the rat race in times new roman

Even as a young lad I was fully emmersed in books. I remember my first story, something about a giraffe. What a sordid imagination I had back then. The bloody animal could've been an insinuation towards early childhood homosexual tendencies: the giraffe and its long neck as an innuendo towards the male genitalia and the brown spots on its coat as early signs of rectal infection. I could have turned out to be gay with std. Lucky for me, I was saved from that possible future. No no, I'm in fact free from any disease save for a mild bowel irritability now and again and am very much into women.

Fast forward 15 years into the future, I'm sitting at my desk at the office of a well known newspaper company typing along on my blog. Why, you may ask, am I not immersed in my work as a journalist? Because, dear me, I am only an intern. And as an intern, we are the lowest of the low. In movies, interns are portrayed as mindless zombies in t-shirts with tags around their necks with the words, "slave" plastered all over it. Over here, it's pretty much the same thing save for one little difference: I dont get my own food bowl hidden away in the corner.

As an up-and -coming journalist, i always thought that as a writer, one would be sitting at sullen, smoky cafes drinking tisane and conversing on topics related to philosophy, world events and Salman Rushdie's ex-wives. For me however, it was quaint mamak stalls, teh tarik and how MCA is non-existent. Very Malaysian and very close to the heart.

Although it has not been all press conferences and freebies for me, I look to each day with vigor. Waking up at 8:30 in the morning, leaving the house at 9 and reaching work at 10. Yes, the drive to work takes an hour. At work, I read the morning paper, open my laptop and facebook. Given no work whatsoever, I sit idly as occassionally my name pops up needing me to send a few papers here and there.

This is what I've always dreamed of doing.

Today's post was brought to you by the number 3, the color grey and the word boredom. The number 3 for the three days i've been doing nothing at the office, the color grey for if I were wearing a mood ring, that would be the color it showed and for the word boredom for what i've been experiencing for past 3 days.