My (Fortunately Short) Life As An Aspiring Computer Programmer - part 1

I was a disappointment to my parents. Well ,in some ways, at least. They groomed me to become the next Bill Gates and I became, well, I'm not sure who or what I am exactly and I eschew labels and titles anyway. But I digress.
I showed an interest in computers and, perhaps more importantly, they knew computers and computer programmers were going to be the Next Big Thing.
So one summer camp was sponsored by Apple and I don't recall a lot of that. It was fun but I don't remember rubbing elbows with Woz or anything.
What I remember better was a camp sponsored by Atari because there were a ton of transformative experiences. I tried being a greedy capitalist, for example, but it didn't take,and required some explanations when I got home about missing alligators (that's another story) and why I had so many quarters (same other story but different chapter) . I had back spasms, which also fortunately didn't stick around.
It was around the time of the hostages in Iran and the start of Nightline with its "hostages - day 33" signs so someone with bad taste had the idea that we'd have signs saying "atari camp hostage - day 8" which on reflection is something i'm ashamed of.
Mostly I recall deciding computer programming must be fun because we're having fun and we're using computers, right?
Upon "graduation" from the two week camp at the university in San Diego most kids were given atari computers which we, now having spent two weeks around the devices, figured would be something soon everyone would be using.
A church friend who would later be my confirmation sponsor went and bought one based on my computer evangelizing. I'm still living that one down.
But dad, to my horror and disappointment, announced he had not bought me an Atari but rather something called an IBM PC. WTF?
In five years i told him everyone will be using Atari and IBM will long to be mentioned in the same breath as Atari.
But we got an IBM.
Within a year I had to help my friend FIND atari software and soon they stopped making it.
That should have all been a clue about my knowledge of all things computer and was definite foreshadowing.
Meanwhile I was taking computer programming clases in high school and, at the urging of my parents (dollar signs where their eyes should be, or at least that's how I remember it now), choosing colleges based on their computer programs.
And so it was that I enrolled as a computer science or computer information system major at Cal Poly Pomona.
But then it happened... I learned something that shook me to my core and made me change my life plans completely...
To be continued... in, hmm, a day or so....