I'm actually only a little more than two weeks late in saying this - the lunar new year started on February 7 (my dad calls January 1 the "imaginary" new year). It's been pretty uneventful thus far for me, aside from my temp job ending last week, earlier than expected, and I'm going to be scrambling to find something to keep me busy until I leave for Europe in early April (aside from writing, of course). Luckily for me, the relatives were pretty generous with their red packets this year. While their gifts definitely weren't enough to finance my upcoming travels, it will help cover the cost of a couple of days' worth of expenses, or at least some of my expenses leading up to my departure.

The past year has been interesting for me. It was just before the new year last year that I decided on a whim to go to Hawaii and Australia, after my parents had been lecturing me not to go on another trip until I found a steady job. I was back in the same situation I was in when I arrived home from a year of study abroad and travel a year and a half earlier. I wasn't sure what my next step would be, but all I knew was that I wanted to travel again. I had gotten into a car accident a few months earlier, a lot of my friends had left town or disappeared, and I felt that I was not in a good place in my life. But as always, traveling was the cure to my unhappiness. My trip gave me a better sense of what I felt was important in life, who I was, and most of all, that I didn't necessarily have to conform to other people's expectations of what I should be doing. As long as I was happy, was in a good situation and was surrounded by family and friends who were loving and supportive, that was all I needed.

I've been really lucky in my life, for the most part. I've been given a lot of opportunities that would not have been available if my family been in a different situation. My parents have now loosened up a bit about my lifestyle choice, and didn't even try to deter me from traveling this year, even for 7 weeks (my longest trip since my study abroad experience). Certain relatives and maybe one former coworker continue to lecture me about the work issue, but for the most part, everyone is happy for me. I've also reconnected with some long-lost friends (one was shocked to run into me, thinking I was in Australia or Singapore or some exotic location), met some new people, and had a lot of interesting random encounters with former elementary and high school classmates. Sometimes I think about their lives now, how for the most part they have full-time jobs, some have gotten married and a few have children, and I think about how "behind" I am, but it's all relative. Things happen differently for everyone. There are plenty of people out there in their 30s and 40s who have yet to find their perfect mate. There's nothing wrong with that. One woman I met on my travels, who was 46, never been married and childless, and had been engaged to be married last year but broke it off a few months before, quoted a wise woman she once knew: "Run as far as you can, and if you meet a man who can keep up with you, consider marrying him." She had done a lot with her life, and I hope I can be as positive as she is when I'm her age.

Last year was also a breakout year for me in my writing career. For the first time since my days writing for my college newspaper, I was being paid for my work. I wasn't as diligent as I should have been, but this year I really want to be focused on getting off the ground. Here's to hoping that I'll be writing for the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler within 10-15 years!