One way ticket on a westbound train

I have some exciting news: I have been offered a six month job as Assistant Restaurant Manager at an elite ranch/resort called Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana! I have long been anticipating this news and am so relieved and ecstatic that I have been accepted. I will be living and working on the ranch from May to October, surrounded by purple mountains majesty. Here is the website to the ranch so you can check out more details. http://www.mtnsky.com/

Part of the interview process required me to make a video further introducing myself and explaining why I wanted to work on the ranch. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwnbyWrmYhM

I am beyond excited to begin on this next adventure in my life. Thanks to everyone for supporting me and reading my blog!

Final India Video

Final India Video

Unrest

In Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales, the great detective is praised throughout London and Britain as being the energetic and brilliant mystery solver, fueled by his desire to prove that simple logic and rational thought will prevail over any mind boggling conundrum that arises. It's not that he takes pleasure in catching a criminal or setting a citizen's mind at ease, but his brain craves the challenge of a new puzzle. Until a problem is solved, he will not rest. His analytical mind reviews every logical explanation until the only possible solution is revealed. His mental prowess, greater than the blundering buggers at Scotland Yard (London's police force) are what give him purpose to his life. In between mysteries, Holmes is quite a different character. During these moments of ennui, he is often found by Watson brooding in silence in a cloud of opium smoke, cocaine coursing through his veins. Without any stimulation, Homes allows himself to succumb to a listlessness that frustrates Watson to no end.

While I have yet to resort to drugs or any other illegal activities, I do understand how Holmes feels. In between my travels, I crave the the stimulation of new sights, new smells, new adventures. I cherish my time at home, but my mind is always wandering to my next destination and the means to get there. Luckily, I am able to find a bit of solace through a less debilitating way than Holmes' method (though, in the 19th century, the danger of cocaine was not well known). I read. Copiously. Reading both ignites and satisfies a never ending curiosity about the world, the past, and the way people live. The following is a fairly apt explanation of how I feel towards my beloved books.

“She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots that stretched back twenty years, her body full of sentences and moments, as if awakening from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams.”

The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje