Some 2200 days ago, I was a confused, obese AUB student that took a Creative Writing course to try and bolster his original plans of applying to med school. I didn’t know where I stood on many issues. I was having a crisis of faith. My private life was tumultuous. Luckily though, it has gotten only better since then.

6 years is almost 25% of my life, and I am lucky to have those years on record in thousands of posts that range from the best place to go on a date, to how to travel cheap, to current affairs and fighting the endless injustices in our tiny Lebanon and even Mia Khalifa coming out on top (pun intended) the week our government decided to start banning porn.

Sharing so much and so frequently has not been all puppies and butterflies. There are a lot of situations I wish I had never been in because of the blog, but there are also countless situations I would have never dreamed to be in without it. Even when the bad stuff happened, I could count on the support of so many people I was lucky enough to meet and collaborate with because of the blog. It kindled in me a journalistic drive I never knew I had. It made me abandon my medical career plan for what I feel were a much more fulfilling 6 years on 3 different continents. Looking back, the places I’ve traveled, the experiences I’ve had, the change I’ve tried to support… I wouldn’t give any of those up.

6 years is a long time, and we all get bored. I did. That’s why I paused for a few weeks. For the first time in years, I didn’t have to think about the next post or how to go about getting the bottom of a story I think matters and should matter to you too. For the first time in years, my stomach didn’t turn when I get a notification after a post seen as controversial, for fear it’s hate mail or insulting comments. That pause was much needed and even though everywhere I went I was reminded by the conversations I had about the blog, it was nice to be on a break while thinking of what comes next.

The blog is back, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop writing it. I’ll never stop trying to improve it though, and myself in the process. With so many new bloggers in town, I feel comfortable that many of the segments I had tackled, now have folks dedicated solely to that topic when they write. It saves me time and posts that I don’t necessarily feel as passionate about anymore or don’t feel the need to focus on now that someone else is doing it better.

The blog is and always has been about having fun. When I feel I need to comment on something social or political, I will, but I promise to keep it to a minimum. I plan on continuing the tradition of shadowing the charitable people and organizations we all admire and are curious about and reporting back what I see and how we can each do our part. I plan on focusing more on the scene I am proud to be part of in Lebanon, whether it’s the liberal policies we support or the art and innovation we’re creating and spreading across the globe. I plan on making sure every place in these 10452 square kilometers worth seeing and visiting is featured here. That exciting and successful people and startups are also given their fair share of attention. That corruption and bad policies are not only brought to the light, but trying to figure out how we can fix them.

Finally, it’s good to be back y’all! And thank you, for everything in the past 6 years. I also wanna extend a very special thanks to Rached, Elie, Jimmy and Najib for helping me recreate the new faster, better, sexier Gino’s Blog!