There’s a prompt on Instagram called “24 in 2024” where people post a photo from when they were twenty-four, which prompted me to go through photos from a decade ago. Much of it had been lost in old phones never backed up but I managed to find a few.
Prescriptions
24: taking meds to manage eczema.
2024: I am still going to doctors for prescriptions depending on how severe my eczema is.
Pets
24: Solo is young and springy and would sleep with me on my bed because I still stayed with my parents.
2024: Solo is very old now, but still stays with my parents. Meanwhile, Nami and Kino also sleep with me in my bed, in my own house.
Friends
24: Met up with a friend from my student-exchange days. We didn’t hang out that often but I was flying regularly to Hong Kong for the UXHK event almost every year and always made time to catch up with her.
2024: Both our wedding dates are in 2024! She’s recently married early this month, and mine will be a few months down the road.
Work
24: First time working on a hardware-based product. It’s actually more of a network/content kind of service but hardware was a big part of the behind-the-scenes. Did the UI and overall UX. Wasn’t able to launch it because I left for Singapore before anything had actually been deployed so it was merely a brief taste of what designing for a hardware+software experience was like.
2024: Been part of a team in a hardware-based product for the past few years — which is also just the 2nd hardware+software product I’ve worked on since I was 24. I enjoy what I do, and love working in this space.
Body
24: 168cm height, 50.5kg weight.
2024: I have not grown any taller, only heavier. My weight now fluctuates between 58-60+ kg quite often, which is okay. I was more vain at twenty-four; I am more comfortable under my own skin in twenty-twenty-four. The pressure to stay “skinny” is definitely less these days, though I’m not sure if that’s just me loving who I am now or the overall cultural shift in publicly accepting all kinds of bodies (in the Western world).
Not quite my pet
24: A mini schnauzer followed an ex’s car as he drove just a few streets away from my house. When the dog was still there when he got off his car, we let the small pup follow him into my house. Wanted to bring the dog to the vet and take care of him as his fur was really rough, he was skinny, and probably had some skin rash. But we already had two dogs in our house while my ex only had one so he ended up taking the mini schnauzer and naming him Buddy.
2024: The last time I saw Buddy was six years ago and some days I think about him and wonder if he still remembers me :'(
Family
24: Stayed a few weeks with my cousin and his wife while looking for a place to rent in Singapore.
2024: Said cousin and wife now live in New Zealand and although Australia is not far off, I haven’t been able to visit them yet.
Home
24: Back in Singapore but as a working adult, not a student. At twenty-four, I already knew how much I liked the city but I was just at the beginning of the few years that would make it my “second home”. I was alone for the most part, discovering and loving the city and its spaces and its people.
2024: Have lived in Australia for much longer than I had in Singapore. At ease now in a city that had made me feel so lonely in the beginning. Here is now home for as long as I want it to be, and no longer alone.
At 24 years old, things were a lot more transitory.
Halfway through the year I was moving countries, starting a new job, meeting new people, building a career, chasing after success. I’ve just moved out, but I also just moved overseas alone. Still very young but already an adult. Still sometimes picking on old wounds half-healed but with fresh hope that the excitement of being overseas can finally overpower any old pains and heartaches.
In 2024 I am much older — old but not quite, most days just forcing myself to “adult” because technically I am (I have no choice; I can’t go back to being young, ignorant — or innocent, inexperienced).
More settled now in a country I am happy to call home, with a partner I am happy to call “husband”. Life is finally becoming a little more stable. The old heartbreaks no longer bring the same kind of pain. And while new friendships keeps things fresh, I’m also old enough to reminisce past relationships and old stories. My friends have also changed and moved and settled (mostly) and most days it is harder to keep in touch with those whom I knew at 24. I guess that’s just how it goes as time keeps moving and moving and moving on.
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