lizz612]

64. I'll tell you in 18 months

Probably still be here.

[dawn]

65. You know, I really don't remember.

I must have killed too many brain cells that year. :)

I know I was working part-time and going to a community college. I had a jerk of a boyfriend who worshipped Danzig (no offense to Glen!) and...erm, I guess I smoked alot too.

[IronLionZion]

66. Well, I'm posting on DU!

and trying to get a "BS" degree in IT with a minor in Economics

[fudge stripe cookays]

67. OD'd on Sominex

Thank goodness I didn't succeed in what I'd planned on.

Was in college studying art, had a soon-to-be-stepmonster I hated more than anything in the whole world, and had just had a relationship break up.

the end of 1986 and 1987 were the worst year of my life.