Working and Growing Pains

Back to work. After three days of medical leave and moping about at home, i decided to be diligent and bravely trooped to work on Thusrday - despite having four days worth of MCs.
I was happily making plans to watch Zhang Yimou's latest House of Flying Daggers - apparently the most visually stunning film to date, i hear - in the lazy mid-afternoon... almost assured I could get off by latest 7pm that day.

But no. After being asked if I felt well enough to do a story, which was sweet, I was assigned an interview - which i secured as a BT exclusive story - and had to call to cancel plans of watching the film. Despite having *ahem* monthly pains on top of the remnants of the recent bout of illness, I made my way out and conducted the interview while internally desperately trying to combat those pesky physical pains.

I worked till 11pm last night to finish the story. It would have been more brilliant if I had time to weave in my subtle business humour, for eg. in recent stories I have done:
1. About a shoe retail company: 'X has taken a step further with their shoes, venturing into the Middle East'.
2. About a plastics-mould manufacturing company: 'Y has wasted no time moulding its future with its plastics'
3. About a soup company: 'the company is certainly far from landing itself in hot soup...'

But I decided against the last one. Figure it wouldn't go down very well.. plus I had no time to craft it into subtle perfection. So after banging that story out till 11pm, I went home slightly satisfied at having done a decent/large story despite being away from the office for awhile.
But alas, even such joy was deprived of me - for it seems heaven has shifted its focus to depriving me of joy in the recent week.

My newsmaker made a call to me this morning, rousing me from blissful slumber and demanded to know why the story was not published today. And to cut the story short, I came back to the newsroom and found out there was a mix-up or miscommunication between day and night editors and the story somehow got held over - despite being an exlusive. ie. my story would have been on front page if not for the oversight.
*sobs*
So now I am tweaking the story for tomorrow's publication, after which it would not be an exlusive any longer because the news is being announced today at a media launch..

And because I slept late last night, I came in late today to work - and missed a lunch treat by my ed. And then, I've got to go for this event at 7pm...which means I'll be working till 11pm again tonight - which means I have to cancel more plans.

On a brighter note, my long-awaited 21st bash is due tomorrow. It is with apprehension and anticipation that I approach the day I finally turn an official adult - not that I think that appointed transformation actually means that much anyway. For many years, whenever this time of the year approaches, my mind and body attunes itself to this annual cycle to 1. either fall ill just before a huge celebration or 2. get withdrawn and very thoughful/philosophical about life or 3. both. This year it seems to have done both pretty intensely - maybe because it is the 21st. I'm thinking this will probably be the last time I will ever throw a party of this scale for something as cliche as a birthday celebration so I might as well make the most out of it. But I think there is that point in everyone's life when you realise you can no longer push unwanted thoughts or fears to the back of your head and pretend they aren't there any longer. Real issues start to materialise to haunt you... What's the meaning of life? What am I doing here? Am I heading where I want to be? Am I happy?

Maybe that is the true transformation that takes place when you finally reach that official age.

Or maybe it's a moment of realisation that life is fucked up,
and you look back despairingly at the golden gates of childhood - which are now closed behind you forever.