The charming bit of this story shows something I think should be part of any education - the most fun we have is when we go out and think about things and discover stuff on our own. Getting on to this path is the sure fire way to get out of the "grades game" that college can get you into playing.

I have notes of discovering[1] the Cauchy-Riemann equations for f(z) before I had any clear notion of analyticity or whatever. Gosh! What adrenaline flows!

[1] Deliberate choice here, instead of "rediscovering".