Wow, and some say /I'm/ smart!!

I'm not /nearly/ as smart as this gal:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24273418/?GT1=43001

Alia Sabur is one cool bean. She was already earning a bachelor's by
age 14. It's not just her intelligence that's impressing me, however
- a lot of smart people are egocentric, intellectual snobs. I like
what I'm reading about her views on what she should be doing in life.
Already she knows what she loves and what she wants most to do - and
she's doing it, not just doing it, but doing it in ways that benefit
others and not just serving her own desires.

She's not just a prodigy. She's also a humanitarian who knows how to
best help both herself and others. THAT is the true gift. The other
gift she has is that her abilities are not only accepted, but embraced
and nurtured.

There are times in my life when I feel so small compared to others I
perceive as giants, but for some reason, her story is inspiring me
rather than crippling my ego. I see places where I fit in, and places
where I don't fit in quite so much, and others where I don't fit in at
all. I've never felt like I truly fit anywhere, even as a "geek" who
found a foothold on her niche. I have no vision when it comes to
knowing where I belong. I only learn from experience. Tried
networking, found it interesting but not for me. Tried hardware,
that's fine, too, but not for me. The only place I keep returning to
is design in some form or another. It's the only place where my
technical skills combine with my creativity to do something that might
be useful to others. In other words, designing applications, that
sort of thing. Making data entry look perty. Putting fields in just
the right flow. I'm good at that it seems.

Anywho, I've gotta jet back to work, but had to spill some of these
thoughts... later laters.

~nv