I think my evolution from teenager to adult (ugh) has been a slow process, but it wasn't only until the past few months that I have thought about it in any detail. Facing my parent's mortality is a raw and bloody blow to me at age 23, but it has changed its impact on me as I have aged. When you are a child and a parent comes close to death you understand it incompletely, you only understand beginning and end (my mother has come close to death more than once in my life). As you get older the other dimensions of death figure into the equation, equally trivialising and making death more of an event. The question of what happens to you when you die, being on your own and having your siblings being your closest living relatives come with the ugly matters of inheritance, what flowers you buy for the funeral, where to put the person who made you and was the first to love you into the ground ...

I do enjoy working, and I find myself quite excited about the opportunities I meet as I do age. I do like working (just not in banks), I do enjoy studying, and , blow me down, I'm even looking forward to getting married one day. I have taken pleasure in earning my own money and having the good fortune to have parents that insist until I have completed my education I just leave it alone to mature. I am looking forward to making my parents grandparents and knowing more about them as they got older. It wasn't until a surprise visit from my father in the last week that I knew that women in his family tend towards depression as they age. Sometimes I think to myself "I'm old enough to have children and not be labelled a teen slut!"

I'm moving to Canberra soon to take this law degree: it's very exciting. Fundamentally I haven't changed. I still fail to brush my hair most days. I still sleep on the same side of the bed, on the same bed as I have owned since I was sixteen. Getting older or more serious is certainly not about life becoming less fun, as you said Vin. I am enjoying the adventure.

I am sorry to hear that your story got rejected Han. I received your email, and indeed I shall reply.