One one things

It’s mid January and we’re bang in the middle of another over rated London winter. Every year they say that the forthcoming winter will be the worst in so many years but inevitably pfft, it’s just another winter. But January, i’ve been telling myself that I need to start thinking about permanant employment come January. I’ll be closing shop on my formal education this September admist much protest from the village elders (my parents and their friends), and so I need to find my first proper proper job.

Last year I worked as a trade economist (that sounds flash) at what I call an “econ research joint” whenever ppl go “eh?” when i tell them where i work. At times I just say “I’m at an institute” and ppl would go ohh..and cock their heads looking for signs of mental degeneration. It was alrite as far as a first job goes, I quite enjoyed some days and got some super opportunities, but all in all it didn’t quite set my house on fire. The bottom line is that I don’t want to spend the better part of my life doing some research, having 5 ppl read it, nod their heads in unison and watch it pass from file to file until somebody gets bored and says screw this. I want to do something tangible, something I can look back at and tell myself that I contributed to that. And I want to affect the lives of others in some useful way, I didn’t see that happening at the Institute. So, what are the options?

Like most ppl i’ve had my share of dreams, but probably not as many as most. I started off wanting to be a vet I think. I used to own a battery of star tortoises who’d fall ill on a regular basis (admitedly some at my own hands) and i’d be so thrilled when the vet worked his magic (though now i’m fairly sure he just injected those buggers with saline and let them recover on their own merit - I say this bc most of them died before their mandatory 100 odd years). Then quite naturally I thought it would be clever to play cricket for Sri Lanka, I mean at the time there were some fairly ordinary buggers donning the national colours, Don Anurasiri, wtp? In the quest I joined Bloomfield C&AC, practiced a couple of years under Brendon Kuruppu, got screamed at by Arjuna Ranatunga for walking in front of the sightscreen one day, and dropped out. Not bc of the screaming, I just lost interest in hours at the nets after some time. Air Force was the next bet, but then the LTTE discovered anti-aircraft missiles, bastards. And that’s it really, I started doing O/L’s and did human geography and thought hey this economics shit looks fun. A friend of mine maintains that I used to say that I want to be a development economist since the age of 14, scary. Haven’t seen that friend in an age, he was supposed to join the airforce with me. And then there was uni, and maths. Bloody mathematics, the scourge of my life, among others. I discovered that to be a pro economist, maths is more important than nice economic theory. But i’m way too far down the line of hating maths to get off my arse and actually learn it. So, plans slightly screwed really. Came home after uni and worked at the UN doing what I thought would be a taste of me in 15 years. Bad taste though, the bureaucracy in that place is not even remotely funny. I was involved in a project that materialized in some bastardized form a whole year after the stipulated date, and that’s just a report mind you. I saw the amount of resources wasted in that effort, I shudder even today at the thought.

I’ve had a few other ideas between then and now. I’ve always wanted to do some teaching at a more formal level that the little economics classes I used to run for friends’ siblings last year. But a couple of problems, have to wake up bloody early in the morning, have to control a group of increasingly garrulous young Sri Lankans, neither of which I’d be particularly good at. On the bright side, holidays! Another option is to dabble in a bit of journalism. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and it would be fantastic to work with a paper like The Economist or something along those lines, bc I’d enjoy being involved in the research aspect even if I don’t become the editor within the first 6 months. Working for cricinfo is also a bet, Charlie Austin, how goes it?

So that leaves me where I am today, doing a Masters to buy some time and help me get a bit of a headstart over the competition. Now I really need to start thinking, the options are as follows. Sell my soul to the World Bank, ADB, UN or something, risk getting thoroughly frustrated and being a hypocrite for believing that these organizations should be collectively shot for wasting money on flash cars and fat salaries (hence the selling the soul part). One condition is that the job needs to involve an actual ongoing project, not some pipe dream, and ideally not a purely desk job. I’m open to the idea of working with a private firm if I find something particularly interesting to do, so it wouldn’t be clever to commit too far into any one of those, i’ll leave that part to fate. Journalism and teaching are interesting and most probably short term options, but I’ll need some extra cash from next year bc if all goes according to plan I’m going to move out of my parents’ place so will need to pay those utility bills too. And I need to save up for when I open my restaurant in 15 years time