A bird in the hand

We got back to Australia in time for the general election, as I am not an Australian citizen I have no vote, but for Barnadi who is, it is his legal obligation that he votes.  It wont come as a surprise to anyone following Australian politics over the last few years, but Tony Abbott and the Liberal party won the election.  The constant infighting between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd destroyed any credibility the Labour party had detracting from all the positives the party had achieved during its time in power.  Perhaps the more surprising outcome is the large number of smaller parties that have secured seats in the senate.  Australian voting works on an overly complicated preference system which means you either vote for every single candidate in order of preference (this year the ballot contained approximately 100 names), or you vote for your preferred party and accept their preferences.  Now most people will not have had the time or the motivation to study all 100 of these candidates, so the majority of voters will just take their preferred party's vote.  This allows parties and other independent candidates to make a series of convoluted preferences deals until you get to the point where the Motor Enthusiasts Party (whose sole policy is to allow drivers to make any modifications to their cars they like with no let or hindrance) gets a seat in the senate.

While Barnadi was busy helping decide the fate of the country, I was busy taking actions to decide my own fate.  Once again, I returned home to Australia to go straight into a job interview.  The interview was for a permanent position as a grade 2 clinical trials pharmacist at the Alfred hospital.  I did not go into the interview with much hope, my last few interviews have all turned into unmitigated disasters.  Despite my previous track record, the interview seemed to go surprisingly well and I left feeling unusually confident, but as the days went by and I heard no news one way or the other my confidence began to slip again.  Exactly one week after the interview I was called back into my bosses office to discuss the outcome, where she seemed even more shocked than I was at how well my interview went.  Rather than just offering me the clinical trials job (which would be a more office based job) she suggested that I should reapply for the current clinical pharmacist vacancy (the job I currently do).  So my options were to take the job on offer in clinical trials, or risk it for another chance to remain as a clinical pharmacist.  It didn't take me long to make up my mind, and so I will start my new job as a clinical trials pharmacist in March, after the current rotation ends.