Most of what I listen to now is mainstream jazz from 1935 right up to and including early bebop and cool jazz.
They basically said that if I didn't show up for school they'd mark me present, they wouldn't send the truant officer after me. At 16 I enrolled in something called continuing education. Once a month I'd go out to Jamaica, but I didn't take it seriously.
You can't be afraid of failure and you can't be afraid of success, because either one gets in the way of your work.