And there was an update...
Work's been buzzing, I've been traveling a lot, been to Helsinki 10 days ago due to another project I got involved in at work and had a most relaxed weekend in Mannheim, Germany, where I visited NH and saw parts of "home, sweet home" for the first time in 3 months. It felt good!

I've still not heard from SOAS, but since I got my contract renewed until end of October, that's more of a formal issue now, with university having been put on ice for the time being. If I'm actually accepted, I'll have to phone them and ask if the offer is good for next year as well due to the changed circumstances at work and all. Unlikely, but who knows.

I'm enjoying Finland and working, but I'm not sure how long it'll take for boredom and routine to settle in and get the better of me; so I'm quite happy that the renewal was only until end of October, another 4 and a half months for now.
If I still like it, I can still go and try for another renewal.

If I don't ... well, that's the crux, really. Got a lot of ideas stuck in my head at the moment.

Been thinking of going back to Germany, back to Bonn. I like the city, and I'll still have a few people there, at least until the end of the summer next year. I could most likely start in "my" bar again, another place I like a lot, along with the people. Work until end of next summer, re-apply for SOAS if needed, move to London and get a degree after all. Wouldn't be the worst idea I've had, and would sure as Hell calm down my parents a bit, as well as offer new opportunities.
Alternatively, I could re-apply at University of Leiden, use my idle time until the summer to learn Dutch properly so I don't have to put up with that bachelor bridging year they impose on people who don't know Dutch.
Those are the "normal", quite safe and sound plans, I guess, if it all works out.

Then there's the idea of just packing it all up and heading off to China or Indonesia for a while, or both, working as a freelancing teacher for German and/or English and taking the respective language's classes then and there, in a surrounding where I have to learn and adapt my knowledge quickly. If I save up a bit of money in the next few months, living expenses there should easily be covered, and I'd obviously get paid for the teaching part.

Then there's moving back to Bonn, working in the bar and some other stuff on the side, and get a foot into the travelling stuff Quug and I have been idioting on about. That'd require quite a bit of cash though, not sure how easily that's attainable ... not to mention the heat I'd probably get from my parents.

In any case, my immediate future's somewhat unclear at the moment, and I can't say I don't like it. I feel I'm getting more spontanious and adventuring again, and I like it; in fact, I've been missing it a bit. I even started writing and drawing a bit, although it's frustrating how slow, incoherent and flat it all is. I remember I used to be better, but that was 8 years ago and I wasn't spoilt by real life that much I guess.

Bah, I sound like an old man. I clearly don't feel like one though. ;)

Anyways, time for bed here, work in the morning.

Ta-taa.