Monday, December 31, 2007 @ 11:01
Storage
Too many printed articles to elaborate upon. I shall just pick the top five I learnt the most from.
My first real news story at the news desk. It was a pretty sombre press conference called by Karpal Singh talking about murder, rape and the like. Had to tread sensitively in these kind of waters.
The closest I'll ever get to front page news haha. That picture caption there? I wrote the original draft (translated from a whole Mandarin email into English) and the chief editor tidied it up. His caption sounds so much better than my original one. Lots to learn.
I was asked to participate and also cover the bowling carnival. Many scary moments when my article was being edited because I just didn't get enough of the right information that I knew I should have gotten but just didn't in the heat of the moment. More lessons learnt here.
Slaving over this story for three days straight. Demanded lots of patience. People who didn't want to be quoted, who did not pick up the phone, who transferred me to forsaken departments. Its good to see it in print taking up the whole darn half page heh.
I got roped in to cover this event that my company was hosting just because I was early to work. In fact, I am almost always an hour early for work! (Kok Hao asked me why I find it so easy to get to work 1 hour earlier when I am always late for lectures?? LOL I seriously have no idea)Alright the rest is storage.
Saturday, December 29, 2007 @ 13:27
Speed of light
With the ongoing internship, my weekdays were practically gone. Still managed to have a social life of sorts outside of work though. Here goes the summary of December.
More time with Su San and Wan Fen. We hung around Pavilion and had a taste of San's specially made apple crumble! Yum. I had fun relating stories of my new green love (elaborate on that later) and also found a new jacket in Sungei Wang (oxygen deprived place) to replace the one I lost at Starbucks yikes.
Hung out with the other interns (from left) Behonce, Calyn and Cheryn at BRDB's media appreciation night. Free flow of delicious food and wine, you should have seen me getting my revenge on turkey chomping them down with no mercy after slaving over a turkey article for three whole days. I learnt not to touch unconventional-looking chocolate brownies, they never turn out to be chocolate!
Joanna Bessey!!! Ahhhh TOTAL HIGHLIGHT! Wai Yee, I can't believe it, I actually got to meet Joanna Bessey and took a picture with her! Much Kopitiam love. Look at San's happy face too. We love Kopitiam the good ol' Malaysian sitcom and the cast members!
And gosh doubly lucky Douglas Lim was acting in the pantomime that night too!!! He's still funny as ever, I was in stitches for most of the show because of him and his crazy antics, such a charmer, he got all the kids on his side. Heh now I've got pictures with 3 of the cast (Lina, Joanna & Douglas), 4 more to go!
In the midst of play, there was work too. My company held a bowling carnival to show appreciation for all its advertisers and business partners. I had to juggle working that Saturday to cover the event and bowl as well. Didn't mind the extra day of work, it was fun!
Economics, entrepreneurship, finance and anything in that league gives me a headache. However, the game that Kah Meng and 4 other friends of his came up with (called Exoro which means 'success through persuasion') surprisingly appealed to me!I was against participating in the game at first but after 6 rounds, I got the hang of it and seriously didn't want it to end! There's Merry on my right in the picture with her Indon mates: Jessie and the guys (from front) Richie, Anggar, Isal..we're busy discussing buying, selling, marketing, branding all the works.
We adjourned to Dome so that Merry and her team could discuss business further with Kah Meng's team. I really hope Merry and her team can make this a success in Indo, all the best yeah Merry! Alvin (the CEO) was doing most of the talking so cue lots of Kah Meng bullying me at the sidelines -____-"
Shifali's looking more gorgeous by the day. Caught up with her at Fong Seng. I ordered Milo ice and they served me Milo dinosaur, a drink more suited for my Milo eating sisters haha.
Any time I get with Merry is all good! So glad your family came over, looking forward to next year =) I know the picture's dark but I like it all the same, my arm looks BIG haha.
And of course there was Christmas, I was back in Kampar to join in the annual traditions. Highlight has got to be caroling from home to home on the eve. Caroling never fails to lift my spirits and its such joy to bring the message of God everywhere with our voices. Can you spot my brother there with a cool tie on and holding his beloved guitar? =)
Friday, December 28, 2007 @ 18:11
Reren's Seven Tag
Seven Things That Scare You
1) Leeches
2) Being mugged
3) Basically anything that violates me or my space
4) Really horrible nightmares
5) I can't write down seven things -___-"
Seven Things You Like the Most
1) Bridge
2) Pool
3) Archie comics
4) My five star songs
5) Novels
6) Friends (the sitcom)
7) I wanted to put real friends but friends aren't 'things' right?
Seven Important Things in your Room
1) Desktop and everything in it
2) Handphone
3) Camera
4) Things given to me by friends
5) Fan
6) Clothes
7) Novels
Seven Random Facts About You
1) I am a romantic.
2) My addiction to SYTYCD cannot be cured.
3) I hate horror movies.
4) I prefer not to watch animations with animals as the main cast.
5) 11pm has been my bedtime almost every night the past 2 months..woah record!
6) I see dances in my mind when I listen to songs.
7) My room is an absolute mess now cluttered with stuff I've collected over the past 2 months.
Seven Things You Plan To Do Before You Die
1) Swim
2) Sky dive
3) Travel
4) Bungee jump
5) Many many many other things
Seven Things You Can Do
1) Cycle
2) Make candy
3) Wash dishes (very well indeed! Haha joke diversion)
4) Sleep with the lights on
5) Make rojak sauce
6) Burn pots (because I'd always forget the fire's on)
7) Make sushi
Seven Things You Can’t Do
1) Swim
2) Play the violin
3) Play the saxophone
4) Play the harp
5) Ok ok I'll stop with the music instruments
6) I can't stay away from Singapore
7) I can't read as fast as Reren (100 pages an hour crazy woman...)
Seven Things That Attract You to the Opposite Sex
1) Humour
2) Great personality
3) Musical talent
4) Hairstyle
5) Relatively 'clean' language
6) The unexplainable chemistry
7) I thought of one last thing but I decided to leave it out haha
Seven Songs You Have Recently Listened To
1) So Close - Jon McLaughlin
2) I Can Only Imagine - MercyMe
3) Built to Last - Melee
4) Light Surrounding You - Evermore
5) Running Away - Midnight Hour
6) Symphonie - Silbermond
7) Human - Jon McLaughlin
Seven Celebrity Crushes
1) Michael J. Fox
2) Danny Tidwell
3) Travis Wall
4) Ewan McGregor
5) James Marsden
6) Richard Gere
7) Johnny Depp
People You Wanna Tag
Everybody I want to tag has been tagged already!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007 @ 19:28
Christmas-y
Rules: Each player of this game writes about his/her Christmas wishes. Number of bloggers to tag: Up to you. Happy tagging.
Since it is the season and Josephine has tagged me, I'm doing this after a drought of blog posts from me. Now, my personal wish list for Christmas:
1) Delicious candy making with the family (success!)
2) Time with dear friends (fulfilled! Though didn't meet many but still grateful!)
3) MP3 player (yep! Interesting story behind this)
4) Fun, joy and laughter (^_^)
5) The evidence of the love of God (check!)
6) Random things that put a smile on my face (littered here and there throughout the days)
7) Caroling fun the whole night through without being sick (truly blessed with clear nostrils and stamina)
I’m tagging:
Reren..if you can drag yourself away from the PSP long enough hehe ;P and I'll do your tag as soon as I can.
Jesus brings gifts of truth and life
He makes them bloom and grow
So welcome Him with a song of joy
And when He comes, you'll know that...
Christmas isn't Christmas till it happens in your heart
Somewhere deep inside you is where Christmas really starts
So give your heart to Jesus
You'll discover when you do that
Christmas' really Christmas for you
Sunday, December 09, 2007 @ 23:31
Scrumptious Sushi Spaghetti!
Finally, a break from all those articles! Long awaited girls' day in! I've been to Wan Fen's place so many times, I know my way around there pretty well. Doing dishes there is no biggie anymore heh.
I like this! Took us so many shots to get it right. Any time we meet up, bridge is almost a certainty. Doses of bridge alongside all the yummy food, just great.
Unagi sushi in the making! With so many cooks, the process felt like a breeze. Still prefer prawns but eel's not too bad ;) Su San's learning how to make sushi from the master. There's the bamboo sheet that I'll need if I ever want to make sushi. Lazy to buy aiks.Wan Fen said: "I'm impressed, Su San picked up the skill quite fast!" What praise! Looks like we have a female Jamie Oliver in the making? =)
My preferred forte - EATING! Haha besides that, I do like to slice up the sushi, it's fun!
Presenting to you San's masterpieces! All the labour - patting, rolling, arranging, chopping and placing of this dish is done by her and her alone.
We also made some rectangular sushi with a box. Non-seaweed lovers' fare.
Alright enough posing with the food. In two winks of an eye, the sushi disappeared into the deep pits of growling stomachs. I realize the only place I get my sushi in Malaysia is at Wan Fen's place haha. Roxanna got special treatment. A whole bowl by herself!
Presby reunited. The plate in front of Alina contains angelhair spaghetti and its' super delicious sauce (herbs, tomatoes, tuna, garlic). Ah it too vanished very quickly.We helped clear out the last of the rojak sauce that Fen and I made in Kampar. Rojak is always good especially with juicy pineapples. Argument about sweet or sour mangoes. It was sour! =P
Candid picture! A belated birthday surprise for San! Look at the delighted gasp! Hehe. The bag contains a make up set! San didn't escape from being a guinea pig hehe.
Welcome back girl! So good to have you around again. Thanks for being such a sweetie and such a joy! And thank you so much for Shannon! ^_^
Who needs more laidback days like these? ME!Saturday, December 08, 2007 @ 16:12
Acoustic Night
Have I mentioned that I love my boss?!! Well, ex-boss to be exact. Knowing that I really wanted to go for James Morrison's concert, he made it happen! Huwah! He didn't even tell me in person, letting another senior colleague surprise me with the news haha. So AWESOME. Jolene and I had a night of acoustic music splendour =)
Speakers were a bit too loud during James' set I feel, his soft slow numbers worked best for me. The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore was just perfect. Organisation surely could have been better! 35 minutes waiting for set change aiks.
At the very last minute, the media was informed of a press conference with James. About 5 media made it seriously. It was all the more fun with Ainee (second from right) and Sheila (right) there. Griping, sharing, chatting.
What a charmer Rick Price is! He offered to play a song for us at the end of yet another surprise press conference. What luck! His voice just melts your heart. Absolutely.What a treat! Rick really entertained the crowd at the concert. Piano, guitar, harmonica..gosh its just awesome how he plays the guitar. Like I wrote in my article, it was acoustic music at it's best. Too bad word limit restricted me to only 2 paragraphs on Rick!
I also met Ellyna (second from left) during the eventful day. She's got such an exciting life! Such an adventuress. She's now working on a brand new portal Murai. So grateful to her and her pal for giving me a lift home at 1am! This is definitely the biggest event I've covered thus far.
Saturday, December 01, 2007 @ 00:32
Entertaiment desk send-off
It was my last week at the lifestyle & entertainment desk, sad to say. It's almost as if the paper was giving me a big send off to the news desk by printing 11 of my articles (with 10 bylines wow). That's 2 in a day and 3 on Friday. Record number in a week! I'm going to miss my time at the desk definitely, but news desk will be another huge learning experience, bring it on!
Got to utilize my Mandarin in interviewing at this ntv7 press conference. I'll always look back at this and laugh at the dilemma we had that day with the heavy rain peltering all the reporters there. Lesson here: never organize an event at an open-air restaurant without a back-up wet weather plan! =D
The only tech event that I covered. Had fun hanging out with a RAGE reporter there and met Wan Fen after the press conference =)
Two new cinemas in town! I didn't go for the launch. Calyn (another intern) went for that, it sounded funny! Costumed movie characters running amok haha.
Barbie Room was shockingly pink. So pink that I got a headache. Bring on the blues! Haha glad to be back in my own blue room as I type this. Anyone want a Barbie Doll? I'm looking for a good home for it =)
Presenting to you the article I'm most proud of this week! Press conference with Microsoft and Global Knowledge Partnership. By far, the most demanding and most intellectual PC I've covered. They were talking so fast and about lots of stuff I've never heard of, it was a real challenge scribbling everything down. Glad I got the chance to cover this not-very-entertainment kinda thing though, really admire the passion and smarts these people have.
Highlight of this screening event? The majestic pipe organ and food! Haha not to mention some time with Lina Teoh. I've been a fan of hers ever since Kopitiam days..see picture below.
She is so much taller than me, gorgeous in person and so well-spoken! I was sorry she got a bit harassed during the group interview, she handled it well though =)
An exciting bunch of nominees with impeccable English. First co-assignment with my senior colleague Anansa, it was nice having someone to bounce ideas off heh. Am interested to know who will win at the 8TV Ultimate Prom tonight.
The one and only car event I went to. The Japanese guy giving his speech made everybody laugh with his funny pantun tailored to Honda! Honda is extremely generous I must say. The food there (especially the bread and butter pudding) was awesome. My immediate editor Sebastian was there too, he was cajoled into going by old friends haha whenever he makes an appearance, it's a BIG thing!
For those who subscribe to Astro cable TV, read this! I was glad to see a familiar face there (Elyantie from Astro) plus I was highly amused at the launch.
Ah a movie way way way better than Penny Dreadful, thank goodness I got to review this at the last minute! A fun outing. The sad touching scenes between Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman were the best parts of the movie!
Finally the last printed article of the week, the first time I interviewed anyone in Malay which reminds me I should brush up on the language.