Major decisions

For someone at my stage in life (final year undergrad), the most worrying question is "which career path should I take?"

Majority of my peers are very much concerned about the opportunity cost of finding a job early, or as some may term, being kiasu. Kiasu or not, opportunity cost is indeed an issue to consider, because as time passes, more job vacancies are taken up.

By this time, a typical final year undergrad would have sent out a few resumes (at least), possibly gone for a few interviews, and perhaps even going to sign a contract (by the way, demon is going to sign a contract with MOE but no worries, I'll warn everyone which school she will be posted to).

However, there are some rare breeds, me for example, who has not even finished editing his own resume, let alone send it out to companies interested in recruiting fresh graduates. Such rare breeds are termed slackers, bo chup, or something to that meaning.

While I have no wish to dispute the use of these terminologies, I'd still like to point out some reasons as to why such people exist. My FYP alone is capable of keeping me occupied for the 5 weekdays of a week. I understand it's not quite possible, for people who do not face such problems, to believe the above statement (no observer/target similarity and therefore unable to empathise) but this is quite true. I need to reserve 1 day for my other modules and 1 day for rest, thus using up all 7 days of a week.

You may point out that I can spend the rest day on touching up my resume, but I'd like to say that I'm left brain dead after 'working' 6 days a week. Yeah, I'm that lousy.

There's another issue that concerns graduates-to-be: where to go for graduation trip and who to go with. I think the most popular choice should be Europe, followed by Taiwan, Australia and lastly, some of the more tropical countries like Thailand and Vietnam.

To date, I still have not decided where to go, nor who to go with. Sounds like I have a lot of choices, which I have to admit is true. About 5 groups of friends have asked me if I'm interested to join them for their graduation trip, 3 of them going to Europe, 1 heading towards Australia, and the last still undecided.

I am indeed fortunate to have so many choices, and you may feel that I don't know how lucky I am by not agreeing to any of them. Going on a holiday trip for more than 2 weeks is not as simple as it seems. One has to consider budget, destinations and company. Yes, the people whom you're going to travel with is a very important, yet often overlooked, factor.

If you're going to be stuck with a band of people for the next two weeks (or more), the least you can do is to ensure that you can put up with them. Within some of the groups, there are some people that I do not know at all and therefore, there's a possibility that unpleasant feelings may surface. Although I did go to Pulau Tioman with 2 complete strangers and 1 guy whom I've just got to know for a short time, I must say that it's my luck that everything turned out so nicely.

Some of the groups going to Europe approached me because they are trying to fill up numbers - it's more convenient and economical to share with an even number of people. I don't wish to risk my holiday (call me pessimistic if you like) on such uncertainties. On the other hand, after being approached by three groups of friends to go to Europe, I'm beginning to feel that it's a pity to reject their offer. After all, this could be my only chance to go.

Then again, what's the point of thinking so much when I don't wish to go for a holiday for more than a week.....