"There were these two little mice in a bucket of milk, one gave up right away and drowned, the other kept on paddling away and eventually he churned the milk into butter and walked out." That’s in Catch Me If you Can as well
To be honest I've found out some invaluable info on PPRuNe, but every so often I have to remind myself that there are a lot of "tire-kickers", people who'll never take the plunge but offer their opinions as if they are gospel truth.
I've only seen a few posts on this thread however I don't fully agree with. WWW is 100% right when he says you get jaded over time, tell me any job that got a degree of repetitiveness in it and that doesn't happen. Also rosters, working unsocial hours, Stand-by, really early starts or really late finishes, 1 weekend off in 4 during peak times and days off when all your mates are doing 9 to 5. But that’s the key . . . when your mates are doing the 9 to 5, YOU are not, not sitting in front of a desk, not moving numbers from A to B, not attending countless meetings that achieve nothing other than for the sake of meetings, Not battling with rush hour traffic where a 20 minute drive takes an hour and an hour back every day, Gay office politics, photocopiers and stationary orders . . . yuk yuk yuk!
I decided recently I was going to take the plunge and I start training in LA after Christmas, pending my medical at Gatwick on Monday afternoon. It took a lot of soul searching and the knowledge for the first time in my life, if I failed any exam or got pissed off half way through I'd have paid out a sizable number of g's. But I'm doing it and not talking about it as so many others do.
Stewart, have you made a decision mate?