The February that was

I had a conversation with P today, and she kindly pointed out that I've gone through my first month at the office now. Time has flown indeed.

First week of this month was spent rather casually at the office, getting to know my role better and my boss and supervisor not giving me that much work yet. I went out over the weekend, going to a friend's birthday drinks at a place full of naked baby angels (like the place, don't really like the crowd); went for lunch on the Saturday (spent about 30 minutes standing alone at Footscray Station, so the day was a bit of a thriller-drama-comedy, I guess, but I ended up having a great time, thanks to Nick); went out for drinks at night around the corner where the pink elephants are, then later on at the icky Irish pub down the street; then spent all day Sunday doing nothing before going to my friends' gig down by the beach. That was by far the best week I've had this month.

The following week was a bit hell because that was when I really learnt what it feels like to bring work home. I had a lot of work to do at the office and I couldn't finish them by the time 5 o'clock struck; and so the deadline needed to be extended and that was not a nice feeling to bring with me when I came in the next morning. But thankfully that was resolved by the time Thursday rolled in and I was able to enjoy the weekend. I went out dancing on Saturday night for Shahana's birthday and then had yum cha the next day for Chinese New Year. Bought "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" on DVD too that day; enjoyed it a lot, and it wasn't only because of our extensive adulation for Robert Downey, Jr. Yes, mainly that, but Val Kilmer is pretty damn good there too.

Last week was pretty underwhelming as I'd expected something equally high-strung as the previous week, but it turned out the workload had died down then and I was cruising along till the weekend. Mum and Dad came back mid-week from their month-long stay in Jakarta so the rest of that week was spent catching up with them. I went to my friends' gig again on Thursday night; finally got to talk properly with the drummer after not having done so in the past, so I won't feel guilty anymore now when I see him at their gigs. Went to an old friend's birthday drinks after work on Friday, then to dinner and more drinks with the girls which turned out to be disastrous because lack of sleep + alcohol = well, let's just say not pretty. I spent Saturday looking at properties for half of the clan when they come Down Under next month. Had a lovely late lunch by the water with mum to celebrate finally finding a property, before going to the movies with my sister at night. "The Wolfman" turned out to be pretty fantastic; I love Benicio Del Toro there.

And so it's come down to this week. It's my 6th week working full-time and honestly, it feels like high school all over again, except people wear suits and nice structured dresses and I spend half the day in front of the computer. I tell you what, nothing beats that feeling when 5 o'clock strikes on a Friday afternoon. It feels pretty damn great. Oh, and I'm finally reading "A Study In Scarlet" properly this time. The book makes me all the more compelled to read some Poe.

I miss blogging like this. I should spill my guts on a public space more often.

"The Nanny Returns"

I read "The Nanny Diaries" and quite liked the movie version, so the fact that a sequel to the story is out makes me somewhat excited. I can't wait till I get my hands on a copy.

(Image courtesy of amazon.com)

RDJ, anybody?

Those past negative posts weren't getting me anywhere, so I've decided to delete them altogether. I'm cluttering the blog with emo stuff and too much negativity is never good. Sasha's indecisive moment #84873401.

I've been in love with Robert Downey, Jr. lately. He's a fiercely talented actor and not to mention severely charming. Like, dude. I've been on an RDJ-movie-marathon for the past week, just digging up his films and watching them. It's actually a sort of an education for me as well, because I've always been stuck in the rom-com and superhero-action genres when it comes to films and since he's been in more films than my actual age, it's a good thing to see what he's done and in the process, explore different film genres.

2010, I already love you

Happy New Year!

This year is gonna be awesome, and I'm only just talking about the movies that are coming out that I really want to see.

Clash of the Titans

Greek mythologies and Sam Worthington. Enough said.

Iron Man 2

He had me at "I've successfully privatised world peace." Already a favourite quote for 2010.

Salt

Has the 3 quintessential ingredients in a classic action movie: stolen identity, secret service agent and neat self-defence tricks.

Dear John

Wanna see this purely because Lasse Hallstrom directs it. He is probably one of the few directors that did justice to the film version of a good book with "Chocolat".

It's Complicated

Meryl Streep. Need I say more?

Busybody

Happy X'mas!

For some reason, Christmas has always been a bit of a bittersweet time of the year for me. For quite some time, I couldn't exactly say why. It should always mean happy times with the family and fun, relaxing holiday. So I didn't know where the negativity came from; I just always felt down a little when the end of the year rolled in.

And then I figured it out: apart from the fact that my family will always seem to clash when they spend too much time together (it's unavoidable in every family, I've come to terms with that), but at the same time, Christmas means holidays. And while a holiday seems like a great time, to me time off means uselessness and boredom. I just realised today - of all days - that ever since I started kindergarten, I would have something to look forward to and would have some sort of purpose. It never occured to me to take a year off after high school; I didn't even know what 'gap year' was until my first year at uni. And that too was the exact reason why I enrolled in postgrad right after I finished my undergrad, because I wasn't quite ready for workforce yet but I know I'd just go crazy if I didn't have anything to do. I was feeling a bit depressed in the past 6 months because when I'd finished that postgrad, I felt like I didn't have anything to give myself some meaning. And when this new job finally came along, I felt not good, but actually content. It's like I've got purpose again.

And so I think it's safe for me for now to just keep doing something and not stop. Especially since I still have the energy to do it. I might even like to add something else to this work, just so I get even busier, maybe like a language course or one of those magazine publishing courses I saw being offered in RMIT. And then other days I'll do my weekly exercises, like bikram yoga classes or swimming.

I'm just looking forward to being busy again.

2010

What I'm looking forward to next year:

o Finally starting on my path to becoming rich (a girl needs her diamonds and couture, you see)
o Having a daily routine
o FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa
o New job
o Using my Moleskine monthly diary 2010 (yes, that's acutely important to me)
o Actually having New Year's Day, Australia Day, Labour Day, Easter weekend, ANZAC Day, Queen's Birthday, Cup Day and Christmas Day off
o Finally getting that Mulberry Bayswater bag
o It's my year, The Year of the Tiger! (I don't know how that will affect me, but let's hope it'll bring good luck, unlike that stupid belief that your Chinese year is always gonna be a bad year for you)

Basically there's not that many, but I just feel like 2010 sounds like a nice, round group of numbers. It will be 10 years since I moved to Melbourne and I think I can safely say things are gonna be all right. Not perfect and completely blissful, just okay.

The downside to it all

Is it wrong to think that maybe this job isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Don't get me wrong; I think it's a fantastic opportunity. But I took it because of the convenience. It's good money, big company and basically just good old showy job. I think I'm the envy of my friends for having been accepted into this. But what about what I like right now?

Maybe it's just the case of me having done something so long that I think that's all I like. I mean, I graduated with a degree in media and I've always loved writing. So maybe I just haven't seen what's out there. Maybe there are other things I'm gonna like apart from media, and this job is gonna show me.

But if it's the other way around, then what? What if I've been at this job for a year and I realise I wanna do writing all along? Basically, I would've wasted a year when I could've spent the time working my way up in the magazine/publishing industry.

I just hope it won't be the second one. Because I'd hate to see the haters right.