Things have been rather smooth and predictable for the past 4 months, at least to me. The semester has just wrapped itself up to make way for a relatively long summer vacation, one that draws waves of anticipation. This is especially true for fresh undergraduates like me, for it is unconventionally a long period of time to conceive of anything productive. Well, I guess I have to start working and postpone my initial plan of backpacking across the whole stretch of Vietnam, to year 3.

Lately, I managed to secure some time to conduct my long-expired life reflection session. Like many of us, my goals and dreams change with time. I knew that something was, and is amiss in my life. This something is “unconventional.”

I have a pearl of a decade in front of me-twenties. These are the prime years of my life and no way am I going to sign my life off to monotony! I shall throw convention to the wind and find a way to survive by doing what makes me feel alive. May the early years be more unconventional and experimental. Try things that we might never have the chance to do again. When else in life would I have such freedom, I wonder. What life experience would I live old enough to tell my grand children, I wonder. What fond memories in life would I reminisce of on my deathbed, I wonder. I realized that things have a tendency to fall in place once we take the first leap of faith.

As I lie lazily on bed like a tortoise, with a pen and a pad in hand, I drafted out the things that I want to do in my twenties:

1. Learn horse-riding in the vast Mongolian plains.
2. Work on a cruise-liner as a crew.
3. Teach English in either Japan or Taiwan.
4. Work in a beach resort in either Phuket or Hawaii
5. Cycle along the coast of Normandy, France
6. Cycle up the whole stretch of Vietnam along its coast.
7. Solo backpacking in Europe.
8. First hand experience of wildlife in Africa
9. Ride a camel and spend a night over on the desert of Africa

Of course there are more which I couldn’t conceive of at the point of publication! I would be glad If I could accomplish 2 or 3 of the above task..lol