How do I say this without sounding completely melodramatic?

Whatever, here it goes…

My old life ended yesterday. That’s my old life of waking to the second alarm. Fumbling into tights and a skirt. Walking down Grand Street, turning onto East Broadway, taking the F train to York Street. Passing headphones, man-buns. Walking under the bridge, the trains roaring overhead. Then I enter the building and wait for the elevator. We cram into the elevator — the well-heeled and ambitious, the tired and resigned. Confusingly, I don’t know if I fit into either category. At any rate, I get off at the 8th floor, and I electronically identify myself at the doorway. Then I walk to my desk and, more or less, sit there for the next eight hours.

Well, that was my old life. But, as of yesterday, I’m what may be called “unemployed,” or “discovering myself” or “watching Netflix.” And the reason why? I’ll be embarking on a journey — a backpacking trip through Asia, beginning in Japan. There are no grand designs for what this trip will mean. And I’m almost positive there will be some utterly shocking, strange and confusing moments along the way. But, most of all, I think it will be those embarrassing but honest cliches — magical, life-changing, blah blah.

So far, here’s what I’ve got: a one-way ticket to Tokyo, a hotel reservation for the first 3 nights, a passport and a camera. But everything else? It will be planned soon or along the way. For now, I guess that’s all I can say. As I write this blog post, I feel like I’m writing a book that has no developed characters. No structure, no plot. But I guess that’s why it’s fun, and why it’s a blog, and why it’s my old life no more.