This Is Me Thursday--Looking Way Back

This is the 12th week of "This Is Me Thursday." This is also the last week. Not only have I gotten tired of talking about myself, I also don't want to bore all of you anymore. Don't worry, I'll think of something else to do a weekly post about.

The year is almost over. I know I'm rushing it a bit, but it's already the end of October and there are only 9 more weeks of 2011. I started thinking about how the older I get, the quicker time flies. I mean, just yesterday I graduated from high school! OK, maybe not yesterday. It's been more like 31 years since I left the hallowed halls of Bayonne High School.

(Big school, huh?)

I think back on how even though I didn't know what I wanted to be, I felt so ready to take on the world. Boy, was I naive. After three decades of scrambling around, I finally found my passion. Better late than never, I say, but I can't help thinking that I wish I knew a little bit of what I know now, back then.

Do I want to go back in time? Absolutely NOT! I was shy and lazy and so unsure of myself. Plus, I couldn't possibly live through Earth Science one more time. But if it should happen that I somehow got caught in a swirling vortex that took me back to high school, there are a few things I would have done differently.

I would have...

1. been a much better student.

2. gotten involved. In something. Anything other than just hanging out with my friends.

3. not started smoking.

4. not wasted two years with that guy who swayed me from what I had wanted to do. Long story. Sad ending.

5. made a conscious effort to keep in touch with friends after graduation.

6. put more serious thought into my teacher's suggestion of going for an Art Degree.

7. taken a mechanical drawing class.

8. been more outgoing.

9. read those books I didn't think I would like, instead of getting the Cliff Notes.

10. written down all those poems and stories that rattled around in my brain.

What about you? Would you go back and do it all over again?