Chanting chanting shanti shanti

I know, I know. My track record on this blog has been absolutely shocking lately. And I don't even have a great excuse, other than the usual boring one: too much else going on.

Things are great though. Work is busy and challenging as usual, but I still adore what I for some reason continue to call "my new job", although it's been more than six months now - I think it's because time has just passed so incredibly fast. I really did score the jackpot with this one, I think. Who would have ever thought I would be so happy working for a regional newspaper? Not me. But I am, and I love it. I just had my staff appraisal today with my boss and he heaped so much praise on me that I came out of the meeting rather overwhelmed. He said he couldn't stress enough how lucky he felt to have me on the team and that he wanted to do anything to make me comfortable and make me stay (and no: I did not ask for a raise then, although it does sound like a good moment. But it's still early times). He said he felt I made a really positive impact on both the content of the paper and the team in general. And that he thought I had great potential and he could see me taking on some leadership responsibilities when the time was right. So yeah, a great success on the whole line.

What else? I'm going to India this Saturday for a good three weeks. I cannot wait. It's been a dream of mine for so many years that it feels absolutely surreal that I'm actually going now. I would have preferred to go for longer, three months would have been nice - but we don't want to get greedy. The three months gig is just not a possibility right now, so I take what I can get and I'm still stoked about it. So if you notice someone chanting "om shanti om" while standing on one leg and eating a curry at the same time, it will probably be me. I'll try to say hi on the blog at some stage over the next three weeks if possible but don't hold me to it. Namaste!