(no subject)
Today is the last day I will (ever) be in my twenties.
I don't know how I feel about this, really. The closer I've gotten to it, the less turning thirty has seemed like a big deal. I thought about having a party, but I didn't really want to organise anything big... I thought perhaps I should do something special today, something crazy, something to mark the occasion; but it didn't really seem necessary. Maybe I'll regret not doing it later, but right now it seems like tomorrow will be just another day; I'll still be the same me I was today; I'll still have done/not done the same things.
In some ways it doesn't seem like I've done enough to justify being 30. There is so much I still haven't done, so much I still want to do! But on the other hand, here are some of the things I have done:
* learned to play a musical instrument, or actually several, and continued to enjoy doing so to this day
* gained a wide appreciation of all sorts of things, mostly thanks to my parents and my upbringing
* gotten three (or four, depending how you count them) university degrees
* organised student societies
* acted in a play or three
* convened an IV
* conducted choirs on opposite sides of the globe (not both at the same time!)
* founded a chamber choir (twice!) - and now taken them on tour (once!)
* learned to cook
* bought a house
* been in love
* been out of love
* gotten married
* and then divorced
* had a job
* had several jobs, all at once
* moved halfway round the world to a city where I knew nobody
* and stayed!
* learned the art of travelling solo, and the art of travelling with friends
* had a paper (or a few) published
* learned to dive, hurrah!
* been to Antarctica!!!
And those are the bigger, 'general' things. A random (and small, or I'll be here all night) selection of the little things that stick out -- I have:
* stayed up all night and watched the sun rise on the summer solstice at Stonehenge
* stayed up all night and watched the sun rise on the beach on New Year's Eve
* sung with the Tallis Scholars
* climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge
* been up the Empire State Building
* sailed (or rather flown) to Byzantium and been to Hagia Sofia
* eaten a starfish in the Donghuamen Snack Street, Beijing
* visited the End of the World in at least two places (Ushuaia, El Fin del Mundo; and Land's End, Cornwall)
* skinny-dipped in Antarctica!! and given my bra to a Russian scientist in exchange for vodka!
There are many more; perhaps, if I haven't told the stories here already, I'll post some of them in future.
I have had a wealth of opportunities, in which I have been very lucky; most of which I have taken, some of which I've missed.
I have had the chance, many times, to learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I've even taken that, too.
Above all, I have been lucky to have a wonderful family, and wonderful friends (on both sides of the world).
And who knows what tomorrow will bring?
I don't know how I feel about this, really. The closer I've gotten to it, the less turning thirty has seemed like a big deal. I thought about having a party, but I didn't really want to organise anything big... I thought perhaps I should do something special today, something crazy, something to mark the occasion; but it didn't really seem necessary. Maybe I'll regret not doing it later, but right now it seems like tomorrow will be just another day; I'll still be the same me I was today; I'll still have done/not done the same things.
In some ways it doesn't seem like I've done enough to justify being 30. There is so much I still haven't done, so much I still want to do! But on the other hand, here are some of the things I have done:
* learned to play a musical instrument, or actually several, and continued to enjoy doing so to this day
* gained a wide appreciation of all sorts of things, mostly thanks to my parents and my upbringing
* gotten three (or four, depending how you count them) university degrees
* organised student societies
* acted in a play or three
* convened an IV
* conducted choirs on opposite sides of the globe (not both at the same time!)
* founded a chamber choir (twice!) - and now taken them on tour (once!)
* learned to cook
* bought a house
* been in love
* been out of love
* gotten married
* and then divorced
* had a job
* had several jobs, all at once
* moved halfway round the world to a city where I knew nobody
* and stayed!
* learned the art of travelling solo, and the art of travelling with friends
* had a paper (or a few) published
* learned to dive, hurrah!
* been to Antarctica!!!
And those are the bigger, 'general' things. A random (and small, or I'll be here all night) selection of the little things that stick out -- I have:
* stayed up all night and watched the sun rise on the summer solstice at Stonehenge
* stayed up all night and watched the sun rise on the beach on New Year's Eve
* sung with the Tallis Scholars
* climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge
* been up the Empire State Building
* sailed (or rather flown) to Byzantium and been to Hagia Sofia
* eaten a starfish in the Donghuamen Snack Street, Beijing
* visited the End of the World in at least two places (Ushuaia, El Fin del Mundo; and Land's End, Cornwall)
* skinny-dipped in Antarctica!! and given my bra to a Russian scientist in exchange for vodka!
There are many more; perhaps, if I haven't told the stories here already, I'll post some of them in future.
I have had a wealth of opportunities, in which I have been very lucky; most of which I have taken, some of which I've missed.
I have had the chance, many times, to learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I've even taken that, too.
Above all, I have been lucky to have a wonderful family, and wonderful friends (on both sides of the world).
And who knows what tomorrow will bring?