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| (From left to right: me, Jessi and Vi) |
“Don’t you miss writing?” Jessi asked me this question
making me remember, “oh yeah I have a blog.”
While we were browsing my blog, Jessi just blurted out “when
was it updated, two years ago?” I looked at the date and indeed, the last
update was in 2013.
I thought, “Wow time flies too fast and I didn’t even know
it.” I’ve been away from my blog for
quite long, so I guess it’s about time I’ll post something.
But looking for a topic to write is always a challenge
unless there are motivating factors which could either be things, people,
emotions or events in life. I looked at
the two ladies sitting in front of me in the table and I thought “yeah, why
not? They can be my topic!”
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| (From right to left: Vi, Jessi, Thu and me of course) |
Variety is the spice of life...
It was lunchtime
today (July 16) that I dragged the two angels of Saigon Times Group, Jessi Pham
and Mai Thi Tuong Vi to have lunch with me at La Mint, a French restaurant located just few steps
away from my work place. Sitting in the
dining table next to Thu, my account manager who was celebrating her birthday,
I was teasing Jessi about her passion in posing in front of the camera like a
model and her vast collection of nice dresses and shoes. It was actually a compliment. I find it cute seeing photos of a tall slim
beautiful lady that if you don’t know her, it’s like you’ve seen someone who
does nothing but line up dresses for photo shooting either in hotel or
restaurant settings.
Jessi is a lifestyle
writer of Saigon Times Daily and she closes a page already, a task that most
Editor-in-Chief will not just assign to any member of the editorial staff
unless someone who can be trusted. An intelligent lady but she would rather show
off her love for clothes and her passion to mimic model like poses than her
wits which were printed into the newspaper.
Sitting next to Jessi in front of me in the table was Vi, an
exact opposite character of Jessi. Vi perhaps
is a big fan of the word “simplicity”. She
carries herself confidently with just jeans pants and shirt, no qualms
whatsoever. For a Vietnamese lady, I’d
say it’s an effort because it’s not their practice to be too casual with clothes,
like the “influence of Americans to Filipinos.”
Vi is like a sister, quite sweet and she always remember me. If that would be in the Philippines, it’s a
bonus to have a friend like Vi in the print media, a good access to free publicity.
But my friendship with Vi has a catch, Catch-22. She treats me like I am still in the same
industry with her, the industry which I abandoned almost a decade ago. In that type of relationship, I can’t ask her
to write something about my products and services for free. It’s awkward,
unless of course I have paid ads.
Anyway, I love Vi, so never mind I will not destroy our friendship by
asking free space for press releases. I
will always be a big sister to her in the “print media industry”.
So for my two little sisters in the print media in Ho Chi
Minh, thank you for the friendship and I am grateful you were there for me when
I was hounded with immigration issues, it was handy with you around.
