# HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I am officially 23.

Like what I wrote to my sister, 23 was like a foreign number. After all it didn't seem too long ago that I got used to being 22.

When we were younger, birthdays were rowdy affairs. As the number of candles on the cake doubled and multiplied, such anniversaries became somehow intricately intertwined with reflections of ‘what have I achieved’, ‘what have I to show’?

When I was greeted with a sleepy ‘You are now 23!’ just now, other than still not being too used to being 23 I was disappointed by my lack of real ambitions. Admittedly I was still at a loss of what I wanted to do with my life. While friends were talking about riding the bull on Wall Street to their first greenback million, I was confusing calls with puts, options with trusts and bears and bulls, albeit being a Finance major. While others remained firmly passionate about music, I'd left my enthusiasm on the racks of my secondary school/junior college days. While even more went on to prestigious exchange programs, internships and job positions in choice firms, I struggled to complete my less-than-glamorous Bachelor.

So yah, what have I achieved, what have I to show for my 17 conscious years?

Nothing substantial.

Still, I remain optimistic about the future, even as I continue to run around life without a marked out map. In due time I am sure I will find my life's anchor, from which forth everything will fall into place. Til then I will be forgiven for being a youth, as invincible and reckless as most youths feel they are.