HELP WANTED: WHERE SHOULD I BE ONE WEEK FROM NOW?

More of this?

Or a return to this?

Should I stay, or should I go?

I've got a big decision to make, and I now have less than a week to make it. This one's not easy -- all of the options are attractive ones, which should make it easier but somehow makes it tougher. I've never been the indecisive type. Sometimes I wait until the last minute to make up my mind, but usually, once I pick a side, I stick to it. Right now, though, I'm having some trouble. If I had a pair of dice, I'd roll them and let the gods of chance decide for me.

What's got me second guessing myself? My place in this world -- or more precisely, my place in this word in October. I'm due to fly back to Melbourne on 27 September. The other day I dreamt about the city and began to miss it for the first time since I left it for Asia on July 5. I've missed my friends there all along -- one in particular, who should know who he is if he's reading this, and if I know him, he's not -- but missing your friends is different from missing a city.

I also have a return flight to Buenos Aires set for 5 October (originally it was 27 July). Should I return to Australia next week and push back my trip to BA until the holidays? Or should I return to both places as scheduled? There's a third option, and as of yesterday morning, it started to be the most attractive one: Another month in Southeast Asia, part of it in Bangkok, which has begun to feel like home to me, and another part in some other country I've yet to discover. I've already extended my time here twice, so why not go for a perfect triple? I'm suddenly not sure if I'm ready to give up the amazing, cheap food here for pricey Australia, even if spring is finally in the air there.

If I stay, where should I go? There are signs. There's a storyline right now on The Young and the Restless involving Billy and something he did in Myanmar, a country that no one ever mentions. Though I ate at a restaurant specializing in food from Myanmar when I was in Singapore (yum!), I can't say that I've ever considered visiting the country formerly known as Burma. Laos is another option, but I've heard unexciting things about Thailand's skinny neighbor to the east (that it's boring).

As for Indonesia, how cliché can you get? Every Aussie goes there because getting there and staying there is so cheap, but I've never had any interest in following everyone's lead. And really, if I wanted to be surrounded by Aussies (which I pretty much already am every time I go to DJ Station in Bangkok), why not just go home? At least there I wouldn't have to deal with so many desperate gay flight attendants looking to get laid.

Of course, I could branch out from Southeast Asia and hit China, Japan or India, but for some reason, I think saving those countries for my next trip to Asia would be the right thing to do. Another character on Y&R recently was toying with the idea of moving back to his native Australia. And then there's Dario on Days of Our Lives, who just got a big job in Buenos Aires. Christian on One Life to Live just got one in Barcelona, and like Dario, he had to leave that night. How often does that happen in real life, and why are the soaps pimping all of my recent stomping grounds?

If only I had a great job offer to make my decision for me. But for now, I'm on my own. Maybe I'll get a call today from some prospective employer demanding that I fly to some faraway land within 24 hours (and like Dario, I'll even get a company car to take me to the airport), but life, unfortunately, is not like Days of Our Lives. If it were, I'd be booking a one-way ticket to Salem right now. Nothing in Southeast Asia, Australia, or BA could possibly be more exciting than what goes down there!