Well Kirkland, it’s been a fun ride.

By the time you’re reading this, I will have moved on to a new reporting position covering the happenings in Olympia for a brand new media outlet.

I depart with some reluctance due to the fact that I dislike leaving things unfinished, and there are many, many important things I’ve been covering in the city that have yet to be concluded.

At the same time, I probably will still be covering quite a few of them, just from a broader perspective.

Being the only reporter in a city of 84,000 people has its mixture of curses and blessings. The curse is that there are a lot of potentially great stories I fear go under the radar or can’t be pursued. At the same time, I have had the blessing of writing about a wide variety of topics. Some of the stories have been uplifting, others somber but nevertheless critical for the community to read.

I’ve also been afforded the opportunity to meet movers and shakers of the region and the state, as well as just plain old interesting people. It would be impossible for me to list all of the stories I’ve done that I will remember fondly for the rest of my career. That’s one of those blessings, being able to look back fondly on life experiences that for others turn into one giant blurry memory.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Modern reporting definitely has its downsides (but honestly what job doesn’t?). However, monotony is not one of them, and while my work may have turned me into a prematurely young curmudgeon, it has also allowed me to be one of the few people I know who can unwittingly command the attention of an entire room just for discussing the finer details of their day job. It helps that Kirkland is not exactly an insignificant dot on the map.

I don’t think that is going to change anytime soon.

TJ Martinell was a staff reporter for the Kirkland Reporter.