How ya doin'?

My name is Tony Soprano. They asked me here on this Commencement Day to talk to you, the Class of 2006, about the meaning of life.

I don't know why me. Maybe because my life is a freakin' mess, knowhat­Imean?

My wife, she's always, "Oh, Tony, you cheated on me. Oh, Tony, you don't need to whack people. Oh, Tony, I'm gonna leave you. Blah, blah, blah."

My daughter? Keeps me up nights with the guys she dates. One of 'em was cheating on her. He met with an unfortunate accident. Somebody shot him a few times. My daughter blames me. "What?" I said. "What?" Kids.

My son? Fuhgettaboutit. Crashes the car. Gets expelled from school for cheating on a chemistry test. He makes me overeat with worry.

Ya know what I just noticed? This cheating thing seems to happen a lot in my family. Lightbulb moment, knowhat­Imean?

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Life.

Life is like a box of cannoli. You know what you're gonna get, and you think you like it, so you eat too much of it, and then you end up half the night with heartburn.

My business, for instance. It looked good when I got into it. Excitement. Money. Ladies. The whole bit. But then it gets to be the same thing. This guy needs a favor, that guy needs to be taken­ for a ride and walked into the woods, and, well, never mind that. What I'm say­in' is that things get complicated. I, for example, am having some trouble from competitors, which I won't go into here. Suffice to say, heads are gonna roll.

So, what I'm sayin' is, I've seen some life.

I'm like the president. When I'm out, I'm out. I don't have another position in the company to go to. And my term in office, so to speak, is just about up.

I don't know what I'll do next. Maybe­ write a book: Tony Soprano on the Meaning of Life.