At our college reunion weekend, Orin Kerr of the Volokh Conspiracy took to asking fellow alumni the following questions:
- How does your life today compare with what you thought your life would be like at your 10th Reunion as of the day you graduated from college?
- If you could go back to the beginning of your freshman year of college and give yourself advice about how to go about college, what advice would you give yourself?
My answers were "it's about as I expected" and "work harder and play harder". (Hey, it's the best I could come up with after a weekend of drinking.) The latter answer seemed to be about what most people came up with as well. Take college by the horns. Live life to its fullest. Good advice, always.
Well, a little while later, Orin links to party-pooper Dan Simon, who notes that basically, none of us would follow our own advice. (He links to a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story that illustrates the point). And he's probably right. But I already knew he was right about me. I'd hear the advice from my future self, and then probably go right ahead and be the lazy-ass I was doomed to be. Which is fine with me, because I enjoyed college, and I'm generally happy with my life.
But if I only had the presence of mind to ask my future self for some hot stock tips...