Vacation starts in < 24 hours

Whee... almost time for [taking a break]. Some months ago I decided that I really needed a break from RL. This is actually one of the weirder vacations I'm taking because:

1. It's not attached to some other event... I don't remember the last time I took a vacation that wasn't an add-on to something... relative's graduation, someone's wedding, school activity or an add-on to a work trip

2. I'm going alone instead of either a) meeting up with someone, or b) bringing someone with me and having to coordinate everything together, compromise on places to go, etc.

3. It's mostly unplanned. My previous vacations had virtually every single hour planned, or at least every day, with tickets pre-purchased and everything down from the exact schedule for every train, backup routes, traffic, physical maps, GPS, all prepared and planned for. This time, all I have planned are my plane rides, hotels and one Broadway ticket xD

So... why so unplanned? Well, for once I wanted to take a vacation that wasn't... stressful... Strangely, in the past, when I did vacations it was all along the lines of getting things done instead of actually relaxing. I always had a goal of things to see, things to do, etc. This time I just want to take some time on my own, spend it in a strange town, get to see the town and just relax a bit.

Partly, I'm also looking at what to do next in my life. I'm at an interesting crossroads where I can finally make some moves that aren't constrained by my environment. I'm out of grad school, finally, FINALLY done with 90% of that bloody pain called the US INS which severely constrained my movements both in terms of location and career. (I'm still stuck to staying in the US for the next 4 years unless I want to give up the right to stay here, but at least the US is a lot larger compared to staying at one job/city)

In many ways, this is more of a time for me to be alone to reflect. In my usual day/life, I have virtually every hour of my life scheduled right now... wake up, work, lunch, get home, FFXI event, TV, sleep... weekends add in my 2nd job + time at the pool/gym, with the occasional side social or professional event that isn't regularly scheduled. That's one reason why I've been trying to cut down on FFXI events and hand things off to other people. It's taking too much time. (Ironically, DRG50 now... that's going faster than I thought it would thanks to Zurar being on break).

With so much going on, I haven't really had time to think about myself even though I'm out of school. I really should be considering my next career steps, what I want next in life and more. Among the things I'm hoping to reflect on are:

- What sort of field/career path do I want to change to? How can I change given my current background/knowledge/connections? What else am I good at that I can change to easily?

- Do I want to step things up for something even more high-paced with high rewards down the line? Am I comfortable with my current level? Or do I want to take a step back and move out of hi-tech/hi-stress and to something more basic and simple?

- What's my risk tolerance? I have the training, knowledge and connections to launch a startup... but is that something I'd want to do or be happy doing? And of course, where am I going to come up with the idea?

- Do I want to keep my MMO commitments at the current level? Or cut back even further? FFXI is a big time drain... do I even want to look at the next MMO?

- How do I want to manage my investments? Time to get back into the market? Or should I be looking more into passive income streams?

- Where do I want to live for the next 5-10 years? In this area? Move out to another place?

- Is it time to buy a house? What are the market conditions? Do I want to be tied down like that?

Going to New York for this vacation wasn't by accident... I'm also going there to see what it is like and to determine if it would be somewhere that I'd like to stay for a while. I grew up in large cities and I always felt more at home with using public transportation instead of having to drive everywhere. Of course, being a tourist is a definite bonus!

So yes, next week is very much "me" time. Hopefully I've passed on the various event site information to the right people so FFXI events can continue as normal. Traveling alone will give me lots of time to think and reflect. I'm also considering whether I want to update my blog during that time, though it would be entirely off-topic, non-gaming posts and may include pictures, or musings from my journal. Any interest from people out there?