Things I do to keep busy

A new activity just jumped to the top of my list of most hated activities. Its called "Networking". Its a polite word for a mercenary form of organised socialising, where the aim of eveyone present is to wheedle out a name, contact and possible availability of a job at the place where the other person works. You say hello to a person you never saw before in your life, you behave as if he/she is the most fascinating human being on the planet, and lead it up to getting recruitment related information from them. If the person is unemployed/just trying to make friends, you say a polite hello and move on. There is a roomful of people to cover after all!

Maybe I'm so uncomfortable with this, as I am normally at the recieving end of the snubs, being unemployed and all. However, I can't think I'd enjoy having people randomly walk to me and expect me to dish out job leads at the place I worked even if I were employed!

They say that doing this is a very important way of meeting the "right" people and getting a job, so I'm gritting my teeth and doing it anyway.

While we are on the subject of hated pastimes, another fast climbing one is "sightseeing". This is the one where you are the mandated escort to the latest set of friends who have a list of "destinations",usually taken off the internet, that need to be ticked off in order for them to go back to wherever they came from and safely proclaim "We did Switzerland this summer!" And all this time, all you are trying to do is remember how you love spending time with these guys, as you watch the gazillionth photo being clicked of the snow laden mountaintop!

Phew, felt good to get that off my chest. On to more positive ramblings. Luzern has to be one of the prettiest cities I've seen so far. Its waterfront beats Geneva, Ouchy and Montreaux. Ive done motorboat rides across all four and Luzern holds your attention the longest. A walk around the city just gives you a cleaner, livelier, more modern vibe. We chanced a drive to Interlaken from Luzern in pouring rain, this has to be one of the most drop dead, exhileratingly beautiful things I've ever done. And to top it all, the rolls we picked up from a gas station pit stop somewhere on the road were simply awesome.

In comparison to the rest of Switzerland, so far, Geneva seems a lot seedier. Older. Like a town that everybody forgot. Which is ironic considering its a top rated destination to live in the world.