Ok, since I've been gone for so long, I'll give you the short version:
As some of you will know, about 3 years ago I had a significant brain melt-down at work and have been (to a greater or lesser extent) on stress leave ever since. I went back to the office for a year or so (graduated return to work) but my mental health steadily degraded again.
In an attempt to return to productive employment, I have decided (at 32 years of age) to become an electrician. I have just completed a pre-vocational TAFE course (Technical and Further Education) which will count as the theory side of the first year of my apprenticeship. Top of the class all the way, which doesn't really matter because it's graded on a pass/fail system only. Also, for the most part, I was competing with 17 year olds. I'm still looking for employment (a process which is made somewhat more difficult due to the red-tape involved in satisfying my previous employer) and have applied for a job with one of the major energy suppliers in Australia.
As an aside, there seems to be a trend here over the last few years of older guys looking for trade apprenticeships. From the employer side, opinion seems to be split in two over this. One side like the younger kids because they don't have to pay them as much. The other side prefer the older guys because they tend to work harder and smarter.
On the home front, I've just bought a house with my fiance (whom I don't think I've mentioned here before) so I'm staring down the barrel of a quiet family life (wife, more kids, mortgage, etc) and absolutely loving it. My son (from a previous marriage) is now 9 years old and stays with me half the time (a week with me, a week with his mother) which is working out exceptionally well.
So, other than a total mental collapse (which, luckily has been mostly funded by insurance) life is GOOD!
