What one piece of advice would you give your twenty year old self?

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This was last year, so, um, take Greek instead of Russian lit in the fall, quit hanging out with the other study abroad kids in Russia and make efforts to meet more actual Russians, and give up on that guy before Christmas break.

― Maria, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Pick something you're interested in doing. Anything. And try your hardest to do it well, but don't be heartbroken when it doesn't work. Learning to put yourself out there and not fall flat on your face when things don't work takes a lot of practice, get it out of the way as soon as possible.

― mh, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:13 (seventeen years ago) link

invent bowl-shaped tortilla chips that can hold salsa

― mookieproof, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Lay off the weed. Major in art. Talk to a girl once in a while.

― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

It's downhill from here, buddy.

― mitya, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:34 (seventeen years ago) link

That Cypriot girl - trust me, you'll know her when you see her - she's a lovely person, but she's no good for you at all...

― Stone Monkey, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

get over indie guilt

― roxymuzak, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

1. Quit the course. Start again, and this time do something you enjoy.
2. Do some work sometimes
3. You don't have to go out every night. There will still be beer and girls and bands if you have a night off once in a while.
4. Women:alwaysstick to blondes - this is very important.
5. In 2 years time, give the Style Council a fair hearing, OK?

― Dr.C, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

3. You don't have to go out every night. There will still be beer and girls and bands if you have a night off once in a while.

i should probably tape this to the door to my apartment.

― chicago kevin, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:10 (seventeen years ago) link

when people shit on you and put you down, 90% of the time its because they're envious of you and the things you want to achieve. so don't listen to them.

-- stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 13:53 (2 hours ago)

even theugh i obviously don't know the sepcifics here stevie, generally you can raise that figure to about 99% i'd say.

― pisces, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link

It's only been two years so it would be:

1. Don't start watching LOST as it will ruin your life.
2. Next year, go travelling on your own just like you planned, don't wait for your friends. It will save you some very precious cash.

― Roz, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:17 (seventeen years ago) link

even theugh i obviously don't know the sepcifics here stevie, generally you can raise that figure to about 99% i'd say.

-- pisces, Tuesday, May 15, 2007 5:13 PM (30 minutes ago)

i didn't want to seem conceited...

― stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm impressed at all of you who consider yourselves so worthwhile envying!

― Mark C, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:58 (seventeen years ago) link

- Leave him. Now. He is ruining your life. Also, when he turns up in London six years from now and professes his love to you and suggests you get married, laugh at him and walk away. Do not, under any circumstances, let this asshole screw around with you. He's not worth it and you'll just end up hurting the one you really love.

- Go to class. Not attending The Cosmos and the Earth and your resulting F will come back to haunt you.

- Lay off the booze.

- Despite what you may think, simply not paying your credit card bills will not make them go away.

― ENBB, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I think 20 year old me made fewer stupid mistakes than pretty much any time before or since. So it's probably something lame like "don't go on holiday with your parents, it will rain for three weeks and be crap so you might as well work through it and earn loads of money to go somewhere fun instead, but if you do insist on going then at least try and pull that Dutch girl and make it worth your while".

Alternatively "hey, for fuck's sake eat something before you start drinking, you have no idea how much embarassment it will save you".

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:04 (seventeen years ago) link

yes but couldn't you warn yourself of how to avoid future mistakes?

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes but then TIME PARADOX.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:06 (seventeen years ago) link

http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Terminator-2-Magnet-C11769212.jpeg

― kenan, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Stay home after the Holy Cross game next year. Trust me, stay the fuck home.

― Bill Magill, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:27 (seventeen years ago) link

take advantage of it while you can: you're not gonna get better looking.

― remy bean, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:29 (seventeen years ago) link

It's weird that my life right now is more or less a total shambles but I can't think of a thing to tell my 20 yr old self.

― wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:36 (seventeen years ago) link

just move to mexico.

― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Brace yourself.

― Aimless, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:45 (seventeen years ago) link

"just go to a monastery" maybe

― wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 17:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Don't you do what I have done.

― M.V., Tuesday, 15 May 2007 18:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Take salsa dancing classes now.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

[i]Alternatively "hey, for fuck's sake eat something before you start drinking, you have no idea how much embarassment it will save you".[i]

you could tell your 30-yr-old self this as well (or however old you are these days)

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

the lotto numbers for the week of June 12, 2003 are...

― milo z, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:00 (seventeen years ago) link

GOLD!
Always believe in your soul
You've got the power to KNOW
You're indestructable
Always believe it!
because you are
GOLD!
Glad that you're bound to return
There's something I could have learned
You're indestructable
Always believe it!

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:44 (seventeen years ago) link

That song always cheers me up quick fast in a hurry.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Face your fears, spend the extra year, and take ear training, solfege, and some theory. Do the choir, even. You wouldn't be selling out any more than you already are by taking guitar lessons. Writing essays about Sonic Youth albums is only going to get you so far with actually writing music.

― Sundar, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 20:50 (seventeen years ago) link

i would tell my 20 y.o. self to bet large on an improbable sporting event.

other than that, depressing thread mostly.

i don't really understand the 'buy property' thing. even apart from it being grimly materialistic.

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:05 (seventeen years ago) link

i must admit i'd like to go back in time to 1984 and tell my nan that she should somehow scramble together the paltry sum the council were asking for her two bedroom flat in parsons green, because all her neighbours paid upwards of £500,000 for similar places. but it doesn't bother her much, nor me really.

― stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:16 (seventeen years ago) link

In 3.5 years, MOVE TO DULUTH. Just trust me on this.

― dan m, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:24 (seventeen years ago) link

(that's my advice, no comment on real estate prices)

― dan m, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:24 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.ivebeentoduluth.net/i/i/shirt-01-s.jpg

― daria-g, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, me too. It's really great! Plus there's this girl... :/

― dan m, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Dear me: get out. Now. He is abusing you. Yes, he is. Stop denying it to everyone. He's mistreating you. Go now, change!

Thing is, a year after that I did anyway so doing it sooner won't have made much difference hehe.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:40 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't really understand the 'buy property' thing. even apart from it being grimly materialistic.

Otherwise almost no-one will ever manage to own their own home?

― Mark C, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 21:49 (seventeen years ago) link

-get tested for ADD _now_.

-do ANYTHING to get a tech job on campus. student electronics asst, unpaid research kid, anything. sign up at the co-op office as soon as possible.

-ask out that one girl you see all the time at the snack shop in the library at the beginning of the year, not the end

-there's a band out there called the Descendents who are about to reform. Go find out about them.

-get a car on campus, any car. start driving to shows in detroit.

-begin volunteering at that campus radio station

-keep rowing nightly after you quit the crew team.

-Go to office hours every fucking day.

-start taking pictures. borrow your father's camera and take it everywhere.

-you know that one shop above the wannabe pub? that's a used CD shop. Start going there, and start attending the shows you see advertised on those flyers

people to email:
-the President repeatedly with dire warnings about how he should isolate himself from all female interns
-the Vice President with suggestions about how he should ditch all those beltway types, hang out more with that one governor of vermont, and do his little enviro powerpoint thingee on national tv
-Phil Hartman and tell him to divorce his wife as soon as fucking possible

― kingfish, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Don't worry so much about losing your virginity.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:19 (seventeen years ago) link

mark: yeah kind of, but it's on the cheap credit never-never anyway, a bit. it would be nice to "own a home", of course, so i could smoke without fear and raise cats; but even if i'd got a mortgage aged twenty i wouldn't really have that: i'd just have a large monthly bill offset by the ability to borrow lots more money. (this current property bubble was underway when i was 20; if i were ten or 20 years older it'd be a different thing.)

― That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link

as if that twenty year old would listen to what an old bitch had to say to her.

― stevienixed, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

many things to say and only two years have passed!
- do not take so much acid, and do NOT sell it to your good friend with some mental issues against your better judgment. there's a reason why you feel weird about it.
- stop drinking and driving. like now, you clod.
- cut that fuckin beard and moustache off.

i would say, 'do not fall apart two years from now,' but i'm still trying to figure that one out.

― the table is the table, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link

do not take so much acid, and do NOT sell it to your good friend with some mental issues against your better judgment. there's a reason why you feel weird about it.

WAY WAY WAY too OTM. :{

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, don't hang out with people who have mental issues as bad as/worse than yours. And quit fucking smoking weed so much.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I think I would actually listen to future me, after I got over the shock that future me lost like 50 lbs.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Hang out w/mental issues people while shrooming/frying, that is. You'll eat their glasses off!

― Abbott, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 22:41 (seventeen years ago) link

You may be on a diet and successfully losing weight but you don't have to weigh your bran flakes before eating them, or count the number of raisins you consume, or eat two thirds of a pot of fromage frais.

Do not get totally completely utterly swept away insanely by the first man ever to kiss you one year later out of gratitude that someone finally has.

Cut your straggly witchy hair.

Do not buy clothes from Wallis. They are for women who work in offices, not students.

― ljubljana, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:09 (seventeen years ago) link

But you totally made the right decision about where to go on your looming year in Russia. It will rock your mind.

― ljubljana, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:11 (seventeen years ago) link

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