Life after graduation

It is the time of year where a new batch graduates from Kent Ridge/Jalan Bahar and enters the Matrix... to be another clog in the giant economic wheel of Lion City, to be another battery in keeping the gleam and shine of this Little Red Dot.

Must life upon graduation always like that? Or maybe you should wait. Maybe you should take that different path. Break the norm. Do that something you have always wanted to do but might never have the chance again once you are part of the Matrix, until you unplug yourself.

A fellow gecko - SL - is now at this crossroads of life. Should he find a job or should he go 'see/climb the world'.

Choices. There are always choices. Life is not always a one-way street, even in Lion City.

CY, who recently unplugged himself afer 5 years, and is about to embark on his 6-week rampage admist the boulders of Fontainbleu, offer this piece of advice: find a short term job that pays well, work your ass off, quit and go. You will never regret it, he claims.

I say that sound like a good plan.

Phase A: if you didn't 打包 too many times, you would be 24 or 25 (earlier if you are female) upon graduation. Work hard and get the cash. Take off and go see the world for 2/3/4 years/till you are broke/till you are sick of it, and then return to settle down.

Phase B: Assuming your surname is not Hilton, and eventually will have to work like all the rest of us, you are at most 30, can still join the typical cycle of life here - i.e. find a job, contribute to CPF, find a partner, apply HDB, marry and pay loans for the rest of your life. Oh, don't forget your national duty to mate and reproduce.

And about that mating part. While it can happen anytime, it is in your best interest that it happens within Phase B. Getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant in Phase A can have serious implications to the plan. Your hard-earned moolahs might end up in pampers and milk powder from Carrefour, instead of lattes and capuccinos in Paris or Rome. But since our gahmen is trying to get this country to reproduce, avoiding unwanted babies does not seem to be a major diffculty for most.

So what are you waiting for?