I’m free…

….as a bird!

It’s still sinking in that full time work is well and truly over. Last night was my last day of work. As we had an event, I had to drag myself to work almost immediately after gamelan rehearsal. I was tired to say the least but at 11pm I was home and thankful.

The past 2 years of full time work have been a real mixture of ups and downs. While the ups left me on an all time high, I hit rock bottom during the lows. I must say, however, that I am truly thankful for the opportunities to travel (to Paris, Kelantan and Perlis), to organise and to collaborate with some of the most distinguished figures in music and research. I have tried not to focus too much on the lows but I am honest and I will say that very unfortunately, the lows outweighed the highs.

It was time for me to move on. I know my leaving was not well accepted and the end of my employment was marred by emotions of unhappiness, disappointment and ungratefulness…on my employer’s end. For me, it was sad to leave on such a note; I had no expectations of anyone and ultimately, I chose to leave without saying a goodbye. I think it was the best way, seeing how things had turned out.

So this is it. My independence. My leap of faith.

I’ll be celebrating my freedom by doing what I truly love. Tomorrow I head off to Terengganu with the girls for the International Gamelan Festival. Mum will be joining me towards the end and we’ll be spending a much needed girl’s holiday over the long weekend where we’ll be lazing and reading books by the beach. In early September, I’ll be in Penang with Noel – both to spend time and to meet Sooi Beng, an ethnomusicologist there with whom I’ll be discussing some projects we could work on together. To cap off my month long travel, I’ll be heading to Melbourne to stay with my twinny for 2 weeks.

It’s going to work out great…

Nearly there…

So here I am, sitting at my empty desk, counting down to my leap of faith which will technically begin on Monday.

I’m still amazed because even now, just as I’m about to (mentally) say goodbye to working life, it’s still irritating me to no end.Hahaha!

I guess it’s a sign I have to leave.

Anyhow, let’s forget about all the irritating crap I’ve been dealing with and focus instead on my favourite Mutts:

(click on the image for a larger size)

Crawling…

This is proving to be the longest week of my damn life.

Too many things to write and talk about; need to sort through my thoughts.

Right now, however, I need Sunday to come to pass; this is too much – another dose of this shit and I’ll be a screaming hell in no time.