Wellington Weekend

Well, overall my recent weekend in Wellington was... complete crap.

Firstly, I spent the entire weekend missing a particular someone back in Auckland, which cast a shadow on the whole weekend anyway, but combined with a lack of money (3 months straight of going to Wellington has left me skint) and a particularly nasty clash with friends, it just soured the whole thing.

And I've been thinking (and had been thinking before this weekend), why do I want to move back? Looking at the facts...

• My friends will still be my friends if I stay in Auckland - they've been my friends all this time despite an absence of 5 or so years.
• I have made friends since I've been here and all it would take is a little more effort and I could see them more often. Not only that, I've made a number of friends via Twitter, some I'm particularly close to.
• I have someone here, who means a lot to me.
• My family is here, or close.
  
• I can't afford to move.
• Am I really sick of Auckland or am I actually sick of my job? Analysing the facts, I've come to the conclusion that my plans to move to Wellington were based around wanting to change my job, not around wanting to move.
• What would I do in Wellington? I don't particularly want to work in the public sector or hospo and while the student life is tempting, I like the money I make in the real world, I like having weekends and a job, I'm not so keen on exams and I'm definitely not keen on making my student loan any bigger!
• The weather. Auckland is warm and I can use an umbrella when it rains. Wellington has a 9-month winter and when it rains, you get wet.

It's taken me a long time, but I'm kind of settled here. I quite like my house, and I like my friends and I like my life. Moving back feels like... well, moving backwards. This last trip kind of sealed something for me - 3 trips in as many months left me feeling very, very bored by the end of the last one. I'd done everything, seen everyone. I managed to do that in a week-long trip in September, and two long-weekends in October and November.

So why move? If the jobs I want, and the people I want to be with and the concerts and events I want to attend are all here, why move? If I can see everything and everyone I need to or want to see in Wellington over 4 or 5 days, why move?

Really, the answer was given to me over the weekend. For as long as things stay the way they are in my personal life, for as long as I am happy here, I'm staying in Auckland. If things change in the future, then I'll move forwards - and for the right reasons - not backwards for the wrong ones.