'11.

They say that the experiences a man goes through in his college years will shape him into the man that he will become for the rest of his life. Boy, what a ride its been thus far - no pun intended. I've met new people, tried new things, and seen what the world has to offer me. Throughout the past two weeks alone, I've been to hell and back, laying blissfully in a companion's warm embrace one night and drowning my sorrows with sake and blowing smoke the next. Despite the progress I've made, I know that I've still got miles and miles to go before I get there, and this is a journey which both excites and terrifies me at the same time. Fear of the unknown is a fickle trait, though; I seek first to make it known, and then to make it mine.

Already I can faintly make out the silhouette of the man I have yet to become: a man resilient in his values, yet soft to those of others; a man admired for his resolve, but humble towards those who have shaped him; a man sweltering with passions and who will go to limits above and beyond in order to chase his horizons, although at the end of the day he knows that he can't do it all alone, at least not everything. I see him now, and day by day, the image becomes clearer. The world crashes onto me like wind and waves breaking against stone; only the strong make their mark. And while it may seem bleak at the moment for those unable to come into their own, just remember: we all have to start somewhere.