It's been one heck of a month!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated my blog. I have good reason, and to tell the truth, I'm soooo stressed out right now, this is the only thing I could think of doing! So here are some quick updates that will explain why I've been out of the blogverse for so long.

1. I quit my job - am serving out the notice period now. {Yay, yay, yay...!!!}

2. I found another job. The work profile is better, it pays a bit more, but they've been adamant about my having a passport before I join. My passport expired 3 years ago and for a variety of reasons I never got it renewed. And now I need it pronto. More on that in a bit.

3. After I gave notice at work, I discovered that my immediate superior enjoys absolutely no respect among the team! Zilch. He's the laughing stock actually! I always suspected it, but I like to look on the brighter side of things. {Either that, or I was so caught up in my own troubles, I didn't notice! :-(}

4. The immediate superior is making things difficult over my last day. I am adjusting earned leave against the notice period (of 30 days) and that's what everyone does. But suddenly, I'm told I have to hang on. (For what?) I mean, just because I quit I'm indispensable? Especially considering that the Lord & Master sitting in the US of A has spent the past year telling me - more or less - that I'm redundant. Go figure!

5. Everyone at work has been telling me they're really sad I'm leaving but understand that I needed to get out of a place where not only was my talent not appreciated but was also ridiculed and dismissed. Sniff...it's really touching, the stuff people are saying.

6. I'm going to radically miss my friends at work. But sigh...no pain, no gain.

7. I finally managed to get something done about my passport. It's taken 10 days of preparation - poring though the website which contains starkly contradictory instructions - taking a zillion printouts and photocopies. Of course, the application was not accepted today because some or the other document was not in order. Come to think of it, nobody in the line got any of their work done. Hmmm....

8. There have been so many papers and copies around the house and I've been reading so much that my son thought I was preparing for an exam!

9. Now here's the icing on the cake. I got a verification certificate today: from an additional commissioner of income-tax, no less. Break out the champagne, this is BIG. But we're merely in the pilot episode, you know. Wait for the updates. God promise, mother promise - as we Indians are fond of saying - I won't disappear again.

10. In the middle of all this, I completed the paperwork for the car, which involved more than a couple of trips across town. All of this has been physically, emotionally and financially draining. The saga continues and I shall spill all the gory details shortly...