No longer moving down under

It is interesting how life's direction can change in an instant.

Three weeks ago, I was starting to fill out application forms for Edith Cowan University in Perth. Then, with help from my wife, I discovered an opportunity to study a similar program in my native country of Canada. Vancouver Film School had a program in writing for film, TV and interactive media that looked very exciting to me. A week later, I met a representative of VFS in Seoul, and my enthusiasm grew. I quickly filled out the application and sent all required documentation, including writing samples. Frankly, I was not sure if it would turn out in my favour, but on Saturday, November 11th, I received confirmation that I had been accepted into the program.

Therefore, this blog has become obsolete. Nevertheless, I value the exercise of having documented the various steps I had taken over the past year to prepare for a move that I believed would take place. In the end, we are not going to move to Australia, but I know that the process of planning to go to Australia still led me in the direction I am now going to take. How so, you may ask?

When I look back at how this blog got started, my first post included this line: "(w)e have many good reasons for going there, including the opportunity to go to school again (hopefully resulting in a professor's job or something in the educational technology industry)." You see, my original goal in October 2005 was to become a professor of educational technology, and Australian universities were offering excellent post-graduate programs in this field. Canadian universities were not.

But, during the course of the ensuing year, my outlook changed. In September, I wrote: "I am going to change the specialty that I will study: instead of Interactive Multimedia, I now wish to study Film and Video. I actually made this decision many weeks ago, and it is based on the fact that I feel interactive multimedia is more a field where I feel like a consumer rather than a creator. Film and video lets me indulge in something more to my liking creatively, and the opportunities for employment range from working in television to becoming a filmmaker." Once I made this fundamental change to my objective, it opened up other possibilities. That's where Vancouver Film School entered the picture.

Australia was an idea that seemed very attractive to me, especially because it offered something I couldn't get in Canada. But now that I could find my new want in Vancouver, I had to go through a decision-making process by comparing ECU in Perth with VFS in Vancouver. In Canada, I would not have to go through any visa issues; nor would my kids. Vancouver is a hell of a lot closer to my parents and most family and friends back in Ontario. And, not in the least, VFS offers the opportunity for direct access to the North American entertainment industry.

Suddenly, Perth -- that great oasis-like destination on the far side of the world with the great weather and relaxed lifestyle -- began to drop from my mind like a boulder falling over a cliff. I'll kid you not, I wanted to go to Vancouver, and Perth was going to be a somewhat disappointing second choice.

I used to say to myself, just because something doesn't last forever doesn't mean it wasn't meant to be. This was an awkward way of saying that all experiences serve a purpose in life. I believe that preparing to move to Australia actually led me to Vancouver. For that reason, I do not regret the effort I put into this blog. I will always keep this record of a time in my life when an important life decision was made. It's like they say: it is not the destination but rather the process of getting there that is the objective in life.

So, thank you, Australia. Thank you, Perth. Thank you, ECU. Thanks to those people who took the time to read my little blog. It's been quite the ride.

Cheers, mate!