Tuesday, January 30, 2007


The year is 2007! That means I'll be 20 this year! No more '1' in front! Wow... I feel old. Haha...

But on a more serious tone though, what does it mean to grow up? Does that only mean to grow physically? A little while back it always meant being independent of my parents, earning my own living and having a family of my own. However, I've come to realise it is not at all as straight-forward as that.

Each year our "age" increases by 1 and that's definitely not all to it. Each "1" is more significant than we think, cos that 1 equates to 365 days; 8,760 hours; 525,600 minutes; or 31,536,000 seconds! Each and every second we breathe; we see, smell, touch and taste, and each action on its own is significant. With each passing second, our actions become a part of our past and can never be taken back again, but collectively what we are left with is thing called 'experience'.

Experience, smexperience... no big deal, right? Wrong. Experience serves as a reference to us, so that we may better decide on the actions we take. As a most basic example, a child who accidentally touches a kettle of hot water will know not to touch a hot kettle in future. Another example which we might better relate to is if we happen to say something which hurt another person, we know better not to say it in future. We can safely conclude that experience = knowing right from wrong. I suppose that is why employers value employees with experience so much.

The reason I'm writing this is because this year my sister has come over for college. The many things that she had taken for granted and had never done at home she is now forced to do out of necessity. I was just thinking about how she is going through the experiences I had gone through many years ago only now. It goes to show that everyone experiences almost the same things at different points of their lives, but the crux of it is not when the experience is had, but that they have the experience at all.

Added up these experiences help us along the journey to adulthood. i.e. growing up. This essentially what growing up is all about. To me this means to care more for others and act sensibly, because as with each second gone, the things we say and do can never be taken back.

This brings me to my resolutions for this year:

振り向かずに、前向けに進むこと。
悔いを残さないように生きること。
もっとしっかりすること。
もっと責任感を持つこと。
他人を頼らず、自分の力で生きること。
他の人に迷惑をかからないこと。
周りの人々を大事にすること。
勉強で一所懸命こと。
自分だけの夢を見つかること、そしてその夢に向かって頑張ること。
友達をもっとできること。
大学活動をもっと参加すること。
日本語はもっと上達こと。
両親が自慢できるいい大人になること。
マキさんのようないい女になること。
もっと痩せること。
もっとキレイになること。
それで、いい蹴れ市を見つけられること。

神様、どうか今年も私を見守って、すべてをよく行きますように。

At 20 my journey towards adulthood has not ended, it has only begun. At this point the future still looks unclear to me but from this moment on I shall strive so that the 'me' of each second will be better than the last. I will not say goodbye to the 'me' of 2006, but rather to the 'me' of the second before.

一秒前の自分に「さようなら」。

もしも何かを諦め
なくちゃならない時が来ても
絶望なんかしないで…君も

Currently playing: w-inds. - ハナムケ
Current mood: Tired
forsaken-wings saw an angel @ 5:27 AM

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