Yesterday I turned 24.

Last year was a very eventful one for me.

I got a new job, earned more money, spent more money, saved more money, paid off my university loan, changed church, lost some old friends, kept some old friends, made some new friends, found time to enjoy life, read more and travelled some.

This year I will settle down in a new church, find a ministry to serve in, do more community work, see more of the world, fix my teeth, pick up a new language, become a better and wiser person.

Yesterday was fun and very random.

I met with Charles for lunch (his treat), one of my closest friends in university whom I haven't seen in about a year. He hasn't changed a single bit since we last hung out, even the outfit he wore and the hairstyle he kept. Some things don't change, and it was nice to catch up with him. We sat at New York, New York and talked till we lost track of time.

Next was the Maria Theresia exhibition at the museum with Ben, except it was free entry for New Year's and there were too many people fighting for viewing space in the gallery. And I stupidly decided to go against Ben's word and ordered vienna roast coffee in the name of adventure. It sucked. A lot. And T gets irate when she drinks bad coffee, and it was sour and sweet and expensive and undrinkable. We then took some random photos of us for posterity and walked back to the train station.

Then I met with Casey for dinner and shopping. She got me a Haruki Murakami novel for my birthday and a slice of chewy-fudgey chocolate cake from Cafe Cartel which got a little battered from all our walking around, but it was really good cake. We didn't find anything to buy though, except I got Season 2 of the Office and some foreign film from HMV. And then we sat down to eat the cake and have our cuppa tea at Citylink mall and spontaneously decided to sing karaoke at about half-past 11.

And so we thought of people to ask along last minute and I impulsively sent a text to Alex and asked if he wanted to join us. And he came, in his bright pink Paul Smith shirt and we sang till 4 in the morning until we ran out of songs and didn't look so pretty in the harsh lighting of the elevator anymore. It was fun enough for a first meeting and I don't think I'll do this given a different time and place anyways.

So here's to brand new beginnings!