Twentyfoursomething

Listen: A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay (with lyrics omg!)

I've turned 24 OMG!!1!!!!!!!111

And here is the obligatory birthday post. Since so many sites are Buzzfeed-ifying their articles with their lists of lists, I'm going to make my own list.

Lies you're told in your early 20s

(Cos next year I'm in my mid-twenties, then after that I'm in my late twenties. Oh what a difference a year makes.)

1. You will have freedom

I'm going to quote Pratchett on this, like I always do and will do (screw you guys, he doesn't have much time left) -

The freedom to succeed goes hand in hand with the freedom to fail.

To fail! That's a lie. In the corporate environment, you don't really fail. You make mistakes, up to the point when someone decides you've failed, and that's when you realise you're out.

And with the fear of failure comes the fear of success. Keep your head down and follow the rules - university lied.

2. Having fun

Facebook posts show one-off events, you guys. The fun only happens on weekends. Office might be okay, but it's not fun.

Or maybe I'm just bitter haha.

3. You will gradually know what you want

Let's not talk about knowing the things you want in life - even people in their 30s have a hard time deciding. Let's talk about the things you know you want today. There are people who are older than me who still don't know what they want today. It's frustrating and it's annoying but it makes you wonder - will I be like that at their age?

I really hope not.

4. People become more mature as they get older

Still lies. They pretend to be, but at the first sign of a complication - nope nope NOPE.

And sometimes that calm that passes off as maturity? It's just indifference, pure indifference. They don't care, even though they teach their kids differently. See someone's house burning? Should you call the fire station? "I'm sure someone has called". Simply put - none of my business because someone will do it.

How sure are you?

"It's good that you can handle things independently and you know what to do."

How sure are you I'm not deliberately sabotaging things? I don't have to tell you anything and you would be ignorant of it. Is it because I'm mature enough? Maybe I just don't care.

And with the recent events and crises - you wonder if adults really grow up. Not all do. Still lies.

5. You can go anywhere and do anything you want because you have no commitments

Like as though I can toss my family and relationship commitments any time I want. Haha!

6. You have time to do anything you want

Not true. Based on my average working hours and travel time every weekday, I have about 2 hours on average to do anything I want.

But I still have to take exams. Which I skipped this year. So that's my plan for next year.

7. You will have energy to do the things you want

Physically - yes, I still do. Mentally - not all the time. So even with free time, I end up wasting time online instead of reading. Yes you can read things online, but who wants to slog through a deep, intellectual lengthy article when you've been going through work routine for the past 10 hours?

All work makes Jack a dull boy.

8. You will still have motivation to chase your dreams

After going through an expensive uni education, investing time and money in professional exams, and aiming to qualify - can I drop everything and say I want to start over with what I really wanted to do?

Yeah, but no. I mean I could do it as a hobby, but in the end it's just a hobby.

Unless someone teaches me how to monetize it. My Chinese genes demand profit$$$.

9. You still can work for your dream body

Yes you can. But then I realised there's a lot of food in the world I really like, and those I haven't tried that I might like, and if you have a limited time anyway, why worry so much about the perfect body?

Healthy is okay. Trying to get the perfect body - I could have the best body EVER in my life now, but  it's going to be so, so temporary. So I'm going to eat and I'm going to spend more time reading. Or I should.

10. You're still young and you might not know if the person you're with is the right one

The way I look at it - if you really like the person you're with, and you're comfortable with him, and you can see yourself growing up and growing old with him - why worry so much about the potential right ones out there?

Of course if you have second doubts - that really nagging thing you can't get rid of - then by all means do re-evaluate your choice. But when someone tells me I'm still young and still can "meet more people", I want to tell them that I don't want to.

Or maybe I'm not really good with meeting new people. But I'm happy with who I'm with now. My choice, my responsibility, my burden and consequences (happy or sad) to bear. Be happy for me.

11. You can sleep and wake up whenever you want

Lies - you still need as much sleep as you do during uni. Which is a lot. And it's going to be 12 and I'll be sleepy at work tomorrow, but it's rare that I feel like blogging, so hell to that.