its been a crazy week, with an average of 2 press conferences/power lunches to rush to everyday. i was lucky enough to bump into two other journos (from more established media) i'd met previously at one of these press conferences, and we got to talking over the lunch. i'm surprised at the ease and openness of which we talked about this, a topic which most people would find taboo (at least with people they hardly know). here are some snippets of the three-party conversation:
"wahlau i'm damn poor lah."
"yeah, my pay is like crap."
"....erm, if you don't mind saying, what is your pay like?"
"oh i DON'T mind. i've been complaining to the whole world about how ridiculously low my pay is."
"i don't mind telling either. i bet yours isn't as low as mine lor."
"ha- i highly doubt."
"ok friends, this is not a competition. since we're so open about this, why don't you go first, then i'll tell mine, and then you, okay?"
and then we were thoroughly depressed.
"ok. seriously. we're at a bar in the Fullerton hotel. i don't care that its 1.30 in the afternoon - get me some ALCOHOL, damnit!"
"yeah, after the conversation we just had, this juice is just.not.cutting.it."
well. well, well well. well, at least i know i'm not the only alcoholic journo around. :P