(numerically) older, but none the wiser.

OH MY. So, I have had a few partial entries stored as drafts for months, and now I must publish something, anything, so that this is not just a sad excuse for a blog. I wrote this a little before/after my birthday (January 1st) and I don't really know where I was heading with this entry, so I'm just going to post it, in all its incomplete glory. Hah!

To add on, though, it was only slightly bitter leaving California. I think I had one moment on the plane where I thought, "Oh god, I have another FULL semester at HKU" and had a mini-freakout. 13-hour plane rides tend to do that to you... lots of time to think and not get sleep. But all is pretty merry, and things always end up better than I expect. I've met new friends faster than I thought I would, and I'm still having lots of fun.

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Currently listening to: The Raconteurs - Rich Kid Blues

(I, by the way, definitely do not have the rich kid blues)

Hello world. It's New Year's Eve again, which should carry a greater significance for me than it does for others, but it doesn't, really. I don't really care about birthdays; if I ever do, it's for materialistic or superficial reasons. If anything, birthdays should be a celebration for the mothers who gave birth to us (after carrying our heavy asses in their belly for months), not for the ones who just happened to pop out on a particular day (so, cheers & xoxo to all the mommas out there!). BUT, every year I do get a childish thrill pretending that the millions of people on TV counting down are just waiting to celebrate my birthday. True story.

So, the big twenty-one. I used to covet this number, it seemed to encompass the freedom that comes with young adulthood and, of course, ultra-coolness. The ability to buy alcohol (!! ohmuhgaw alcohol!!) or go to exclusive places where only the ultra-cool people congregate. But seriously, 21-year-olds are no different from the naive little 18-year-olds just entering college. We're still confused and clueless, just about different things. (Cue Britney Spears' "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman")

Break has been a much-needed escape from the cut-throat, no-fun atmosphere of HKU. One conclusion I can draw from my first semester abroad is that I would not settle down in Hong Kong if I had a choice. I'm not ignorantly using my experience at HKU to judge Hong Kong as a whole, but I know that it's not for me. When break ends, it'll be more bitter than sweet to be leaving California.