08 December 2008

Dream job or dream location?

I know they're not necessarily mutually exclusive, but if they were, and you had to choose, would you pick your dream job in a so-so location or a so-so job in an amazing place?

For example, would you rather be a painter in industrial Siberia or a paper clip bender in French Polynesia? Just curious. Well, all right, that isn't true. My partner and I are trying to decide where to go next, and it's an exciting time of having full freedom to go anywhere we want. The good news is that we'll be fine wherever we end up, and wherever we don't go, we can always visit, etc. The fear is that by choosing one place, we eliminate other choices.

We don't want to run out of time and have spent the rest of our lives waiting to go to the next place. So, I guess that just made it very clear. Writing is amazing like that. Thanks. (Translation: don't settle-- go to a place we know we'll be happy.)

Like waiting for a life partner, you don't wait for someone who is impossibly perfect to come falling into your arms, but you also don't give up until you find someone who you know will make you happy.

I once heard that you should pick three non-negotiables, and stick to those and let everything else slide. For example, if all you wanted were washboard abs, an amazing hairdo and culinary skills to rock your world (not that compatible with the six-pack abs, I realize), then you can't be that picky about, say, their soccer skills.

So, what are your non-negotiables for a life partner? What about for the place you choose to live? For a life partner, I said nice, intelligent and with compatible humor. For the place I'll live next, my partner says safe, access to metropolitan life and with summer weather at least part of the year. I'd say aesthetically pleasing (preferably near some kind of water), culturally diverse (ideally, international) and with good travel opportunities. You?

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