These days...

So I check my horoscope at the start of every month. Sometimes it's for fun, sometimes it's out of boredom. Sometimes it's to see how way off the mark they are. (Yes, I am STILL waiting for that love-of-my-life to show up thankyouverymuch).

There's two that I usually browse through... one on Yahoo... and Susan Miller (which is disabled for a few days right now, oh no.. how will my October go? *rolls eyes* )

There are some months though when they print (post?) stuff like this and I think, gee..

"Nobody ever promised you that it was going to be easy to balance, tightrope-walker-like, as you move across that high line that is life.... First you want to spend time with your friends. Then you want to spend more time with your family. Then you have to stay late at work. Agh!"

So that's basically what it's been like for me for the last few weeks, and what I know it will be like for the next few too. Been running around trying to 'schedule-in' things: finish work, catch-up with friends, finish work, attend non-work meetings, finish work, hug the parents, finish work, eat with the parents, finish work, have beers, finis.. you catch my drift. But what's crazy is that ..I frickn' love it! (Except ofcourse for the missing family/friends bit during all of this!) 

Have been travelling for work a lot over the last few weeks: Samoa, Solomons and Vanuatu, to run a regional climate change quiz amongst the high schools in each country. It's been tough, but also exhilarating. There have been nights with only 3 hours of sleep, days where you breathe in your breakfast and work through lunch. Tough but... amazing. There's been challenges but there's also been so many great people, so many smiles, stories, jokes, tears, laughs, exhaustion and then the great teamwork that keeps you going. I love working in the Pacific. 

It hasn't always been work-work-work in the new places either. Have managed to have at-least one whole day in each country to myself. 

Samoa turned out to be like a Saturday-arvo-lull. I like chilling there. in their colourful sulus (sarong/lavalava)

Solomons was nice to go back to, I saw another side that I didnt have time to discover the last time I was there, meeting the kids, chatting with the teachers and saw a lot from walking around the place (thanks to the traffic jams caused by the Royal visit) 

Then there was Vanuatu. sigh. I didn't take many pics in Vanuatu. It's like you don't want to offend the place by trying to capture it on camera. Instead, you want to go back. I am not one for making many future plans, but if the opportunity arises, I wouldn't mind living and working in Vanuatu for a bit. *adds to flexi-future-plans list*

Next week I get to discover the Micronesia region. Two weeks in Marshall Islands with a few days in Hawaii. 

But first... gotta get through this week. (cue: gotta get through this, gotta get through this.. )

In other news:

It's been a year since I got back from Japan! I had no idea what it was going to be like being back after 3 years. Oh boy! has it been a fun adventure! *raises piece of dalo with chopsticks to toast*