Confessions of an eternal flake..and other stuff

Remember when you were in school, and you had to engage in that vile academic absurdity, Parents' Night, where your parents would come and meet your teachers and get an update on your progress? I assume it's much different now, what with teachers being afraid to scar children by failing them now. They call it what, grade-promotionally challenged or something.
Anyway, the comments from teachers were any of the following "Doesn't pay attention," I'm fairly certain my sister got "Talks too much," some kids might've gotten "May grow up to be a serial killer," you get the idea.
Anyway, mine were always along the lines of "Has enormous potential, but doesn't apply herself fully," and if the saying "Who you are at 3 is who you are at 30," I'd have to say some teachers I scoffed at once upon a time may've actually gotten something right.
I have a tremendously hard time following through with anything. I'd like to think it's because I'm so incredibly brilliant that I can't be bothered to limit myself and therefore feel the need to dabble in a number of different things.
However, that is me being full of shit.
Let me just recap for you:
1. Was utterly convinced at the age of 16 that I would one day be a lawyer. I thought, "I'm argumentative, and I sure do like that movie A Few Good Men. How cool would that be?" So, I maintained that path, majoring in political science to give myself a strong background before I began my career as the next Johnnie Cochran. I didn't necessary want to be as sleazy as Johnnie Cochran, but I think I liked the idea of being a rhyming lawyer.
Anyway, that lasted until the middle of my sophomore year when I began to find political science to be a bit dull, plus one of the only two professor that taught me was intensely annoying.
So, I changed my major to journalism. I had always liked to write (still do, obviously), and I could see myself dashing in and out of the fray with a brown trenchcoat and stiletto heels like Ingrid Bergman or Katharine Hepburn while I brought down City Hall.
Uhh..yeah. I ended up at a school that had little focus on news reporting and became the Entertainment Editor of my college paper. Incidentally, it was the most awesome job I've ever had, so I have no regrets for that, but it kind of set a scene, if you will, about what professional direction my life ended up taking...However, this leads me to..
2. I was engaged to a giant ass clown when I was a mere 20 years old. I don't know what malfunctioned in my brain chemistry for me to ever have agreed to marry this person in the first place, but one week before my 21st birthday, I accepted a ring, and off we were.
So, as a result of that unholy pairing, I transferred schools, which is where I ended up as Entertainment Editor. But over the course of our courtship, I slowly began to realize what an emotional fuckwit this person was and then ultimately had it confirmed when I had to go to the emergency room for a kidney infection, couldn't locate my beloved until the next day when I was greeted with, "Where was I? Oh, I had a date last night." !@?!@? So..yeah, that was that.
I had just finished college, was still working part-time for the college paper and was temping while trying to find actual employment.
What next followed is what I have regretted for longer than I realize and basically just have to let go:
I was so distraught by being kicked in the teeth by this person who wasn't worth it, nor did he ever deserve me, I realize now, that I promptly fell apart. I was only 3 hours away from home, which is put into sharp perspective now that I'm 20 hours away from where I grew up, and I thought that it was too far away for me to be sufficiently coddled, so I packed it in when I had a really good job and went running home to my parents and my former life, thinking that would solve everything.
This leads me to the worst career move I ever made, taking a job as a copy editor at a paper that offered me nothing professionally positive. The best thing to come out of that job was that I met people that mean more to me than they may ever know, but that is it. I languished for almost 4 years, really merely gaining a distaste for the news business and picking up proficiency in some software that I truly hope I never have to use again.
A caveat to this bullet point is that in NO WAY should I have married that asshole. That's not the thing that I regret not following through with; I regret that I let the emotional toll of the break-up have me give up a job that paid well in an area that fostered what I wanted to do.
I think what took me so long to get over that break-up was just that. I let this person that I never should've been involved with in the first place dictate what I did with myself, and I will never fall prey to that again...
Compromise is a great thing, when it's the right time to compromise, and I hope to God that I know the difference now, with some age and wisdom.
3. I am sad to report that I have temporarily given up the guitar, which is a little bittersweet.
The thing of it is, my teacher was a pretentious meanie, and I'm not putting up with that crap. I promised myself that I would pick the guitar up again, and I will, but right now, I'm focusing on something else that I feel is more important and will be the thing that breaks the "flake curse."
I am going to graduate school next fall to pursue a master's degree initially and then perhaps a PhD in creative writing, but, mark my words, that is the last thing I will do, and I will follow through with it.
I will write my novels, and I will end up as a professor, perhaps the female counterpart to Robin Williams' character in "Dead Poets Society," except maybe I'll sleep with my more promising ingenues..I'm totally kidding.
Anyway, I'm breaking the cycle. There will be no more of "That Emily, she just bounces from one thing to the next."
Or, who knows? I might get bored.