Exams looming
Understandably, since receiving the good news on Tuesday, I’ve been in a kind of daze, a sort of state of constant euphoria. Somehow though, I still can’t come to terms with the implications of the news; everything seems surreal. I get the feeling that everything good that has happened will fade away into nothingness as I regain consciousness as though from a pleasant dream. But it is real. Finally, the arduous, trialling graduate work application process is over and now I can return to Melbourne at the end of the year and do what I enjoy doing. I could almost weep with joy at how the whole thing has turned out.

I guess I put a bit too much pressure on myself, which I always tend to do, so at times I felt absolutely worthless and rejected and thought I’d never be able to get a job, I questioned what I was doing in Canberra, I questioned everything. Finally though, on my last chance, the final play, my fortunes turned around and I secured a job in the company that I most wanted to work for, located in the city I love. What an ending. And now that it’s over, my nerves are frayed, my heart is still racing and it doesn’t seem real.

I left off last time by mentioning that I was late to the final interview because of the fog in Melbourne. Although I was late, I had phoned a few hours earlier to explain my predicament and the people at AXA were very understanding. The interview seemed to go quite well. I had to present a 15 minute case study to a panel of four interviewers and then be questioned about it and then about myself in general, for the remainder of the hour. When it was over, I stepped out of the building and walked up Collins Street to Spencer St. station (I refuse to call it Southern Cross) and caught the train home.

I was so exhausted from the early wake up and all the dramas that occurred, so I just relaxed for the rest of the day. I strummed on my guitar, I watched ‘Frasier’ DVD’s and I wrote and it was all much needed relaxation. The next day I spent mostly with my family. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the Dandenongs and had a fun time bowling.

That night I met up with Sherly. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and Sherly was so worried or maybe just curious as to whether the food would be too spicy for me. I think she envisioned me having to go to hospital after the dinner because I couldn’t handle the spice. Truthfully though, I had such a lovely time at the dinner and found the food to be quite superb and not even that spicy. It was great catching up with Sherly again even though fortunately it hadn’t been that long since we had met up. She is certainly a girl that can always make me laugh and feel good about myself. She found it hilarious the large volume of water that I had consumed during the dinner despite insisting that I didn’t find it spicy. After the dinner we went for a walk and ended up sitting down in a quiet park off Lygon Street.

It was a beautiful night. The clouds rolled in through the cold night air, engulfing the city skyline in fog. Patches in the clouds above revealed a starry sky; sparkling diamonds on black velvet. We both just stared at the sky above becoming lost in our own thoughts. I silently hoped and prayed that I would get the job so that I could be back in Melbourne permanently.

Soon the time came for Sherly to meet up with Alfred to see X-men, so we left the park and walked to Melbourne Central. We met up with Alfred, who like Sherly and I, had a vaguely distracted look in his eyes caused by the knowledge of looming exams. Their movie was about to start so I said good bye and caught the train home.

On Monday I was supposed to hear of the decision made by AXA in regards to employing me, but when I finally received the phone call, I was told that a decision hadn’t been made, as neither of my referees had been contactable during the day. So, early on Tuesday morning I went and chased up and prodded my referees and soon after I received the phone call informing me that I had been offered a position.

I could barely concentrate for the rest of the day. After calming down, I went to buy champagne to celebrate. That evening I took Caz to a nice restaurant in Manuka (Canberra’s most sophisticated and trendy suburb) to celebrate. The dinner was very enjoyable, but bitter-sweet when I realised that I would rarely see her again once I moved to Melbourne. When we got back I thought I’d invite my friends over to share the news and the champagne. Caz told me that she had to get ready and that she’d meet me in 10 minutes in my room and then we’d go around and tell people.

Stupidly it didn’t click why she had said this, until I heard whispering outside my door. Oh that’s what she was doing, I instantly thought to myself, she has organised a surprise congratulations gathering. In that moment I was surprised though and thought that would be the best time to open the door and act surprised. “Congratulations!” The sizeable group yelled out, and perhaps I did actually look surprised.

The cork popped open and effervescent liquid flowed joyously into glasses. Our glasses clinked and we all took a sip of the champagne. In that moment though, it wasn’t just my Canberra friends that were in the room, it was all of my friends all sharing the happy moment.

Sadly, I think it is inevitable that friends at times have to say goodbye to each other and live great distances apart. However, I think if the memories and bonds of friendships are strong enough, it is possible to always feel that your friends are close by. And that is exactly how I felt that night. I know next year I am going to miss my Canberra friends immensely, but the good times we have shared will remain in my heart always and will mean that they are never far away. Besides, I intend to visit Canberra every so often.

That is a long way away yet, I still have a long way to go and still have a large amount of time to share with my friends in Canberra, so there is no point thinking about it yet. Right now, I no longer have time to contemplate all of the implications of my new job, I have to get into exam mode and study study study.

Until next time,

Take care.