What is hell, my younger sister would ask. I’d normally give her the rigmarole of Insanity Streak- naked people in hot flames with grinning Vlad the Impaler lookalikes watching on. So not hell. Now I know.
Hell is pretty cold really. In fact, freakishly arctic. The Sun’s offices has their aircond turned up so much so that a respite would constitute bathroom visits (wrong wrong wrong), standing in the stairwell (and dousing all Grey’s fantasies) or near and open-window (somewhat suicidal).
I brought my pens- all working, for once; notebook and I FUCKING READ UP ALL THE PAST WEEK’S NEWS. But oh no, they didn’t tell me to bring my own mug. Hence, perfectly godly coffee dispenser with mug niche, but – no mug. Spanks asked if the mugs left by the sink were for general use, the answer was a resounding NO.
Needless to say, we spent the day-
a. Watching the Grammy’s live and hearing all the office chatter.
b. Following the editor’s advice – read newspapers (so we read all and after we were done, browsed online). Others facebooked or youtubed, but not us first-timers. After 6 hours, sentences of text just became one long thick black serpent of an eyesore.
c. Staring at others’ coffee mugs, flasks and Starbucks cups continually being refilled while fighting back sleep and reading Jeremy Clarkson.
d. Going to the restrooms to see the contemporary art. Ladies – framed cartoons eg “Bowel Movement in D Minor.” You go figure. Gentlemen – (this from Spanks) posters of Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie et al atop urinals at eye level – nothing more fun that being cheered on by beautiful ladies.
e. Taking lift for one floor changes and stairwells for more- these are caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
All in all, a lovely day. Tomorrow I follow reporter N for a branch launching. I figured it’d be easy corporate stuff – not so with The Sun. Some quick backwork shows something weird – should I pursue or is it just a fengshui/ location thing? No biggie, just weird. Don’t want to step on toes on first day, should act dumb methinks. Just let N go ahead and I’ll just write a backup of my own.
Yes Visha, thou art lucky. No I don’t have my own desk or PC (will share); my editor looks scary – hence no asking if I have my own work to submit. But I do have:
a. Free coffee, teh tarik, milo.
b. Free hot water, fruit juice and ice-cream.
c. Staff discount at affiliated places.
That said, I believe tomorrow (oops, TODAY) I may be writing for the affiliate publications not Sun. Hm, 3 months being published in 3 publications. Not too shabby.
Friday and Saturday off, Sunday on roster. Have bout 4 days off for CNY so do contact me should you wish to meet up.
Reading: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. (Not gonna finish anytime soon so consider unfinished till updated.)
Listening to: Perfect Day by Lou Reed.
PS: Rushed to Secret Recipe for lamb pie and long black (ah every girl’s dream) coffee to celebrate unsatisfactory first day. Thank you, Zhi Jern.
