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.