Back when I was a college freshman, I didn't know that there were actually schools that actually taught animation, so I went to a traditional college instead -- Duke University.

After four lonely and largely unproductive years there -- but while all the while still doing my art and illustration -- I finally graduated.  And THEN I found out about Cal Arts -- the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia, California, just north of Los Angeles.  They only had a bachelor's degree in animation, but I was still exuberant.  I applied, and was accepted!

But the problem?  Because I had already gotten a bachelor's degree, they wouldn't award me any more free-and-clear grant money -- only more loans, and I already had student loans to pay off from Duke, so I couldn't go.

Anyhow, my life now basically sucks.  I've tried many things over the years, but nothing ever filled the void like art did.  Had things been different, I'd have made it a career.  But maybe it's never too late.