Oh, and did I mention that I love my job?

And my boss? And my job? And my colleagues? And my job? And my job? :-)

It feels as if all the random things I've gone through have come together to make some sense. All the minor classes in children's literature that led to a masters; the odd clerical jobs I did for Papa; the feeling that I was better at improving other people's work than I was at writing my own; the way I get on with everyone... It's as if I've found my dream job (except that my dream job would pay a wee bit more... teehee).

You know that you love your job when you come home dead exhausted, still bursting with a million stories. Even the dumbest jobs are a pleasure to perform because you know it all leads to the books. Our babies, the books. There I am happily punching holes, sorting papers, calling bookstores, emailing clients big and small... You know you love your job when even breaktime is about learning the ropes. When there's a lull in the workday I take out one of our titles and study lay out, page quality, font type and -- my latest favorite passtime, looking for typos. (Roll your eyes but there's really nothing worse. Except maybe getting the colours all wrong or cutting the margins so that half the text is missing. ack!)

And may I say that our books are lovely? And I'm not just saying that because they're ours...

Since I'm too knackered to update the blog everyday, I thought I'd run through the highlights of my first week at work:

Monday: Came to work early. No one else was there except for Manong William, the karpintero. Yes, the karpintero. Apparently we're having a divider put up. So throughout the day he would cheerily announce... Ma'am magliliha na po ako! ...Ma'am pipinturahan ko na po ito!-- Eh anong sasabihin ko? ...No? I value my health and I don't feel like getting high on paintfumes (at work)?... Can't say that the first day wasn't memorable.

Tuesday: called various NBS Branches to get the delivery times. I never noticed that NBS branches vary on the ka-jologan scale...
-HILOH! (garbled intro that sounds like branch location)
--Good morning, this is Frances from Tahanan Books, makikisuyo lang po sa Receiving section inyo.
-ANOH? ENGINEERING?
--(to my think!...may engineering section na ba ang national! did she mean engineering books? o baka there's a slow machine that needs someone to oil its cogs...)
--RECEIVING SECTION, po
-ah teka lang... shouts to someone else in background. SAAN ANG RECEIVING SECTION NATIN?
[the job DID get done eventually...]

Proofread my first manuscript. Had to check if the type-setter encoded all the changes made by the chief copy-editor. Ooh ooh! felt so important making my little red marks. And oddly triumphant when I spotted something the type-setter missed...

Wednesday: Editorial meeting with Ma'am at Pancake House. Ooh ooh! She gave me a broad view of all the plans for next year, explained the most important projects for this year and DUN-DUN-DUN! she gave me three manuscrupits to edit and get started on. Le sigh. We also traded picturebooks. I lent her my Dulac and she lent me a copy of the Nightingale and some semi-non-fiction book on pirates... ah...

Thursday: Called Yolanda Dolor, who wrote the Dog Trilogy for Tahanan. titles included, Botbot and Asong Kulubot; Si Pilandok ang Asong Tatlo ang Tuhod and Si Jack, ang Away ng mga Halaman... JP sent me these books when I was still in England because he thoguht they were sho cute! And they were. SHO CUTE! Imagine my thrill when she answered the phone.

Friday: Went to National Library to get forms and do a delivery job. Traffick in Manila is hell. Got to the office to witness the return of Manong William. Ma'am, one more coat of paint!
Called the wife of a dead star to follow up on some information... was rather cool.

Saturday: I get to stay home today. When Ma'am found out that the painting had begun again, she ordered us to stay home and do our work there. Yes, I work Saturdays. And you know you love your job when you don't care about working on Saturday...