Last year I made a post about 21 things that I experienced before 21, so I thought I’d keep up tradition and do the same this year.
- Got hired as a full-time environmental inspector for the City of San Jose and worked my first full year of gainful employment
- Celebrated the final Granny of 208’s graduation from UC Berkeley
- Went on a solo trip to New York City for the first time and had a bunch of other subsequent firsts:
- Experienced my first Broadway musical (Chicago!), enjoyed Ippudo Ramen and other famous, trendy foods (holla @LadyM, Levain Bakery, and Katz’s Delicatessen), and visited some of the best museums I’ve ever been to
- Was able to reconnect with one of my best friends from junior high school (who just earlier this year finished undergrad this year at Juilliard, and is now in a master’s program at Yale!!)
- Got to see my best friend perform in the Sacramento Vagina Monologues
- Saw one favorite bands, Franz Ferdinand, live for the second time!
- Started lifting weights 4-5x a week (7 months now and counting!) and have been gaining a lot of strength, body positivity, and overall confidence
- Went on another solo trip to Washington DC and got quickly escorted off of the south lawn by secret security as the POTUS was about to land in a helicopter (not my fault they didn’t fence off the area, I just wanted to take some pictures)
- After a lot of anticipation and confusion (thanks @ClimateChange), I was able to experience and photograph the famous cherry blossom blooms around Tidal Basin in DC
- Had the pleasure of taking a bunch of graduation photos for my wonderful forestry babes
- Almost got abducted by a group of random men while out in the field performing inspections at work
- Spent a long weekend in Ottawa, Canada with one of my best friends and her family. I ate some of the most delicious Vietnamese food in my life, and I felt so incredibly welcomed and accepted in her family and it was truly an experience that I will treasure for years and years to come <3
- Visited Montreal, Quebec for the first time, learned some French pleasantries, and had a blast wandering the incredibly charming streets of old town Montreal
- I drove a fancy European sports car from Montreal to Ottawa whose vroom vroom sounds put my Prius’ to shame and may or may not have set unrealistic expectations for what I want in my next car
- Was able to treat my parents to a fancy brunch in Yountville, CA and went wine tasting for the first time
- Took Daisy on her first camping trip in Big Sur.
- Spent an amazing long weekend in southern California with my aunt and cousins–got to spend a day at Disneyland, a day in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, and a day in downtown Los Angeles.
- Went back to Taiwan for the first time in 6 years and was able to start forming a long distance relationship with my Taiwanese grandmother through LINE. My written Chinese isn’t very good and she doesn’t do English, so we’re mostly just sending each other videos and stickers, but it’s nice
- Was able to reconnect with yet another good friend from junior high school while in Taiwan, and subsequently also had my first Taiwanese gay bar experience
- Decided that I need to go back to Taiwan and live there for an extended period of time, maybe enroll in some Chinese language classes at 台大. I truly didn’t realize how much I missed Taiwan and how much I value my connection to the motherland. I’m thinking that this may be a good way to spend some time before (eventually) going to grad school.
- Got to celebrate my 22nd birthday with friends from forestry, band, and my roommates from my first year at Cal in Santa Cruz <3
