Is this thing on..?

Hello! Welcome to my first post!

Blogging is so not me. I regularly shun facebook, twitter, IM and all forms of social networking. The last time I had “blogged”, dear me .. those were the old xanga days. (ermm..does anyone remember that?) Anyhoos, thought now would be a good time to start a journal, what with my upcoming sabbatical and all that. When I look back in 20 years, I’m sure I’ll have wanted all my experiences catalogued and archived (and my 30 year old self frozen in time). It also gives me an opportunity to keep up with all my friends and family.

So, where to begin?

Well, I secured a two month travel sabbatical and am going to see the world. A sabbatical, you say? As in “leaving your job and doing whatever the hell you want in order to figure out life and when you’re done figuring it out – or NOT, going back to a job without missing a beat?” How does one do such a thing?? It’s actually QUITE possible, my dears, and in my case, I just walked into my MD’s office with a proposal clutched in my hand and nervously slid the piece of paper over to him. Oh ok, it was a powerpoint presentation listing all my strengths, my indebted service to the company for the last 3+ years, and reasons why I needed a break. I’m quite the nerd when it comes to things like this and thought a professionally prepared deck would help my cause. It actually didn’t, but I was lucky that my MD was in a good mood that day. I was shocked he was fully supportive and he (coming from a generation of very hard working Indians who’ve climbed to the senior ranks of corporate america) said he wished he had an opportunity to do something like this when he was younger.

So there you go. If you want something, just ask for it. And if you don’t get what you want, well.. at least you have your answer … then move on.

That’s how I was able to get two months leave. When I come back, though i will be broke as h-e-double hockey sticks, I’ll be refreshed, motivated and ready to attack life once more.

Sorry for the long, droning post. Promise more excitement next time, with some pictures hopefully. My little travel gnome is arriving in 3 days and he’s going in my suitcase for a free round-the-world trip so you’ll be seeing alot of pictures of him (he’s more photogenic than I am). And big ups to the Travelocity site cuz I basically stole their header so I hope they don’t sue my a$$ off.