Just came back from a special BK staff dinner.
It was more special than any other parties we had as BK crew as it was my last. Today, Friday the 13th, marks my last day as a staff writer for BK Magazine.
Sad. I know.
Ever since I realized my love for writing, I always had BK Magazine in mind. It’s a funny publication, it’s bitchy, it’s honest and most of all its style fits me as both a writer and a reader.
The BK internship back in Oct ‘06 was the start of everything. I had just finished my last classes as a college student and I found myself not doing anything much other than shopping, blogging, and hanging out at Bua’s. I applied for the internship with no expectation at all.
I didn’t even plan to make the job stick. While I was doing my internship I was also studying for GRE, preparing myself for a grad school in LA. Then the job happened and over the course of two years, I went from an intern to editorial assistant to new media girl and then to a staff writer.
BK Magazine is probably the best job any fresh graduate could ever ask for. I did my first cover story when I was still an intern, I got to write about stuff I know and care about (blogging, technology) and not to mention all the freebies, parties and food. And really, if I wasn’t forced to use a Mac in the art department, I wouldn’t have become a convert.
Of course as a writer, having just one publication on your CV is kind of sad. And BK being a weekly magazine, it meant absolutely no free time for me to take on any freelance work as most of them require you to go out for interviews or do research on a weekday. I had applied for many publications and I got discouraged each time they touched on the points of it being free, being only 30-something pages thick, and on the fact that my hard work on a cover story or a feature gets trashed within a week.
Despite the work load, and the occasional disappointment when I see my cover stories get used as umbrella, window wiper, picnic seat, placemats, or origami materials, it has been a great experience. The people at the office here are not coworkers but rather friends whom we share the same interests. Of course we have bosses, but seriously, where else could you find a boss who would allow you to dress him up for a Facebook photo-op, or a boss who you could talk Jailbreaking to and share a bag of Goldfish with without giving you a “go-back-to-work” look? Where else could you have burping competition with the staff, do chicken dance as you walk to get your coffee, have afternoon gossip session, reenacting The Sound of Music while doing proofs, or be allowed to decorate your work station with fluffy pink Hello Kitty toys?
That’s probably the hardest thing to give up when I decided to leave. I don’t think I will ever find such comfort at a work place like that again and that scares me. It’s not just leaving a job, it feels like I am leaving friends and the scene I have grown so accustomed to over the last two years. Being at BK was much more fun and educational than my four years in ABAC ever gave me.
Well, I guess it’s time to move on. It’s just like graduating. BK was probably my halfway house between college and the real world.
BK Life in Pictures
www.bkmagazine.com