(2) Get a degree, it is a good thing. Anecdotal evidence: my friend in Silicon Valley, smart and expensive IT consultant has PhD degree from Stanford. Nobody ask about the Major - and it is good, because it was Music. He just changed careers. You quite possibly may want to change career, too, and with degree (any degree) it will be easier.

Also, formal education will give you solid fundament for life-time learning. When you build a house, you start from fundament, right?

I have nothing against programmers who learned on job (I did it myself for many subjects - when I was in college, structured programming was new thing, and object oriented was rather experimental...), but still it helps to learn it in structured environment, where you think out and discuss all facets of the problem to go behind gut feeling what is good - to have solid understanding what - and why.

pmas
To make errors is human. But to make million errors per second, you need a computer.

I was reading Castaneda books around '78 too and what I remember is advice that Don Juan gives to Carlos (quoting approximately from my memory):

Don't indulge in self-pity. Drop your self-importance.
Take full responsibility for everything you do, feel and decide.
Live every day fully, as if it were your last day on Earth.

I still think it is a sound advice, so I pass it on. It is somewhat lacking on warmth and generosity, but there are other places for that.

As for mushrooms, teleporting, mind reading and similar Don Juan's stunts, I did not take these seriously. Did I miss something?

Rudif