j-dogg. listen to the guys here who have years of experience. i'm an old fart myself, and the things i liked when i was back in college have changed dramatically over the years. a goal of working at REAL does not require college in the first place. maybe you can work there summers, which is cool, but as a goal, i don't think your folks want to pay college dough to see you become 'retail help'. your career, whatever that may be, will occupy a majority of your life, choose it wisely. sure, a few get lucky and hit it big doing something they love, but most of us know that's an extreme rarity. i'm not saying do something you hate, but for most of us, work is WORK, complemented by our fun times on the water.
and remember this: you will change over time, most of us do. diversity within one's life is a good thing, don't put all your eggs in the kiteboarding basket. i bet nick would agree with that now...