Free advice, you get what you pay for.
-Morphine
Unsolicited Advice. Unless someone is hurting themselves or others, I don't do it.
Remember fuckedcompany.com? If you were in IT before 2001, it was the quintessential sarcasm-infused, pre-bubble site to visit. My co-workers used to check it literally every 30 minutes. No wonder the bubble burst.
Anyway, Pud, the dude who started the site still has a lot of irons in the fire, and he wrote a very simple, direct post about doing what you want and other people's advice. I recommend. Read it here.
When I decided to come to Japan, I also decided not to listen to those of whom I barely knew, yet felt the need to tell me what a bad idea it was. I didn't judge them, I'm didn't get angry at them, but there opinions were unimportant to me. Now I speak Japanese.
Well, theoretically. I open my mouth and Japanese-y words come out. And it's spring and cherry blossoms are out here in Tokyo, and last night I had sushi with my Japanese teacher and two Korean classmates, and I am meeting a family to interview to teach their children English in an hour, and then later I will take the neighbor's dog, 春ちゃん, for a jog. Then, this weekend, I will meet my girlfriend and we will have a nice dinner and a cold beer and walk in the park (looking at cherry blossoms). Then, I will meet my classmates for karaoke and Shinjuku fun.
Yeah, I shoulda listened...