So quick discussion.
I'm applying for jobs and it's not going too well. Not because I've been rejected or anything - the fact of the matter is that I've applied for a single position, one I was actually not eligible for and obviously been told so.
It's because I've always had this vision, this kind of ideal Utopia in my mind that, in 10 years or so, my friends and I would have matured, reached some kind of American-Movie status where each has achieved their life's ambition by 29 and we network and socialise and have intimate dinner parties amidst doing what little work we need to. Each of us would have a villa in Italy, France or somewhere "quaint" and we would sit out on the patio of whomever we wished to visit that week and drink cocktails.
And in this vision, each of us has reached the peak of our career. boyWonder, his 9th Novel being published and already shortlisted for the Nobel Literature Prize, would be flirting mildly with my French Maid, Maria, while the Knight and I would be discussing his recent acquisition of the entire Indian Technology base and his "monopoly" of outsourcing. In the distance, all my other friends would be by the pool, watching the sun set over the Tuscany horizon, each contemplating a light dinner and some chatter of their Perfect, Idlyic lives.
In short, each person I consider my friend I've built a "In 10 Years" picture of. Depending on how well I know them, this can be anything from a simple "Extend current choice of Education by 10 degrees/years" to an in-depth evaluation of where I honestly think they'll be.
And, in short, thanks to the Job searching process, I'm coming to realise this may not happen.
Bummer.

I'm listening to a lot of Cake at the moment.
*leans head in confidentially, tilts cigar away, raises eyebrows*
I'd recommend you do so too.
*leans back, eyebrows raised even further as if to impart the profundity of the just-uttered statement. Pause a second, draw from cigar.*

Possibly more later on.

Edit: I've never assigned myself a place in my Idyllic vision, if only because I've never been sure of what I'd be doing. The theories as expounded by others have always interested me, if only because they tell me so much about what people perceive me to be, more than anything else.

"We are bulding a religion. We are making a brand
We're the only ones to turn to when your castles turn to sand"

Edit deux: To answer your question seriously, Bob, I've no idea. I think I was shooting for Hemmingway-esque serious drinker/womaniser with a few good books, dead at 32 in a bar fight where you manage to kill 17 navy seals while blind drunk and with a spoon... although that may just be a Segal movie. Gimme a bit longer when you get your ass back into the damn country and I'll see what I can do.
Went out for a few drinks tonight. Had the first "fuck, there's a couple in front of me and the girl is really attractive" experience I've had in, oh, 5 months. Usually I'm quite picky about girls but when it comes to bitter, self-hating destruction I find it quite easy to convince myself the girl walking with her boyfriend in front of me was meant to wake up next to me every day for the rest of my life. Nice, how that works.
Yeah.

Otherwise, life's not too bad. Trying to appreciate the little space I have at the moment. I'm not hemmed in by deadlines (correction: I don't feel hemmed in) and I don't feel particularly single (yet) and ... it's all okay. I'm not hung up on a girl and it's all pretty okay. So I'm glad of it.
Ed, the swedish girl had a cool weekend. Wish I was in Sweden.