Another Diner Table Game!

I'm always on the look-out for discussion starters or games that can be played on van rides or whenever we have "down-time" with teenagers. Occupational hazard. A side benefit is that they work whenever you might need them with friends or in other social situations.

Anyway, I read a good little discussion starter last night in Chuck Klosterman's new book. If you know of Chuck Klosterman, you know why things like this are in his essays. If you don't know of Chuck Klosterman, well, your loss.

Here's the starter:

You have the chance to make a telephone call back in time to the 15-year-old YOU. Keep in mind that the 15-year-old YOU will not be able to know it is the FUTURE YOU or ask questions, because you only have 15 SECONDS to communicate. They have no idea this is possible...just a random afternoon, they're at their house and their telephone rings. After they hear it, they'll have no follow-up...you simply hang up and they go on to live their life after that. It'll help if you try to put yourself in that situation at 15 years of age. What would you hear and think if you listened to that call?

(The example the author gave was to say, "Invest in Google!" over and over. Then he realized that the 15-year-old him, even if he looked that up in a dictionary or encyclopedia--there was no internet then, remember--would've wondered how you could invest in a large number and have no idea what to do with that data later unless he stumbled on it.)

So...

...what do you say in your 15 seconds to the 15-year-old YOU?

Ready...

Go!