Goodbye Chloe, Hello Office

Chloe left on Saturday after a funfilled week of showing her around a small section of New York. For some reason we didn't get above 14th street! But we did go to Brooklyn once.

The day she left, a new friend arrived in town. I met Tracey on the shoot I worked on in Paris last year, and she's just moved over here from London where she's been living for 5 years. She's a stylist's assistant so maybe we'll get to work together on shoots again - if I get more photo assisting work...it's been a bit dry lately. That's why I've started an office temp job this week. Gosh, where do I begin to describe this job? It's a great cure for that daytime insomnia I've been suffering from, and the industry is not one I thought I'd ever be working in. Basically it's a headhunting company for the financial services industry. This company steals bigwigs from financial institutions (sorry if you're already nodding off) and gets them even higher paying jobs in other companies. These people's salaries and bonuses are ridiculous and I'm learning a whole new language - words such as 'Equity Capital Markets', 'Derivatives' and 'Hedge Funds' (apparently they have nothing to do with saivng up for landscape gardening).

And it's interesting to note that American offices are pretty much the same as Aussie ones, complete with the generic characters you all know and love - such as "Sick Lady"...the woman in the next cubicle who spends her day on the phone to friends discussing her illnesses, what antibiotics she's taking and describing in detail the consistency of her mucous. Sick Lady also loves to discuss her children at length, and blame said sickness on them. My office's sick lady has a classic Jersey accent too, which makes for even more forced eavesdropping enjoyment. And of course this office also has the person with the obnoxiously loud mobile phone ringtone. I swear, if I hear the intro to Van Morrisson's "Brown Eyed Girl" once more I'm going to scream!

But there's free soft drink in the fridge, and at the very least I might finally learn what my rich friends' dads do for a living. Oh, and what Sally does for a living - remind me again Ms Tanner!

Actually Sally, Simon and Nick are arriving in NY on Sunday, I can't wait. We have tickets to see Conan O'Brien, and I've written a long list of places to take them (tourist destinations included). So stay tuned for photos!


This is Tracey and me in Paris last year.