With partners and employees spread between Saigon, Singapore and the States it’s fitting that they shall be able to refer to me as “Our Man in Hanoi”.

A big thank you to them for having faith in me – I was initially interviewed based on Twitter output and general online activities (blogging does pay kids).  There were some Skype chats and a in-person meet up in Saigon.

I’ll be full-time from the start of June and will be chipping away at smaller projects in the meantime.

Most of the work is linked to this country’s tourism industry – something I view as absolutely vital for Vietnam’s development.

Long term we’re hoping to marry the media expertise at MM with a little of my social media experience.  This is the TripAdvisor travel era after all.

Anyway, I am delighted to have a “proper” job again. In the end it was the quality of colleagues and clients that really impressed me.

I had been genuinely starting to worry about employment but, yes, everything in my life is very much now going to plan.

Hanoi always was my lucky place.

If you’ve been bored enough to follow my Twitter feed you might have noticed that earlier this week I went into work and resigned.

I don’t want to go into too many details about why but in short it was about employment conditions that made it increasingly difficult to live here both legally and financially.

I resigned with a heavy heart, because the job suits me just fine.  It wasn’t meant as some kind of bargainning bluff.  In fact, if I had thought for a second that I’d be talked into staying, then I probably would never have tweeted it.

But, after brief negotiations, I am now delighted to be staying in my post.  I even found myself turning down extra hours so I could continue to work four days a week and have Monday free to pursue other activities.

I have used my freetime for freelancing to date and I have written some short pieces for local magazines but in doing so it was a reminder that at $30 – $50 a go you’d have to be writing a lot before you’d be making a living.  By my reckoning you’d have to write one every day.  It’s not the writing that’s difficult – it’s finding the opportunities.

Far better to have a day job and write for fun when the mood takes you.

Anyway – I have also promised to do a talk on social media for a local environmental NGO.  I’m also meeting another NGO tomorrow.  My take on it is this – I am happy to provide freebies for people doing good work.  If more of my time is needed then we can look at covering some costs.

In the meantime, the phrase “bubbling over with chuffedness” made an appearance from me on Twitter this week and that’s pretty much how I feel.

Over emotional guff coming but… at one point last week I found myself scooting home on a perfect Hanoi morning and suddenly realised there were tears streaming down my cheeks.  Pure happiness.  Hanoi continues to move me.

Even when editing from home I’ve got into the habit of breaking up chunks of work with loud music – gleefully bedroom-dancing in lieu of more traditional screen breaks.

This all seems like a design for a very good life.  For the first time ever I find myself not thinking about the future.  I’m not counting days till a holiday.  I am not planning “what next” while completing an overseas post.  I am not even wishing for the weekend.

Meanwhile, after a slow start my social life is growing.  I am making new friends and getting out a bit more. But I feel very patient about all of that.  If all goes to plan then I will be here a very long time. There’s no hurry to do anything.

And now I am searching for a suitably punchy way to end this blog post.

Nothing’s coming.

So I’m wondering if being happy and non cranky makes for good blogging.

Hey, don’t unsubscribe just yet…

Life can’t always be this good.