I think I had some illusion about the ability of a good long vacation to really put work into perspective. My friend in Singapore liked to quote the Chicago song "even lovers need a holiday" (although I assured him that nobody in Chicago quotes Chicago like that), and I thought the same would be true for work. Absence would make me miss it even just a bit. Well, I have to admit, it was nice to come home after three weeks on a sometimes dirty and winding road through Asia.

I am really trying my best to keep a positive attitude about my career (though the word itself scares me) and my posibilities in audit and whatnot. There really is a lot to do here and some much to learn. It is unfortunate that everyone I met on my trip turned up his/her nose at the sound of the A word: accounting. As a whole, I think it is all pretty interesting. I just am having trouble with the work portion of accounting.

Anyway, to make the plot thicker, I returned a find my "raise letter" waiting in the mail pile. Yes, every year the company sends out an impersonal letter to inform everyone what their new personal worth is. At about a 20% increase, I wasn't sure that I am really worth so much, but it is nice to have. Although I swear I don't want more money (it makes me feel like I have to work 20% more), it does make it hard to leave this life for some career that would pay half as much.

The people at work are as good as ever, though. I am in the office this week doing some odd jobs, wrap-up, and training stuff. There were tons of people who seem sincerely interested in my vacation and how my life is going. Unfortunately one of the best guys, I found out, is taking a transfer to Australia for a couple years. That is on my busiest, most confusing client too. That means more work for me and the manager who are left behind...

Anyway, overall things are cool. I am looking into getting some ecommerce clients to learn more about that business. I also intend to talk to one manager about how to improve my Japanese to business fluency. While I don't have any specific career goal, Eugene and I discovered that maybe the little individual challenges are enough to keep us going. There is certainly enough in public accounting to keep me interested for a while, so let's see how long I can hang on for the ride. Until next time, Aaron