Living an awesome life as a 27-year-old: a year in blog posts

Posted on August 12th, 2011 by Sacha Chua

Happy birthday to me! =) I’m celebrating my 28th birthday today. Here’s the year in blog posts (August 2010 – July 2011): http://sachachua.com/notebook/files/sacha-chua-27.pdf .

Blogging as a 27-year-old: 391 published posts, 382 pages long, more than 190,000 words. If you’re curious, you can see what I was blogging as a 26-year-old and as a 25-year-old.

The short version: my birthday wrap-up. It’s been a great year, and I’m looking forward to learning and sharing even more!

Monthly chunks: August 2010, September 2010, October 2010, November 2010, December 2010, January 2011, February 2011, March 2011, April 2011, May 2011, June 2011, July 2011

My birthday wish: tell me what your life was like when you were 28 what you wish you knew when you were 28, or what I can improve on to make life as a 28-year-old totally awesome. =) Younger than I am? Tell me who you’re planning to grow into when you’re 28!

(Happy birthday to my parents, too. After all, they did all the hard work.)

More posts about: birthday, blogging, review, yearly // 16 Comments »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/22413

Miguel Rentes

Happy Birthday!!

Cheers from the biggest fan in Portugal :)
http://punchagan.muse-amuse.in punchagan

Many Happy Returns of the Day!
Hope you have another awesome year, ahead!
Uma

Happy birthday Sacha!
http://blog.melchua.com Mel Chua

Happy birthday, Sacha! When I’m 28, I hope to have written a book, given a talk in a non-English language I’m fluent in, live in an apartment warmly decorated with crafts, travels, and friends, and be able to do pull-ups on my door. On quiet evenings, I sit and play guitar. I’ve blogged considerably on all these things, and my online writing’s also extended into a network of paper letters and cards flying back and forth between post offices; I write them in the mornings when the world is quiet, with a cup of good hot tea.

Once a week, the apartment fills with food and friends, buzzing over something new we’re all learning together; many other times I bike across town (waving to neighbors on the way) to some regular haunts — likely the library, or the diner across the river, or a couple nooks on campus where I’ve studied consistently and grown. I look forward to visiting my parents, who live a few hours away (instead of vaguely tolerating it as I do now) and have somewhat epic plans for graduation ceremonies happening this spring… perhaps my own, although I’m guessing that will happen the next year, when I turn 29.

Boy, do I have a lot of work to do to get there. :-) But you, as always, are an inspiration.
http://rucsbweb20learning.blogspot.com/ Ruchi

Hi Sacha , Happy Birthday.
At 28, i was spending more than 16 hours at work and work life balance had gone for a toss. When i look back, i wish i had more time to smell the roses and could spend more time watching my niece grew…
Joel Garza

Happy Birthday, Sacha!

When I was 28, it was two years after graduating with an MBA and two years into my career. I had hoped to return and complete an MSCS, which I still have yet to do. I wish I had had 1/100th of your planning and creativity. :-)
Andrea

Happy birthday!

I’m a regular reader from Spain but I never post comments so I thought today might be a good day so say hi and happy birthday! :)

About you questions, I’ll be 28 in 4 years, and I hope I’ll have my PhD finished by then and a job that allows me to live on my own and enjoy life.. who knows! :)

Have a great day!
http://mabutingbalita.net/ jun

regular rss reader, irregular blogger. Happy birthday!

I was one year in my marriage when I was in 28 (we’re going on to 15 next year!). I wish we could have traveled more, and that I could have taken more risks and endured more failures than taking it slow and easy and learned as fast or faster as I am learning now.

Oh and got serious with my faith life and prayer time more.
http://www.theaveragejane00900.blogspot.com The Average Jane

Happy birthday! =)
mom

When I am 28 (again! in my next life), I’d like to be like you! Happy birthday, dearest Sacha.

When I was 28 (in this life), Adphoto was a year old. With hardly any capital and no connections (now called network) to speak of, I was busy doing cold-calls to get clients. One of them was J. Walter Thompson, now simply called JWT. I am proud to say that after 38 years, we’re still doing photography for them.

I had no secretary (it was just papa and me, plus a photographer’s assistant/messenger) but I had a carpenter make an extra desk because my dream was to have a secretary. Through the years, I never had one (although as you know, we’ve hired studio managers, and promoted yaya to handle family petty cash), but today I have one – my very own assistant, Desiree.

Happy birthday! May all your wishes come true, and may you continue to live an awesome life.

Much love,
Mom
http://Prabuayyagari.com Prabu Ayyagari

Sacha – My routine over the past few months: Each Saturday morning, about 3:30, I read your blog’s weekly post, where I learn something that makes me smile or have an aha moment, hug my best friend L, and go for a wun (that’s a run + walk). This is my first comment on your blog but I’m your biggest fan in Dallas, Texas :) and have tweeted and blogged about your writing.

Age matters very little. Yes, it pleases us to think in chunks of time, and since you asked: at 28, my best friend L and I got married. We were grad students, lived fully and had loads of fun. We still do, twenty years later and are grateful for the abundance.

My birthday present for you is to thank you for your generous sharing of your thoughts and acknowledge publicly that your writing (and drawing) have had a lasting positive impact on me. I am drawing more (even gave a presentation yesterday where the slides were all my drawings), sharing more, am training for a marathon and have signed up for a music appreciation class. See your impact in any of this?

Happy Birthday, Sacha!
http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua

Mom: Happy birthday to you too! =) I’m learning a lot at IBM and I’m helping the company do lots of good stuff, but I’m also looking forward to starting my own company inspired by your example. =) I’m glad to hear your life is getting better and better!

The Average Jane: Thanks!

Jun: Good to hear that, and congratulations on keeping your relationship wonderful! Both W- and I are homebodies, so I don’t think we’ll regret not travelling much. I suppose it helps that we’re also good at not regretting things, and filling up our lives with activities we really enjoy, too. =) We spent a memorable staycation learning how to do woodworking, canning, and other things. I guess it’s all about figuring out what you want to have as part of your life. Thanks for reading and sharing!

Andrea: Good luck on with your graduate studies! =) Do you have any dissertation topics in mind already?

Ruchi: I hear you loud and clear. Making sure I make lots of time for life. =)

Mel: What a wonderfully fleshed-out vision of where you want to be. Your blog is always an inspiration, and I can’t wait to see how you’ll grow into what you’ve sketched there. I’ll work on figuring out my own thoughtscape for what 29 might feel like. Have fun!

Uma, Punchagan, Miguel: Thanks!
http://mylenesereno.wordpress.com/ Mylene

Hi Sacha!

Belated happy birthday!!! Well, when I turned 28 just 4 months ago, I finally got into my dream job (thanks to you – for the inspiration and motivation). I found the courage to really go after my dream and explore the opportunities in Metro Manila. I’ve also grown more emotionally mature and got rid of my attachment to a person whom I have loved dearly but is clearly not good for me. :D

I have met so many people in the workplace who have inspired me to be greater than I imagined and I am looking forward to continuously improve in what I do. :)

Keep on inspiring many people…have a great year ahead!
Jo

Happy Birhday Sacha (sorry – i am late).

What software do you use to create the pdf file ?
This pdf looks really nice.

When i was 28 i broke up with my girl-friend – which was a very good desicion :-)

Regards,
Jo
rominia

Belated happy birthday!

28 was such a turning point for me. I became single again after an 8-year relationship. I grew in my faith and became active in a church community. I traveled the most in this year. I finally resigned from the company that was making me crazy. It was a liberating year. A dearest friend passed away when I was 28. She was in many ways like me. That changed my perspective. Life is ours for the taking.
- http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua
  
  Rominia: Yes, death has a way of making us appreciate life more! Glad you’re doing well.
  
  Jo: I copied blog posts into a document, formatted it with two columns, and then printed it using CutePDF to turn it into a PDF. Never quite been satisfied with “blog to book”-type services, so I just do it manually.
  
  Mylene: Yay, good for you! I can’t wait to learn more from your adventures.
  
  Prabu: Awww! =) I’m glad to hear I’m helping you explore more, and I look forward to being inspired to build strong and wonderful relationships too. Happy writing and happy living!

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sacha chua living an awesome life