Yesterday was a usual day at the office. Didn't do much, was just waiting for this week's American Idol results. (Yay, Katharine! Woo! Woo! Woo.)
Along comes Jamie Aditya, dropping by unannounced. This is quite a regular occurance at my office, by the way - random people from the entertainment biz in general dropping by, not necessarily Jamie Aditya. Anyway, you may know him from his days as one of the first Indonesian MTV VJs, and to date one of the only ones who was actually funny and you didn't want to punch his lights out whenever he appeared on screen. At the moment he's the host of Sync Or Swim on the Discovery Travel & Living channel, and is about to finish up his album, which he brought along for us to have a sneak preview. Sounds pretty neat, think eclectic funk but sort of left field. Melodic, but not something that's instantly accessible. What's certain is that it's not the sort of music usually found on the independent label that's slated to distribute it.
Anyway, he shows up, and heads to the editorial staff's workspace. The senior editor introduces us all one by one. When it comes to my turn, he says, "This is Hasief."
In that split-second between introduction and handshake, I think of saying something to show my appreciation without sounding too arse-licker. "The legend!"? No. "I like your work."? Too much of a mouthful. "Jamie anak nakal, Jamie anak nakal! Be careful your life, OK?"? Yeah, like he hasn't heard that one before.
As I try to come up with something cool and witty, Jamie looks bemused and asks, "Hashish?"
Story of my friggin' life. I end up saying nothing.
