If you could APPEAR...

[lyfenlyn]

to your 16 year old self as the person you are today and advise/ warn against things in the future, what would you tell yourself?

Do you think your 16 year old self would listen??

Knowing how you were back then, what would you have to do to to get yourself to listen?

How do you think altering some choices would affect you today?

[LesYpersound]

move out as soon as possible OR get away for college and be intentional about where you go and what you're doing there.
make your own mistakes. no fear...

[lyfenlyn]

Yeah I know you got accepted to the university, but study dance. you will be so much happier and you can get some decent scholarships.

Skip sex till you meet Dave H. It's not worth it till then.

Being hard headded isn't a bad thing--don't ever give up. You'll get there.

[Compound Egret]

First off, you are the driver. If you have a destination in mind, just fantasizing about it will not make it true. Think about getting closer to that destination every day. The people you admire didn't drift into success aimlessly.

Actually read that copy of Megatrends that you were supposed to read last year.

The people that you think are so cool are often chemically addicted egomaniacs.

Can you learn anything from the people you kick it with or do you feel like you have to "save" them?

Don't confuse mistakes and temporary failure with bad judgment. Working at (or founding) a startup that ultimately fails might be considered a mistake, but something like driving a getaway car is bad judgment. You HAVE to make some mistakes to move forward,but obvious bad judgment will just hold you back.

That being said, take plenty of smart chances.

Start saving and learning about money now. The people that tell you it doesn't matter are either standing on generational wealth, or have survival type expectations.

Worry about what you can change and work on changing it. You have no control over giant meteors or (closer to home) rejection.

Hit the weights. It will do wonders for your self esteem.

With all that said, I'm not sure if I would have listened unless the person was someone I wanted to emulate. The time travel me would probably listen to the 16 year old dislikes/likes and integrate this stuff into examples that related.

[kifaru]

Don't have sex. Wait 'til you're married.
Don't listen to your dad about stocks. Find some kind of way to put $20 a week into a stock account and buy microsoft.
Leave the dairy alone especially the cheese. That's what's causing the headaches.
You're not dumb it's just that your math teachers suck.
Don't give up so easily.
There's nothing wrong with you. You just lack confidence. You're actually quite handsome. Dark skin dudes will soon be in style.
Nerds rule the world. Just be smart don't asnwers questions in class. Keep quiet but bust out the tests.
Don't get into fights.
Don't trust people so much and don't be so nice.

[SugarTits]

My 16 year old self would drop my 26 year old self in the throat. I have been and always will be the type who learns from my own mistakes, and said mistakes have made me who I am today. So no, I wouldn't change a thing.

Well, I would advise myself against getting plastered and going down the giant slide on Belle Isle that time, cuz breaking both ankles sucks. But other than that, I wouldn't say too much.

I would just write a note and pass it on, because I absorb things better when I read them. It would say "Hey, you will fuck up a lot In life. You will have some great meaningless sex and some horrible emotional sex. You will burn a lot more bridges than you will successfully cross. You will meet "The One" every damn time...and the real "One" will probably pass you by. But guess what? You will be okay. Hold your head up, and keep it moving. The world is too wonderful of a place to waste one moment pissed off at some shit that you can't change. Love yourself, and nothing can touch you."

[SugarTits]

Dwayne said:

-
-Stick it out with Whole Foods. Some bullshit goes down but it has nothing to do with you.

Dude...I loved working at Whole Foods. But some bullshit did indeed go down, and I hate that I walked away from that place so easily.

[SKATEXEDGE]

Stop fucking up your future!!

Stay away from Grace, do not get involved with her. It's a go nowhere relationship and will cost you way more than it's worth. Kris will never be your girlfriend. She's not even your friend. Get over it. She will turn on you with a quickness so don't trust her and tell her to get fucked.

Janice is gold and be sure you treat her as such. She's the only one that truly loves you for who you are.

Go see the following bands whenever they play SF/Berkeley....DKs, 7 Seconds, B-52's, Berlin, Bow Wow Wow. Go to Berkeley and SF as often as possible.

Stop worrying about all those lame ass people you THINK you want to be associated with. Fuck all the black kids (and white ones too) that don't like you and call you "oreo cookie" for being yourself. You will NEVER be one of them and be proud to not be like them. Be as hardcore into punk rock/new wave as you really want to. Dress how you like and be proud. Keep skateboarding even though it is "dead". Fly your freak flag high!

Keep your grades up. They will be your ticket to get into one of the colleges that you want to go to (UCLA or UCSD) and will help you avoid a series of shitty jobs that you don't want to do and fucked up people that you don't want to meet.

Get a job at Togo's on Jackson and stay there until you leave for college! Start playing bass at your earliest opportunity. You will not regret that. Start a band.

Look in the mirror and be pround. Appreciate, even more than you do, the incredible parents and great brother that you have. They really have your best interests in mind and will do anything for you. You have a great family.

Doing these things would have helped me avoid a lot of the shitty things that have happened to me and the dumbass decisions I made that I'm still paying for to this day. If I could go back, I would in a minute!!!!

[Mr. Kurtz]

I'd tell him a lot of things, but I don't think he'd listen....mostly about being confident and not giving a crap about what other people thought.....party more, do more, don't go to university, do what you love.....I dont know, this question is making me feel old and suicidal.

[MER]

I could tell myself up and down that their decision is bad, but yet if I did, it wouldn't lead me up to the point where I am now. I'm happy where I am, and even if I wouldn't be in the future since I know that the pain is only temporary.

plus, I have a tendency not to listen to others, so it'll be useless, even if I was to show up in a time machine to 16 year old me. XD

[lyfenlyn]

Mr. Kurtz said:

I'd tell him a lot of things, but I don't think he'd listen....mostly about being confident and not giving a crap about what other people thought.....party more, do more, don't go to university, do what you love.....I dont know, this question is making me feel old and suicidal.

Dude so sorry, that was totally not my intention.

Facinating learning about everyone tho....MORE PLEASE!

[Raw Action]

I'd say, screw the fucking law and media degrees! Do english lit!

I probably wouldn't have listened, so I'd need to show myself pics of the friends that did study for the love of it, rather than as a strategic move to get onto the 'right side of the tracks'

I probably would have got a first class degree rather than an upper second, and would be even better at writing?

[SaintGermaine]

I think I'm a pretty hip thirty-something, or at least would probably appear so to my 16-year-old self, and I've always been more receptive to older people anyway, so he'd probably listen.

Let's see, hmm, I don't think I'd want to interfere too much, as you never know what kind of butterfly effect changing one thing or another would have. But I would say this -- Learn as many manual skills as you can as soon as you can -- the technical aspects of working with computers, making music, painting, web design, etc., preferrably in college when you have the time to do it, because struggling to learn this stuff when you've got a full time cubicle job is a bitch.

Spend your money on big, important things rather than letting it drip away in tiny streams of beer and nachos. Purchase HARDWARE, and never lend things or leave things behind to retrieve later that you'll regret not getting back.

And also, and this is an important one for me -- Sure there are a lot of fish in the sea, but don't be Captain Ahab, chasing after some mythical white whale all your life. Give people a chance instead of always flailing around for the new and different. Appreciate the people in your life in the here and now, especially the women, (boy, did I make some blunders there!) It's true what they say about rolling stones. And ease up on the Conspiracy stuff, or end up a lonely old crackpot!

This is basically a list of regrets, advice I'd even give to myself now, but again, who knows how changing the past could end up, I might've gotten hit by a bus!