(Untitled)

[oxymoronia]

The light outside is amazing at the moment. The clouds are thick and dark in the east, but in the west where the sun is setting the sky is (more) clear and an intensely golden light is coming through. Wow. I love summer storms and summer sunsets

Comments

[merle_]

Argh, stop tempting me! Now I really wish I'd taken that contract job in Edinburgh...

[oxymoronia]

Hehehe, oh dear! The recession will have cut down on the available opportunities, but you could always look for another job. Are you eligible for an ancestry visa?

I'm still not sure if I'll go for more than a few months because I don't know what my chances are of finding a job over there is, and it freaks me out because at least here in Australia I can claim unemployment benefits for in-between jobs, but I won't be able to do that overseas and seeing my savings draining away without any certainty in the future will make me very neurotic and unhappy!

[merle_]

*google-wikis* Nope, my direct ancestors were over here long before the cutoff.

I won't even attempt to advise on moving or not because I'm far too conservative when it comes to life choices.

[oxymoronia]

Somehow you don't come across as the white picket fence type, though!

[merle_]

Oh, no. Painting is too much work. ;-)

I like doing exotic things, but only when I know there is a secure and safe zone to come home to. I do envy the people who can sell all their possessions and go backpacking in Europe, but it doesn't match my personality: I'd want all my stuff protected by someone I trust and enough money set aside so I could definitely return, retrieve it, and get back to work. Liberal in thought, conservative in action...

[oxymoronia]

I'll probably be like that in a decade or so, when I have more stability but at the moment I don't have many possessions, no significant other, no children and I don't have a "career" yet. So no matter what life choice I make, I don't have much to lose.

[merle_]

After university does seem like the best time. I was seduced away by a programming job making insane amounts of money and never escaped. (okay, by "insane amounts of money" I mean "1.5x minimum wage", but compared to the grad students I was living with I was rolling in money -- far more than I had ever thought possible or knew what to do with)

[oxymoronia]

That's the problem with money, once you have it you get used to it and going back seems impossible. When I first moved to Melbourne I was living on about AUD$600 a month, which is something I could never do now. Even when I try to scrimp my budget these days is still twice that amount.

[merle_]

Yes. I look back on the summer when I probably spent only $100 in food (rice, soy sauce, and instant ramen) and realize that these days I could hardly live a month on so little money.

Plus, once you have money, you tend to buy things like libraries of books or houses or what not that tie you down.

That said, I'm not quite ready to give up having money. ;-)