Well it has been a long time since I have written in here, and to be honest, I actually planned to write in here more often but the time seems to have gotten away from me. It is the beginning of July and I am waiting for my Criminal Background Check to be completed in South Africa so I can send all my documents to South Korea for my potential new job.
The emphasis on potential though because the new job that I am applying for starts at the beginning of September and If I do not get everything in order by than, I might be out of luck in that respect. I am trying not to worry too much though but I still think my parents would like me to stay here rather than go to South Korea however given the last two weeks and the economic news, I think my choices are fairly limited in terms of work.
I am contemplating a Ph.D though but the problem there would be the cost and the fact that I am looking at 5 years +- depending on the school that I apply for. Secondly I would not mind writing a doctoral thesis on some Business aspect but I would prefer to do it on politics. I doubt I would be accepted for a Political Ph.D given my education up to this point has been in Business.
These are not serious issues however and things seem to be smoothing out people wise, everyone is in Mass. this weekend and I really wish I was there however the only person I can blame for that is myself due to a lack of planning. I am really looking forward to things getting into order, working 9 - 5, coming home and working on my writing/blogging. I guess we will have to see.
I usually post fighter jets but that would give some people the wrong impression that I only care about planes that can push the speed limit. Actually I am also a big fan of the c130 not only for its sturdiness but overall aesthetic looks:
Well this last week has been a bit saddening but good at the same time. After having spoken to the counsel about my situation with some Chinese people, I have come to the realization that it was not wrong for me to express my dissatisfaction with the policies of China. I did so in a logical and concise way unlike many of the arguments that other people have made to me. I would have hope that some of my friends could have seen past the issues to what makes us good friends but I guess that is not going to happen. The question that now sits before me is how much do I try? A good friendship should have people fighting on both sides, should it not? I think so that is what I am done with that. Out of all my friends, the people who keep in contact are the only ones that matter to me. The rest are just the fringe and I am not going to waste my time with them.
Was thinking about the hypothetical scenario of me heading back to the States last night. It would really be good to walk around Elm park again and maybe get a hotdog and Ice-Cream Taco. Those were really good and I think I found something that tastes equally as good the other day. It was some variation of a cornetto but I think I will have to head back to the Centra on Foxborough to investigate that further.
I had a good weekend this past weekend though I have to admit that I played far too many games. I think on Saturday I played UT3 with Serg and Tino for 3.5 hours. On Sunday I was going to play some TF2 with RID which I did so but than I played some more UT3 with Tino. Way too much gaming when I should have been blogging on the weekend. I still need to write that story about immigration as well as what John McCain is thinking about.
The weather has changed drastically here in Ireland, makes me want to go out for a cycle however given all that I need to do, I don’t think that is going to happen. Also got to play some pool with Darren the other day, which was great but that kid is too darn good. Damn! This is also a reminder to myself to never close down your hotmail account as much as you would like to do because the futureme emails are attached there. I think? Though I might have changed that already.
Job wise, got a second interview at Gibney communications tomorrow, not sure if it is going to go well because they need to give me 30K euro in order to secure my work permit. Either way I still have the Korean backup plan and according to the PEW Global Research Center, Korea is one of the only places in the world where they have a positive sentiment about immigration. Anyway so I was trying to think about what plane to post today and I wanted to go with a predator drone before realizing it is not really a plane so I have gone with the classical Soviet SU-27.
Well its about the middle of April at the moment and still no word on my thesis results. This was expected though so I am not too worried about that. It was quite a chilly day today in Ireland but that is typical of the way the weather changes with the last few days being on the warm side but today being significantly colder. Went into the city center to visit a friend of mine that works at Chartbusters which is a video store chain here in Ireland. We talked about life for a while and his dissertation but it allowed me to put my life in perspective at the moment.
At the end of the whole conversation, we came to the conclusion that our respective lives are pretty good. We are just looking for that point in our lives where we can truly start living or basically getting into that routine that all humanity must face at some point or another. For me I think I am looking for two things which is a great job and someone to share my life with me. Where that happens, who knows since I have narrowed down my opportunities to a few places of which South Africa is not one of them.
At the moment, it looks like the plan is to wait for my thesis results, see how the Irish Job market holds out and then make the move to Korea, Taiwan or Japan respectively. Stay there for a minimum of 2 years and then make the final move to Canada if all things permit. Then again I have to say that my long term plans for my life never seem to work out though they always work out for other people for some reason.
The other thing of note that happened this week is that I never realized that Google had indexed this blog since I had not even setup an XML sitemap for it. I guess this is kind of good in a way and bad since people just need to Google their name to find out if I have written about them. The plans for the weekend are the same, going to hopefully get Tino and Serg on at the same time to play some UT3 and then make a few phone calls this weekend.
So my plane for this post is the “Arrow”, I am not sure what the offical designation is but I remember watching a documentary about the plane once back in South Africa. She is a sheer beauty though and one of the first planes to break Mach 1.
Well Life has a funny way of coming around I think, when I left South Africa I remember telling myself that I would never go back but most likely I will have to go back there for a short time to sort out my Visa. From there it is to Korea, talking to Lauren Gray the other day It reminded me that as long as you have passion for something, it doesn’t matter what it is but you will be happy doing it. I know that comment kind of came out of the blue but I thought I would throw that in there with the mix of things about my life.
Did I mention it is quite cold in Ireland today, nothing like the cold in Mass. but it is still pretty cold. I look down at the thermometer on my PC and it reads 30C because I was playing UT3 for two hours today. Having dinner in a little bit and looking forward to that since I am quite hungry. I bought a PSP by the way and had it hacked by these two Malaysian characters at UCD. That was a pretty interesting day since whole incident makes me want to laugh but if anyone understands the nature of piracy, you will see why.
Life is going well at the moment though, work has developed into a routine and either way I will be staying around Ireland until I get my proper results. Anyway today I thought I would honor the SR-71 which is a truly wonderful plane and was a feet of ingenuity for its time:
Well a few days ago after alot of luck I finally managed to locate Lisa Jane Wakeford who still lives in the USA after all this time. Some of my friends may remember this story but she was the first girl at my new school (Westville Junior Primary School) to invite me to a party. It was a halloween party and I wore an oversize Dracula costume with fake teeth and I remember falling and breaking off my fake teeth at some point too. The party was a great experience and so important to me especially in those days because I was one of 3 people who were not Caucasian at that school so it was a good blending experience.
More important she was the first woman to give me a valentines card, I will never forget the card and can still see it in my mind being made out of red paper with a heart cut out in the center. She first wrote “I love you” but than crossed out the love part out. It was still a much appreciatd gesture which is why when she dissapeared to America, I have been curious for a long time as to what happened to her. I actually found her through Facebook which was awesome and thank you Facebook for being able to answer a question I have had for a very long time.
The plane of the day is the Aurora which in theory was supposed to be the first PDE Spy Plane. PDE being pulse detonation engine which would allow a plane to hit the Mach 5 level. To the best of my knowledge, no government or organization has been able to create a working model of the engine hence the project was scrapped but I think she is a beauty anyway:
