Same Clowns, Different Circus

On the topic of lateral moves, a wise friend once said to me: "same clowns, different circus." Oh so true. I know so many unhappy associates. In fact, I'd like to meet ONE law firm associate who actually likes their job. ONE. Please come forward.

In any case, the honest truth is that law firm life is law firm life. Moving to a different firm doesn't make it that much better, because it's the same clowns, just a different circus. And I don't want to be a clown anymore!

I say this because apparently the legal market in HK is going bonkers. Cold calls and emails from recruiters are relentless. But when I turn the tables back on them and say that in fact I am interested...but in going IN-HOUSE, the excitement in their voices fade and they tell me that it's pretty much hopeless for me since I don't speak Mandarin. Grrrr. But don't they know I don't want to be a clown anymore?

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Who you are really depends on where you are. For example, in SF, I was a yuppie - meaning that if the average San Franciscan took me and compared me with 100 other San Franciscans and had to put me in a category, they'd put me in the yuppie category, no question. I lived in SoMa, worked in a big law firm, ate at nice restaurants, shopped at Whole Foods, went to happy hour regularly and shopped at Bloomie's. No true San Franciscan would call me a hippie, because in SF, hippies live in the Mission (or better yet, Berkeley), work for agencies that save stray dogs, eat at raw vegan restaurants, but also probably shop at Whole Foods.

In HK, my co-workers identify me as a hippie. Because compared with 100 other Hongers, I'm a health-conscious nutjob. I believe in work-life balance; mental, emotional and physical well-being; exercise, eating well and don't believe in medicating myself, even when I'm sick. In SF, I think these were things that all people strived for, whether you were a hippie or a yuppie. But in HK, these things makes me a hippie. Well, so maybe it might also have to do with the fact that I try to eat raw vegetables as often as possible, practice yoga and am preparing to go on a detox retreat in Koh Samui. But those things would be in the realm of normality for a non-hippie San Franciscan. In fact, I think yoga and detox retreats are actually very yuppie activities, despite what my colleagues in HK may think.