You smell like swamp but I love it

My recent throes of eye-destroyingness bring me back to the time that I first started blogging; I'm sure SL will remember. At the time I was nearing the end of my stint in Shizuoka and had severe hayfever, the worst syptom being the itchy eyes. I've had them for about a month now here and I only just went and bought "Naphacon-A" to deal with it. After a few drops I am currently feeling somewhat closer to human than I have in weeks. So three cheers for Naphacon-A!!

Received my final placement details this evening - a full three days before the final deadline! Well done, University of Melbourne. I can feel a lengthy letter of complaint coming their way, as soon as I have my final marks for the course. I also start interviewing over the next few weeks which is a feeling I've not had to endure for some time now. That mixture of fear and arrogance and prediction and arrogance that you need to negotiate the hoops. I should be far from concerned as I actually interview very well (that's where the arrogance comes in), but there's always an element of nervousness when you haven't done something in a while.

I drove my parents to the airport this afternoon as they head off to the Sunshine State to visit relatives and had to endure another rant from my mother about the career suicide that is heading back overseas. Poor thing, both my older sister and I are both going through the motions of seeing what is feasible etc and it would seem my mother is resorting to emotional blackmail to keep us in-country. I think she fails to see that the wisdom in heading off is that you don't have to put up with these kind of rants anymore.

It did get me thinking about the generation gap in terms of career expectation etc. Sure, in my parents generation it was intriguing to have lived overseas, but ultimately it was unusual. Especially in the context of getting a job. Mind you, this was back in the days where you could actually get a decent job without two degrees. These days, and correct me if I'm wrong-o here, but I almost think it's expected that people will have lived overseas and that it certainly puts you ahead of the pack in interviews. So many of my previous interviews have revolved around questions about my life in Japan and China and then being offered the job. To my mind, there are as many if not far far more opportunities overseas than what there are here in Australia. However, my mother would seem to have some logic when she states that it may be hard to get a job here later when you've never really stayed in the country more than 5 minutes at a time. But, dammit, I've been back 18 months now! Yes, my feet have started to itch again and if I could find an appropriate position in the right country then I'd be off like a shot, but ultimately these are in a way career-based decisions.

I'm very much on the pro-overseas living side of the fence. You can't buy those kinds of life learning experiences at university. University won't prepare you for fighting with a taxi driver in Mandarin after he has taken the ultra-long way back to your apartment. Nor will it model the correct behaviour for having a traditional New Year's meal with a Japanese family. These things add up. They make us better as people and if we are very lucky, can also help us to develop a streak of flexibility that Reed Richard's would be jealous of. So what do you guys think? Career suicide to pick up sticks and head overseas or just the right thing to do?

Oh and to the constructive poster who has nailed my personality so completely that I dare not even speculate on who could know me so well... I did get the recommendation done. Perhaps you may like to sit in on one of my critical thinking classes before suggesting someone is incapable of doing such a thing. That said, you've inspired me to stop writing a blog for a couple of very close friends as I'm clearly supposed to be writing to a whole world of strangers whose opinion *really* matters. So beware, I'm going to start soap-boxing it up and becoming faux-political/pseudo-intellectual like every other important blog out there. ;)

Oh yeah, less than four weeks and counting. Miss you.