My best reporter called me up today. She will be leaving the company by the end of the year. She has two job offers and she’s just waiting if her E-pass will be approved under her chosen company. If it all goes well, she will tender her resignation after two weeks then give one month notice.

I cannot, for the life of me, think of somebody else to replace her because she’s that good. But I knew this day would come soon because we had been talking about this for quite some time even before I got promoted.

Now it’s really, really hard to hire good journalists in Singapore because there’s a dearth of good homegrown talent there when it comes to honest-to-goodness journalism. What can you expect from a country with an authoritarian government, right?

I have a lot of problems on my plate right now. I am just compartmentalizing each problem because I will melt down if I tackle them all. One of my problems is the Bangkok coverage, which I must solve soon.

Basically, there is nobody left in Singapore. And my company is limiting my movements. I honestly do not know what they want.

Breathe in, breathe out.