Today I feel a little older. It just hit me that, for once, I really have to be responsible for my money, that if I spend it all, it means more than no more tokens at the arcade or no more expensive dinners with my friends. That was a well scary thought. I now have to act like a grown up; I can't afford to blow all my money in a crazy night Taipei or buy that new gamecube just because I feel like it.

It might seem like an obvious thing to say, but there's always been that safety net in my life; when I was smaller I always imagined that my parents' funds were inexhaustible, that I could never spend too much money, that the worst thing that could possibly happen to me was maybe failing that test coming up the next week. I guess the rules have changed a little since then.

Another thing that struck me today is that I am in a totally new country. Yes, I know, it's a little late to be discovering this, but I guess these things sometimes strike you again when you least expect them to. Coming back from Indianapolis, I looked out on the highway and thought to myself, it's all so big. The road seemed to stretch on forever with only farmhouses and corn fields in sight, and I suddenly realized that Singapore was thousands of miles away, and that the world was bigger than a half hour bus ride to Orchard road.

The net's gone now. Time to see if I can fly.