I was sent this meme by FirstApostle - bka Andrew - if you haven't yet checked out his blog, then I strongly recommend it.
Well here goes with my seven songs (problems here too with limiting it to seven):
1. Strangled By The Thought (The New Amsterdams/Killed Or Cured)
2. Jesus Came Too Late (The Only Children/Change of Living)
3. The Way Young Lovers Do (Van Morrison/Astral Weeks)
4. Hurt (Johnny Cash/The Man Comes Around)
5. From California (The New Amsterdams/Worse For The Wear)
6. Gone for Good (The Shins/Chutes Too Narrow)
7. Turn Out the Light (The New Amsterdams/Story Like a Scar)
I realise there are three New Ams songs here - I really love those guys at the moment. Formed out of the ashes of the Get Up Kids by lead singer Matt Prior, they've produced a staggering quantity of high quality music in a short space of time. To me, they sit on the sweet spot of clever, American pop/rock with a soul (what a lousy definition) along with the Shins et al.
I'm not going to meme 6 people - I don't know 6 people who read this that haven't already been memed by others - but if you're reading and you wanna do it, please place a comment to let me know.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Sunshine at last
Today we had sunshine in North London, at least briefly. It's gone grey again now, of course, but it was nice while it lasted. Frankie and I walked over to Highgate and had coffee. I washed my car and took some photos (if anyone wants to buy it, please let me know). It was generally a good day.
Something which has been troubling me for some time is how to effect the move to Florida which I have been hoping to make. There isn't long to go now until I qualify, and I still have no better idea how to actually go about the move. There are a number of problems, which centre around work and my career, as follows:
1. Professional qualification. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Florida Board of Accountancy do not recognise my Institute or my qualification. In order to even apply to study for the Florida CPA exams, I would need to obtain a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from an approved school - and that's before taking the professional course. This would take years and cost many thousands of dollars - neither of which I have.
2. Finding a job. Given the above problem with the qualification, and the fact that different taxation and business regulations apply than in England, finding a job is going to be tough. (This interfaces with point 3 regarding immigration regulations). I have considered taking a secondment with my present firm's partners in Orlando, CBH; however, even if I could arrange this (and it's by no means guaranteed) it would likely be for 6 months, and under the terms of the arrangement I would then have to move back to the UK and work for my current firm in London for at least a year afterwards. And after that time, what's to say I could return to CBH or any other firm in Orlando? It's not in my firm's interests to try and arrange for me to move, since they're so short of staff, and there's nothing in it for them. Incidentally, this would be the same situation if I moved to Deloitte because, although a firm of that name has an office in O-Town, none of the major accounting firms of the world is actually one firm. Deloitte USA and Deloitte UK share a name, an international "advisory board" and some marketing and branding features, but that's about it. So it's not in their interests to help me move either, and I could hardly join them and immediately ask to move in any case.
I suppose the other point is that I don't really want to stay in public practice. My strengths are in report writing and the more "open-ended" assignments which one finds in internal audit and/or consultancy. This is the major upside of not having the right qualification: these sort of jobs don't actually require one anyway (except at the preference of the employer). Systems of internal control are the same the world over, and I have no doubt I could adapt very quickly to U.S. business practice. However, it is by no means clear whether there is any firm that would want to employ me in such a role - they're unlikely to be advertising for a person matching my description, put it that way. The other main problem is --
3. Immigration. From what all I've heard, U.S. work visas are extremely difficult to obtain. Although I'd be willing to wait, jump through the required hoops etc., I'm still not guaranteed to be able to move even if I do find a job.
I really do want to make this move. On both of my visits so far, I've found Floridians to be nothing but friendly and welcoming. I enjoy the company of everyone I know there, especially Andrew, Thurston and family. Compared to London, I think I would like living in Orlando far more; that's not to say I don't like London, but despite having a number of good friends here, it just isn't really me. That's not to mention the weather - I find the set-in greyness that prevails over London to be almost debilitating; it's amazing how much difference sunshine makes to the way I feel.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens once I've qualified. One possibility I've considered is doing Internal Audit for an international bank, which would involve travelling almost constantly for a year or two, followed by settling in a location of my choice once I've been promoted. It's frustrating that there's no clear answer at this stage. I just pray that everything will be sorted out in time.
Friday, June 02, 2006
More, yet more synchronicity
Today was Friday. I finished up at my client just before 6pm, and headed back to the office to hand over my files. As I was leaving, I received a call from my friend Simon with whom I had previously studied for my last set of exams. He called because he'd heard about my move to London, but also to tell me that he had moved firms. A friend of his works for Deloitte, and Simon had mentioned his desire to work for one of the Big 4 "at some point". His friend took this seriously, and within days had arranged an interview which eventually led to his move. This sort of thing is uncommon, as our Institute strongly discourages moves between firms while we are still under our (3 year) training contracts. However, he's now a Deloitte employee, and good luck to him.
Having finished this phone call, I returned home, changed and went back out towards Kentish Town, as planned. As I previously mentioned, I was going to see Stuart DJ, and spend time with Laura as well. As it turned out, I walked in to find Laura sitting with an old Oxford friend who we hadn't seen for years. Once we'd said hello, the first thing he said to me was... "would you like to come and work at Deloitte?" It turns out he qualified last year and is now an Assistant Manager.
I'm not quite sure if such a move is wise. It makes sense in every way other than not appearing to be a complete whore. I really need to take some proper advice on what I should do, given my desire to move to the U.S. as soon after I qualify as possible. Anyone wanting a Chartered Accountant in the City Beautiful please drop me a line...
Having finished this phone call, I returned home, changed and went back out towards Kentish Town, as planned. As I previously mentioned, I was going to see Stuart DJ, and spend time with Laura as well. As it turned out, I walked in to find Laura sitting with an old Oxford friend who we hadn't seen for years. Once we'd said hello, the first thing he said to me was... "would you like to come and work at Deloitte?" It turns out he qualified last year and is now an Assistant Manager.
I'm not quite sure if such a move is wise. It makes sense in every way other than not appearing to be a complete whore. I really need to take some proper advice on what I should do, given my desire to move to the U.S. as soon after I qualify as possible. Anyone wanting a Chartered Accountant in the City Beautiful please drop me a line...
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Coincidence? I doubt it
Since moving to London in March, I've got into the habit of going to a pub called the Abbey in Kentish Town on the first Friday of each month. There and then, Stuart (who is with Laura, my friend from Oxford) plays an excellent DJ set. It's always a pleasure to see them both - Stuart is a fellow Villa fan, Laura is an old friend and both of them are passionate about music in all its forms.
Today was Thursday, June 1st, and I was (as usual) very busy. Just after 5pm, I realised that I was fed up and so I decided that, rather than stay after hours like normal, I'd leave. So about 5.15pm I left the client and walked to down to Chancery Lane tube. I realised that, at this time of day, it would be far more sensible to walk to Holborn and take the Piccadilly line, as it would be much less crowded. For some reason, though, I decided to get on the Central Line and then change at Tottenham Court Road, despite realising that the change would probably be hellish.
I successfully negotiated the squishing power of the Central Line, and the crowds at TCR. While waiting for a Northern Line train, I took out my iPod in the hope of listening to Stuart's CD which he had given me last Christmas. Unfortunately however, the battery was flat. In the absence of music, I found myself wishing it was Friday and that I could go to the Abbey, chill out and forget about work for a couple days. I wandered along the platform, and when the train arrived I stepped on board. The train was crowded, and I found myself face to face with... Stuart.
If this isn't evidence of some sort of synchronicity, I don't know what is. Stepping onto a tube train and being faced with someone you know is fairly unlikely. At TCR, which is almost dead centre of the tube map, on the busiest line at the busiest time of day, it is even more remote. To put it in context, each train has a capacity close to 1,000 people; it has 24 sets of doors, and there is, on average, a train every 1-3 minutes. What was even more incredible about this occurrence is that Stuart was in the TCR area, and needed to go to Goodge Street (the next stop) to meet Laura. Rather than walk or jump on a bus, for some reason he decided to defy obvious common sense and take the tube.
Needless to say I ended up going for a drink with Laura, Stuart, Emma and Jamie (who for some reason reminds me of Ryan Atwood from the O.C.). It was a pleasant interlude in what has otherwise been a pretty depressing week or two. I've had so much work on, which has stressed me out, plus the weather has been terrible. I've always found the winter terribly depressing, to the extent that it's a real effort for me to get through it every year. Going to Florida mid-winter the last couple years has helped me out quite a bit. Normally by this time of year the sun is out at least some of the time; even if its not, the grey is at least quite bright. This May, however, mainly took the form of a set-in darkness and rain, which left me feeling very depressed and longing for some sunshine. I think this is probably the last country I should live in. Hopefully I won't have to much longer.
Today was Thursday, June 1st, and I was (as usual) very busy. Just after 5pm, I realised that I was fed up and so I decided that, rather than stay after hours like normal, I'd leave. So about 5.15pm I left the client and walked to down to Chancery Lane tube. I realised that, at this time of day, it would be far more sensible to walk to Holborn and take the Piccadilly line, as it would be much less crowded. For some reason, though, I decided to get on the Central Line and then change at Tottenham Court Road, despite realising that the change would probably be hellish.
I successfully negotiated the squishing power of the Central Line, and the crowds at TCR. While waiting for a Northern Line train, I took out my iPod in the hope of listening to Stuart's CD which he had given me last Christmas. Unfortunately however, the battery was flat. In the absence of music, I found myself wishing it was Friday and that I could go to the Abbey, chill out and forget about work for a couple days. I wandered along the platform, and when the train arrived I stepped on board. The train was crowded, and I found myself face to face with... Stuart.
If this isn't evidence of some sort of synchronicity, I don't know what is. Stepping onto a tube train and being faced with someone you know is fairly unlikely. At TCR, which is almost dead centre of the tube map, on the busiest line at the busiest time of day, it is even more remote. To put it in context, each train has a capacity close to 1,000 people; it has 24 sets of doors, and there is, on average, a train every 1-3 minutes. What was even more incredible about this occurrence is that Stuart was in the TCR area, and needed to go to Goodge Street (the next stop) to meet Laura. Rather than walk or jump on a bus, for some reason he decided to defy obvious common sense and take the tube.
Needless to say I ended up going for a drink with Laura, Stuart, Emma and Jamie (who for some reason reminds me of Ryan Atwood from the O.C.). It was a pleasant interlude in what has otherwise been a pretty depressing week or two. I've had so much work on, which has stressed me out, plus the weather has been terrible. I've always found the winter terribly depressing, to the extent that it's a real effort for me to get through it every year. Going to Florida mid-winter the last couple years has helped me out quite a bit. Normally by this time of year the sun is out at least some of the time; even if its not, the grey is at least quite bright. This May, however, mainly took the form of a set-in darkness and rain, which left me feeling very depressed and longing for some sunshine. I think this is probably the last country I should live in. Hopefully I won't have to much longer.
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