A Wally on Wall Street

If only you knew. For the first 2 weeks of my stay in New York, I didn’t really get what this whole ‘Manhattan Rush’ thing was. Sure, people worked hard. Sure, it’s pretty crowded. Sure, the traffic has more yellow cab spots than Keith Richards’ teeth. Not to mention everyone in coke. You only need to watch Leno and Conan when you’re in insomniac mode to see that.

But now I do. You tell that I’m busy when I’m not finding enough time to write for my won amusement. And it’s been more than a week since I’ve even CONSIDERED updating my blog. And even now, I’m tapping away from a bonsai-type table in a little Japanese place as I take my lunch break. At 3o’clock.

I’m working 18 hour days. AND I’M LOVING IT!

I can totally see why so many people would crack under this New York pressure… And seriously, it’s simply insane. I don’t even have the energy to think of a witty metaphor. But not me. I thrive off chaos. I work to deadlines, everything in my workplace is anally organized, and I can kick and bite and scream mentally while keeping a blank face. I’m heartless and unemotional when it comes to getting something done, and getting something done RIGHT. And that’s the only way you could ever live in this business world – you have to be as tough and as harsh acidic tanbark; the syringe in the kid’s playground. It’s not a concrete jungle. Hell, it’s not even a Lipstick Jungle. It’s a jungle gym. I have blisters from the monkey bars, but I’m too determined to make it to the other side.

Oh God, I should take this back awhile first… I’ve only got 10 minutes of lunch left though, so I’m going to just make a checklist to keep this updated. I’ll fill you in once I find an air pocket to breathe in. That was wi-fi.


1. Nicolas turned up on my doorstep. From Denmark. HE FLEW FROM COPENHAGEN TO SURPIRSE ME!!!! I’m not going to get overly sappy and sentimental on the public domain of the internet, but this reads like a movie. Seriously. Gorgeous half Argentine, half Danish boy meets ambitious Aussie girl volunteering in a tribal community in India. They have a bit of fun, and then he leaves to travel. He then comes back to India for unspecified, but very suspicious reasons. He leaves to go back to Denmark, leaving the girl alone in India. Very sad, but a fun fling. 2 months later, the girl is traveling through Europe by herself, and has been thinking about said boy a little too much. She realises Denmark is only across a little sea from Germany, and so decides to go visit him for a few days. She lives with him for a week. She doesn’t see The Little Mermaid, because she didn’t really leave his house all that much. But eventually, she leaves the country, and cries the entire ferry ride back. She never cries. She spends the next month thinking about only him, and he spends the next month not doing Law essays and talking to her instead. She decides to follow her heart and changes her plane tickets and flies to Denmark. Another week later, she has to fly to New York to ‘begin her real life’. He gives her a gold bracelet. They think that they will never see each other again. She settles down in New York, and has just started to rebuild her life back up on sturdy platforms, when the doorbell rings. It’s him. From Denmark.


2. The next day, unbeknownst to Nicolas, I had 3 other boys coming to stay with me – Miles, Antony and John. I couldn’t kick them out at such short notice. So for 4 days, I had 4 messy boys and 3 guitars staying in my one-person tissue-box of an apartment. You couldn’t walk. Suitcases became our floorboards.


3. I had 3 classes worth of homework that I hadn’t done due to Nicolas’ arrival to do. I sat down to start, but decided to check my emails first. There was one from Antipodeans. They want to publish my Indian blogs as a feature article in The Age. Cue freak-out, and spending the next 6 hours and god knows how many coffees rewriting my Indian trip for the newspaper. And not doing homework.


4. I had my first day interning at ACP. Oh my god. I love it. But my hands are swollen form writing and typing. I wouldn’t want it any other way! I have learnt so much more in 16 hours than I did the entire VCE. I can’t talk about details due to privacy issues and such, but just know that you have NO IDEA what goes on behind the scenes of the magazine world…

Speaking of which, I’ve gotta get back to work! The Star is waiting for me upstairs…