Thursday, July 04, 2013

A Dream From Last Decade

Having loads of spare time, I decided to revisit some old files stored in the harddrive. It was quite funny,as I kept them intact for years without opening. When those scattered old files were explored, some files were dated back nine to ten years ago. Time sure flies.

Among those files, a small scribble on my gang’s future was found. Being gifted by such a wild imagination, I wrote that supposedly sentimental piece of writing. The story revolved around what happened to us ten years after our high school graduation.At that time, ten years seem to be such a long time, far into the future. Yet if I graduated on 2004 from high school, then 2014 would be ten years after.Thus it became so interesting in taking a careful look on what I had planned for my life, what did the innocent me have in mind.

Here goes! Ten years after my graduation from high school, I would be married to a psychologist, waiting for our first child. We would live in a compact two-story house with small kitchen where the two of us had our breakfast every morning. While my wife worked as a clinical psychologist (I swear, back then I had no idea that there are such divisions in psychology. All I could think of was that she would be helping people on the couch. Yes, apparently psychology equals to couch, no thanks to Freud!). And what was my dream job? Where did I work in this made-up future? Considering my naivete then, it was written that I worked as an English teacher in a private senior high school. Yes, a teacher with no additional title of Master or Doctor. What a simple life!!!

Reading that piece of novelette(yes, it was not just a short composition –it was a short story of 40 pages!!) unearthed the memory I've long forgotten. After high school, I did not dream of continuing my education. There was completely no plan of looking for any scholarship. Going to the university and getting a proper job were my ultimate two aims.

And where did that take me? Let’s just do a contrastive analysis and a reality check! First, where does I work now? Not a senior high. In fact, I will be jobless in the coming month. So,proper job, CROSSED! Second, I should be expecting my first child by now. Last time I checked, there was no wedding ring on my finger. No wife. Frankly, I don’t even know when I will finally marry my life partner! So, wife, CROSSED! Next, a compact two-story house with kitchen should be the place I’m living. Yeah,instead of that compact house, I get a compact boarding room. Yeah, compare that simple life of married teacher with this soon-to-be-jobless, unmarried guy living in a small boarding room. Life is indeed a harsh mistress, eh?

Do I regret that? This is such a difficult question. Had I been given such a simple life, can I even stay living like that without any boredom? So many things have changed since last decade.Life has thrown me into various hellish experiences that shaped me like what I am now. On the contrary, life has also thrown various opportunities to me, the opportunities I cannot say no to. They have their own consequences, so shan't have I any regret on my own choice. This is the path I am paving, ignoring the path to simple life a high-school-graduate me dreamed.