Breath Deep Seek Peace

Waxing philosophical and my mental pen has run dry....I'll express as best I can:

Something about Sundays in London, I just absolutely really look forward to them. Although I had a bit of a late night last night (met some refreshing NYU students and we checked out a new area of town nearby--looks to be a fun time, I'll be going back), I got up at 9:30 for church and had a nice mass with John Donne on the bulletin. That's one thing I really love about the Church here, I think I've said it before, but this diocese has all these amazing thinkers and artists on bulletins every week. It's very much the embodiment of something Thomas Merton was discussing in Seven Storey Mountain, regarding how Catholicism is the perfect religion for artists or intellectuals or something of that variety. Now these featured people are not always Catholic, I admit, which is somewhat odd (Mozart was Lutheran), but their works all had a strong component of faith and most definitely fit the A.M.D.G motto of the Jesuits. Ok so that's that end of things--always feels wonderful to start off on the right foot.

Part two of starting this week off on the right foot, besides actually feeling refreshed this morning on 6ish hours of sleep (that's about average for me so not bad altogether) and being on the upswing health-wise--the beauty of just sitting in a cafe and relaxing. Before I did the grocery run after church, I popped in to Cafe Nero (Starbucks for less with more social consciousness). Had a delightful 1. and pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) with a side of the Observer's travel section, served by a wonderfully friendly staff. Sip sip sip, watching the time pass away and reading about the "real Spain." I am seriously considering going over to Lonely Planet's office and just knocking, or writing an email to my one contact there (web sales guy that I purchased my Slovenia and Croatia books from). Yes, it was a good half hour or so of the "sip by sip life", as the Republic of Tea CEO once wrote in the book he gave me--something I don't allow myself enough of, always filling the schedule with too many things to do and never ever relaxing, just agonising and analysing and generally thinking too much. So that little respite was quite welcome. Rest of the day: lounging and catching up on work. From next weekend on, I'll either be entertaining friends and family here in town or out travelling myself until mid April. Somewhere in there the research has to begin in earnest....

...but so the time in Europe accelerates towards its rapid conclusion, rather sadly, hopefully only a beginning chapter of a long and thunderous novel.

Which brings me to a work update. I think I really started to gel with the work team this week, and one of the guys got back from visiting family for Chinese New Year in Singapore, so we're one big happy family again. I'm proud to say that, true to my last job where I spent 3 summers, I'm quickly developing quite a unique rap, piling up comments about how much I smile and how they've "never met anyone like me before." I don't know, that could be good or bad, but I like to be unique, a bit eccentric, and living life with a smile on my face. As for actually producing good work--we keep hitting roadblocks, but we're making slow progress and things are coming along. Some of the work I like, some I don't, but again, I think that's life. It is a little scary how much bad press we've been getting, but I feel like the right steps are being made to correct the errors that occurred from every happening again. Continuing to jump all over the place in this blog, after work on Friday (which was largely spent acquiring exotic fruits, snacks for elevenses, and imaginary fairy plum cake for afternoon tea), we went to pub down at the wharf for a few pints. I spent a good amount of time talking to the big bosses exec assistant, and from the way she was talking, I might be able to find a strong summer opportunity here after all. Paid? I don't know--kind of a requirement for me. We shall see what happens. Anyway, proof that the real networking work gets done in the pub--just need to capitalise on these leads.

It was a fascinating discussion about the merits and detriments of the American worker, and how many of the ex-pats over here are no longer "America," despite calling places like Boston home. This was, of course, music to my ears--that, even in the business world, you can still pull a TS Eliot and absolutely redefine yourself. It's been quite a restless week, and the travel bug is biting quite hard. The world is simply too large to ever settle in one place. Too many people to meet (something I need to work on), places to see, things to eat/hear/absorb. It's all about broadening the self and reaching a greater level of understanding with people across the globe. Truly, our only hope for the future--we're rapidly segregating on some fronts into a "clash of civilisations" complex hyped by some international relations theorists. It's nowhere near as dramatic as they espouse, but we need to keep building bridges, and the only way to do that is through a true culture of openness and an eager aptitude for learning from others and humility of the self.

When you have a love affair with half the globe (the Baltics, Bolivia, Brazil, Georgia, New Zealand, Spain...), how are you suppose to decide where to go?

Promise another post later today.