Back from business

I'm back from my first ever business trip! While the people closest to me, Marlon and my sister, have been pretty much jetting all over the world on business for many many years, this weekend marks the first time I have had to travel anywhere requiring a passport, in a professional capacity.

I spent the last six days in Kuala Lumpur on a shoot for a long-running project for Disney Channel. The team that flew down was composed of me, James, Jerrold, Mike and Leang -- a producer, director, assistant director/editor, graphic designer and director of photography, respectively. We each got our own rooms in a surprisingly good hotel -- the Dorsett Regency right smack in the middle of Bukit Bintang in downtown KL. For $70/night, the hotel wasn't bad at all! The location couldn't be beat, and it was a dead ringer for the pre-renovation Manila Pen. 

The whole experience of being away on business seemed slightly surreal to me. It was like I had momentarily stepped out of reality into something that was pretending to be my life, but was distinctly separate from it. Shooting on location all day and coming home to an empty hotel room simply nothing to do with my "real" life. It wasn't an unpleasant experience, and I even feel grateful that my days were so full and I was so tired there wasn't much room for loneliness. 

But I felt like being away had hit the "pause" button on something inside me (my ability to be fully present? To fully enjoy an experience?) and I was just waiting for the time when I could... unpause myself. 

Still, it feels good to be sent to another country because of something that I can do, and do reasonably well. (Let's hope it's a good sign of more travels to come, hmm?) I enjoyed spending time with my team (it's James' last shoot before he leaves BDA!) and my sister and her friends. I also enjoyed the "me" time in the cushy hotel room, and shoe shopping in Sungei Wang, the Greenhills/Tutuban Mall of Kuala Lumpur. And of course completing a successful shoot always gives me a high. 

But now I'm back home, cocooned in the arms of my Bulgari-scented husband (he knows I love it so he wore it to the airport!), in the comfort of my very own home, and in the spotty affections of my tempestuous cat. And no professional high can beat that.