5 weeks into my new job at Garibaldi Group. I can safely say I love it. Though it was not always so. So many things have happened since my 5 week absence from blogging. The first two weeks were nightmarish as it was a huge change from my previous office at Weber Shandwick. There was no pantry to begin with, just a small little corner with a kettle. That was it. The office was small and rather dinghy, a far cry from my old office. And of course there weren't my fellow interns to banter with. It didn't help that my then manager, who was leaving the company in two weeks, was very disparaging about everything. Her pessimistic view on things, and the people in the office took its toll on my and I began to feel very discouraged. I went home everyday drained and exhausted, and wondering if I had made the wrong decision.

2 weeks later, as my manager left, and I had to take over her duties as well as my own until the new marketing manager came in the folllowing week, the world surprisingly didn't collapse on me. Amazingly, I found I could cope, and I actually started interacting with the rest of my colleagues who were actually nice people, and not the nasty backstabbing people my old manager had led me to believe. Suddenly, I was happy again.

Actually, there were more reasons to be happy. I got to dine at Gunther's, the new French restaurant that is all the rage right now. I got to eat delicacies that I would never have eaten in my life such as Oscietra Caviar, Wagyu beef, Foie gras etcetera and many other expensive delicacies. Obviously, there was also a price to pay for all these luxurious, such as dining with editors of magazine. For a greenhorn like me, it was an extremely stress inducing experience. I was stressed over what to say, and what not to say. I was conscious of my inability to make interesting conversation, and for my perceived lack of knowledge.Things have of course improved since then.

I got the chance to know great chefs like Gunther, of Les Amis fame and find out that he is a nice person despite his fiery temper (I was at the receiving end once), and a few other chefs who are very charming though too flirtatious for my liking. I got to drink my favourite Affogato or Hot Chocolate at Menotti during business meetings foc.

Never mind that my mother is not supportive of this job, she never is anyway. I am just glad I found something that I truly like. Life is not a bed of roses though, and I too have my fair share of problems, and there is of course the common office politics which we can never run away from. What matters most is that I like what I am doing, and it is something I am truly passionate about. People who know me knows that I light up at the mention of food.

As for Stephen, I guess we are both quite blessed. Despite having graduated and spending less time together, we are still as close as ever. There if of course the occasional tiffs which usually blows away pretty fast. His late working hours make us treasure the time spent together on weekends more. There are days when I can get unreasonable and plain pms-y, I am just glad he puts up with me and never fail to jolly me out of my bleak mood.

I guess it might be quite a while until my next blog post. These days, the last thing I want to do it write and use my brain since I do so much of both at work already. But it has been a good time of reflection...