Dear 20 year old Linh,
It's 8:10am, I recently turned 13 and a half (on Christmas!) and it's the 6th day of the new year, 2021. Of course you know this, but I'm going into grade eight this year, I have a 2 year old brother named Anh Vu, and I have five fish (also no car yet). That's all the obvious stuff out of the way, but there's one question I'd like to ask you first-do you truly remember your 13 year old self? It's kind of hard to grasp that my whole existence is going to be a thing of the past, but I'll try my best to reopen the world that your younger self lived in.
You may know all that previous stuff, but I wonder just how much you remember of me. Perhaps to start it off, your 13 year old self still loves arts and crafting. I recently got into crochet, picked up knitting, needle felting, and bullet journaling again, and am experimenting with a sort of Kiki's Delivery Service watercolour technique when it comes to drawing and painting, but these days I'm more invested in craft (and making little figurines like frogs). I ended the year with some nice grades and a 100% on my AMEB test (!) and have been keeping myself busy since school holidays started with learning to do chores and learning how to cook (I combined two of my interests and started scrapbooking my recipes, especially the fruit muffins you made all the time for your family).
I have no fears so far-even eighth grade doesn't scare me, because I have a supportive group of friends and I'm pretty confident that I can make it through. I mean, if I could make it through a year like 2020 it seems that all I'd want to do in the new year is have high hopes for what comes next! 2020's so far been filled with a lot of your old classmates changing, and having the abundance of new kids rearrange the existing friend groups that made up the 'social hierarchy' of the class of 2025. I also gained a new friend group-one with people that shared your different interests (I just found of two of them knit), and did things like tie all our shoelaces together and shuffle down the hallway, race on wheelie chairs and make life-size cardboard cutouts. Being online for a majority of the school year was boring, but it was easy for me to make it through academically and socially this year. I may not be the best of the best at sports, but I can safely say I'm not lacking in any subject so far! So far I don't hate any subject because it's better to apply yourself when you don't have any prejudices against one (but I do admit the music teacher does drone on for a bit). Something pretty cool that happened was getting an academic excellence award for my end of year report, mainly because I'd tried so hard to do my best in every subject.
When thinking about my future, I'm actually quite unsure. I guess this is because I have such a wide variety of interests and I'm honestly fine wherever I go if I at least enjoy it-but I still have some goals. I hope you've finally moved out and gotten into a good university, and gotten a super good ATAR. Make sure to do something on art or journalism along the way, but other than that you're free to do anything you want (AND YOU BETTER BE ENJOYING IT.). Make sure you're travelling lots, too, and incorporate that into your work for a bonus. Go to France, Italy, and England again-and if Japan/Korea was a good experience, make sure to at least go there once again. Vlog about it, too, because hopefully you're still interested in video editing. Make sure you've been helping out someone, whether if it's volunteering for charity or cooking for homeless people. Also, participate in the making of a book. It could be about anything-a fictional comic, a fiction novel, something about journalism. That would be a great achievement, and best of all you can brag about it to your younger brother. Check on him too, and your parents! Call lots and visit when you can. Hopefully by now you've baked and iced a whole birthday cake, because that's also a nice goal, too (bonus if you ate it all). And learn to drive, so travelling's easier, and get a nice vintage caravan. Aim to live in somewhere like London, Tokyo, or Italy in a nice apartment. I don't know what kind of job you'll have in the future, but try to start off in a nice place like a cafe or a minor job in making a manga.
In the end, enjoy yourself, because that's all I need. I think at your age you should be living pretty much your best life, so don't waste it. I'll make sure to get good grades and study hard myself! Who knows what I'll become this year, this month or even just tomorrow, but coming from your 13 year old self, I'll be proud of whoever you are and whatever you're doing (mainly because this is myself I'm writing to)
Linh
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