You missed it. It was last week, or maybe the week before. Things are pretty intense if you missed your own birthday.
Luckily, Melbourne has been good to you in terms of birthdays; if you do end up moving out of Oz, you will remember that, always. Last year, your friend Vrinda put on a complete surprise party; she actually planned it for the night before, and celebrated just after midnight. You were shocked in a fantastic way; it was one of those memories you will remember forever, and it was a very classy evening that means Vrinda will be your friend, for the rest of your life. Thank you, Vrinda.
This year, like last year, you told no one about your birthday. Facebook knows, though, and people know facebook. So when you had the initial Asean lunch of the year, people knew. And the leadership board, which included Stephanie, Jason, and Vicky… well, they decided to tell the restaurant… and of course, like any great Asian restaurant, they had cheesy birthday music to blare on the loudspeaker to go with the cake. Heartfelt thanks. You of all people appreciate a good bit of Asian cheesiness :)
So far in your life, you’ve had a chance to see many different places… unlike most, you’ve actually had the opportunity to live in these places for enough time to start to realize some of their particulars. Granted, you have seen only a few, and only for a few years each. Obviously this does not qualify you as an expert on any of them or on culture in general.
But that experience, as well as the racial diversity you see at MBS, has taught you something. Something that you should have applied quite some time ago, but something that unfortunately has only been processed within the last two days.
Humor is entirely subject to cultural interpretation. What is funny to some may be offensive to others, even within a given culture. Outside a given culture… well, how can anyone make someone else laugh without understanding the frames of reference they’re coming from?
And yet, some people actually do, and they are very well known across the world. Russell Peters and Bill Cosby, for instance, have somehow made a living connecting with people across cultures and making them laugh. These comedians are so good that the jokes they tell are understood and comprehended by people with completely different value systems, frames of reference, and life experiences. It’s amazing, really… and definitely worth seeing. Because that degree of depth of cross-cultural understanding is one that very few can ever hope to achieve.
There were four major newsworthy events of the last week (3 of which will be discussed below), all of which have the potential to change the course of your life. Such is the MBA experience. As previously mentioned, your candle is burning in three completely different directions, and, much to your surprise, each direction is coming more and more into focus.
Take, for instance, the Barclay’s Capital presentation on Friday. It was, quite simply, the best presentation you have ever seen. It was competent without being arrogant, confident while being humble and approachable and all of those things that you were or are looking for in a long-term work environment. And BarCap is expanding all over Asia-Pacific, which is the reason you decided to come to Oz in the first place. After all, you had wanted to be a professional country hopper; you wanted get paid to travel the world, doing interesting work while seeing and experiencing the world. You remembered this while re-reading your business school essays, which were written in Seoul, e.g. the best two years of your life. Absolutely amazing time.
And yet, you had originally attended the presentation with the cold, calculating intent of crossing finance off your list of possible careers. But because of this, you were honestly yourself during the presentation and after presentation networking, even going so far as to compliment your friends and to be funny during the one-on-one with the presenter guy... but for some reason the presenter guy laughed in honest amusement. Furthermore, you liked these guys; you could see yourself working alongside these people and having fun doing it. That was not supposed to happen. Bankers, after all, are boring people. The day bankers develop sensed of humor would be the same day you become... a doctor. For instance.
Enough said. Your physiology midterm came back and was good. Really good. This is good news, of course… but almost a week later, you are still too stunned to process it. Actually it’s worse than that… the good news fractured your psyche and sent it into a debilitating spiral of confusion. For days. You simply could not comprehend the result... it defied the range of possibilities. Among other things, you, the former military MBA student, were always a math guy, and you not only have never taken science seriously, you also didn’t have the required pre-reqs for this second-year course. Instead, you now have a massive bout of quarter-life career indecision.
Regardless, while your brain and heart were useless and your enteric system was busy secreting anti-emotive hormones, you attended a Consulting case workshop on Saturday… and it was apparent just how far you have come in terms of case interviews. As in, if by some miracle you are lucky enough to get interviews (which actually did happen last year), you might... possibly... get... hired (!) Unless, of course, the companies google you, find this blog, and realize what a nutter you are… as if they wouldn’t be able to tell from an interview.
At times like this, the blog is therapeutic. Because your life is quickly going from absurd to absurdist, and there are really so few ways to make fun of yourself in such a harmless way. Of course, most do not use blogs for this… the silent blog minority use their blogs for all sorts of other things, like impassive recollecting, bitching about stuff, or making fun of others, for instance.
But what fun is that? Certainly not as much fun as this.
All has been quiet on the blog front. Not so much in real life. Classes finished, physiology midterm occurred, classes are starting again (on Monday), and in the meantime, you’re studying literally as much as you can while maintaining a limited number of outside activities for sanity.
This is a good plan; or at least, it’s been good so far. You’ve met interesting people, as you are valuing the few times you let yourself out. Since sequestering yourself, you have actually built better relationships; perhaps you are at peace with the life you are leading, and this positive energy is sepping out your eyeballs. Or perhaps, because time with others is limited, you are forced to use it more efficiently.
No matter. Two of the people you are met are attending business school soon; you have decided so share pointers with them, as you were relatively successful in your journey and are also writing essays for the programs / jobs you are interested in. Unfortunately, you must keep some of this information private, though you hope to be able to share good news before the end of May 2010. Yes, it is a long way away… but that is the way of things. At least, that is the way of things in the world we live in.
In the meantime, you revisited your business school essays yesterday to help one of these friends; the level of passion and idealism was somewhat amazing. It was all real; if given enough time, you have been effective at using choice words to infuse pictures in text. A very strange skill to have; but perhaps it, more than anything else, is a reason your path has turned out this way. After all, the lens which you have presented yourself to the academic world has always started with an essay. They have been your first impression.
The point, then, is that learning to concisely and specifically express thoughts by using the written word is an extremely valuable skill in certain circles, especially academic ones. You can be as smart as you possibly can, but unless you are able to convey your thoughts on paper, your brain would be regarded as useless by the same circles that would value it most. While that is a strong statement to make, reflection has taught you that it is absolutely true.
One of the best things about Melbourne is the lifestyle; it seems that every Sunday is a lazy Sunday, that no one has a care in the world other than running outside for a footy game with their mates in one of the everpresent Melbourne parks that seem to pop up everywhere in the middle of the ‘city’.
Perhaps it’s not quite accurate; perhaps here in Melbourne, it’s the parks that are constant, and it’s the houses / buildings that pop up at irregular intervals, breaking the pristine landscape. It’s certainly an argument worth considering.
Today was definitely a lazy Sunday, but you didn’t partake in it. You instead made significant progress in your Physiology class. After all, your Brand and M&A papers are done; the only remaining MBS assignment you have left is a Trende-style closed-book final exam in a few weeks. Plenty of time to study medicine, and you used all the time you could.
You did, however, take a break from studying, and you met a friend for Chocolate at a tiny chocolate shop called Monsieur Truffe. Notice this is not pronounced ‘Monsieur Truffle’ -- you had previously thought this, but you had been wrong. It was not the first time.
Anyway, Melbourne has a number of boutique chocolate shops; this is pretty neat idea that you hope the rest of the world catches on to. You personally believe that Monsieur Truffe and Kokoblack are almost certainly home to the best chocolate you have ever had in your life.
Your friend agrees with you about Mr. Truffe; her pupils literally dilated as she took a small bite from a ‘Mexican Chili’ chocolate. Mexican Chili. It’s a flavour that no sane person would ever think of, but one that is still somehow greater than each portion individually. Like the Linkin Park and Jay-Z EP from so long ago. Who would have thought?
If you do decide to leave Oz, you will miss these chocolate shops, just like you miss Philadelphia Cheesesteaks. And Korean samgyapsal. One thing you will not miss? Not seeing ice hockey on TV. That being said, you have not been seeing anything on TV, these days. In fact, other than the Wimbledon Final, you have not even turned on the TV since you arrived here; you are too busy MBAing.
That being said, if good work is the key to good fortune, you have a lot of karma coming your way... and you would not have it any other way. Time will tell if this willing sacrifice is worthwhile...
You finished your brand management assignment. Congratulations!
The stars aligned, and the report was good. Really good. Obviously reports are subjective, and apparently your professor doesn’t give good grades… but you are excited about your report. The grade is meaningless at this point.
They say virtue is a reward in and of itself, and right now… right now not even the clouds can keep you down. Probably because of this paper... or maybe because of the physiology class that’s going on 3 times a week.
You’re really enjoying it; you’re finding it so interesting to learn about the body. You’ve never really done it before; you skipped Chemistry to take AP Physics after deciding not to concentrate in Bio because you liked math. And just by liking one thing, that other path was shut. For over ten years.
If you’re supposed to follow what you like, what if it crowds out other things you might like more?
That’s the dilemma you’ve been wrestling with pretty much ever since you started this MBA. You like everything, and you are proficient in most of it. So, you are having a hell of a time deciding what you want to do. That's not quite accurate... you want to do everything. Actually, you're having a hell of a time deciding what you do NOT want to do.
Not that it’s not fun, deciding what not to do. Especially compared with the lack of choice in the Navy. The military told you your life; you had no freedom at all. You once returned from a nine month deployment and went shopping for some dinner; the choices at the grocery store almost paralysed you because you hadn’t decided on anything in nine months. When you were awake, you worked. When you ate, you ate chicken. If you were hungry between meals, you ate either peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or whatever bowl of cereal happened to be in the cereal bin. You wore the same uniform. Every day. For nine months.
But the beauty of the MBA is that the choices... have a deadline. In other words, you ideally would like to decide by the time you take that first post-MBA job. And that, hopefully, will come at around the time you graduate. May 2010. That's your deadline. One of your friends in Korea described the MBA as a ‘get out of jail free’ card… this is an American figure-of-speech probably based on the Parker Brothers’ board game, ‘Monopoly.’ It basically means a chance to completely undo whatever you’ve done in the past. He meant that the MBA can undo unlimited career damage; at least, it can do this in the best of economic times. Now you are not so sure.
What you are sure of, though, is that you have career options. And location options. And they are good options. Of course, you have no job yet, but you have a year before you graduate. Something will materialize by then. Because you are targeting... everything. At least right now you are.
In the meantime, you have another paper to write. :)
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