Reaching Deep.

The journey is everything.

                                 - Jerry Maguire

Weird huh? I just used a quote from Jerry Maguire. It has been about a month since my last post and part of that has to do with my own self taking some time to reevaluate some personal things. The other part has been my recent trip to New York City and Washington D.C. for several days over Labor Day weekend. The quote really encapsulates the point I want to get across. The last month has been one wild ride but has opened some new avenues for my future. Let me explain.

I basically work a glorified sales job and I do not have stomach to really continue with this career in the long term. It helps me pay the bills and insurance is always welcome. I avoid going into too much detail because I do not want to risk my frail job security by giving the moral ambiguities of the industry I work in. This can be said in all honesty; I love the people I work with and we make a very enjoyable and eclectic group of coworkers I have ever encountered. It reminds me a lot of The Office but that is a story for another day.

Because this job has little to no real future in it for me, it has given me pause to really sit and reevaluate what I want to do with my life. The raises are paltry and barely keep up with inflation and the commute is the worst I have ever heard of. I drive from Kent to the Tukwila International Boulevard Link Light Rail Station Monday thru Friday (and the occasional Saturday). The Light Rail subesequently takes me to Pioneer Square Station in Downtown Seattle. From Pioneer Square I walk a few blocks down to the Seattle ferry terminal and ride the ferry to Downtown Bremerton. I finally walk to my destination to work not far from the Bremerton ferry terminal. I reverse but repeat that commute coming home. In total the commute takes 2-2.5 hours a day. If someone knows of a worse commute please let me know as it might actually make me feel better about my day. Anyways, on to my main point...

My cousin brought a very interesting proposition to my attention immediately before our trip to the East Coast and on a couple occasions throughout. He has presented the possibility of a move to Houston, TX. On the surface it sounds like a huge change that might demand a lot of adjustment coming from Pacific Northwest to the "Lone Star State". But after experiencing the last couple of trips (East Coast trip and a SE Asia trip) it has made me take a long hard look at realistically considering this trip.

Reasons I have found:

1. Money: One of those things I always thought I could do without (I live fairly frugally). I have come to the realization how much I can do with not only a salary bump but also to have that financial future as well. My parents have been hit hard by the recession and I know as the boy in the family I have a larger responsiblity in helping them out when retirement comes (which is coming sooner rather than later). Also, having seen how my father's side of the family lives in utter poverty, I see how much of a difference a couple hundred dollars can make in helping improve their livelihood. The lack of money I think has opened my eyes to its importance.
2. Sanity: Seattle is a beautiful city filled with beautiful, intelligent people. I was a confused underachiever and went for a degree in History at a State College. Not to knock on WSU but I sometimes feel like I should have ended up at the UW. I learned a lot of things at WSU but there was a lot of wasted time and money in Pullman and I definitely have some regrets about it. If only I had gone into something more tech/science related because there are not a lot of opportunities for someone with a liberal arts degree. I need to move out of the house but it is hard with my salary! By moving to Houston my cousin and I would be able to afford a house (more of a mini mansion but a house nonetheless).
3. Opportunity: Boeing is leaving Seattle whether we like it or not and the Pacific Northwest will be hard pressed to fill the void. I feel like the opportunities are only going to get more limited in the area even at the big tech companies (i.e. Microsoft and Amazon) with the advent of outsourcing and the constant need for fresh blood.Houston has a number of universities for me to go back to school. I want to go back to school and I have some pretty good gameplans to make a more secure financial future for myself in Houston. Plus, it does not hurt that I am also looking for the right woman (preferrably Vietnamese) and there a lot of opportunities for that to happen too.

The journey I am trying to refer to is two fold. One is that all the choices and actions in my life have led to this for better, for worse. Secondly, one aspect of travelling that has really gripped me is help enlighten me to the things I do and do not have. It is sad to say but I really to feel that money is the lubricant that gets the gears of happiness going. It is not to say that you cannot be happy without money but it certainly is a means to an end. There are so many things I want to see and experience (i.e. travel the world, raise a family and eat and cook delicious foods from all over the world) that really do require to one extent or another: Money. Money is not a means to materialistic things but to be able to experience more of those life altering, life fulfilling adventures that I hope I will forever endeavor towards. Money truly never sleeps; it is that teasing, sassy insomniac-girl/guy next door that when you have them, can make you at times a happy, happy person and at other times becomes the devil inside that manipulates, enslaves and binds us. Sometimes it is the very preventing us from doing the things we really want to do. I hope I become the former rather than the latter.

Day 100/180