Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career.

**For a second there I wanted to put down the title "Have job, will travel" but that's gonna be such a joke, wouldn't it? We all know that the phrase is a massive, massive irony.

So I finally have A JOB. So yeah, party's over, time to slave away and make cashola to be able to pay off debts. The offer letter was emailed to me this afternoon. It's a researcher position which would involve resurrecting what's left of my long-dormant Spanish skills. I'm honestly not too thrilled about the pay and the hours (night shift, baby), but hey, beggars can so not be choosers, can they? Especially not during such trying times of global financial hardship. The recession has indeed placed us in a situation where we must really learn to make do with the cards we are dealt. Besides, I really shouldn't complain - I just learnt that one of my classmates in grad school is now working as a prison guard in Europe. My heart bled a little for him.

There is a very convoluted side drama behind all this, but I would rather not document all the sordid details in this space. The basic gist of it is that this whole employment search ordeal unexpectedly became a protracted one. Also, I definitely did not expect that I would be subjected to boss dudes with the most inflated egos who enjoy playing god and do not even practice basic courtesy. This country is crawling full of them. And guess what, HR people here can be quite a cruel lot as well.

I came thisclose to getting into a health policy fellowship, but sadly they couldn't find a match for me (meaning an agency with a need for someone with my quals). I already reached the final stages of selection and all (despite having magnificently messed up the essay bit) but being the only non-medical person in the group, I was truly placed at a disadvantage. There were a few other near hits, but I'm really not excited to elaborate. Let's just say that this whole experience was so frustrating and traumatic and I am just so relieved that I can put it all behind me now.

I'm still keen on specialising in Southeast Asia and I am very much entertaining the thought of doing a Phd in the medium term. At the moment I'm convinced that boring-ass office work and operating on a 9-6 schedule is totally not for me, and that maybe my true calling is a career steeped in research and scholarship. I'm really heaps happier studying than working. My good friend C. has been telling me repeatedly that keeping myself in school is the coward's way to escape reality, but whatevs. What can I do, I'm Peter Pan like that. I also just read another pessimistic article listing down numerous reasons against doing a Phd, but strangely enough my resolve is still firm. Let's just see how it all plays out. We're talking about a precious investment of another 4-5 years here, and I wonder if I will still have the willpower and tenacity (and the funding!!!) to complete such a mammoth endeavour by then.

PS A couple of weeks ago I joined a Facebook group called I Picked a Major I Like, and One Day I Will Probably Be Living In a Box. Happy to have found over a hundred thousand people from all over the world in the same predicament. Yay for passion and idealism. Yay for having the cojones to follow your dreams. I just hope those things manage to keep us from starving.