What do you live for?

I'm going to Vietnam on a one-month school trip after internship. It'll be quite business-centric - meeting businessmen and economics students, visiting companies, etc. - although it'll be balanced by hopefully fun activities, like going to the Vietnamese pasar malam, silk village and a rice paper workshop.

Other than that, I'm being worked to death nowadays, not by my editor, but on my own volition because I really have to finish my work on time. This week I had two phone interviews with US-based people at 9 pm and 10 pm on consecutive nights for my news feature. It's kind of weird working in an empty office.

Right now work seems endless - I have three company interviews next week, interviews for my news feature, and the whole buro has to work on weekends next week for Shangrila Dialogue, a meeting of regional defense ministers. I'm not complaining because between too much work and no work, I prefer the former, but honestly I'm really looking forward to a day when I can rest all day long, without worrying about unfinished business. I've been having a weekly margarita fix to compensate for the lack of rest days, which is bad news for my wallet because, bloody hell, one glass of the damn thing costs 10-15 bucks. If you want to give me something for my birthday, please give me a margarita-making machine.

Tonight I went for a talk on sex trafficking by Somaly Mam, a Cambodian former child prostitute who has won international recognition for her tireless work in helping sex slaves. Her daughter got kidnapped and raped as a revenge attack, but she pressed on because she said she has hundreds of other daughters to fight for. Some of the girls she rescued out of the brothels in Cambodia are now university graduates, professionals, award-winners.

The golden quote I love so much from her, when someone asked her how she deals with stress:
"How do I deal with my stress? Whisky."

She lives for her girls, wholeheartedly and without regrets. And it makes me wonder, what do I live for?

Live through this, and you won't look back

Went through hell week:
Fever, flu, bodyaches but NOT swine flu.
Two company interviews in one day with companies dealing in a sector I knew nuts about beforehand.
Everything else went to the sidetrack, or rather got pushed back to next week.
Next week will soon come, and I don't know how I'll get through it.
My work right now is exciting, but maybe a little too exciting.
Every day is like going into a new battlefield.

But I'm still grateful for all these.