Archive for November, 2005
Taking a break
Posted on November 29, 2005, by soph, under Uncategorized.
So this is what it feels like to actually have to work. Like, all the time.
Gone were the days of eating leisurely breakfasts at my desk and surfing blogs because I had absolutely nothing to do. Now I am consistently busy from the minute I walk into the office till the time I leave. Most days anyway.
Today, I snatch a few quick minutes to blog because I realize I haven’t for a while. Unfortunately, while life has been happily busy, I don’t think you want to hear about the novel I was reading for my book review; Weichern’s book I am currently reading purely out of curiosity and because I read pretty much whatever comes my way; or the latest gossip from Tinseltown, which has become my job, among other things.
I’m also attempting to exercise because I work in an environment crammed with food and because I realize I am so unfit it’s horrendous. The first time I did twenty minutes of consistent jogging on the treadmill (which was just last weekend), I was so happy I almost wanted to pop champagne. I haven’t been able to do that since I was 13, though now I come to think of it, it’s probably because I’m always too impatient to jog, choosing instead to run and tire after twenty three seconds.
And by the way, I’ve gotten over my desire for a hamster.
Ta now. Be back when I have more.
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For My Efforts
Posted on November 26, 2005, by soph, under Reading and Writing.
I’m supposed to print this out and add fill in the blanks but I can’t be bothered. I thought the web icon was way cooler anyway. But yes, this pixelated certificate is mine. Along with the knowledge that my name is in some nook of the World Wide Web, along with about ten thousand others.
You should see the faces of people when I tell them that. Is it really so hard to comprehend that one would attempt to spend 30 days writing a 50,000 word novella that for all intents and purposes will never see the light of day, just for the sheer heck of it? Apparently, it is.
This is a typical nanowrimo-esque conversation:
Friend: Did you win?
Me: Well, I finished 50,000 words.
Friend: How do they decide who wins?
Me: If you reach 50,000 words you win.
Friend: Yes, but how do they decide the winner?
Me: (starting to look a little lost) Well, if you submit 50,000 words you win. (Lightbulb goes off in my head) Everyone who reaches 50,000 words is a winner.
Friend: (takes a turn at starting to look lost) Oh. Then what do you get?
Me: Nothing.
Friend: (funny look) You get nothing?
Me: Yes. I don’t get anything, it’s just for the fun of it.
Friend: (Really funny look)
Me: Well I get a daggy cert.
Friend: (Extremely funnny look)
Me: (in my head) Okay I get it, I’m crazy.
But I’m not the only one. It’s only the 26th and there’re already over 600 people who have been certified winners. And if you don’t already irretrievably think I’m off my rocker, there are people who wrote 80,000 words, 90,000 words and over 100,000 words.
My hat however, goes off to the dude/dudette in the US of A who wrote 200,000 words. Now that’s crazy.
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After Deadline Tuesday
Posted on November 22, 2005, by soph, under Creatures.
As the title might suggest, I am bored. But just for the morning. Lunch is due in less than an hour even though the rather gloomy outdoors means it feels nothing like lunch time.
Looking out my window, I see a huge field, trees and houses in the not too far distance. It’s quite nice, actually. Smack in the middle of a housing area, surrounded by houses and trees, it’s a good place to pretend you’re in the countryside (if you concentrated hard enough), far from bustling city noises and traffic jams.
Thanks to this, I have been toying with the idea of getting me a pet. A dwarf hamster, to be exact. But because I’m afraid I’ll get tired of cleaning out its cage after mere weeks, I’ve decided to satisfy myself with this for now:
| adopt your own virtual pet! |
Why poppy honey? Well, I’m not usually one for sickly sweet flower/food names (chocolate and cookie is more my style frankly), but I was supposed to interview a Mr Jamie Oliver yesterday and his bio said he’d named his daughter Poppy Honey. Seriously. It beats Apple, Fifi Trixibelle, River and Tiger Lily flat. I just wanted to see what the name would look like on a living thing - even if it’s a cyber living thing (I’m totally not trying it out on a real animal/person, that would be way too cruel).
Oh and about Mr Oliver? The interview didn’t happen. We don’t know whether it was a technical problem (it was supposed to be a phone interview), or the man just decided it was too much trouble to get out of bed on a Monday morning. And apparently, it ain’t happenin’ no more either.
Bummer eh?
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La Final
Posted on November 22, 2005, by soph, under Reading and Writing.
It is finished.
After 21 inconsistent and highly eccentric days, I have now officially written a 50,800 word baby. Far from a sterling effort - you wouldn’t expect anything less than horrifying fiction surely, but I fully intend to edit every inch before unfamiliar eyes should even lay upon it.
For now at least, I bask in the knowledge that it is possible. I even managed to include Jesper the talking hamster (for the baffled, see here).
And I can’t believe that it is done. Thinking back, certain parts make me cringe, while others were rare moments of hilarity and mild intelligence. But I really need to go and combine all the words like “would not”, “have not”, “it is” and anything else I may have deliberately split up to add to my word count, in anticipation of last minute hair tearing, which mercifully did not happen. Yes, we do terrible things when we are desperate.
But in true Nike spirit, I say we just do it. Stick it out my fellow Nanowrimoers, 8 more exciting days to go. It’s not the quality that counts - for November at least - but the quantity. And that thing parents keep talking about, discipline was it?
Well, if they insist.
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Chortler.com
Posted on November 21, 2005, by soph, under Web Stuff.
This is for those web-surfing buffs. I can’t be bothered going through the entire site but there are loads of funnies on it. So when you’re done checking it out Jon, do share the gems. Here are just a couple:
The Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie Feud
Nicole Kidman on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
For the emoticon-addicted, there’s a whole section on ‘em too.
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Deadline Friday
Posted on November 18, 2005, by soph, under Career.
I’ve had deadlines in Marie Claire before (duh, obviously), but I’ve never quite experienced a deadline like this.
In Marie Claire, deadlines are flexible and there is absolutely no excitement whatsoever.
Here, people come dressed in their “deadline skirts” and “deadline pants”, ie the most comfortable clothes they have, in preparation for a long day and night if necessary. Lunch is packed and eaten in the office because we don’t want to waste precious minutes going out. There’s excited chatter, occasional singing and screaming for de-stressing purposes, lots and lots of food, and non-stop music. Okay, so all that also happens every other day, but deadline Fridays somehow heighten everything.
People keep asking me whether I’m enjoying myself at my new job. I tell them all a resounding “yes”. But then, aren’t all things new and unknown always filled with excitement and enthusiasm. So I always add, “ask me again next year.”
For now at least, this is heaps fun.
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Lists, Technicalities, Dreams
Posted on November 16, 2005, by soph, under It's a Girl's Life.
Scanning through my list of Things To Do Before I’m 30, I realized today that the definition of “do” is in question. If you really get down to the basics, I can technically cross out:
Learn another language - I’m teaching myself Spanish. Progress is slow and I highly doubt I will ever be totally fluent (unless I move to Spain), but I said “learn”; not “be fluent in”.
Write a book - If all goes well, I technically will have written a book by the end of Nanowrimo. I didn’t specify that I had to publish it, because for every book that gets published; hundreds don’t. How was I supposed to know I could churn out crap novels in 30 days?
Meet a celebrity - My press conference for the film Perhaps Love (thanks Jon for pointing out that boo boo) turned out to include a two on one interview with the director Peter Chan. Mega famous, multi-award winning, directed what looks likely to be one of my favourite films of the year because I’m a hopeless musical afficionado, he definitely qualifies as a celebrity. My definition of celebrity needs tweaking. Perhaps I need to be more specific, like Meet Johnny Depp, but then again, there are too many people I wouldn’t mind meeting besides Mr Depp who is probably holed up in the French countryside with his family as I type.
Take dance classes - Well, I’ve been faithfully attending my Jazzercise classes for almost two months now and I have no intention of stopping. I actually look forward to Thursday evenings and feel bummed out if I can’t go/class if canceled. Given my impatience and lack of longevity as far as these things are concerned (I gave up Tai-Bo after just one session), this is a miracle.
There’s just one problem: Wouldn’t it be a mite depressing to see that I am 23 and have only 3 goals in life for the next 7 years? Whale watching, go behind the scenes of a Hollywood movie and travel the world. Granted at the rate I’m going, those 3 goals will probably take me the rest of my life to achieve, but… still?
Oh whatever. I’m crossing them out. I don’t need a list to make me feel like I’m living my life. It’s pretty damn far from a monotonous existence as it is.
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On the job
Posted on November 15, 2005, by soph, under Movies Music TV.
My first official movie review for hot - The Fog.
I hate horror films, simply because I refuse to subject myself to scary images and things that jump out at me with loud overdramatic noises. But a job’s a job and so I found myself sitting in a near-empty cinema, with a complimentary Coke and popcorn, freezing my ass off.
It was so cold I didn’t even finish my Coke, because that would have made me even colder.
Anyone who has seen a thriller/horror film with me will know that I cover my face with my eyes during potentially scary scenes - it’s less scary that way. But it’s not like I’m going to do that in a roomful of press, am I? So I had to be content with averting my eyes while keeping my face focused on the screen - as if I were watching when I was actually staring at the black wall undernearth. It helped, but not much. I jumped several times, once rather violently, which I’m sure was a source of amusement for the people sitting behind me - I should have sat right at the back now that I think about it.
I was quite pleased when the pair in front of me took to covering their faces with the big white envelopes containing our press kits. But we exaggerate - it really isn’t that bad.
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In the Beginning
Posted on November 14, 2005, by soph, under Career.
As much as I mourn the end of my too-short break (I know, I deserve to get strangled for saying that), I have to admit I was pretty excited about starting work with hot.
This morning, I waddled up the stairs - the office is on the first floor of a row of shoplots - with a gigantic Jean Paul Gaultier paper bag filled with my magazines, desk organizer, three different types of scented candles (mementos of my time in Marie Claire), and a variety of bits and pieces.
I spend the morning reading magazines while my computer rids itself of its unnecessary files and defragments. I import my Outlook Express address book and painstakingly go through it deleting everything I no longer need. I get my new email address, scour every last detail of my computer so there are no more unnecessary folders or unknown hiddens, and finally head off to lunch with my colleagues.
While one advocate cheers because she too insists on defragmenting her computer ever so often, another has declared that I am “anal”. Which is true, because it’s not like I have to clear out the old files to make space for my own, I have almost 62GB of free hard disk space which I know I will barely utilize. As I told them, it’s all in my head. Like making lots and lots of lists.
Having been caught out as the only one in the editorial team who can read Mandarin, I am now in charge of putting together a 4 page section on Hong Kong/Korean/Japanese gossip and Eastern show biz news. As of 6pm, I have never read so much celebrity gossip in Mandarin in my entire life accumulated and I still know fewer celebrities than Yuchun. This is going to be funny.
On an English note however, I will be attending a press screening tomorrow of Fog for a move review. Unfortunately, I hate horror films. I shall try my best to maintain a semblance of dignity amongst my peers, but I don’t promise I will not close my eyes, especially since I probably won’t be able to cover my ears (and face) with my hands like I normally do.
And I get to interview some mega big shot Chinese director on Wednesday who is here to promote his new film Perhaps Love starring Takeshi among others. I can’t lie and say I didn’t wish I was interviewing Takeshi instead. But the director will do just fine.
Day One.
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Daytime television
Posted on November 11, 2005, by soph, under Movies Music TV.
I am bemoaning the certain end of my extended break - I start work next Monday. There are too many more wonderful moments to be spent in front of afternoon telly, laughing to Whose Line Is It Anyway? and trying to Nanowrimo.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? is one of those shows where you just cannot help but laugh at loud. Those guys are pure genius. And it makes me want to freeze everything right there so I can wait for Yuchun to come back from work and laugh along with me. It is so good I have to share.
Yesterday’s Nanowrimo-ing (which is going well thanks for asking) provided an unexpected gem. (People, this is why you should always check every interesting channel on Astro before you settle on one, you never know what is coming up on the other channels.) Diary of the Backstreet Boys was on MTV.
Don’t groan and roll your eyes - I can sense it even though I can’t see you. There are very few things to which I am truly loyal in life - chocolate is one, writing is another, traveling is a third, and then there’s the Backstreet Boys. I think it’s the side of me that doesn’t want to grow up, because I constantly remind myself that I am now 23, not 13 - which I think was when I first liked them. While other bands have come and gone, and other interests have left me bored within months, these are some of the things that have remained constant in my list of likes. And it says something about them. I don’t care what you say, the Boys are good. (Don’t groan and roll your eyes again.)
One last afternoon in front of the telly. Here I come.
p/s: Oprah is pretty good too. She is without a doubt, the goddess of talk shows. I think there’s a Luther Vandross Oprah Special coming up this weekend. But The Bold and the Beautiful? Don’t even go there.
