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Advice for your 21-year-old self

I would give myself two pieces of advice:
1) Once you have responsibilities, you have to be responsible. But while you are young and free, you should take some chances.
2) Start saving for retirement early.

I realize they are sort of contradictory but that's too bad.

CBL
 
1. If there is a girl you are interested in that seems to have some sort of Peter Pan complex you might want to know why that is instead of getting seriously involved. It may never go away and it ain't pretty when that woman is in her 30's acting as if she is in her early 20's.
 
Advice to younger self: Someday you will meet a drop dead gorgeous bartender in Mississippi who drinks as much as you do and who is great in bed and can't get enough. She is also crazy as a loon. DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT MARRY HER!!!!
 
Advice to younger self: Someday you will meet a tall, lanky, sultry brown-eyed beauty from Upper Michigan who is very, very good in bed and can't get enough. She is also crazy as a loon. DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT SLEEP WITH HER! RESIST!!!
 
Greeting me at 21. The lotto numbers and stock market values for 2004 are: ..........
 
Advice to younger self: Someday a couple of your shipmates will invite you to go to a whorehouse in Puerto Rico. The women there will do anything if the money is right. You and your shipmates will also end up in an extremely violent bar fight with five bouncers over a chicken dinner. You will suffer no harm, but your rental car will be destroyed. DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT GO TO THAT WHOREHOUSE!!!!
 
Luke T. said:
Advice to younger self: Someday a couple of your shipmates will invite you to go to a whorehouse in Puerto Rico. The women there will do anything if the money is right. You and your shipmates will also end up in an extremely violent bar fight with five bouncers over a chicken dinner. You will suffer no harm, but your rental car will be destroyed. DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT GO TO THAT WHOREHOUSE!!!!
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Why not just tell your younger self "Don't drive to the whorehouse"?

Also, have you considered that you of today are a sum-total of your past experiences, that includes the aforementioned by you lapses in judgement.

If you correct every percieved mistake you ever made you may not like your new self.
 
Grammatron said:
Why not just tell your younger self "Don't drive to the whorehouse"?

Also, have you considered that you of today are a sum-total of your past experiences, that includes the aforementioned by you lapses in judgement.

If you correct every percieved mistake you ever made you may not like your new self.
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I think about it all the time. That is why I did not mention my first wife. Even though the marriage itself was an unmitigated disaster, my oldest son is a product of it, and he makes it all worth it.

It is true that there were a hell of a lot of lessons I learned from my second marriage that I otherwise might never have learned, and I certainly wouldn't be who I am today.

The whorehouse experience was a total wash. Besides the fight, the hooker was the least satisfying sexual experience of my life. And without the car, we would not have been able to effect the rescue of our two shipmates who were the catlyst of the fight. Long story.
 
Advice to younger self: If you happen to meet the younger Luke T, run away from him really fast. NO, FASTER! :D
 
Oh, hey and my advice to myself. "Self," I'd say, "I know you're so left-handed that you can't successfully adjust the temperature of the shower right-handed, but learn to golf right handed anyway. Trust me on this. At worst, you won't be any more bad at it than you're destined to be from the left."
 
Advice to younger gnome:

Don't find the perfect girl and wait two years for her to become attracted to you. If it was going to happen, it would have much sooner.
 
Ipecac said:
Advice to younger self: If you happen to meet the younger Luke T, run away from him really fast. NO, FASTER! :D
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Luke does seem to have lived an ehm.. Interesting life, doesn't he.
 
Start exercising, and lay off the fast food. You really will pay later if you don't!

Edited to add: Put everything you have into Microsoft. Sell your car, your kidney if you can arrange it, screw college use the student loans, etc..
 
note to younger self: Don't start smoking and watch for oil slicks when riding a motorcycle.
 
1) Kiss her.

2) Drop differential equations, change majors now.

3) Don't drink the water, and 'Manos arriba' means 'hands up'.

4) Stop by Rome Inn and listen to the band.

5) Your friends don't know $#!+.
 
Do not compare your dearest love to a rat, no matter how beautiful you can make the rhyme scheme. Some people should stay away from lyric love poetry, and if you have a great fondness for vermin animals, you are probably one of them.
 
1) Buster Douglas is a tomato can who has no business being in the ring with Mike Tyson. The bookies will agree, having Tyson at least a 25-1 favorite. Put all the money you can beg, borrow, or steal, on Douglas by knockout.

2) If she seems to enjoy picking fights and then making up, dump her the first time she does it. You'll save yourself some grief, and a fair amount of money for dinners And she might learn that decent guys don't put up with jerks.

3) Call the FBI in early September, 2001, and give them the names of twenty Muslim guys.

4) When the Red Sox are down three games to none against the Yankees in the 2004 American League championship series, put all the money you can beg, borrow, or steal, on the Sox to win the World Series.
 
I turned 41 yesterday, and have been thinking about this thread since I first saw it.

There are many things I could tell my 21 year old self that might make life a little easier, or avoid this or that pain, but I've come to the realization that I wouldn't be where I am, or have had the 20 intervening years of life experiences if I were to have done things different.

For instance, I could have given advice to dump my first wife before she was my first wife, but then I'd have missed having my wonderful daughter. Or told my younger self to quit playing rugby to avoid all the pain later, but I'd have missed out on far more valuable things surrounding the game itself.

I'm pretty happy with my life and how it's led to where it is. I doubt I'd change a thing, or offer any advice that would prevent my younger self from partaking in the richness of my experiences/life.

Nope, I stick with my previous trite post. Buy Bre-x when it hits the market, and sell when it hits $100.
 
21 year old self, when you grow older, and are presented the opportunity to address your 21 year old self, don't do this. [smacks 21 year old self with a rabid mongoose]
 
Let's see. -
You need a computer more than your car needs a blower. (addendum: computers don't burst into flames.)

That accounting final will not be a breeze.

Learn to talk and talk and talk without saying anything substantial but saying it over and over. You'll be useless at everything of any worth but you will be promoted.

Be cynical but not in front of anyone.

Remember that nobody is as smart as they think they are. Except you because you know this.

Make sure that you know how to do something technical. People like having handy people around. If you are too handy to have around however those same people will keep you exactly where you are - under their control.

Start your own business. Even if it fails you will gain valuable insight into how your future employers think.
 
Kerberos said:
Luke does seem to have lived an ehm.. Interesting life, doesn't he.
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MUCH more interesting than mine. But then, I have few regrets.
 
Advice to 21yo EG:

"1. Stop thinking about it, God does not exist.
2. Take nothing too seriously. Have fun.
3. Realize you are complete idiot and a total jerk as well."
 
Take Dad's advice about what you should do with your life. Yes, I know he'll never let you forget that it was his idea, but do it anyway.

Do not share an apartment with anyone meticulous about cleaning - ever. Dump any girlfriend who is like that as well. Clean-freak friends are fine though.

When you move into an apartment after university, give your spare change to that homeless teenager you'll see across the street every now and again. She's a good person.
 
In three weeks, you will get dumped from your first real relationship. You will think it has destroyed you, but it actually will make you. You will advance youself in ways you hadn't ever dreamed of because of your depression over it, and end up with a far better life than you would have had if you two had stayed together.

This will be a recurring theme in your life. Carrots don't motivate you; only sticks do. Do not shy away from the sticks.
 
1. Don't worry so much about your son and your daughter, they'll turn out just fine.
2. Credit cards are NOT free money
3. Go to grandma and grandpa's house, take a tape recorder
4. In Dunoon, spend more time at The Clansman and less at the Enlisted Club, beer needn't be ice cold and you'll avoid that brig time.
5. Your daugter will want those recipes grandma tried to give you
6. Some people are just naturally a-holes.
 
1. Don't get a hippy roommate. While they may not look like a hippy at first (like, if they borrowed a friends clothing to go looking for roommates), the 'Masters in Environmental Design', will be a dead giveaway.

2. Don't get a 'liberal Christian' roommate.

3. That cute blonde German on the overnight from Berlin to Paris sharing your car with you will be replaced by a Belgian perv while you sleep. Change cars before this happens, as they will be all full afterwards.
 
Don't take things so seriously. Take more risks. DON'T OVERTHINK THINGS, DO THEM!!!!!!! Don't start sentences with, "someday I'd like to...................." Do 'em NOW!
 
1) Spend more time with your parents

2) It's not big or clever to work 80 hour weeks

3) Get that lump seen to IMMEDIATELY !

4) Don't buy that Alfa Romeo

5) Sell Microgen at £8

6) Buy investment property

7) Learn to ski now, while you still have good knees

8) Keep in touch with people better
 
1) Invest in securities as early and often as possibly. Buy at a fair price and hold forever. But not too many. A handful of quality stocks is all you need to last a lifetime.

2) As much as you want to, you can't help everyone. A certain percentage of the population is trash, and will never be anything but trash. Don't waste your time or money on them.

3) Donate generously. Especially to Art Museums, Zoos, Botanical Gardens, Science Centers, the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood. Oh, and the JREF.

4) Worship the following people: James Randi. Warren Buffett. Frank Zappa. Read and listen to everything they have to say. There are others, but this is a great start.

5) Don't vote. They're all idiots at best, liars and phonies at worst. And 99% of the time, they are at their worst.
 
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