Hmm...

So, I was trying to be all responsible, calling my bank and my credit card company to let them know that I'll be overseas, and that I'll be using my cards while I'm there, and something occurred to me. For all its ups and downs...my job is really freaking cool sometimes. I get to go to Vietnam and France, all in one trip. I get to see places that I don't think I'd ever see on my own steam. The being away from home part is difficult sometimes, (well, most of the time), but when I am no longer excited about seeing new places, that's when it's time for me to re-evaluate, as I've always said. But for the time being...I'm still excited about the new places. I'm glad that I get to balance some international assignments with domestic work, and I'm really glad that people on both sides are patient with me when my schedule gets kind of weird.

To say nothing of how grateful I am that my friends and family are all really supportive of this pseudo-nomadic period - I don't know if I could do it otherwise.

So, I'm having a warm, fuzzy moment and thought I'd share.

Here I go again, on my own...

What's not fun about a little Whitesnake quote?

Well, the point of all this is to announce, as I did in my e-mail earlier today, that I will be returning to Vietnam in two weeks, through the middle of November. While a little more time at home would have been nice, I will have been able to experience the major life events that I wanted to experience - babies being born, friends getting married, all that good stuff that makes up *life* that you don't want to miss. So, while I'm missing some things, I'm not doing too badly so far.

I'll be heading to Vietnam for a different project than the last one, and I'll be up in Hanoi. I think this project will go better than the last for many reasons - chief amongst them being the fact that the project is already in progress, is already established, and is actually kind of going well. As opposed to the big fat mess I was chucked into last time. I should also be working with a better group of people this time. Apparently, Darth didn't think too much of my work, and told my boss he doesn't want to work with me again. Interesting criticism from a guy who prepared for an important meeting with the client by nagging us for our sections of the presentation, and then kicked back with a magazine.

Tool.

But whatever - as I said, this project should be much better, and it will be capped off with my week in Paris. The timing really has worked out absolutely perfectly. The temperatures in Vietnam will be on the toasty side, so I'll be giving my parents a small bag of warmer clothes to bring to Paris, but they don't mind, so that works out very nicely! An even cooler thing - D should be back in Paris when I'm there, and may even be in Vietnam when I'm there as well, so hurrah for new/old friends! She and I had a lot of fun together, so I'm really happy to have the chance to see her again.

I continue to ponder my options here at work, and I'm finding that, just knowing that I have options makes a big difference to my peace of mind. I think I'm likely to be around a lot more in the spring, keeping busy with domestic work and studying for a professional certification exam, but it's all part of the longer-term plans I've got. If you could really say I have any plans to speak of. It's a stretch - lemme tell ya.

But for now, I want to wrap up things the best I can before heading off into the wild, blue yonder. Unfortunately, I'm thinking ahead too much, and it's making concentrating very difficult.

Look - a shiny object!

La, la, la, la....