Possibly the biggest two years of my life, and arguably the next stage of my “teenage development”, 2009 and 2010 were - by far - years to remember. A huge reality check at school and trip to the US both in 2009, and scored my first job and a trip to Vietnam in 2010 were just some of the highlights of these two memorable years.
“The Next Chapter” is a series of eight blog posts which will be posted during a period of eight days, reflecting on the first 18 years of my life. Also, building up to the big 18th birthday (which is just around the corner) on the 12th of January.
As they say, “the strictest parents create the sneakiest children”. I think I can pretty much relate that quote to these two years. And the result, well, in my opinion, turned out for the better, for my sanity’s sake.
As I’ve probably implied in the past few blog posts, my parents weren’t the most lenient of parents, but it has worked for me for the first half of my childhood. But when adulthood creeped up on me, I just increasingly felt like I needed to be independent from my parents. It’s probably a part of puberty, but whatever.
Anyway, 2009 was the year where I got a real reality check in life. Got suspended from school. I don’t want to get into that much detail, since.. well.. this is the internet, so I’ll let it at that. 2009 was also the year where I went on my first international trip, and it was to the USA.
In a nutshell, it was a great trip, even though the reason why we went was because on of our relatives were getting married. But we spent all of the time in the west side of America, so San Francisco, Las Vegas & Los Angeles. San Francisco was great, Las Vegas was pretty much a waste of time (mainly because I was underage), and we didn’t stay at Los Angeles for long at all. We only managed to stay there for a couple of hours, and we could have easily replaced our week-long stay at Las Vegas for a week-long stay at Los Angeles.
2010 was also a memorable year for me. It was when I scored my first (and current) job at my local supermarket. I was surprised at the way my parents’ lack of reaction. They were absolutely okay with it. Maybe because they were sick of my music blasting through the house, but I was glad that they were happy to see me earning some sort of income.
The end of 2010 also marked my second international trip. This time, to Vietnam. It was a fantastic experience to visit a third world country. It was much different from the way that both Australia and the US are both run. The reason why we went to Vietnam was to visit my now-late-grandmother, who was ill at the time. We also got the chance to visit my mothers’ and my fathers’ home town, and to hear that Vietnam has changed for the better is surprising to say the least.
2009 and 2010 were years where I started to become more independent, with my new found job, and rebel with my suspension at school. But I guess you gotta learn some life lessons the hard way! And who could forget thew mighty Collingwood Football Club winning the premiership cup in 2010. That moment just topped up everything that happened in possibly the best two years of my life so far.
Next in “The Next Chapter”: VIII - Youth Left Behind (2011 - 2012)
Previous “The Next Chapter” posts:
VI - Back to Square One (2007 - 2008)
V - Final Farewells (2005 - 2006)
IV - Old Habits Live On (2003 - 2004)
III - Almost Smooth Sailing (2001 - 2002)
II - A Whole New Beginning (1999 - 2000)
I - A Gift from God (1995 - 1998)