December 26: Typical Day

In 2012, I do not have one day in particular to be referred as a typical day, due to the rapid change of routine and responsibilities. 

Until March, my typical day consisted of hours of researching and brainstorming in the name of thesis-writing, along with Sherlock marathon and aimless Internet surfing, occasional meet-ups, and thesis supervision dates. After that, until my commencement day in May, just the Sherlock marathon, aimless Internet surfing, occasional meet-ups, and online job-hunting. 

On this kind of typical day, it is very typical to sleep at as late as 5 am after pulling an all-niter for thesis, and to wake up at as early as 7 am because the thesis supervisor requested a 9 am meeting. I was a night owl at its best, and that meant having my mum constantly lecturing me on the harms of staying up late to my overall health.

A week after graduation, I started working in the capital city as a feature reporter for an infamous women lifestyle magazine. With a 9-to-6 working hours, I was forced to be a morning person. Luckily, moving out of Bandung to Jakarta means living on my own, and because I can, if not have to, rent a room to live, I was able to live nearby my office. After working hours, I usually would catch up with friends, usually ones who also came from Bandung, who are also working in the city. On weekends, if I didn't visit my hometown, I would stay home (read: not going out of my room) and do some long-overdue chores.

On this kind of typical day, I would spend most of my time in front of the computer browsing around to look for materials for my articles. Some days I would go out reporting product launching or art performances. I would also be preparing for and doing photo shoots, which were my least favourite part of work.

After about six months, I quit the job. My typical day remains more or less the same afterwards, other than the fact that I am now becoming more of an early bird, because my office hours starts at 8 am. In addition, even though it ends at 5 pm, I rarely go home on time, making the time I spend for working is as much as ten hours a day in average, if not minimum.

My typical day has many things I can easily cherish. 

No matter how late I wake up, I can rush and be at the office in ten minutes. I have my own room at the office, with spacious desk and drawers in which I stock up on my breakfast cereals. I work at the central part of the city, which makes it easy to go out after office hours. I live on my own so I have no worries on curfews. 

In many ways, my current typical day is similar to the one I had in my exchange semester. 

However, it might be surprising for some, that my typical day involves a sheer pride for not spending anything for lunches so that I can splurge on dinners with friends. That is why costly lunches suck. At least for me. But, apparently, it does not stop me from buying pearl milk tea at noon.