I've seen four members leave, including my beloved Keirsten Clark; five members and an intern join the editorial team, one new editor, one in design, and I've lost count of new and missing faces in sales. Since April 4, I've had to write a cover story on the William and Kate visit to Malaysia in ONE DAY; Travel Malaysia stories to Johor, Penang, luxury hotels around Malaysia, the Best of Malaysia Awards; Travel Asia; food features; education; homes; reviews; advertorials; briefs and basically nearly everything in Expatriate Lifestyle... with the only remaining page being 'Editor's letter'.
Here is what my office desk looks like today. (From top left) My DIY name placard, stack organiser, people's name cards, chick, impractical coffee mug, pink Hello Kitty calculator, notebook, telephone, magazine file (with issues dating from back to March 2011), 'Jesus Loves Me' badge against the wall, handwritten letters to EL, Dell monitor and keypad, sticky notes, polaroid photos, jelly bone wrist rest, Thermos + Threadless hydration bottle, cupcake memo holder, kawaii card reader, another stack organiser, yellow EL job bags, cork board calendar, and colourful Daiso blanket slung on my chair.
Office Funnies
Starring: Jolyn (senior editorial executive), Samantha (editorial executive), Antoine (executive editor a.k.a. boss), Keirsten (ex deputy editor), Sim (Time Out Penang web writer)
Calling Plaza Indonesia, Indonesia for images.
Operator: Nombor yang anda panggil, tiada dalam servis. Sila dial jbdhvfgbcj nul-nul-nul-nul... Terima kasih.
Jolyn: Whaddaheck?! People, I just called Indonesia and the operator went 'jbdhvfgbcj nul-nul-nul-nul'.
Sim: Haha, let me try!
Sim dials the mall number.
Operator: Nombor yang anda panggil, tiada dalam servis. Sila dial jbdhvfgbcj nul-nul-nul-nul... Terima kasih.
Sim: Hahahaha! That's funny. Thanks for the stress relief, Jolyn.
After a call to the PR of another mall, Senayan City.
Jolyn: Oh shit, Sam, I just called the PR for Senayan City and said "Hello, can I please get high resolution images of Plaza Indonesia?" The PR person said "...this is Senayan City".
Samantha: Hahaha!
Looking at images on previewer.
Jolyn: Hey, look! When I zoom into the picture, it zooms to where the cursor points!
Antoine: It.finally.connected!
*Hallelujah...
The team doing TalentCorp articles.
Jolyn: Ok I've finished mine. 'What to do and what not to do in Malaysia'.
Keirsten edits.
Keirsten: Jolyn, what is this?!!! "Do not make fun of our food. We know some Malaysian delicacies such durian are not everyone's cup of tea, but there worse things people out there eat; dirt, bugs, trash, other people, etc.
Team explodes in laughter.
Keirsten: And this! "Do not rub people's heads. We're not good luck charms you know. But it would probably be alright to pat children's head... hmm".
Team ROFL.
Keirsten: And you had to add "hmm" in?!
Received a call from Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur.
Caller: Hello, this is xw$htj#jsdn@hjs$am#bajh@...may I know why you need the images?
Jolyn: (Huh??? What images?!) Um... hello? Sorry, what did you say just now? Something's wrong with the phone and I didn't catch your words.
Caller: Yeah, this is Qhadaffi from Shangri-La KL. Can I know why you emailed us for high resolution images?
Jolyn: Ah! Yes! We need them for our upcoming Best of Malaysia issue for October.
Caller: Oh, I see. Alright then. I will send them to you shortly.
Jolyn: Ok, thank you so much!
Hangs up.
Jolyn: Omg Sam, I fazed out just now during a call. The guy was asking bla-bla, something and I only caught the word "images" at the end, and I was thinking what images? Then I quickly made up some excuse and said my there's some problem with my phone. So he repeated himself and I finally understood what he wanted. I fazed out during a call!
Samantha: You what?! Hahaha!
Print day is Friday and everyone had only started working on EL on Monday. Before that the team was busy with Voyage.
Jolyn: Shucks, I can't focus la Sam! I need horse blinders to keep my train of sight only on the monitor.
Samantha: I'll make you one.
Jolyn: Thanks!
Sam makes makeshift horse blinders out of A4 printouts and her hair band (pic below). See what amazing works, creative hands can do.
Team: OMGWTFROFLTAO!
