Sometimes in life, we face special circumstances that require important decisions to be made within a limited time. It is all the more harder if we must choose only one between two choices. Well, it would be fairly straightforward if you were choosing between good or bad, big or small, true or false. But what if both choices are good? How are you supposed to choose then? It's as if we would be required to weigh both and just pick the 'better good', if there's such a thing.

Given this choice, there's no turning back once you decide which to choose. The buzzer had sounded. You've submitted your paper, and it's your final answer. It can't be changed any further. Like brooding over test resutls, regret may haunt you, but it's pretty much useless. I guess time can only tell whether we've made the right decision or not.

As for me, time is still silent about it.

Actually, I've come up with a fixed plan - or so I thought - of going to two highly-anticipated vacations trips up until I've come face-to-face with a fork. My supposed weeklong bliss at Boracay-Bacolod with my close friends has long been planned for over a year already, and I thought no cajoling, bribing, nor coercing could make me give it up. Because surely, the beach (fine, and the people) of Boracay is capable of unwinding even the most stressed of persons.

Then, I was also supposed to go and enjoy a Malaysia-Brunei-Thailand tour with my cousins. I already went to the trouble of actually falling in long, hot, stinky lines at a couple of bureaucracy offices just to get my freakin' passport. And get this: I already paid for the roundtrip tickets weeks before the scheduled flight. You can just imagine how excited I was.

Since I've just completed my Masteral academic units right after graduating with the BS degree (no pun intended), the trips were much-deserved rest and relaxation. After studying for roughly 15 consecutive years, I wanted to explore a little before I permanently join the 'real world'. And as proof that I really wanted to be in those trips, I resigned from my previous (sucky) job since it could may well hamper the plans with time constraints and commitments.

But to my disappointment, reality was unwilling to give me the leisure I needed. Not that I didn't want it come, but it was just too soon. I received a hard-to-pass-up-job-offer from a multinational company. I know I should be celebrating and all but it came asking for a price, a price I never thought I could afford. The company asked me to start immediately, thus sacrificing the two trips if ever. I fought for it, and tried to ask them for even the teensiest of reconsideration as to where I can start working. But in the end, it was futile, and I couldn't even dare deferring my commitment to them in the subsequent months since it was the last batch of recruitment for the year. So, I guess it's apparent how bittersweet it all was.

When we were on the planning stage of the trips, I was thinking that even if a job offer eventually comes and hits the vacation dates, I would decline and risk finding one again. But the offer was reall hard to give up; it was my ideal job, after all. For one, it is a multinational company. It's been said that it's tough to get in it, and now that I am in, I can't just ignore the attractive opportunities it presents. Secondly, it's relatively near my place as compared to the offices at Makati and Ortigas. Transportation wouldn't also be much of a hassle and is definitely cheaper (the gasoline price hikes are ridiculous!). The compensation and benefits are also highly-competitive, and I know it can give me the chance to save up while having considerable financial freedom and flexibility. And lastly, I have friends already working for the company, and all they've got are positive and desireable feedbacks. Having friends would make the transition to the corporate world significantly smoother and with less pain in the ass.

So it boiled down to this dilemma: HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED VACATIONS VS. IDEAL JOB.

These kinds of situations undoubtedly shake the grounds of our judgment and priorities. Well, in your perspective, I guess the choice is obvious, a no brainer, but believe me, it was still a toss-up for me. Travel means a lot to me; it's actually one of the things I've said to myslef that I'll do no matter what before I die. I don't mean travel to be the 'one time big time' kind of thing, rather I intend to travel (backpack, actually, because it gives me more freedom and is more affordable) around our freaking why-did-it-has-to-be-this-damn-big world while I'm still and yes... single. There are just a lot of sights to see, a lot of people to meet, a lot of cultures to understand, a lot of food to eat, a lot of fun to experience, and so on. I might not finish writing if I try mentioning all them lots. Some may say it's just a waste of our precious time and money but hell not for me. I see it as an investment, something that can give me fulfillment, in whatever form it may take. I really can't see myself, or at least I refuse to, living a routinary and a typically unadventurous life, so I want to enjoy and bask in everything the world has to offer as much as I possibly can.

But I also came to realize that I'm still young and there's still a lot of time ahead of me (I hope). My decision? Well, I'm nearing the third month here in my job. I am enjoying it and all it has to offer, not to mention all the new friends I've come to know. But up until this point, despite the seeming satisfaction I have with my job, there's still always this little something napping at the back of my head. My friends and cousins had blasts in their respective trips, had the time of their lives, while here I was working my ass off. I guess starting to work was a somewhat half-hearted decision. It's water under the bridge now, I know, but I just feel I still have to hear and actually listen to the little guy in my head. It doesn't meanI should quit the job but I can use it as an advantage, a leverage. The more I earn, the more I am equipped to travel (I still have to wait for my vacation leaves, of course). Doing so can perhaps allow me to enjoy the best of both worlds and of both choices. Besides, you can't have everything you want... not at the same time at least.