Had drinks with the guys just now.
And of course besides the usual girl talk, girl talk and girl talk, we yakked about careers and stuff =)) Sigh. Will I ever have the guts to make a career switch at this stage of my life I wonder.
I've just crossed my 8th year of work and there was only one time, about 4 years ago, when I seriously contemplated a career switch. The idea of being a overseas Station Manager with our National Carrier looked pretty enticing. But at the time, I was doing more than just OK at work and it was so hard to leave your comfort zone. So the idea was banished to the Land of Thoughts. Conveniently, as usual.
O says I make a good personal banker. Just so I can wine and dine the clients and talk them into letting me spend their moolah. I can't deny I am more interested in the wining and dining =)) But K says I make a good liaison man and should be in Corporate Comms. Perhaps she is right because I was approached some time ago to head up Public Affairs in my current organization. However that didn't take off. Strangely, a dozen or so people I have met all tell me that I am so engineered for the Military. Maybe they are diplomatically trying to say I am bossy. Or worst, all brawn and no brain! =))
So perhaps I'll tell you guys some of the other jobs I have casually thought about in the last couple of years. But you all promise not to laugh ok? =P Some are as different as Chalk and Cheese.
Radio DJ *haha*. Back in Uni, I nearly signed up for a DJ workshop cos I wanted to do some part-time jockey work spinning tracks and have my own late-nite talkshow where I can have interesting conversations with sad lonely souls and play them some Air Supply. Tra la la...banished to the Land of Thoughts, mummy would say I was playing poisonous pagan music for the masses =))
Aide-de-Camp or ADC to the President. Otherwise known as the glamorous servant-boys to our Head of State. Cool uniform, get to hob-nob with royalty, always looking spiffy, constantly practicing your PR skills...not bad what hor? =)) Banished to the Land of Thoughts, how long can I be a high-profile slave, ten years? =))
Tour Guide. I am an avid traveller and I think I would like to give people a new cultural experience and social perspective to a foreign place. Outside what they are so familiar with. Banished to the Land of Thoughts, I think I am really just in it for the free travel =))
Country officer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If I were assigned Tibet, I would need to know what the Dalai Lama had for breakfast =)) I have worked in an embassy before and I must say I quite enjoyed the pseudo-ambassadorial functions that came with the posting. But...banished to the Land of Thoughts, switching from one Ministry to another would be tantamount to betrayal! =))
A Teacher, not here, but teaching English in Japan. And its not in Tokyo or Osaka mind you but in far-flung prefectures like Saitama, Yamaguchi or Kanagawa where you're expected to be holed-up in some quaint little High-school in a quaint little town or village, letting the clueless Nipponese-kiddos practice their In-ger-rish on you. Heard it pays about SGD4500 a month and you get to eat at the skool tuck-shop, saving yourself the hassle of deciding whether it would be the smoked Tuna belly sashimi or Tonkatsu with sticky rice for lunch today. Burp...banished to the Land of Thoughts, also not a long-term thingee and perhaps only good as a form of filler between proper jobs.
A position at the United Nations. Not fussy, UNESCO, UNDP or UNEP also can. Its the exposure lah I tell ya. Hiaz...banished to the Land of Thoughts, I would never never make the grade cos you need fantastic ECAs at skool, relevant work experience and a 3rd working Language like French or Spanish.
So you see, a number of thoughts but at the end of the day, I am still here. Day In and Day Out. Doing the same things I am most comfortable and familiar with. Satisfied with the fact that I am notified by email promptly every month that my salary has been safely credited into my bank account.
The mind-boggling thing is, can't say I am happy about it. But can't say I am sad either. But one thing's for sure. As the years tick on by, the inertia adds on exponentially.
For me at least.