(not) moving to new zealand, status update

so, the house is going back on the market, and i am not moving to new zealand, at least not in 2006.

the original job offer (from waaaay back in january) is apparently still on the table, in the sense that he still wants me out there, when i can.

which is awesome — wellington looks like a fairly ideal place to live.

but i have a few things i’m sooo grateful for, in the last few weeks.

it’s nice to get more time with this wonderful group of friends that i adore. i thought i wouldn’t see them again till summer, and now i have all winter with them.

it HAS been a stressful few weeks now, and life’s still up in the air.

no idea where i’m going to land.

move back into my house?

get an apartment?

give up self-employment and get a “real” job (perhaps as a graphic designer again…ooooh!) ?

learn PHP so i can do more/different web work?

whatever it is i decide, i’m confident things will be fine, eventually.

i’m struck by one of my favorite lessons from taoism, suddenly:

“The Vinegar Tasters” is an allegorical image representing Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism (Daoism), and generally favourable to Taoism and critical of the other two. Reportedly, the original “Vinegar Tasters” was painted a long time ago, and has been copied many times. It depicts three men dipping their fingers in a vat of vinegar and tasting it; one man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a bitter expression, and one reacts with a happy expression. The three men are depictions of K’ung Fu-tse (Confucius), Buddha, and Lao-tse (Lao Tzu, Laozi), and represent the three traditions of China — Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Each man’s expression represents the predominant attitude of the religion: Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules to correct the degeneration of people; Buddism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering; and Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state.

“From the Taoist point of view, sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet. That is the message of `The Vinegar Tasters’.”

the vinegar tasters

so, yes, i’m smiling.