You know you are getting older when....

1) You find that you no longer cast a second glance at boys in school uniforms with long pants, however cute they are.
Me: 5 years ago, those boys would have sent my heart into a little tizzy:)

2) You no longer need to check the ratings of movies to see if they are rated NC16 or M18.
Me: R21 movies are another matter, though

3) Your EZ-link card no longer has a hideous photo of you, the one in which either:
    a) your hair took on a life of its own,
    b) your cheeks seem even fuller than usual, making you look like a hamster, or
    c) your eyes were half-closed

Yup. That picture. The one that is enough to make you cringe and can't wait for the day when you can burn it. Woe be you if you should become famous one day and that picture somehow landed in the hands of paparrazi, who would then proceed to blow it up in an article titled "THEY ARE ALWAYS NOT THAT GORGEOUS" or, God forbid, "DID THEY HAVE WORK DONE?"

Me: What is with cameras anyway? I swear, it's like they have a personal vendetta against me:(

4) You find that parents on the streets with their little kids in tow seem to be getting younger....
Me: I find it more reassuring to think that way instead of, you know, the one about myself

5) You are able to say "My friend gave me a lift home today"
Me: In the past, the only people I knew who could drive are my uncles and father.

6) Your male friends, whom you have known since they were these skinny guys with glasses and nerdy hair-dos and wearing the school uniform shorts (*snrks* HAHAHAHHA) are now almost done with NS
Me: Ahhh 18 years old ~ that magical age which at that time, seems as though it will never come. After all that's almost like,well you know, an adult

7) The fact that there is a $50 bill in your wallet no longer makes you nervous and jumpy and suspicious of anybody who walks too close to you
Me: What? You would be paranoid too if all that used to be in your wallet is at most $10, together with a few coins

8) You find it one of life's greatest mysteries why kids deem it suitable to fold little stars and put it into a jar with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" emblazoned cheerfully over it and give it to their friends as birthday gifts
Me: Ditto for those small pillows which look good only for....gee, I don't know, your handphone to rest on? Confession: I was once guilty of those gifts too. Thinking back, all I can think of is huh? What was I thinking? Did I hate these people or what?

9) Animorphs? Goosebumps? Sweet Valley Twins? Where are you guys???
Me: I find it saddening and disconcerting that when I stepped into a bookstore, all I could find under the section for kids are princessy books, Harry Potter and (oh my god) Twilight. I swear, there used to be SO much more varieties of stories. What are you trying to do, Popular, limit the imagination of kids?

10) When you browsed through an old The Baby-Sitters' Club storybook and read the part about your old heroine being unable to watch a movie because it was rated PG-13, you actually laughed out loud
Me: It was like BWAHAHAHHAHAHHHAHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA!! *wipes away tears of laughter*

11) When kids are with their parents, they call you "jie jie" after prompting by their parents. But once nobody is around to coach them on what to say, you are instantly upgraded to "auntie".
Me: *!%#^$#!!! What is with unsupervised kids anyway? They shouldn't be allowed to roam around by themselves!
Thinking back, this must be cosmic justice for all the times in my primary school, when I called that nice snack store lady "auntie", even though she couldn't have been more than 30 years old at that time. At that time, everybody who is older and working is considered "auntie" to me *voice trails off* Oh I seeee.....

12) You no longer need to lie about your age for anything. Nope, not on Facebook or online games account
Me: If my Friendster age were true, I would be....let's see, around 27 this year?

13) You are no longer intimated by the prices of meals in places such as New York New York or Billy Bombers
Me: I'm still waiting for the day when dishes costing $50 and above will no longer turn me into a jittery mess

14) Eating at fast-food restaurants seem more like a punishment than a treat
Me: Sorry mom, you can no longer use McDonald's as a bribe

And lastly...

15) When it suddenly hits you, like a ton of bricks, that you have no idea what to do with life.

It was especially scary when that happened to me. For a moment, I was frozen and like a darned fortune teller, I caught a glimpse of my future. Some day I will be working. Some day I will own a house and maybe a car and god dammit, I'd better learnt all about taxes and insurance and read more newspapers because I need to be more aware about politics and new government policies and...and...er, prices of oil or the stock market or housing prices or COE prices and if house prices are sky-high when I need to find a house, what will I do I mean I can't depend on my parents when I am, what, 35 right, and what if I can't find a flat that is conveniently-located or near my workplace then I will have to get up at 5am every morning just to beat the traffic crowd in MRTs because I don't have enough money to buy a stupid car or even if I have a car, I will still need to get up early to avoid paying for those ERP prices I mean who doesn't envision those dollar signs flying out of their wallet every time they pass through an ERP gantry, and and... *hyperventilates*

You get the picture.

Alright, I was exaggerating previously. I don't think that far ahead. I was thinking more along the line about what course to take and which uni to go to. I realized that whichever degree I decided to take is going to affect or influence my future career to a certain extent. And I don't want to screw myself up and end up wasting 3 years of my life.

So that is why I'm now taking it slowly, trying out different things, becoming more wise in the ways of the world and the people and hopefully along the way, I will be able to find a niche for myself.

Another reason I'm putting off university is because I don't want to rush myself into things. After nearly 15 years of continuous studying and schooling, I want to take a step back and appreciate the things I have. Do and learn things I have always wanted to. Give them a try. I don't want to burn myself out and in future, look back with regret that I did not give myself the opportunity to have fun and learn, experience things I have always wanted to.

Because as we grow older, we are expected to do the responsible thing and get a job. If we were to take a step back and try different things then, explore our childhood interests and aspirations, we would be deemed "irresponsible" and "immature" and our parents would worry that all the money and time spent on our certificates will be money down the drain.

So nowadays, I take out the occassional Roald Dahl or Sweet Valley Twins to read, stroll down to the little shop which still sells its biscuits in metal tins, buy 100g of those little gem biscuits and lick the icing on the way. Sometimes I stop by NTUC to buy Honey Stars. And when I'm back home, I enjoy listening to Savage Garden or Britney Spears. Sometimes for memory's sake, I switch on the radio and tune in to 987FM.

Forgive the cliche, but life really is too short. So I'm going to enjoy it while I still can, before I officially enter the workforce and all the adulthood stress finally catches up with me. But until then, I'm going to take a trip down memory lane once in a while.