[Nursie]

  At Age 20: I was partying like a madman, it was awesome
  At Age 21: Graduated, seeing a great girl, making a little money, enjoying city life
  At Age 22: Still having fun, meeting and sleeping with new people
  At Age 23: Yup. Same.
  At Age 24: New girl, same awesome life
  At Age 25: Lots of international travel this year. More great friends made Fun!
  At Age 26: More of the same.

And I'm still doing financially fine (though have not ever really settled into home ownership, I'm too fond of packing everything in and moving round the world), and am building a business based on the technical experience I gained in that decade. Also now in my mid 30s I still like learning and I still enjoy risk-taking.

You'll never make me regret not taking life seriously, and channelling my awesome early-20s brain-power into socialising and enjoying myself.

tl;dr - sex, drugs and rock'n'roll

[henryaj]

Awesome. It sounds like you had a great decade!

Do you have any pointers for us early-twentysomethings? I've just turned 23 and while I'm having fun in the city, enjoying the world of work, it doesn't sound quite as interesting as the same part of your life. How did you meet new friends, expand your social network, sleep with new people, and enjoy the metropolis? I've found the transition from university to work has made all of the above more difficult.

[coldpie]

Find a hobby (preferably separate from what you do at your job, but whatever) and find people who participate in it. I chose auto racing, and I'm volunteering to do corner stations at one or two ChumpCar races this summer. Hoping to get a team together next year.

If you're not the social type, don't worry about having lots of friends. For me, there's probably around 10 people that I consider friends and that's plenty. Just find something you like and find some other people who like doing it.

[Nursie]

I guess in my case I guess had a hook, I was part of a scene (the goth scene, in case you want a laugh, though in the UK it isn't/wasn't synonymous with angry teenagers or Marilyn Manson).

Once you're on the inside of something like that then the barriers to meeting new people within the scene are significantly reduced, though obviously you're perceived to have put up barriers to everyone else to a greater or lesser extent. Also it turns out a lot of goths are software engineers...

I guess what I'm saying is if you have a thing (be it goth, learning the ukelele, mountain climbing, whatever) don't be afraid to embrace the thing, and don't let the day job take over your whole life :)

--edit-- Also, just do stuff. Take a risk, meet people off the internet. I organised a couple of 'fark' meetups in London back then, and even have a couple of pretty good IRL friends met through some much shadier sites.

[henryaj]

'Just do stuff' (or, more specifically, 'take more risks') is my one resolution for 2013. I'm meeting new people through online meetups, CouchSurfing, Twitter, and just randomly chatting up strangers (a skill I'm trying to actively develop). It's a fun ride.

Thanks for the advice! If you're ever in London, let me buy you a beer.

[nQuo]

I'm in London too. 24, with a similar resolution to get out of my comfort zone. Let's grab a pint or two.

iMessage or email: nquo at iCloud dot com

[muyuu]

Soo... you are definitely not wasting your 20s. :-)

[Nursie]

Hehe... They're long gone now, I had a lot of fun though. After that little catalog of hedonism I moved to Australia for a while, then back home and now I'm trying the settle-down thing.

Which, incidentally, I don't advise putting off for quite as long as I have, there's a balance somewhere and I think I might have overshot, but I did have an awesome decade.