so much has happened since my last post, i cannot begin to even cover it all, but i will do my best. november was a particularly difficult month. the love of my life, vinny, my 9 year old tabby, passed away 2 days before thanksgiving. we were together for 8 years and 10 months and he was, paws down, the best man in my life. i  was terribly heartbroken for weeks afterwards but tried to keep myself busy (an easy task given my workload). i went home for thanksgiving, which was bittersweet; the house seemed very empty without him.

i returned to LA for a few days to finish up the last of my work before departing on a 6-week, overland camping trip from nairobi to cape town. i didn’t think that i could spend 6 weeks sleeping in a tent, but i did, and i’m probably better for it. in fact, the first night sleeping in the test was the best night of sleep i had in months; i had no responsibilities or deadlines, i just had to take care of myself. i missed vinny hard during the first weeks, and kept picking his hairs off of my clothes and throwing them out the window. it was a strange sort of memorial, leaving his hairs across kenya, but it put a smile on my face. the trip was amazing a “life changing experience;” although i don’t feel particularly changed, i’ve tried to maintain my relaxed mentality from africa since my return to the states. truth be told, everything will get done, providing you relax and do it. internal stress is a modern phenomenon.

From namib naukluft park, namibia

i am in the process of posting a full diary at…
http://www.themediamademecrazy.com/charisseinafrica/

until then, the pictures are available at…
http://picasaweb.google.com/charisseinafrica

the trip was amazing: i saw all big 5 (elephants, rhinos, buffalos, lions and leopards), went horseback riding around lake malawi, walked with lions in zambia, took a microlight ride over victoria falls, jumped off of a gorge at the zambezi river, rode in a mokoro through the okavango delta, went skydiving and quad biking over the namibian desert, and drank wine in south africa. some parts were rough, some were simple, and i did not get malaria.

since returning to the states, i’ve been trying to get back into the swing of things, although its really felt like a holiday from my holiday. i was in LA for 2 weeks catching up on work, then spent a weekend in tampa for the SPSP conference (for which the trip was fully funded) and now i’m in NY spending time with family and friends before leaving to drive to SF with one of my best girlfriends.

as for media, i’ve been fairly detached. i spent most of my downtime in africa with my nose in a book; i didn’t speak to anyone at any length for the first 10 days, it was a delightful break from my own life and my own mind. i did not read newspapers or watch any news - i didn’t even know that there was a battle ensuing between israel and palestine until about a week after the fact. furthermore, i spent the time reading fiction (atlas shrugged, memoirs of a geisha, me talk pretty one day, the satanic verses, and a thousand splendid suns), albeit smart fiction, but a significant departure from my regular reading material.

i returned on january 20, just in time to watch the inaugural parties for obama, which was a delightful media return. its fun to be back in the states, its a new america, but it still smells the same.