Hung out with Barry, Jess and Rae on Friday: a nice end to a less-than-relaxing week. Except for parties and Girl's Night, I haven't really hung out with my friends much this fall, so it was nice to just sit around with a few people, some beers, and no schedule.

My annual review at work went well, really well I think, but with the raise freeze still in effect and winter making its first appearance (right now), I'm leaning more and more towards leaving the country.

I'll be moving out of Matt's place in mid-April in any case — I can officially tell you now that my little brother is getting married. Huzzahs all around! — so it might be interesting to just put most of my stuff in storage and head over to Korea or Japan or Germany or something for a year.

I know that as an introvert I can handle living prettymuch anywhere, and if I went with Korea I'd have friends already there waiting for me, which you have to admit is a nice setup.

Especially if (as Caitlin claims) I can make enough money to pay off every single one of my debts in a matter of months. I've got a master's in English, I like teaching, I have some experience: it seems like a good fit.

So. Considering it. I'll need to have this discussion with myself a few more times before expatriating really seems like a real possibility. I promise not to blog endlessly on this topic, but it's one of my main concerns right now.

Either I go abroad, or I'll find a place around here where I can actually settle down and live for however long. A house isn't that plausible at my current hourly rate, but I should be able to find something that I can make mine. Preferably with a source of light for my nomadic garden.

An apartment with suitably low rent might even work (shall we say, Summit-University neighborhood?), if I still can't decide where I want to be in the long term... but that's not really progress.

I keep telling myself that I've got some time. Probably I'll know what I'm doing next year before this year is out.