Epic bike ride, magic day.

What? Two blog posts in one day? Yesssssss. Because I couldn't go on a bike ride like I just did, and not record it. As a tiny celebration of the achievement of one of my small stepping-stone goals, I decided to treat myself to a bike ride in Central Park. Managing to score myself a "today only, extra special price just for you" from the obliging bike man, on a truly awful dunga of a bike (it was a Jeep bike! A Jeep? My lovely sleek and sporty Specialized at home in Sydney would have squirmed in its storage unit if it had seen what I had stooped to riding.), I set off on what turned out to be an epic full circle of probably my favourite leafy park in the world. And it was SO beautiful. I still haven't found words to really properly convey the soft, layered green leafiness and sense of tranquility that Central Park possesses, but however you want to describe it, it's something pretty magical. Whether it was the utter prettiness of the Bethesda Fountain framed by a sunbathed lake with rowboats, happy couples and bobbing turtles, or the wide curving avenues cut amongst majestic trees, or the softball games, freewheeling cyclists, healthy joggers, or lounging hipsters in the Sheep's Meadow, every sight I saw was at once beautiful, exciting, calming, and the stuff of which deep happiness is made. New York I think I'm in love with you, all over again.

And they're cool guys too.

I suppose I should have seen this coming. I just went for lunch with The Dude (no, not the White Russian drinking, dirty dressing-gowned dude from the Big Lebowski) from The Agency I want to work at. He brought a couple of pals along too. And all of them were really cool, dude. What's more they were cool in the actual way - not wankers, properly smart, genuinely funny, fucking good at what they do. Naturally it made me want to work there even more. Ah what delicious torture! Because I think the lunch went well. The dude gave the green light for me to move on to the next stage, to be entered into the process that is having my book reviewed and interviewing with the next link in a long chain of powers that be, and he told me to come back and speak to their Head of Copy. Exciting yes? Yes! But excruciating too. I am one small step closer to doing the work I really, truly want to do, in the city that I love, but there are waysides aplenty yet into which I may fall. Well what can you do? Enjoy the moment, feel giddy all afternoon, pray to the heavens, and maybe go find a pool to splash in, because the weather today is sunny and fabulous. Oh yeah, and be happy. Lunching with three cool guys isn't the worst thing a gal could do.

Life is pretty amazing.

It's easy to forget, while hacking your way through the job search jungle, that you're leading quite an amazing life. As I have fallen into step with the basic ways of being a New Yorker, and gotten used to the unrelenting whir of a brain and body seeking paid employment, I have started to take certain factors for granted. Like the fact that every day when I step out my front door, I am stepping out into New York City, metropolis extravaganzus. And that when I want a nice calm space to reflect on things, I can put one foot in front of the other and find myself in Central Park, listening to the muted melody that is a game of softball - the soft thwack of a ball hitting a mitt, the high ting of a ball off a bat, and the lyrical patter of a friendly jibe fluttering from one New-York-accented team mate to another. But today I noticed these things again and remembered to recognise their coolness. The process of lifting oneself from one relatively smooth-running and established life and replanting on the other side of the world, is not always an easy one. In fact nothing about it is easy. But everything about it is invigorating. With every recognisable trapping of life made new and bewildering - from flavours, to transport, to language, to toothpaste, rubbish disposal, light switches and even flushing the loo - suddenly every assumed thought or fact or action turns from concrete to jelly; from something rock solid to something entirely more malleable. And while it's not always comfortable, it's fantastic for your brain. It kicks cylinders into action that could quite happily idle before. It revs up your curiosity and your agility - you start learning things anew. You start finding things out about yourself that you maybe only suspected before. And you encounter some pretty fricking cool, outstanding, special and amazing things. I'm making awesome new friends, frequenting numerous cool hangouts, finding myself miraculously in settings mainly meant for the rich and famous, encountering incredible art and inspired creativity, walking the same streets as total cool-arse legends from eras gone by. Oh, and I got two more requests to interview at good companies, and great job contacts continue to present themselves. It's been a good week, and life is pretty amazing.