I had a really great professor in a class I really liked. I went to his office hours towards registration time for next semester and asked about an individual/independent study course. He was open to it and even fought for it to count towards something I needed to graduate.

It was so liberating to chase my wild ideas down their various rabbit holes and do legit research. I wasn’t, and likely won’t be a phd, bs in engineering was enough for me, but it was a nice break from the norm

That is sad, I did enjoy some follow ups, the drama was a good read even if it was someone’s creative writing practice. I truly appreciated seeing skills grow. I followed a few craft/hobby subs; sometimes someone would ask a very novice question and end up posting incredible work a few months later. Don’t get me wrong, I hate reddit- especially now, but there were some good, helpful communities