don't let it slip by

do you know what's important in your life? just a light question to start with tonight. i have heard a few different people recently talk about two things in particular.
the first one is things vs experiences. do you want things in life. are you saving up for things. do you always want more. wish you had more. spend time figuring out how you can get more. or would you rather spend your money on experiencing life. on doing things. on going places. experiencing life. while i definitely can't say that i am not materialistic, i have definitely spent more money on experiencing life rather than accumulating stuff. i realised today when i was talking with dad, that this is my 5th time in seattle in the last 6 years. that and my other o.s. trips probably equates to a nice deposit for a house. i wouldn't trade any of my trips for that.
the other thing that i have heard a few people speak about is being real. living real life. having a real impact on a small numer of people rather than having a small impact on lots of peoples lives. or to put it another way, to have a small, intimate, real community rather than a large, less intimate, more superficial(?) community. those around me who i have heard talking, and who i agree with are saying that we prefer the former of the two.
i think it's a good thing in this world that people are different. argghh. imaine if we were all the same. that would suck.
i guess what the point i am trying to get at tonight is that you need to work out what's important to you in life. it would be a waste just to float along not knowing where you stand on these, or any other issues, in life for that matter. life is so short. i can't believe that i am 26. i often think, i don't feel like i am 26. but then again, what's a 26 year old supposed to feel like? if you then asked me what age i do feel, well it's not 18 or even 21. maybe 24 or 25? but then that's so close to 26. so maybe i do feel like a 26 year old. point being - life is short. as my mum used to say, actually, she probably still does, your age is what you make it.
if you want to do something, do it. don't look for excuses or wait for the right time. there will always be excuses or reasons not to do something, and i'm pretty sure the right time never really comes until you've already decided to do it.
don't let life slip by.