Thursday, October 29, 2009

Bid Lists and the Road to Madness

We received our bid list, that document that will have a very significant impact on the next few years of our lives.  Sidenote - I've noticed myself writing in the first person plural more often, perhaps a byproduct of the quickly developing comradere within the class.  So the bid list.  We get a list of postings, along with the jobs and languages that go with them.  And we get to specify our preferences.  Herein lies the road to madness, which can be reached in a number of ways.

First is the tunnel vision.  You see that one dream assignment and you can't think of any others.  In fact you become obsessed with that post, that city, that country, and you can't imagine living anywhere else.  Given the way the universe is ordered, you are almost certain not to get that post.  And there is the laser focus, by which one researching which posts to bid high obsessively uncovers every factoid imaginable, dwelling and sweating endlessly every detail.  Personally, I hope to avoid the madness.  There are certainly a few places that can cause my tunnel vision, and there's plenty of info to sift and obsess over.  But hey, what's the point?  Let serendipity reign.  I'm so incredibly psyched just to be here at all, as long as I get one of my top 50% choices I'll be psyched.  And even if not, hey, even the worst on the list I can live with.  And what I think is the worst is someone else's best.  Everyone in class have interests so diverse, it's pretty likely I'll get one of top dozen choices.  So no need to panic, no need to obsess. It's only several years of my life.  Yeah, I'll be fine.  Let's just see how I feel in a few weeks . . .

1 comment:

  1. hello, I'm an FS candidate awaiting my OA in Feb 2010. Came across your blog as I love to read about incoming A100s and the bidding process! When is your Flag Day? Good luck researching posts! I look forward to reading more. Bridget

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