20 tasks before turning 20

Photo by Mai Blanca

The sense of a new beginning as another year unfolds is ecstatic.

Along with the bursting colors in the sky of a new year’s eve, the hope for a better year to come pulses within our veins. After all, a new year is always a great time to start over. So it has been a tradition for me like everyone else to set goals and resolutions for the year to come. Juicing my brain of the other things to plan when I realized I’ll be turning 20 this very year (boi how fast can time be?).

Is this happening for real? For the single-figured months remaining, I hatched a scheme to get things a little more interesting. My fingers then started typing and hit enter for fun things people should’ve tried before officially stepping on their twenty’s. First, some things might be really weird for a twenty-something to do and second, twenty years is kind of a long time for someone to miss these experiences. Some of these I already did years back yet still fun to be included on the list and here they are:

1. Watch the sun rise

I’ve been awake on early mornings before but it surprised me, how come I haven’t watched the sun rise intentionally all these years. So when we arrived in Camsur at past 4am, I knew I should not let that chance past.

The experience is surreal. The sunrays peeking through the horizon got some magical powers in bringing out my sensibilities. I have never thought of profound contemplations in such a short moment in a while. Wow, the world is really beautiful.

2. Dance under the rain

This is so not me hehe

3. Stay up all night doing what you want

This is kind of the unofficial rite of passage for students. By the way, it’s a legit class requirement in my Malikhaing Pagsulat 110 course last sem to stay awake for 24 hrs (not only for a night you see) and write something for every hour. We pull off allnighters every once in a while for studies in order to beat deadlines—working under extreme duress. In the light of counterconditioning, I tried the opposite for a change and it is truly life-changing.

4. Finish a book

As shameful it is to me but I have to admit, I finished only one book ‘til I was 19: The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks and just because the protagonist was portrayed by Miley Cyrus onscreen. I do read especially after entering UP, there’s no way surviving life here without reading. But I often can’t make it to the end. Thankfully, I stumble upon a real page-turner historical fiction just this recent midyear break that launched me into reading voraciously. Paris by Edward Rutherford is an 805-paged multigenerational novel about the city of light. And I think I’m in love?

5. Write a love letter to yourself in 10 years

I hope I’ll feel fulfilled by the time I read this 10 years from now.

6. See fave band in concert

MARCH 22, 2015 tattooed in my heart.

7. Plan your life

More like organizing my life and sorting out hobbies from career.

8. Get a social media detox

This is how I finished an 805-paged novel, binge watched a 6-year series, fell in love with France, soul searched, and planned my life in two months.

9. Go on a road trip

Riding a scooter in a national super high way is my definition of S O L I D

10. Vote!

Got inked the best way.

11. Learn basic convo in a foreign language

Bonjour!

Jem’apelle Mika.

Comment vous vous apellez?

12. Be a morning person

We all know how much grace I need to finally be a morning person. So I enlisted 8:30 classes at the start of the year.

13. Buy yourself some flowers

Makes me happier than buying clothes.

14. Have a meaningful convo with a stranger

Broke that notorious rule: I was homebound from Eastwood when a lost pretty girl approached me and asked for directions, then we went on and on and end up sharing our future plans and even becoming friends in Facebook? But for real, it feels amazing to share something with someone who’s not too familiar with me.

15. Get first job

At 17, I believe that my first raket as an interviewer for a JICA x DLSU study is not a coincidence with the career in communication research I yet to start a year later than that.

16. Be of normal weight

Greater height comes greater weight responsibilities. The truth is: my BMI had been below normal for a long time already. I seek help with a nutritionist on my freshman year and even kept a food diary to track my calorie consumption. Gaining 0.1 kg in one month was probably like solving a complicated math problem just to find that the answer is x. This midyear, the miracle happened and I finally gained the weight I’ve been craving for.

17. Level up on ministry

This is among the goals I plotted at the start of the year. I initially thought that I would join the ushers some time in 2016, who knows? And though I still have a lot to learn about photography, I gave in to the invitation and had myself enlisted to the multimedia department.

18. Plant a flower

Euphorbia, I choose you.

19. Adopt a cat

On my way home from school, I heard kittens crying out for life few blocks away from our house. Their eyes weren’t even opened yet. So I took them. Is this considered catnapping? LOL They’re healthy 4-month old kittens right now named Velvet and Crinkle.

20. Revisit your childhood stuff

Barbie dolls, Girl Scout badges, class pictures, more Barbie, and my Crayolas?

#life #bucketlist #bakitlist #20before20