Thomil's Random Ramblings

There's no denying it. Over the last few months, I've not really done much on this blog. The reason is simple, my life has been going through some momentous changes since the beginning of the year, none of them being really positive, and I had to focus most of my energy on simply keeping going! Having said that, I have continued working on new blog posts in the background as well, brainstorming ideas and typing up drafts, but I couldn't really find the focus needed to get an article ready for publication.  But there's another reason as well. You see, back in November of 2024, I embarked on a trip of a lifetime in order to fulfil an ambition that I've had for years, on a route that has been on my mind for longer than I care to remember. I went on a voyage on the famous hurtigrute, the Norwegian coastal ferry and mail packet route that has been running for over 130 years at this point. The round trip as spectacular, from the landscapes to the northern lights to the wa...

When I got into the taxi to JFK back at the end of my visit to New York back in 2011 , I had no reason to believe I’d ever manage to go back. It was meant to be a once in a lifetime experience for a guy who at the time was stuck in a dead-end call enter job and with questionable finances. Well, I doubt that you’ll need me to tell you that a lot of things have changed since 2011, both for good and bad. So when my employer invited me, together with my entire team, to attend the first in-person kick-off event since January 2020, and let it be known that this event would be in New York, you better believe that it was quite the surprise. Now, in retrospect, I wasn’t as excited as one might expect at such a trip. For starters, my mental health had suffered for much of the last quarter of 2023 and I was, and at the time of writing still am, finding it difficult to really get excited about anything. The second reason was less emotional and more pragmatic. The event was scheduled for early Janu...