Good Company

I knew I wasn't the first to make the switch from Engineering to English. After all, one of the smartest people I know (he went to my home church until recently) started off in a Mechanical Engineering program and ended up in Philosophy (sounds familiar, no?). And of course, we have our own dear Wheeler and Randy. So I knew there were some great "turncoats" who came before (or along with) me.

What I didn't know was that there is at least one famous person who made a similar change. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was educated at the St. Petersburg School of Military Engineers. Upon his graduation, he was made a second lieutenant. But he turned from that life to be a writer. Just as I did, he made "the decision to be poor." Except that he also became famous. But he was still poor a lot.

Of course, I hope history will show that our similarities ended there. Dostoevsky went on to serve time in prison for insurrection, married twice (neither of them were very happy), and struggled with a gambling obsession.

Novelists. Go figure. ;)