Picking the next step in life is never easy. For the high school senior that step is whether to attend college and, if so, what school to choose. The college freshman then is stuck with the responsibility of choosing what major they wish to pursue, a decision that locks thousands of dollars into one clearly defined career path. Later on in academia a student must hunt for and secure a place to live once they become too mature and high-brow for the dorms. (After all, how can one be expected to grow if they can't choose to drink their low-cost, high-value Keystone Light out of cheap frosted mugs while sitting on broken porch furniture?) This once again signs over a large amount of money to someone who is undoubtedly making a fortune charging outrageous rent prices for substandard housing. For instance, Pam Hines of Athens is now in possession of $3,500 that once to belonged to my housemates and I. This doesn't sound so bad until one realizes that we have yet to stay one night in the house and are required to drop check after check for the remainder of the time we DO spend there.

Next comes the decision to graduate and enter the work force. Then the job selection. Then whether or not to try and advance to a slightly better job. Then we decide at what age we wish to retire. Finally, we pick our cut-rate condo in Florida and live out the rest of our days wearing loud, tropical shirts and playing canasta. Life is nothing more than a series of choices, one right after the other. The bulk of these choices are made, unfortunately, in our youth. IE: Right now.

Appropriately, I am making a choice right now. I'm coming to the point in my college career where need to decide exactly what the fuck I want to do with neatly framed piece of paper they'll be giving me when I graduate. As a student at one of the better journalism schools around, I'd surely be able to snatch up a job that would be acceptable for a recent college grad. Writing for a paper would be something that I would love. I would love the flexibility of it, the idea that people will be reading things that I work on, and that I would be getting paid, albeit peanuts, to do so. However there is a part of me that feels a little ambitious, that thinks "eh, why not?" It's this side of me that wishes to further my education in law school.

Law school. The idea first came to me last year and I proceeded to bring it up to a few friends, one of whom's father was a lawyer.

"My dad told me those were the worst four years of his life," he said.

Outstanding. With my spirits now high as ever I began to dabble in researching some prospective schools and haven't stopped since. However, as we discussed earlier, I'm coming up on the time where I have to make one of those decisions. I've reached the point in college where it's time to start selecting classes that will hold relevence in whatever field I choose to go into. Therefore, I'm stuck at a crossroads between Poli Sci 170: Constitutional Law and History 221: The History of Baseball. (Why baseball? Because I'm a journalism major and can effectively take whatever the fuck I want.)

I think my heart is leaning towards law school however. During high school I was a member of the Mock Trial team. It should be noted that we were pretty damn good. I was a lawyer along with my esteemed colleague, Brian Gognat and we basically owned the place. Brian walked in with a girl on one arm and a briefcase on the other while I sat stoicly with my glasses perched suggestively in my mouth. This was a tag team that could not be contained. Aside from the aesthetics, we were pretty good at the actual legwork too. We combed through pages of depositions and old case law, determined that we could find something that would, somehow, make us look cooler. Not only that, but I found it enjoyable. We kicked ass, took names, and looked sweet.

Like this, only with more angst.

Of course there are many things I will have to tidy up before I expect anyone to just let walk in to law school. My GPA, my relationships with recommendation-writing professors, and my LSAT scores. The LSAT is law school's version of the SAT and is something of a pain in the ass. Consisting of a seemingly bottomless array of complicated logic questions, the LSAT is like Mindtrap on steroids. Lasting 3 1/2 hours, the testee's nerves are stretched to the limit as the realization that their results will determine their gross annual income for the rest of their natural lives comes to fruition. Other than all that, it sounds like a real peach.

Realizing that I'm 19 and the time for laughter is gone, I decided to take a free, online practice LSAT...you know, just for fun. Diving in head first, I started the first round of logic-bending questions.

If 5 drivers, Larry, Don, Eugene, Bob, and Chris, are entered in a series of 6 races and the following are all true... 1. Bob always finishes ahead of Chris. 2. Eugene only finishes first or last. 3. Alan only finishes first or last. 4. All drivers finish the race. ... and each driver gets 2 points for last place, 4 points for fourth, 6 points for third, 8 points for second, and 10 points for first...and Eugene finishes first in only two races, which drivers can receive a point total of 24 or less?

Upon reading that I decided it was 1:30 in the morning, I was tired, and I wanted to go to bed.

Don't be fooled though, I was still intrigued, I just wasn't in the mental state to even begin something like that. The answer, by the way, is Don and Chris.

So I still am left with the same decision at my feet. Journalism or law? Intellectual freedom or restrictive suits and ties? Being paid a meager wage or charging $300 an hour? Being unknown as a simple scribe or frequenting the country club with a wife named Bunny. Actually I'm not sure if having a wife named Bunny is a pro or a con. I'll have to look into that.

I just can't wait until I get to sit on the beach in a ridiculous shirt playing canasta...with Bunny.