Freeeeeedom

I have no job anymore

First unemployed beer... they are trying to look sad

Now I am going to tell you why this is a good thing and why I'm not have a complete mental breakdown from joining the ranks of the unemployed.

1) We kind of knew it was coming: I didn't know it was quite this imminent, but with the market as it is we knew no one could possible be starting new projects or investing VC funding.   Also the falling value of the dollar and rising RMB is undermining the reason for outsourcing.. so bye bye ACG. (I can say the name now since I don't work there anymore)

2) The job sucked:  Our job position was kind of unnecessary, apart from telling the engineers what hard words in english meant in emails from clients,  so most of the time I vaguely felt like I should be doing something but there was nothing for me to do.  It was valuable because I learned that I do not want to work in IT and that I am still too restless to take a job and sit down at it for five years.   I think once I get home at xmas I might try and take a completely different direction that business for a while.  Like becoming a monkey trainer, or a free diver. 

3) I got an awesome deal: I got to keep my signing bonus, got a good amount of severance, got health insurance coverage for a year, free flights to and from China, and our apartment paid through Nov, so for the three months I worked I managed to get like half my yearly salary in perks. 

4) This is the most important reason:  NOW I GET TO TRAVEL 

I have to be in the Jing until Nov. 2 for the Kanye concert, and because I don't want to leave everything here too abruptly, so until then I am staying inside China.  The one place in China that I moved here determined to see was Tibet, so hopefully this time next week I will either be there or be on a train there.  Yes, I am indeed going to take the train from Beijing to Tibet (look at a map), it is very far, but looks like it makes up for that with the scenery. 

After the 1st of Nov i'm planning on getting on a train from Beijing to Hanoi, another monster ride, and then using that as my starting point for my SE Asia adventure.  Right now plan is: 

Hanoi -> Sapa (Viet) -> Luang Prabang (Laos) -> Vienite (Laos) -> raft down the Meekong river -> Siem Rep (Cambodia) -> Phom Phen (Cambodia) -> Qu Phoc Island (Viet) -> Saigon -> Jungle Beach (Viet) -> Saigon fly to Bangkok -> Islands in Thailand for two - three weeks. 

So far this is my tentative itinerary, which I am sure will change completely.. but just to give you an idea. 

I'm also going to try and keep up with my blog posts, but they will obviously much more infrequent since I am not planning on taking my computer with me.

So in recap, this was something I couln't control at all so I am not going to beat myself up about it, and I think it was for the best; now when I go home I can focus on finding a job that I actually have a higher chance to enjoy, not that just makes me money and satisfies the requirement of having a job.  With all of the pressure at CMC to get jobs I ignored the fact that this job was not in the direction I wanted to go with my life (other than going to China) and took it because it was the best thing I found and I was sick of everyone talking about their offers at parties.  Childish I know, but aren't we all to some extent.