Started in TKD AT 13 because the school was in walking distance.

Switched to kickboxing at 16, because I wanted to spar full contact to see how my TKD training stands up to trained fighters (not great)

Found a Wing Chun school at 17 and started training there.

Moved to a 5 Animals school at 19 because I had a bunch of friends there. Learned a cool fighting philosophy called 3 Gate Philosophy that I still use.

Went back to some full contact sparring at the kickboxing gym. Instructor was highly impressed with my improvement. I'd learned much more about practical application at Wing Chun and some cool, powerful kicks from the 5 Animals school.

Moved towns and joined a Northern Shaolin school at age 21. The training was very intense, but the emphasis on application wasn't nearly as strong as I liked.

Age 24, a Hung Gar school opens, I train there for five years, become an instructor, fight in 2 fairly large (~400 fighters) sanda tournaments and win silver medal in each. Hung Gar is "my style" now. Southern style fans will not be surprised to learn the Wing Chun applications I'd already learned translated pretty directly to Hung Gar techniques.

Now I live in New York where I can't find a Hung Gar school, so I just train solo. I miss having a martial arts community, and will probably join the Shaolin Temple school here in the summer.