So I'm kind of back to the daily grind of work, and again thinking about if I could go to China long term.

In short I went, it was eye opening, and one grand adventure, and the challenge as always is to keep focused on what I'm trying to do, before I get too caught up in my life and job back in the States.

I'm rather torn right now, as there's a couple of options.

#1 - Stay where I am, keep working, keep traveling with this company, and make the best of it. I'm kind of unsettled and restless, and need to feed this sense of wandering. Part of me is just sick of my life in Massachusetts, and barely have the energy to try and rebuild what so quickly slipped away with a bit of overt neglect. As well as the seasonal transitions.

#2 - Bite the bullet and go full force into going to China. Whether it's working for SMIC, where I'm kind of skeptical, but it looks like one grand adventure from Jimmy's website, or try and make it on my own. In any case the language thing keeps me kind of planted.

And this popped up while I was out there, which is kind of irking me as well.

#3 - Move back to California, work in the same job which I think I could probably do, but it's with a different company, and I'm unsure about how compatible I'd be there. But it'd be closer to my family, and closer to where I'd consider a place where I could settle long term. However it doesn't solve the community, nor the unsettledness issue. However I did get a call from the staffing department about a real job I could have there this week. So I need to decided pretty soon if I want to pursue this.

Perhaps this is my season of change.

Now if I could only just wake up!

Security Contractor = Mercenary
Unlawful Combatant = P.O.W.
Armed Gunmen = Government Soldier

I've been thinking a lot about this war being fought in Iraq. What's going on is far more complex than can be explained in sound bites and easy ideas, and it's as much a war of propaganda and perception, as much as it is a war fought with soldiers and guns. It's both the same as the past but unique in it's own way. History will ultimatley tell what the true motivations are.

Empires rise and fall. Progress and hope depend on looking forward, while learning the lessons of history. America will endure.