When they say at this blah age my life changed forever, in books, on TV, in movies — is that true? Or are they bluffing?

When I signed in medical forms, and there were several, this month, I wrote ’24′ and suppressed a chuckle. I am just 24, 11 months, ++ days anyway. It’s like I’m cheating or playing with time this way. And when it comes to age, I wonder how old Martha Masters is without my having to peek on the wiki. I love not knowing.

When Masters finished internship from House’s department and quit Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital altogether, she nodded in tears to House’s final taunt: “You’re not exceptional,” and “It’s never gonna be the same again.” You should know that Masters has more or less the IQ of Einstein, a peculiar fashion sense (which I like btw), and provided House with the moral barricade that he needed so he wouldn’t go barbarian on his patients, or uhm, Cuddy. Like Thirteen’s role and person in the show, hers was a standout because she could stand up to the best of them all — her boss. She couldn’t build a culture out of the value of lying. Yes, people lie, but not all people lie for a living, or lie to live; better yet, not all people live to lie. And yet she wasn’t exceptional.

When watching, I sometimes disagreed with her. Most of the time, House came across more convincing. When he said Masters was not exceptional, he got me thinking. Heck, what would we be if she wasn’t? And yet she wasn’t. House himself dropped a hint in one of her early appearances: in effect it went, you can’t be exceptional if you want to be part of a team.

I hope I don’t have to explain that.

Let’s just say, you can pull out all your guns, but never fire them at the people around you. It’s either selfish or naïve to murder. A beautiful mind can do humanity better without acting exceptional. Or being exceptional. I don’t really have the all-encompassing logical answer to what questions might have risen from the You-are-not-exceptional speech, which somewhat echoed the You-are-not-special speech of David McCullough. But when I turn 25, I’m bringing it with me. I’m choosing not to be a bane to humanity, no matter how small or large the sacrifices it requires me. Ouch. (But I’ll still do that, insert a tiny reference to The Dark Knight Rises, vain things like that.)

When they say at blah age my life changed forever, they’re bluffing. If you want forever, change when you need to. It’s a lot of work, you know.

At 25, I can say goodbye to a lot of things now. Live without the lies. And yeah, friggin’ find myself a Mr. Darcy one of these days. One thing I dare believe in, it will never be the same again. I’m nodding with you, Martha. I’m nodding in tearful hoping.