A Very Long Engagement

This morning I faxed the signed job offer letter to my future corporate headquarter. To me, the action officially marked the end of my very long job hunting process (well, it was awfully long to me) and signified the beginning of a new era (with a brief one-week vacation in between ).

The funny thing was that the new job fit all the criteria that I had asked Avalokitesvara (觀世音菩薩) to look out for me for:

• Bart-able (no sucky commute to the Silicon Valley, although they do pay significantly more),
• nice co-workers,
• a small company (this local branch is tiny),
• using Java EE technologies,
• normal working hours (excluding the night & weekend cramming sessions, of course), and
• roughly the same salary as what I used to make (actually if I counted in my old bonuses, my new salary is less).

What I forgot to ask Avalokitesvara was a good benefit package. Well, since I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t get it and will have to continue relying on David’s excellent coverage.

So finally I’m gonna marry myself off to the company and stop this very long engagement! Well, I have to say, the pre-engagement days were pretty nice; I had such a blast that I had no intention of getting married at all. But I was hinted that it’s my mission to go back to the high tech world and figure out the meaning of life there. (To me, “the meaning of life” can only be found once I attain the enlightenment.)

I don’t know how I’m going to find the meaning of life among all the Java code, protocols, and frameworks, but I am a good student and will follow my teachers’ instructions faithfully. And when I have it all figure out, you’ll be the first one to know.

[06/05/2007 Update] OK, I exaggerated a bit, but just a bit. I was told that I should go back to the world that I came from, and by helping my fellow co-workers, they in terms will help me to gain the insight to the meaning of life. And there is a very good reason why I end up there, but I can’t see it just yet. Maybe a couple of years later I’ll understand everything that I need to understand.