Warming Up

Bread, Butter or Politics?
Pressure, pressure, pressure! I know I don't have my hawk-eyed bosses anymore to go through my columns or analyses. That had never been a problem for me when I was at the NST. Bosses will be bosses. But where I had been for a long time before I left last year, there was a great degree of trust in my sense of judgement and, basically, my capabilities.
I have left the "view my complete profile" quite incomplete.
Perhaps I should say that my last-held position at the NST was as deputy chief news editor. I was political editor before that, and news editor before that.
Joined the NST right after college (then ITM) in 1978. Went to Boston University for a year and returned to NST to resume work.
I have also not indicated what my blog is -- whether it is narrative or issues-driven. In the style and mode of Rocky's Bru, Kak Teh's Choc-a-Blog, MarinaM's ranting, Jeff Ooi's screen shots, Tengku Elida's Mokciknob or Sheih's Kickdefella?
Oh! What a smorsgasbord of ideas and models.
Can I just be me?
Was with MarinaM and Rocky (and later Azmi Anshar, my bro-in-law) yesterday at Austin Chase.
Rocky thinks I should do what I do best (it seems!) -- comment about politics.
Marina says be what you want to be, write what you like. (my kind of woman!)
Azmi -- "whatever you like-lah".
Pressure, pressure, pressure. A different kind.
You are really bare and naked. You are so exposed. You can also be so vulnerable.
How much of my life do I want to share with others? How gung-ho should I be?
Do I do a Kak Teh? Do I do a Rocky or Sheih?
It is so easy to lose track, to be free in blogosphere. At the same time it is hard because you are your own editor, gate-keeper, and judge. You have to know how much to give and how much to hold back.
It is so easy to whack the government, political parties, politicians and individuals liberally and unrestrained. It is harder to do so tactfully, with maturity and style.
So I have, ahem, decided. No surprises. I will ------ be myself and write about anything and everything I like. That excites me. That stimulates me. That shocks me. And that pleases me.
Bread, butter and politics.
Now that I am on the outside, looking out, with a lot of time doing so, I think I will have a lot of fun. I am on a roll, people.
What a start!