<human>: I have come to realize that my life's pivot point is one of the most casual and baffingly lighthearted choices I have made in my life.

In France, the end of the lycée (high school) is where everyone gets separated and you have to make your first real orientation choice. Backtracking after that point is hard.

I was a kid completely hooked up to a computer in general, but I had never dived into programming, save for some BASIC programs. I had my orientation narrowed down to two choices:

My first choice was "Statistics and Computerized Handling of Data". Someone had given a souped up presentation about how it was super cool and how we wouldn't have trouble finding a job, etc. They hyped me real bad on this thing.

My second choice was "Informatique". The best translation I can come up with is "Computers". Note how fucking uninspiring this name is.

So I was all prepared to go and make statistically-oriented powerpoint presentations and hand-feeding SQL databases for the rest of my life.. until this very last day when they set our choices "in stone".

I proceeded to ask myself "What if this isn't as great as the dude said?" (In retrospect: OF COURSE it isn't, you DUMMY!!), and finally concluded with "Meh, computers look more general.", swapping my choices on a whim.

I am now working in a research lab on virtual reality and high performance computing (HPC); currently preparing a computer engineer degree (prestigious title in France), and my head is filled with videogame projects for the next 20 years to come.

Condense the text into a few key points
<bot>: I almost became a "powerpoint number compiler" for some manager, banker or some shit, instead of a fulfilled computer scientist/programmer.