Back from my faculty’s freshmen orientation, perhaps the longest acronym-ed tertiary institution camp – WKWSCIFOC ( Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information FOC).
And I am all exhausted and tired and burnt out (especially my dear nose).
My groupie is PAVAROTTI ( not exactly a cheer-friendly name). The five groups were named after Opera singers ( by sheer coincidence, I have an opera-singing friend, who is in Wales now). There were 5 OGs, with 20 odd people in each of it. That’s it – it is that small a faculty.
For the longest time, this has been the camp that I am been anticipating and dreading, all together. This is it, finally. After a disastrous “social history” for the past 2 chapters in my life, this was something to make a positive mark on my track record. Naturally, I was and still am very nervous. Besides, these are the very people/community which I will be mixing around with for the next four years (I have barely even started!) in school. I really don’t know what to expect and do not really want do.
For the past 5 days in camp, it was so surreal to be inducted back into the school environment – seeing how cliques evolve, trying to make friendly chatter with the people around me (who knows what they will turn out to be – mere hi-and-bye acquaintances or friends?).
I have always thought there was something wrong with me – I do not usually have the typical “aww so sweet” camp experience, and pledge to “work on it” and “move on”, but sooner or later, I would sink back into my old comfortable, socially disastrous ways. I really did put in a decent amount of effort to open up the petals of myself. And the truth is that I am just not a spontaneous, camp person by nature and things always turn out like this. No amount of fake-pushing or putting on a façade would do the trick. This is just me. Some people are never meant to snag the spotlight, some people will just appear not so enthu, some people will remain in the B-list ( B for boring or boisterous?) and this is not a wrong thing, just need to work around it to ensure it doesn’t harm ourselves.
I felt I could have jab in a bit more effort to lap it up in the spirit of Orientation, but looks like my mind and body had other plans. It was an enjoyable camp – I love the activity aspect of it. But, it would be totally AWESOME if my social scene was set. I was caught so off guard, still, yes, still so unprepared. I think it is one camp that gets more bang for my buck. Really admire the seniors and their dedication and effort thrown in, to try to mingle and be friendly. PR-style.
I wished I knew how to go out and had more fun and get all ecstatic.
But it is over
Will blog about the 5 days getting roasted in Sentosa and East Coast Park and all around Singapore soon.
Happy Belated 21st Birthday Gracie!!! ( the Anna Sui Birthday Party soon!)
Went for Stefanie Sun’s concert on Saturday, the camp barely ended. But, it was a mind-blowing visual spectacle, to the set and larger than life costumes! She even gave a 3-song encore for us.
And Happy 21st Birthday , iki and diq!
My idea of "piles" of work
The months May and June have been zooming past fast, too fast, so fast that I barely notice that, in a few days time, it is time to flip to another crisp sheet of the calendar - July. The common belief is that “ Time flies when you are having fun….”…while am I having fun? For the past 2 months, I have finally relieved my 9-year old dream of working in a magazine ( anything, I seriously don’t mind to serve coffee, even). And that dream intensified when these four words came out “ The Devil Wears Prada” and the rest ( of my imagination) is history. Up to today, I put on The Devil Wears Prada soundtrack ( Here I am, Tres Tres Chic), whenever I feel like a swinging, confident reporting tour-de-force, sent out to absorb what the world has to offer ( in more humble terms: out-of-office assignments) and fantasize the sight of myself clad in a Prada trenchcoat, right hand grabbing loads of Hermes, Bottega Veneta paper bags, left hand: my editor’s stirring hot café latte. Yes, so much for my ( hopelessly endless) imagination.
Things in reality turned out to have its own spin: I do not need to fetch coffee or have the photocopying machine as my BFF and no, I do not get to fly to Paris for Fashion Week ( here, we go again). However, there are the on-the job idiosyncrasies, which are exclusively “fun” for me, but to others, they will go “ whatever” in a heartbeat. I actually find going out of the office ( during office hours) particularly thrilling – the idea of leaving the cubicle for some fresh air ( albeit, a whiff), while everybody is stuck in the office, buried in piles of work ( and facebook) and fantasizing about how I travel in luxury ( read: Taxi) to a far-flung, exotic location ( read: Leng Kee Road). And the routine of emailing companies for their information and getting to sign it off with my name, position ( editorial intern) , coupled with the magazine title – yes, it is the ultimate cathartic release! And when somebody calls me ( via the office telephone) – the very thought that somebody needs me to publicize their wares – gets me all revved up. I better stop. Before I sound my a crazed magazine fanatic, but it is these small, subtle, outwardly miniscule trivial things that makes me satisfied. All these, on top of writing, which is my main job.
Sitting in office for 7 hours can be a joy as much as it can be torturous. I think, both of us ( me + the other intern) are starting to get what is most definitely dreadful – writers’ block. Imagine that we have to write the “same type” of write-ups day-in-day-out and each of them has to be presented with different styles and vocabulary and approaches. It gets very daunting when our writing styles start to stagnant – we use the same words over and over again ( inject, exclaims, says, giggles) , our paragraph structures are been-there-done-that. It gets very frustrating to be trapped in this mediocre-boxed up writing pit-fall. That’s why I can spent up to half-an-hour, just to write a 80 word snippet and I am not satisfied with my product. Those are days when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed. A low day could also mean not “squeezing all that I can – the pulp, the juice, the sacs” from my interview session and I end up with even more puzzling questions. It could also mean failing to call the client, which could end up in drop in reputation. And the ultimate low point is when you realized that the final version of your article is completely different than the one you submitted. It means it is so heavily edited that the time spent cracking those brain cells open were wasted.
Hello my buddies: Pen, Notebook, Recorder
With bulk of my time typing away ( serious work and “occasional” MSN sessions), it is little wonder time flies. In the mornings, the hour between 11am to Noon passes like a speeding bullet. Just a few snippets and a toilet trip is enough to whittle the hour away. Afternoons are even better. We get so engrossed in sending emails ( to clients, not ourselves), making calls and working on the articles that 5pm just pops up from nowhere. And it gets like this. Day in day out, day out day in, until it is time to go home. Amidst all these, it is the small finishing touches or random zany chatter that keeps me going on and on.
I write during office hours and some for free publications, I maintain a blog, which has long lengthy post so no one bothers to read ( that’s the whole strategy), I wrote for much under-appreciated college newsletter ( that no one even gives a hoot). People have asked me” Don’t you ever get sick of writing?”. The superficial answer is a resounding Yes and I rattle on on my finger cramps and big butt from hours of seating and typing. However, I will say No ( not because I am rehearsing for yet-again failed attempt to snag the SPH scholarship), but it is something that I am addicted to it, so addicted that it is impossible to feel tired, because I am already addicted to it ( it can go on in a vicious cycle). I know I do not write or express myself tres bien, or the words I choose are not that succinct or stop-in-your-tracks impactful. That said, the more it makes me addicted to the cycle of writing, exploring and writing. And at 21 (call me disillusioned and short-sighted), I have found what I would want to do for the rest of my life.
Merci Beaucoup
Labels: intern
The camera loves her
Lady Gaga was in town last week for an exclusive showcase and my dear gaga-crazed friend resorted to buying a new phone, just to score tickets to see the Beautiful Dirty Rich blondie in the flesh. Thankfully, I was there to “do my job”. I received a call on Saturday afternoon: “If I wanted to cover the event?”. Wait, it was such a rhetorical question – my Sunday plans immediately evaporated, for the sake of Lady Gaga ....
Loves this ultra-cool shot of her, when she walked past me
930am: arrives at the Mandarin Oriental’s Oriental ballroom to get my media kit and media pass and wow, the entire lobby was flooded with regional press, all in town to cover LADY GAGA’s showcase….on a Sunday morning. I was not fully awaked, when I heard someone call my name…..well, that was a fellow reporter, whom I met at the pussycatdolls’ concert and we started chatting about, what else, Lady Gaga. I barely remembered waking up so early on a Sunday morning – in a long time. The last time I was up and about at 930am was mugging for the A Levels…….
10am: The doors were open and the journalists streamed into the ballroom, which was blasted with club hits. Hello, isn’t it too early to be in the clubbing mood? I rubbed my eyes and get my recorder ready. Here we go, again
I love your DISCO stick..GAGA
1030am: Young, from 987FM hosts the pre-press conference segment and played games with us, all in the name of good-natured fun. He asked for “ who is the coolest dude in the room?” ,and suddenly walks up and passed the microphone to me to write my playlist on the board. Er..coolest dude in the room, I am flabbergasted. Since, everybody wrote down Lady Gaga as their Number 1 artiste ( so biased), I ventured to be a maverick and wrote “ Mariah Carey” as my number one. Then, Young nudged me to write Lady Gaga’s name…Okay lah, Lady Gaga also can…
11am: The head honchos saunter up on stage to brief us about their new service. Blaa Blaa Blaaa. At the back of my head, I wondered how Lady Gaga would appear. Mayb, she will burst out from the bottom of the stage? Hmm..Maybe, she will just pop out from a very gigantic cake?
1120am: It became very obvious that everybody’s mind was more interested in LADY GAGA, than the actual new service introduced..
I love her rough hair...
1130am: Young announces the arrival Lady Gaga. All the cameras turned to face the door, everybody was up on their feet, facing the door, cameras all on standby mode. I was half-expecting dry-ice to come on…..
1135am: she looked like the 5th member of ABBA, with her euro-chic inspired vintage outfit, a little Brooke Shield-is meets Princess Leia from Star Wars, with jewelry on her head of blonde wig. She looks so edgy, yet oh so cool.
1145: Questions time and a few writers started raining questions on her: Craziest fan experience? Fashion style? Her “close relationship” with Pussycatdolls?
1150: I decided to take a chance and raised my hand up
Young: Guy in the checkered shirt ( me), please ask your question
Me: ( a tad shaky): Lady Gaga, what makes you Gaga?
--------- pause, my heart beats furiously----for a while, I thought she will not answer my question-----------------
Lady Gaga: Real Hot guys
That was my mini conversation. I should have thought of a more substantial question
1155: Lady gaga asked in mock exasperation, “ Is anybody going to ask about my music”. Ironically, no questions on her music, yet….
One sweaty and rowdy affair in the crowd..but I Like It Rough...
1200: The press conference ends, I treated myself to the ubiquitous buffet spread. Bumped into a young-looking writer and started chatting and even promised to meet up to go the Lady Gaga’s showcase together, later in the night.
I feel as if I was attending a wedding. The morning press conference was like the Traditional Tea Ceremony segment, while the Showcase at night was like the Wedding banquet. 2 places in a day – very exhausting…..
6pm – Met up with my ahem – army friend, Renick and walked towards THE DOME with his other friends. I left to join the Media Queue at the VIP entrance..haha shorter queues!
We queued up for almost one and a half hours(!!!), before allowed entry. The showcase only started proper at 9pm and the entire dubai-imported dome was converted into a uber cool-looking pub, with disco-balls and Chandeliers. It feels like going clubbing all over again – long, dance music, people thronging the area – shaking and grooving….it’s gonna be a long night ahead. Thank goodness we were at the VIP area, so they served some finger food and wine. I pity the waiters, they have to maneuver trays of platters of food and classes through the busloads of humanity , all crammed up like sardines…..
GAGA-LICIOUS!!!!
9pm: Lady Gaga appears…finally and opened the show with LOVE GAME. I loved her DISCO STICK..she looked so cute, tottering and toying around with the adorable stick and lights up…..then she acted all weirdly, like a mannequin…..
SEX-SAY GAGA915pm: Gaga fever continues with BEAUTIFUL DIRTY RICH and POKERFACE – she changed into an Atonement-style swimsuit. I was so high during Pokerface!!! First, she serenaded the crowd, by playing the piano- version of the song – while standing on the piano’s chair. Then, the crowd went ecstatic when she sang the original version of Pokerface …
930pm: We wriggled and giggled our butts to PAPARAZZI
Lady Gaga says goodbye
940PM: the finale was the all-time high version of JUST DANCE. It was really like in a club, everybody was bouncing up and down hahaha
After the showcase, we drove to post-zouk hang-out for supper. What a gaga-licious day I had!Labels: intern
I saw an innocuous-looking brown looking envelope on my table, with the words" confidential" on my table and it turned out to be well, something surprising, finally, something that officially heralds the re-beginning of my school life : My Orientation Package - which came in a form of a Media Kit - filled with faux press releases and *omg* a "media pass". No prizes for guessing which school I will be studying in, but a hint to tease you if you are still going huh?: I used the word " Media" 2 times.
Well, well, well, orientation beckons and it seems like a nice mystery to unravel and unwrap from that brown package, though, yes, i must admit, i am so freakin' nervous about orientation and the whole process of going rah-rah and wet ( they said "wear white t-shirts at your own risk) and singing those hyper-ifed cheers and meeting my prospective classmates..but i think i am raring to go and well, discover what's there and of course, to study... it is back to school, after two years.
They christened the orientation " A Song For Viola", which has quite the amusing storyline...Somebody got murdered or something, well, what apt tribute to the recent suicide case which unfolded in ntu..heheheheheh, it's pretty dramatic, the seniors even made a respectable thriller to get us freshies all thrilled up..
it's here:)
*likes how it ends..BITCH.....haha
well, this will be in two weeks' time
so consider this my two-weeks' noticeLabels: orientation, school
I met up with (eternally) Ma bois, Diq-nified and Sha-Dee-Chee for a late-night desserts session at maccafe ( again), Man, I really love desserts and we ordered the DARN GOOD BROWNIE, thanks to my recommendation.... It was a normal catch-up cum dessert session, until, we discovered saddiq's quite mini whiteboard......and...bring on the cameras, I'd say!
My best impersonation of being a drama king......
Diq: ( with the ' Ohh" mouth) Didn't mama told you: Chocolate's bad for health?Me: ( pouts) but i really breally want to eat IT....
and we discovered we that a marker came along with the white board.....
I solemnly swear that i was yawning..chocolate makes you tired , you know
Me: diq, are you atoning for your sins???...( throws a WTF stare)
Opps I realised that the arrow was pointed towards him, nope it is supposed to be the cake, not him ahhhh...( although both look so lusciously brown haha)
Labels: friends
HUSH HUSH HUSH HUSH Pris, Zinny, Moi and pte phua
I am engimatically elated to report that Pte Phua, Pris and Zinny read blog.....opps, that was accidentally blurted out..i was meaning to say, we are meeting up quite regularly now, e.g once every 2 months, if you consider this: regular. Well, they are so busy, courting their GPA dreams to become a pharmacist ( for Pris) and Lawyer ( for zinny) and scientist ( for pte phua) soon, i will all caught up in this storm for figures and grades. Case in example: We met up on Wednesday...despite bleak hopes. WC was frolicking with the sun in Sentosa, hence, explained his conspicuous absence....
My lurvely friends accompanied moi to collect my unable-to-access-wifi-phone, from the phone hospital, while I let them in on the hidden secrets behind my "work", well you guys should know it is all superficial and fake, it is all about making information market-able and sell them to unsuspecting masses..hohoho
We settled for fuss-free dinner at PASTAMANIA, all the better for me, cos i am so siccckkk of having rice and we could all see why zinny has gained a clothe size from his extra serving of Pasta, but then again, who can resist pasta? As usual, i went for something creeammyyy. In a case of sheer coincidence, we sat at the very same seats, during one of our first gatherings in 2007, fresh out of school and all clueless about which university to choose..and look at where we are now?? ( where arr??)
The best pte phua could master a smile, i don't know why but i seem to look "bigger" beside him...hmmmm
Put these two together and cam-whoring is a shoo-in..and i have no idea why this photo turned out this way - I was using my freshly-minted Samsung Camera, which i bought at the IT fair last saturday and this pics turned out all bluish and better colour effects. On second thought, it looks quite icy-chic, so shall resist touching up with photoshop...
Here you go, i finally figured out the colour settings..and this is how they look in true colour... after dinner, the 4 of us wandered like deserted souls, craving for desserts ( it ain't over until its time to bring on the desserts!). that search led us to think out of this innovative " DESSERT TREATY" - each one of us would take turns treating the group desserts ( budget's up to the person and one's conscience to decide) and we can use as what the precedent treater's standard as a guide, so lets' say if Pte Phua brought us to Canele for desserts, I have to "pay him back" by treating the group to...erm...Marmalade Pantry... We wanted Bakerzin but the stubborn waitress refused to let us in, although it was just 9pm and she claimed that the restaurant has stopped taking orders..hello at 9pm??? We ventured out of Paragon, only to find the ice-cream uncle ringing his bell..No, No, No, we shall not start with WALL's ice-cream in a cup....
We ended up MACCAFE, which has a surprisingly decent and dare I say, good assortment of cakes: To get the ball rolling, the oldest in the group ( zinny) treated us in this first instalment of the " DESSERT TREATY" - which means that i will be next on the list to treat them......
We ordered 4 slices - Fruity Cheesecake ( tangy twist to the classic, I love it!!), oreo cheesecake ( normal, nothing to scream about), DARN GOOD BROWNIE ( can i jus say 2 words: Chocolate Orgasm?), Opera ( love the thick alternating layers of chocolate and coffee cream!)
the aftermath of our dessert rampage.........
A tale of two cameras- why my pictures turn out...BLUE??!!
Here's to our Dessert Treaty!
Labels: friends
KC, Mel and I recently lunched at Thai-Express ( yawn to boring chains of shops that shamelessly repeat themselves in various shopping centres) and i got a kick in a tongue with the very potent TOM YAM SOUP..OMGness, well that was not so bad as compared to the deadly, i repeat, very deadly, YELLOW GINGER CHICKEN in Thai Express too. That caused a fully-grown man with a well-endowed ego of an ex-commando to tear and groan and churn his stomach all zanied up. We ordered a whole storm of thai feast, from Phat Thai ( it just rolls out of your tongue so nicely) and i tried the Thai Green Curry, which tastes like a slightly spicy bur-bur-cha-cha ( love the creaminess) and did i mention it is Green? ooh Green Curry.....
Pics over eating.... ...... .........
with mel looking as if he has rewind time back, he looked exactly like those secondary school days, just bring back the blue and orange Ocean Pacific Bag..
guess who's having the long hair nowadays....haha i get hairy revenge back..but well, that's the LONGEST hair i ever got in my entire 21 years of living, sorry no rocker days to shout and shake about, unlike Mr Mel, who has his share of a plethora of hair-style changes, from orange ah beng to brown and now, it's black to the basic... and
Speaking of hair, i went for my " highly-anticipated" haircut at TONI&GUY and after 2 whole hours of sitting in front of the mirror, I look like Zoe Tay from The Ultimatum....with her chic ( subjective point of view) blob of hair...I don't know if i should be happy with my new "zoe tay" hair or cry....omg, "Zoe Tay" hair
Labels: friends
Just came back from my first "Sunday Assignment?"
It is all Lady GaGa's fault
went to the hotel in the morning for her press conference... met up with a few familiar faces (yay!! i am starting to recognize faces there)After a few words from the sponsors,all eyes, cameras, bodies turned towards the doorand LADY GAGA ENTERS!!!!!!
she really looks so androgynous, a little over made-up
with her vintage dance get-up
and yay..i asked her one question:
" Lady Gaga, what makes you go GAGA?"
and she looked at moi and smiled.. and answered ( haha)
oh my gawk, my heart's going gagagagagagagagaga
well, so tired
going for the LADY GAGA showcase tonight
gonna be a blast!!!
po-po-po-po-po-po-ker face!!!!!!!going back to her hotel on mondayto interview the LADY in personwonders how will she be like....Lets' have some funthis beat is sickI wanna take a ride on your...disco stick ( woot!)Labels: intern
The date is 14 June, so HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY JOEL!!!!!
Manhood beckons, but Skinny Man just doesn’t have the same ring as Skinny Boy. Mr Sim threw a sim-ple and very indie party, nestled in his cozy little room for sf, gracie and me. Just hastily ordered fast food and a brain-cracking 21-question “Joel” quiz was enough to enjoy this entire celebration of entering into club 21. Well, we were greeted by a visibly excited skinny boy who kept his door slightly open ( I smelt a rat)
---- and what surprised awaited the three of us….hmmmmmm…a very homely party deco of 21 and a photo frame montage, made up of photos of the 4 of us. How sweet!, don’t you think ( I will upload the photos later).
Then things got a little messy, up to the extent of “ Because I Said So” irritation, partially due to the constricted space we had to maneuver. “ Can you pass the food?”, “ Oh I need a drink”, “ where are the loos?”, “ Toilets, where?”. Too many things, too little things. And the party hardly started yet.
After catching our breaths and starting munching on (chicken) nuggets, Joel sprang a truly unexpected surprise on us……the 21 questions about his 21 years of living, which dished out ( the other type of) nuggets of his life. There he was educating us ( 3 students) about his life journey, peppered with Did You Know? Moments. We took loads of pictures with every possible combination and that was with the frames and 21 montage. Well, he must have been quite happy or look to be cos the “ sunny smile” was shining brightly
We gave him a mini chocolate passion cake , without Mandy Moore’s face this time round and had a blast in the dark singing him the birthday songs, despite the candle going off by itself..3 times.. but he got to make a wish and blow out his candle in the end.
Yup, yet another one turns 21. so happy birthday, Joel!
Labels: birthdays, friends
I did my first celebrity interview today.
Face-to-face, one arm’s length apart and so so so anti-climatic, cos I hardly had time to anticipate and get all excited about it.
I am amazed at myself. Instead of getting all groupie-ish star-struck, I behaved like I was there to do my job: Interview the stars, get some dirt out from them and leave ( with the goodie bag, of course)
It was like I was only informed in the morning that I will be interviewing 2 young, hot Singaporean singers. The gal is highly-touted to be Sun Yan Zi No. 2, with her helium-high voice which can either irritate or cheer you up. The guy is well, a reality show participan cicra 2005, who counts Luo Zhi Xiang and Jay Chou as his basketball brudders ( like woah!)
It was quite an exhilarating chance – I have done press conferences ( just sit, listen, nod head, look interested and always smile!), but this was a sit-down interview ala conversation style with 2 people, whom I have watched on youtube, and I got to admit, the gal’s songs are quite the guilty pleasure to sing-along,, so naturally, the butterflies were fluttering madly.
The dynamic duo first performed her new duet for us in that very constrained lounge area..i was so worried that I might trip them cos they were so close to me, I could even see the fold lines of his shirt. And then, it was the Q N A session. I have always wanted to pluck some courage and throw a question, any question in a press conference…..and finally, I rose my hand up…….
My first ever press conference question:
Moderator: And from XX magazine, we have Kenneth..
Me: Hi there….blaa blaa blaa
My 3 minutes of “fame”
Then came the interviewing part. I was feeling quite bouncy, like how would they react to my list of 30 questions? ( I got do my homework lor..haha). and it was my turn to enter into the “Holy of Hollies” at the mezzanine level….i climb up the stairs…heart beating to a Richter scale of 10…
Fat Chance And I thought it was gonna be a private tête-à-tête with the celebrities…who knew, the PR people, recording label people also sat in together to listen..great, I was like interviewing like 5 people, instead of the two…
Ok, here they come towards, the sofa….ok, notebook, recorder, pen, nervous heart..all ready.....
And they knew my name ( PR people must have told them) .” Kenneth…..” was the first word that came out of their mouths and soon we were talking about the magazine, a good lead-in to the interview ( haha, always get them all comfy first) and I set the recorder to record every ounce of information down. I sat on the taller sofa, which made them look so much shorter to me..*feels like in Talking Point suddenly*
So we were well into the interview…which went quite smoothly, cos I can see that they have very good chemistry between them, so it was quite fast to break the ice. I was almost like chatting with them, instead of doing my “job”, haha, but they were really a joy to interview, except for one part…while chatting, I was looking at his oh-so stylish get-up and chiseled build ( I heard NS really transformed him from his geeky days) and how skinny the gal was ( her waist is so tiny!),i was nodding off with my hmmms and arrrssss
The funny thing was that, I was chatting so much ( in a chatty daze) that I (MAJOR OPPPPPS) that I did not realized that the recorder jammed at a certain point of time due to limited memory space…OMG….it was until I reached my last question that I notice something fishy was happening…the display button wasn't blinking, but thankfully, I jotted everything down in my trusty notebook…the pen will always be the most reliable one. One thing I learnt: always ALWAYS check the recorder…
Yup, that was it, 20 minutes of interview..AND off I have to dash to give tuition. From interviewing stars to scolding my P4 student, what a big change…..well, it is all good fun la, I have been “shopping” aka sourcing for products around town the day before, and going around to return stuff….cannot believe I have only one month left at this job. Time really flies when……..( well, better not say it).Labels: intern
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1) Cheeky Cheeky Chocolate with KCWent for the most productive shopping session in a long long time, after the work event last saturday, at , where-else? - bugis. The auditions for an event which i was help out at in the morning made me felt very old, looking at all those teensy people brimming with youth and vitality, so i decided i needed...new clothes and well, accessories ( though i ended up buying one).after scouting around, we went to the fully-opened illuma for dinner. I could not find the restaurant opened by TV's Chef-for-higher so we settled for second best, cheeky chocolates, which was more like a chocolate dessert palour than a full-fledged restaurant. KC claims she can make better pasta than the meatball rendition which she ordered. truth be told, the serving looks small - a palm-sized mound of pasta in an oversized plate. I ordered the mushroom crepe. The egg yolk and the mushrooms went rather well.....and off we skipped to desserts!!! Chocolate desserts..the chef made us wait for almost 20- 30 minutes for the warm chocolate cake, so he gave us this complementary ice-cream to make up for the ridiculous wait..but oooh the chocolate cake was so decadent to roll my tongue and wet my mouths, though not much oozing from the chocolates was seen...after that, we continued...shopping.., had to rush, cos of the long chocolatey wait
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2) 11 years later...
It all started out from a message from a seeming stranger in my Facebook account. This guy was asking if i remembered who he was. No, actually. Who is this person who claims to know me and even wants to meet up. Well, the "he" turned out to be my Child Care friend, way back when I was in primary school and with the blessings of facebook, he managed to well, tracked me down. so we ( and yet another child care friend) managed to have our long-overdue " His Little Kingdom" gathering. Surprisingly, we hardly talked about the past ( anyway, that was way too long to remember) and chatted about whatever we were doing now and basically caught up la..
Labels: friends
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It is so last week but...it still gives me the shivers when i look back..fondlyLast Thursday morning: I was routinely checking through my office inbox when I came across this inbox message:Part of the message read :" I have 2 tickets at the sistic box office and will leave it for you to collect..."Clueless me wondered, what in the world could these tickets be for..who came to town recently?. It look me a full 2 seconds to pause and went esctatic. In the office. while trying to act to act all nonchalent and indifferent. Oh M G...its the pussycatdolls..heart melts....*fans myself gleefully while mock-screaming to the almost empty office...i am going to the PCD concert tonight*well, 2nd question: 2 tickets??? who should i call along? ( haha..tough question)after making sure that my editor did not want to go ( i have no idea who in the right mind would give up a chance to see those raunchy dolls in action)......well, i decided to call skinny boy for our first-ever concert in the Singapore Indoor Stadium.jpg)
technically, i was there to "work" and wriggle and giggle my bottom with the booty-shakin' crowd. I tell you it is impossible to seat still in a PCD concert, as soon as the stadium went dark, everyboday in the crowd rose up like the beginning of a church sermon, to mark the entry of the priest. Forget priest, 4 sinful dolls appeared, all wrapped up in tight leather foil, only to strip to sequin-filled bikinis ( as expected)........jpg)
At first, i attempted to scribbled some notes in my notebook, in darkness.....or waited till some semblance of light came on, during the intervals...but it was useless..in the end, i got so sick of clapping with my notebook and started throwing that and the pen away..well, i am going to reeeallly enjoy myyseeellffff now.....and proceeded to do the PCD WORKOUT....and shout-out..who knew skinny boy has quite the deep, robust, manly shout, despite having a high pitched singing voiceThankfully, no one sat behind us, so they can be spared from my horrible chicken dance, while i ( yes, i sure did) shake my damn booty in darkness...i confessed i shook it real hard, while jumping and hopping like an steroid-fulled bunny..but it was so...fun to shake and scream..especially to don't cha ( drags the "cha" in a low, sexy voice) or beep ( screams "beep" in a high pitch"), or jai'ho ( injects JAI HO!!!!).My personal high was when the dolls, or rather Nicole sang, " STICKWITHCHU"..which is like the only song that make sense and it isn't about sex. then again, the word stick is quite suggestive. i was waving to the entire song and sang them out loud, brain transported to those days when i was singing it to myself on the way to school, who knew, i would be seeing Nicole perform it live in a few years time. this song makes me want to cry and get all choked up. and how can i forget the song " I DON'T NEED A MAN"..my mind completely went nuts when the song came on....i want to post some videos of the convert which i Miraculously recorded, But i realised that it also recorded my over-passionate screams and moans and yells ( i told you i was super high that night)..so, better not disgrace myself online.first concert in the indoor stadium. enjoyed it. it was so hooottttttttt thankfully, i got so soaked up in the concert ( and sweat) to have enough content for my article..phew.... Labels: concert, intern
Sometimes, the line between work and play becomes blur – especially with what I am doing now. Despite my ubiquitous complaints ( will reduce it) , I have to admit that I really enjoy what I am doing. At times, I wonder if I am working or “playing”, in that sense…….anyway, I know its rare to get what you want in life, so better hug what I have tightly. These days, I have been sent to attend…….media events..which are really a ball of fun, cos I get to meet other people in the industry aka networking ( you never know who could lead you to your next job…collecting lots of name cards) and ………the freebies ( that’s why journalists get paid peanuts…. Haha)
I have been going out and about recently
1) Meet The Newscaster
At a press lunch in Holland V today, I so happen to seat beside this very popular and pretty, doe-eyed newscaster who reads the nightly news on Channel 8 and she looked really really different from her “ on-screen man appearance” – to quote her and what shocked me was that she is equally fluent in English too. And she is from Beijing. Goodness, it really gives a kick to learn to speak my mother tongue……she shared her “behind” story while reading the news – not as easy as it seems. Lots of inside info she shared with me that I can’t blog here ( haha, I was so fascinated that we kept on talking non-stop during lunch), but I finally understand why newscasters need laptops…..
I also met this uber friendly and the hippest uncle reporter I have seen. He is like 50 plus years old and he knows all the tabloid gossip and uses the word “ Ex”. I sort of screwed up my intro and asked if he was the manager of the restaurant ( cos he was all dressed up in tie..and old), turns out to be a writer for a Japanese magazine….omg..malu….but, turned out to be friendly. Good networking!! Haha
2) Meet the Jonas Brothers…well, sort of…
The PR people said I looked like the fourth Asian member of the JoBros…….ya right, in terms of height……went for this media event to promote the rock band’s TV series..so they booked a music studio and let selected members of the press watch the first 2 episodes of JONAS…decently funny, with some unexpected funnei lines……I chatted with this Jonas-crazy fanatic girl, who is the Assistant Vice-President ( Public Relations) of the Jonas Brothers Fan Club in Singapore ( my goodness, they have like 6 vice-presidents in the fan club) and she was gushing all about the JoBros – she knows everything under the boys’ curly hair – like the list of girls the brothers dated, in chronological order and how long each date last, she knows all their songs by heart. RESPECT man, too bad, she doesn’t have a name card ( imagine, I know the AVP….of the Jonas Brothers Fan Club…scary.)
3) I had my very first “Andrea in Devil Wears Prada” Moment
I was asked or rather told to assist in a photo shoot for a fashion spread – assist meaning, take the clothes out, handing them to the models, take note of what which outfit consists of and basically, pass clothes and hangers around…my first glimpse behind a fashion shoot and I can tell you – everything is a lie. There is a reason why this models look so drop-dead gorgeous – cos they take have hairstylist and make-up artists fussing over them, their clothes are ironed for the 100th time, they take like 20 plus trial shoots, just to get the perfect posture/angle/feel/position/profile/look right….and I found out how they “ take cheat” with all the clothes. You think “ wow, the clothes looks so damn fitting on them”…well, they are all lies….there are so many tactics to make it seem fitting on camera. Grin and bear with it…..
The stylist was telling me this – “the media industry is all a lie, you young people always think that it is a glam affair, but let me tell you, when you are on your knees fussing over every crumple on the shirt, pinning it on the Styrofoam board till 3am …..it is all hard hard work to make it seem glam for people to buy them, cos only looks sell. Everything is a lie in this industry.” I will always remember what she told me…
Modeling is really tough man, I was standing at my “safe” corner, observing the models, posing and changing the position of their faces/legs/hands……trying to act natural even if the heels are killing them, their clothes obviously do not fit and they need to deal with so many people staring at them, all this time, while taking instructions from the editors and stylists and photographers ..stressful!!!!….and it turns out that one of the models came from the same school as me, when we were chatting during the break…handsome ex-schoolmate!!!
4) went shopping with another writer to source for products to be featured in a product spread…I just love shopping…during weekdays
5) I touched Nicole Scherzinger ’s Hand!!!! ARRRRGHHHHHH
Welcome to the Dollhouse: The Vivacious Dolls posing for the media
Mama Nicole dominates - as usual...She's the queen bee - the star, those other are just her little workers.
Sunshine Barbie, Ashley gives a blondy wave.......
So Near Yet So Far..well, at least near enough to see her armpit and veins....
Do we smeow a cat fight between Melody and Kimberly???
Nicole S., Ashley, Melody and Kimberly with Orchids on their chests...Bless those orchids
I was at the PussyCatDolls meet and greet session at Changi Airport Transit Mall ( we were given special passes to enter, I heard some fans bought tickets to enter into the departure hall) and yes, the Dolls ( 4 of them as 1 is done with flu) are in town for their Doll Domination Tour ……and the crowd went wild….even I went wild hahaha, screaming like a raving, hormonal schoolboy….
I was in front of the stage, then suddenly mayhem broke loose ..
1) Nicole stopped in front of me and started waving at us (screaming journalists and fans)
2) I screamed her name (while balancing my notebook, camera, pen and recorder, in one hand)
3) I try my luck and drop my stuff and reach my hand out
3) Her hands came towards my general direction...agghhh grab it fast!!!!
4) I touched her silky soft hand, those very hands that caress her tout abs in her MTVs, those hands that touched Lewis Hamilton..omg..star-struck! – for 5 seconds ( I think)..I love this part right here!!!!
*stares at hands now*
Okok, enough for now….more updates coming soon..busy busy busyLabels: intern
And we headed out
Journey to the (extreme) west
Jurong Point......
For shopping, yakking and more shopping.......
Gracie bought stuff...from the first 3 shops she went
Joel showed the world that Love is The New Black....
Sf got clothes for her EZ-link card
and
I found a doraemon shrine......
then we settled our stomachs
for scrummy bento sets
and to the trains we went
for a massive bluetooth session
Labels: friends
Life has been sufficiently busy, with the days passing by painlessly. It has been an entire month since I last started work as an intern – but it feels as like 2 weeks only, or even shorter! Time seem to have a life of its own there and it passes really quickly – there isn’t time to brood or procrastinate, maybe just a wee bit of blog-checking and msn-chatting ( to let go pent-up office “steam”: - thanks to Z, for listening to my woes that I have to type silently, masking the uproar of nerve-cracking speculations and blatant ( to me) unfairness.
So other than that, it has been work, work and more work. Now that I am in this industry proper, albeit the lowest life form in it, I am assured of my choice of study, my choice of jobs, my choice of the working life which I want to lead for myself and to yearn to satisfy the dreams that I have. Yes, this is something that I want. I want it so badly that it can drive me up the wall. Haha. Of course, problems have surfaced since week three. The end of week 3, to be precise – problems that will spur into full-blown widening “income” gap- they have to be faced. The very same problems are lying out there and will be faced in the matter of time. As long as there are 2 or more people placed in this situation together, the survival of the fittest theory stands and we are pushed into this game of life. I know I need to face this issue – and a wee bit of me, is glad that I have to handle this, as the problem will only burgeon and reproduce itself.
I feel at my wits’ end on what to do to handle this. Funny thing is that, I feel so hopeful, confident and pumped-up when I think of how would I do to handle it – the mental game plan, but it evaporates into thin air, when the situation actually happens. The courage has disparated, the words are stuck, those thoughts recoil by themselves. I get deflated, literally. I need to voice out my thoughts, never mind the prospective awkwardness. I need to accept that there is no dream utopia waiting - awkwardness, silence, pain are part and parcel of life. No use striving so hard to make things seem placid, things do not work out to be a “you are happy, I am happy” scenario.
It is a blessing, if this does happens. If it doesn’t, I need to live with it, pretend that this doesn’t exist, act very nonchalantly – I have the right to do so – and move on, with a thick skin. It needs to be done. Nothing in this world is fair. It is only futile trying to go helter-skelter to clean up the dirtiness, when it is already laid down to be gritty. It is so already meant-to-be, so just use up what you have and gulp, fight for it.
Anyway, I have been busy lately, with work, that my social life is hanging on a thread. Dee told me this over the phone ( I tried to sneak out of office to chat for a while) and I found this rather true – “ If you social life goes up in the steam, it is time for a promotion”. Well, the thing is I am so drained out by work, oh yes, they really milk their $400 for all its worth ( but I like to work, that sounds super workaholic, the point is I am not complaining about busy) and tuition with chubby Rhino ( he did quite well for his mid-year exams, which further complicates my plan now) and the occasional Toastmasters commitment……….then I, erm( doesn’t sound nice) no energy to socialize or make calls. I hardly have time to use the phone during office hours, let alone give a quick glance at it. No matter how relatively free I am ( compared to her), the bottom line is that there will always be something for me to do. And after office ends and if I so happen to have a free day to myself, I zone out. This is when I realize..where my friends are? Oh, because you hardly talked to them for weeks….ok, time to send out the How-are-you SMS-es. . I have to stop feeling tired (this time it is physical) and make the social rounds. I admit that sometimes I turn down offers to meet up, cos I am so tired and all I want to do is some indulging in the cavernous world of My Journal……
……Which I am glad that I met up with the twins ( new uniform, new men!) and izwan ( who met his idol, of all places, in Saudi Arabia…so lucky!). And, after a few nudging from Dee, we also finally met this week for dinner n desserts = long chat. And it was pretty important to meet to share what we have got. I really appreciate the gesture and those calls. And kc, sf, gracie and jloe and my 20-year-old-plus( JC) pals, ph and ys. Ok, trying to mend the stagnant pieces of my social life. Now.
Before I end off, something has been bothering me of late and since it is sensitive, I will write it cryptically. ( P.S if you happen to be a passer-by, skip this portion, you can surf other more interesting sites now..Go)
The way you have been communicating with me ( of the few times) really bothers and troubles me. I am bewildered, but mostly disappointed in the way you choose to react towards me. You can make it sound all logical, in your terms, but to me, I find this a distant disturbance that you actually thing that you are going on the right path – you are wrong, I will tell you that. if you apply your so-called principle to those in your outer circle, it is so typically normal. But the problem starts when you fail to differentiate the two circles. You seem to be the history that has repeated itself. I am so worried of this re-telecasted episode when the previous series just concluded. Sometimes, I ask myself, if I am the one, for the drive behind this newly-discovered dimension. I wondered have I chase myself from the first row and be relegated to the edges to make way for the more seemingly clean people you meet. Or am I riding on a neurotic high and thinking from the distorted perspective? Where do I place myself? Is my time with you up? I have been having this much-denied hunch for the past 5 months. I have to keep asking myself why this trend is bucking. I feel very tied up and fed up when your thoughts and your words echo in my brain.. I ask myself why things work out like this, but all I know is that I feel very upset and hurt about the way you treat me and your selective ‘broadcast’ methods. Very let-down, very confused, but mainly , very, very upset.
I have dropped my expectations of a lot of people around me. If I have to lower my expectations of you, I really do not know what to expect from people, in general any more.
Anyway , it has been a roller –coaster week for me – that eye-opening 4-hour photoshoot, which let me see observe how the fashion industry functions, the media event and the endless rounds of calling and e-mailing and, on top of that, having to swallow and deal with unfairness, reluctantly and redundantly. I need to let it go. Let it go, but do not let it be.Labels: personal
I recently chanced upon this art-house Taiwanese movie ( yes, it is in Chinese!). Once I read the synopsis, I knew it was something to me, something very rarely addressed, in reel life, let alone, real life. well, I felt so relief to find this in my hands. It was something like watching a slice of life, painted in the movie.. And to see such behaviour from the eyes of a third party. It is not easy to watch someone act your behaviour from afar. It felt strange, at first..but the emotions started to gel and ring a familiar bell. “ Hey, I am in those shoes too” or “ Yes, I know know how this feels”.
It felt like being in the embrace of another human being.
The dazed look, the agony, the hidden, subtle, double-coated meanings, the pent-up confusion which leads to a lot of self-questioning – the actor portrays the character so succinctly well and so accurately – his deadpan looks, the holding-back-and-swaying-forward syndrome, layered display of emotions - I wonder if he has been through this turmoil before.
Well, my situation isn’t exactly the same as what the character faced – but the pillars of confusion are very much similar – going back and going forth and starting to spin lies and behave abnormally, illogically, unreasonably in order to protect myself and what I own, in order to take the easy roundabout in life. Well, we are lost.It uses the grandness of the surrounding natural settings to highlight the human nature and the storms that it creates. It’s not so much about being one with the nature, it’s more about being part of it. Just like the ocean can get upset and start ravaging the coastline and sinking the ships traveling through it, so can people.
Like the ocean, they can also calm down, but as long as they are alive, their emotions will never come to a complete halt.
Needless to say, I have no strength to control my tears throughout the movie, especially the ambiguous, but so beautiful ending.
Labels: movies
This is an office desk - turned- Thai Massage Palour..... so versatile!My office has this long-standing tradition of playing pranks on the colleagues and their work stations, especially when they are not in the office. So it was pretty amazing ( ok, wrong word, amusing) to see how one of the staffers there got punk’d big time, when he left the office to discover that………….
Soap, checked, fruits checked, condoms....erm..checked....
his desk has been covered to a sleazy Thai-massage palour, completed with tatami sheets, lush cushions, flower pots, cutesy decorations, lighted scented candles ( yes, the pranksters had the liberty to light them to…to create the seductive aroma), and a jar of condoms to go with it ( er…why does our office has so many condoms????)
Welcome to SEXY BOY massage palour...( i am actually in the picture haha)To top it off, they even placed blinds and dangled flickering lights for that sleazy mood…….
First customer of the day!!!!!
And it really looks like one cozy thai massage palour……it was so ridiculous, but the prank such a classic act that can put ashton kunsker to shame!
Oh wait, there were even “pamphlets” and “discount cupons” emailed and distributed around the office to “book and timing” and head down to our in-house..erm..thai masseur…
And when the staffer discovered his dear desk has been converted to a massaging palour – he was really stunned out and loss for words…very laugh-out funny to see his reaction the best part was that it looks really cozy and real.. and he provided free trial on the spot!!hahaha
Labels: intern
Week Three at the Magazine and I say my favourite time of the day will have to be LUNCH!!!! If the editors do not drive us out for lunch, S will drive..and it is so fun to plan where we want to head out for our mid-day break and indulge in a little, shopping!I brought back Homework to do...........
They may look innocent but....There's......so much "homework" to do.......
My subjects? The Saturdays, Hannah Montana, Lenka, JoBros, Girls Aloud, Lenka
1) Monday – Bedok Food Centre.
The editors drove us out to his famous food centre and I ordered the Tahu Goreng is fantastic. My editor told me that I had “picked a bad Kueh Lapis”..totally funny when she explained the story to me
2) Tuesday – Office Canteen
It should have been Gelare day!! But, S and I completely forgot about it. since I had to leave for a media event ( IN BOON LAY, for chrissake), we just settled for boring, plain’ ol food
3) Wednesday – Changi Village Hawker Centre
Raise The Red Lantern..this is Bandung LongnanThe nasi-Lemak there is so over-rated, we tried the chicken cutlet hor fun ( exclusive and authentic to that nostalgic place) and I was introduced to this new dessert in hot pink….Bundung Longan
4) Thursday – Manpuku Japanese Gourmet Town at Tampines One
Ohhh it is like tart heaven in there!!! I did not try it, but I have to
This is to-die-for...omg.( controls saliva)
5) Friday – Canteen By Les Amis at Shaw Orchard
The MOST EXPENSIVE bowl of Laksa I had ( ok, they used udon and had real BIG prawns)
This was just before our street interviews……so we decided to pamper ourselves before “fighting”.
5 books ,autographed by Cathy ( the author) herself, call my home for the weekend..guard these with your life.....
Me, S and the very Fantasic, international Chick-Lit Best-seller, Cathy Cassidy at The AXIS Bar ( we ordered plain water, by the way)
After the interview, we headed to The Mandarin Oriental Hotel for an exclusive interview with Cathy Cassidy – a popular , best-selling author of chick-tween fiction and she was “FAN-TAS-TIC”. She kept on using the word “fantastic” in her luscious Scottish ascent. It was quite memorable!!!!!Labels: intern
What goes around comes around. And so it has made an orbit and smacked me in the face. You know those pest-y pestering people who “patrol” around the streets, asking you if you want to do a street survey/sign up for yet another new-in-town credit card/ privilege card/ gym memberships I hate them. I hate them for causing obstruction to my shopping march. I hate them for disturbing the song, which is playing in my mp3 player, especially when Miley Cyrus is about to hit the climatic high in “ The Climb”. I hate it.
My natural instinct would be to ignore them, point-blank – very mercilessly. I am pretty heartless, in a way, I do not even allow them to mutter a single word or a decent syllable of the English language. There isn’t even eye contact, I would just brush past them, give them a “No” wave and get to safety zone. In a flash.
And yesterday, I was tasked to prowl the streets to do my street survey interviews for the magazine.
I needed to do 30 street interviews. Ask strangers a variety of 3 questions. Take their mugshots and full-body shots.
1) Would you date a bad girl/guy?
2) Would you date your best friend who is from the opposite sex/same sex?
3) Would you respond to ugly comments on blogs/facebook?
Yes, consider this bad karma, big time.
It was for the pages, in which a random one-liner question will be asked and we (the fabulous writers) plucked random strangers from the streets and put them to the test. Which meant I have to approach random, totally unsuspecting strangers on the streets, smile to them like I am their BFFs for 5 minutes and ask them the “million dollar question”.
As some of the “street interviews” were for the “street shots” section, where they feature generally hot teenagers with “hip” dress sense, so our discerning eyes had to look for
1) NewUrbanMale hunks ( singlet would be better) – too bad ( for the readers), no hunks on a Friday afternoon
2) Girls who look like Serena Van Der Woodsen from Gossip Girl – means they have to wear patent heels, high-waist belts, vests, blaaa and Singapore girls look like clones, popping out from the Bugis Village or Topshop factory.
We had to pick “good-looking” people to feature in the pages, cos sex sells and I rather coy on the idea of judging people base on their Gucci loafers or Topman vests, but, whatever, first impression matters. People buy the magazine to ogle at beautiful people, not their next-door-neighbour who looks like he just came back from Tekka Market.
Scene No. 1: Far East Plaza
After lunch at Canteen By Les Amis ( atas place), we forged onto our first war-scene: The area outside Far East Plaza. A notorious teen hang-out. S and I were stationed at the entrance and the taxi-stands, with ravenous eyes scanning for unsuspecting “good-lookers”. The seconds before you approach any stranger is the toughest, my mind see-sawed whether to do it or not and before I know, a voice will start rising from my throat and there is no turning-back. It is do-or-die.
Takes a deep breath, maintains eye contact, focus, smile!!!, questions ready?, pen and notebook, set? ok, target is in a unsuspecting position – SPRINGS TO ACTION ( timing is paramount)
“ Hi I am from XXX Magazine, would you like to do a street survey?”, its for our Street shots page..”
The first gal we approached so such a typical ah-lian ( she would PUNCH a bad guy), but at least she responded. We tried different tactics to coax people – like you can do it with your friend ( it works), or you will appear in the magazine ( it doesn’t work), or please lah, help lah, I have been standing here for hours ( nope, sympathy, doesn’t work on them).
After ah-lian, we had some really well-dressed teens, who were obliging and great – just that they needed to adjust their hair and dresses before taking their pictures. But great, I am starting to get the hang of it. Sadly, so after, there was quite a drought – people started to ignore us, one even eyed me and said “ No, I don’t want to talk to you!!”, before I could start talking, most said. “ They were busy, going somewhere”, others just managed a simple No, thanks. The worst species were those that IGNORED me –flat. No look, no respond, no nothing! As if I were a piece of flyer distributed by the road-side. ( now, I got a taste of my own medicine). It got worse when we told them that their picture will be taken, their faces changed faster than you can say “ Shit”. So we decided to tell them selective things, do the interview first, then told them about the picture part ( it works!)
After close to 2 hours, we finally got our 20 hunks and babes, pictures taken and on we marched onto part two. It was so draining, to stand around and approach people and get snubbed. And having to scout high and low, getting rejected in the face and finding for new blood to squeeze out. But, I am glad we completed task 1….legs cramped!!!!
Scene No. 2: Orchard Cineleisure
Oh gosh, what a difference a few traffic lights make! The people down the street were so much friendlier. Or maybe, luck was on our side. There was this bunch of giggling school girls from an elite school hanging around, so we approached them and guess what, they were MEDIA WHORES.. “ omg, will my photo appear on XXX magazine?!!”….and cue to outbursts of ecstatic screams!! Yey..i love media whores, they make our jobs so much easier. People at Cineleisure were much more obliging, just needed to ask them nicely, they would “consider”, but our seasoned mouths would persuade them, and they gave in so easily!!!
What we did in 2 hours at Far East Plaza, we completed it within 40 minutes at Cineleisure. Well, I am ( haha) a little ermm..satisfied that I could still talk to teenagers, at least , get them to elaborate more and talk about their experiences, heard a lot of wacky things happening online and scandals of their friends…….and that’s how the cookie crumbles.
To tease you guys a little, here are some of the scandal-licous answers:
Would you date a bad gal/guy?
1) Yes, I date all sort of girls, just for fun
2) No, cos bad girls like to straighten their hair and wear heavy make-up ( ???!!!!) 3) As long as she is humorous
4) No, cos they are so slutty…….
At the end of a very exhausting “field-reporting”, I solemnly pledge not to ignore street surveyors/flyer boys anymore. At the very most, I will just say no to them.
More updates coming soon.
Remember to buy the magazine!!!!! See my name in under the editorial section!!!! Haha
Clue: David Archuleta appears on the cover of the magazine!!!Labels: intern
Tuesday and I met up with my JC friends, ok, shan't use the word JC ( makes me feel old), my 20 to 21 year old friends for makan session at the ubiquitous Botak Jones ( erm...Store), it is not really a bistro or restaurant - it is nestled cosily in Cheng Sananyway, the five of us finally met up, after a long long absence hor..somebody..so busy always haha...and its pretty interesting to note how our present status:we have 2 interns, one "health-care professional", as in temperature-checker, one pharmacy assistant and one.......home-schooling slacker haha
This photo, in particular, is in tribute of an ex-classmate, guess who?OMG......private phua prefers to remain erm..private about it
I was meaning to say " Look, how skinny he is"Zin: Look, I am a monkey.....
We were so hungry, just before this photo was taken ( sorry, guys...)Yummy yummy yum, at the round tabula...with food- intact..
Ok, i should stop the whole pointing thing..seriously....I look so much like a bank intern..rats, i work in publishing, for chrissake
Well, well, well, we have the infamous trio back in school..hmmm i can already imagine them in our grey and blue uniforms back then..perhaps, nothing has changed much, after :)Labels: friends
Sabrina looks at the picture. She has seen that very smile, perhaps a thousand times.
Sabrina clicks the X at the corner of the picture.
Sabrina opens the file again. She wished she could salivate over that picture. She felt all of the energy within her was concentrated at her eye sockets, poring at every pixel possible.
Sabrina toys with the zoom in function. Her favourite picture function that Windows offer.
Sabrina is certain that the emotional status is locked in as happy. She is very happy to see this picture, peacefully stored in the safe haven of her computer and even more satisfied of herself for accomplishing the impossible, something locked away in her wildest dreams could actually come through, be happening, right in front of her very eyes.
In short, Sabrina could not believe her luck. Her good luck.
Of course, nobody knew. Not even herself. Sometimes, on days or seedy moments like these, she doesn’t even know what she is doing. All Sabrina knows that this is what she wants to do. And doing this will make her happy, never mind it is short-lived, never mind it is , in fact, wrong to do so. all she wants is to be alone with this picture, her cru of collection, her secretly sash of scandals that will climb into the grave with her.
Then guilt started to seep in. Her most hated part – her rational and logical side of her begins to engulf, eroding every inch of happiness that has been stitched on her face, she knows that it is probably the right thing to feel wrong. she is angry yet relieved at herself for feeling a fishy sense of uncertainty.
One moment, Pleasure, the other, guilt. Sin-ridden pleasure. This isn’t time to be a saint. She knows it is not right, but she wants to bite that decadent piece of chocolate real hard and to add to delirium, real bad
She stared at the beige pixilated section of his neck and that rewind the hours. 2pm. Raffles City. They had lunch together. What was he rattling about? His colleagues? His mother? His sister? It was definitely something to do with a present – she heard the word birthday, mentioned repeatedly. Birthday…Birthday…but all Sabrina could think of seeing him in his birthday suit. The only relevant link to his conversation that she was willing to form. That very thought made her bury into a gulit-hole. She started at his outwardly, perfectly sculpted cheekbones, that had a faint, blemished print on the left cheek. A childhood fall, he explained to her in class, for what it felt like half a life ago. Her eyes zoomed into his chin – angular, sharp, masculine. And it went north to the pores around his plush upper lip. Those holes that resembles oil tanks but with short and stout hair growing out from them. His skin, though stained with dots of birthmarks, was glistening with a tainted bronze hue. She has never noticed a newly-spotted birthmark on his index finger. Good discovery. Sabrina was having a lunch-time feast, licking up her plate of vision, clean and spotless. It wasn’t until she heard him call her name, that startled her mid-day stupor. Her guilt train, all over again.
She looks forward to sleep. Sleep with the bolster, which she caress and stroke and in a most low, sexy tone, she will purr Lesile .“ My Lesile”.
After one whole year of MSN-ing each other, I finally met up with the only person from my Basically Miserable Time in my life ( read out the alphabets in Caps, and you will know what I mean), hw. Thankfully, we are in still in contact.
I was initially very very very worried, because I took a nerve-wrecking bus ride from Pasir Ris to Bishan , which took more than 1 hour….and I was 45 minutes late. I was so flustered. I did not expect the bus to go a huge merry-go-round. Thankfully, I made it in one sane piece and we choose to Swensens’ as our official venue for Reunion 2009 and sort of an ORD-ration, as we promised each other in the “summer heat” of 2007 that we will meet up two years later. And we did….well, he was my “botak-jones buddy” from august to November in 2007 then well, something happened and we only managed to meet in May……but, I am really glad that we actually met up ( and wondered whatever happened to the other guys that we also talked to on that sickening island). That lucky guy went to Hokkaido recently and was telling me about naked spas and huge, head-screamingly fresh seafood there…I wished I could go overseas now. In the past, we always talked about what are we going to do once we stepped out from “prison” and now, we finally lived to tell it….well, cheers!!!!
At The Table of 5
The Half-21 cLUB
On a separate Cheerful note, here’s to wishing Xiu Jun a liberating , happy 21st Birthday!!! Welcome to Club 21! Well, the birthday girl came spotted with a rarely-seen dress, all dressed up. The glam gal blanjar-ed Kelly, Sf, Grace and I at Bakerzin and we gave her “ a lot of cakes in return” haha. The meal came with free flow of bread, which was really gobbled up really fast. KC and I had to make several rounds to the break station to make bread, well, we actually wanted to play with the toasting machine. I totally love their crispy toasted sourdough bread!!! 
Happee birthday to u..happee birthday to uThe birthday queen did not have to moved a finger, we were on hand to serve her bread….then our soups of the day came in the form of bloody Maries – thick tomato puree. The four non-birthday personnel picked the ham and bacon pasta in cream sauce ( all I could think so was Carbonara). Home or outside, the cake-cutting ceremony is the definite highlight. 
Yes, that was the secret...
Well, we secretly ordered a cake from Bakerzin – the v. deadly Chocolate Ember Cake – when you see KC getting all high in chocolate heaven, you will know why. Yup, the staff brought out the brown cake, after a “very long toilet break”. Then, we alternated seating positions and played musical chairs to take pictures with the birthday girl. Well, one photo got me thinking. It was the shot with had the four girls inside. The last time the same 4 people were in the same photo was in 2006, which was 3 years ago. We have classify ourselves as friends for relatively quite a long period of time. I guess, across the years, the definition of then term “ friendship” has been on the change, which cause me to search for the answers to burning questions. Things happen, not everything is beautiful, I hope the true meaning of friendship will show when people work out the ugliness that lurks behind smiling faces….
Well, happy birthday to you again, xj.Labels: birthdays, friends
That's NOT a drink....he is just cam-whoring ( surprise surprise)Enough of work stuff, enough of staring at the very constricted computer screen and typing away, enough of writing. As a timely break, my dearest ORD mates, the forever-pte phua and Wilson and the very first person in Singapore who may just go for orientation four times around and I went pubbing for the very first time. We have wanted to do that for ages and finally, the time has cometh for us to enter into the scared land of veiled singers.
Indie-looking Lobby
First we headed out to Timbre, the one that was in the vicinity of City Hall and in the true spirit of being Pub-virgins, we were unceremoniously LOST? Based on credible sources, I knew there was one near Armenian street and the dead silent street proved otherwise. Where was Timbre? Where are the “boom-boom” sounds with flashy lights? We thought we were lost until Pte phua realized that 3 of our phones were equipped with GPS……..and what were we waiting for, just use GPS lah!!!!!, chided a “army-ish” pte phua. Thanks to our GPS systems, it pointed to the Substation. In the end, we found out that Timbre is actually nestled at the back of The Substation, in a dingy, nondescript watering hole. It looks more like Newton Road Char Kway Teow store than Timbre. It just looks so unsuspecting and…dull…and what, no air-con!????
Very Potent..Very Creamy....Very GREEN!!! - Mint Oreo Vodka...
We then decided ( I don’t know whose idea was it) to walk to Boat Quay to this quite renowned chill-out oasis, Jazz@Southbridge, which is, in fact, near a bridge at the Singapore River. And we took those steps in…………only to find a completely vacant pub-cum-bar-restaurant. It looks really cozy, with tables squared with chairs, a stage fronted by plush sofas and very seductively lighting. Ohh, live performances only starts at 930pm so the night was still very young. The four of us really enjoyed the whole vibe there, it was just so enchanting and it wasn’t long before we started debating over what to order. For the sake of not having to say “ 4 sets of Beer-battered Fish N Chips, WC and pte ordered bangles and Mash.
Chocolate Martini and Moi...
And there were the drinks to look forward to!!! Lets’ get drunk hahaha..Since pte phua did not want to drink ( cos he haven’t done so before, which is uhm….surprising), he became the “designated Muslim” in the group, to replace somebody who is supposedly halal….We ordered the sinful Chocolate Martini ala sex and the city style and 3 shots of Oreo Mint Vodka mixed with Rum…
So we started eating very very slowly, at snail’s pace, to ensure that we could linger long enough to stay for the Live performances, which wasn’t so difficult cos there was so much to erm well, gossip about. Besides, there were candles on the tables, so we can re-heat our food when needed. 930pm and businessmen and tourists start to pack the place. The musicians took to the stage but there was one toe sticking out real bad. There was this old uncle who looks like he belonged more to Woodbridge than Southbridge. He looked like he was pluck from his day job as a toilet-cleaner to play the xenophone. Omg, pte phua and I cannot control our laughter when we saw the ah-pek hitting the keys like an insane “ crazy-nute”. Thankfully the music was loud enough, which drowned out our laughter…but it was really crazy…
Psst.. I heard that is Alemay Fernandez..sister of Vanessa " You Don't need to speed" Fernandez
Then, the Queen-Latifah-ish Jazz chanteuse took to the stage and serenade us away with her soothing jazz voice, although her dress was v.distracting (as in low-cut). We stayed on and love that place. I really hope to come back to Jazz@SouthBridge very soon!!!! *hint hint* or we can try Timbre, the next time around=)
Labels: events, friends, pub
The view at pasir ris every morning....
Used to hate this view..
Swore I will never come back to white sands after Basically Miserable Time
and now, I am back - everyday.
It is week two in that new environment and I must say I am smoothly transiting to life as the lowest form of humanity in that boxed-up place, an intern. And a lowly-paid one. But, I shan’t count the saturated fat content in my content in my peanuts pay. In fact, I am lapping it up – this could, well, possibly could be one of the rare moments in life where I feel exactly where I should belong to. For what seemed like eternity, I always wanted this. My current life is almost exactly what I pictured to be my dream temporary job ( if you refer to my posts in December and January 2007, when I was fresh out from school), without the Prada samples and Burberry trenchcoat and the part when the art director conjures an extreme image make-over for me and I get to choose from a myriad of sample clothes in the wardrobe. ( thinks so much, kenny, please hit the stop button) I am decently happy with where I am. Yes, I am. But not completely happy, as always. Life is not utopia, you know.
While I do not expect people to be friendly towards me if I do not take the initiative, some people are actually nice towards me, or at least, they make an effort to make it seem that way. That to me is very much enough
Other than that, I have mostly set up the pillars of my new job routine, complete with new timings to follow:
8am – leaves home
830am – Reaches the bus interchange, just to catch the bus in the nick of time, I leave the house 10 minutes earlier if I want to lay my hands on MY PAPER or TODAY ( need to catch up on current affairs..thank goodness he got caught!!!!)
9am- Reaches Pasir Ris Bus Interchange
9.25am – Reaches office ( wooohooooo)
930am – Logs onto MSN and pays a visit to the “scary” toilet ( morning ritual)
12.15pm or 12.30pm – LUNCH!!!!!!!!!
6.15pm – looks at S and asks “Want to leave now?”
.
P.s I am trying my best to greet the big boss there, but it is so difficult cos she seems so “Madame Maxine” intimidating. I will try to say “good morning” to her next Monday then.
Monday:
We took a mid-day office break...and folded Origami birds..
Back to office and the first thing that faced me was the “ You have 12 new messages” pop-up box. 12!!!!! Email replies from the PR companies, clients and the flood of assignments from the editors. The emails meant extra information to tighten up the already articles and there were 5 new snippets to add in, with more press releases gliding into my mailbox. During a very unremarkable lunch, I did not see this coming, but I committed social suicide by nonchalantly mentioning a seemingly mindless statement, that I am grown so accustomed to saying it. well, that sort of attention was unwelcomes. I was thrown into such a tongue-tied awkward situation that I missed I did not even mutter these two works.
Lunch at Changi airport took up to 2 plus and by the time, we returned back to out comfy seats, it was almost tea time. The rest of the time waltzed by as I only had to finished up the missing bits on Friday. Like the Origami snippets or more Product write-ups to do.
Tuesday :It was a lowly lousy day. Quite dreadful when I discovered that most of the sentences that I have painstakingly thought out were all mercilessly axed away, especially the music reviews. I cannot believe their reviews are so simplistic, it almost read out like something cut-and-pasted from everybody’s trusty accomplice – Wikipedia.
Just seconds after I was told to complete a movie article on some B-grade film on vampires. A much juicier writing offer came dangling down – a photo shoot cum interview with old-school bakeries. I rather find out all about those srummy pastries then write on blood-thirsty female version of Edward Cullen..Argghhhh..what bad timing! Sighs, the other intern got the job, as she so happened to be free.I am getting quite pissed off at vampires as I write about the repeated-to-death predictable synopsis….while she gets her daily bread…..
After lunch at IKEA ( the meat-balls did cheer me up), we were given various sections in the food magazines as our “babies”. I had the check-in and What’s on sections which touch on resort/hotel promotions and the major happenings around the globe. I realized that I write quite slowly – 30 minutes for a 70-word snippet, especially when I start to deliberate over a stupid sentence that doesn’t gels nicely and I begin to ponder about it over and over again. Sometimes, words just do not come to me. Very frustrating! And the whole afternoon was spent surfing tourism websites and emailing them for information…….
Wednesday
The Office Corridor: My " imaginary" runway ala America Next Top Model...LOOK NASTY
With much determination from surfing the internet, I finally put the finishing touches to my What’s On article and some restaurant snippets. Our edition wanted to see if your writing style needs tweaking. She said that my writing was a little too dramatic for the magazine. Spare me the dramatics!!! Later, she said that both of our writing skills were “ very good” ( mini hi-five!). S decided to drive out for lunch and we settled for burgers at the new Fish and Co express. Isn’t it so nice to drive out and have a meal and do mini sweets-shopping after that? I love to buy knick-knacks as a post-lunch habit.
Afternoon was a whole emailing mess, as I started work on the “Check In” section, so many press releases to filter through. Mid-way through the afternoon, we decided to fold origami, as part of “product-testing”.
ThursdayVery dry and boring day, today. First, S was sent to cover a cosmetic media event, which gave her ( & other fashion journalists) free make-overs and imported cheesecakes from the Shiseido office. From her saccharine gushing over it, it was one girly affair. And then, I realized that an editor chose her to do sourcing for another photo shoot in the afternoon. So I was left alone for almost the entire day. This means she has got 2 photo shoot under her belt, with that lucrative Old-school bakeries feature. Why do assignments (especially the more interesting ones) go towards her direction? I am puzzled I finish up my news and products and Check In sections (see, boring stuff) and I was a given a piece of Coffee appreciation and Lotus soup recipe to do, that was so much more invigorating.
Friday
My dear work-station ( and 2 pieces of unfolded origami, opps)
Just when I thought I was over with the News and products section ( 5-pages worth of it), the editor send in a whole new wave of changes – new advertisers, new clients, new sections to add, more e-mailing and more phone interviews…arggghhhhhh.. I took a half-day leave to travel 25 train stops, from east to west, from pasir ris to boon lay, to travel to Pulau NTU for my medical check-up. I went this person, who is a former classmate and future schoolmate (very weird status) for our medical check-up.
I cannot believe that someone in the same classroom that I spent four years in, wanted to go to the same university course. Catching up with him made me realized why I did not talk much to this person, despite being in the same class as him for 4 years. What about the next four?
Labels: intern, work
You very much look forward to your utopian land of dreams, but the when you fought your way in, nudged out and squeeze yourself to get to where you think you ought to belong to, reality paints a different picture. It isn’t what you think out to be. Or it is?
I love working as an intern in my current company – which publishes a series of different magazines. Well, there is no place I’d rather be ( song not intended ), as this is the closest I can “squeeze” myself to rub shoulders with the media industry, at this age and with my qualifications. However, and very ironically, working in a magazine company has given me second thoughts on study a course that is directly related to this field.
Communication studies – a study into the field of communications, to reverse the arrangement of words. The course title itself, very much sums up the what the course is all about, in a nutshell. One look and people, the outsiders, can generally guess the gist of it. I believe and I think it is also widely believed that CS is a very general, broad-based degree that actually specializes in nothing. Ok, so our supposed strength and edge over others is having an eye for information or writing skills, but, hey, everybody can write or interpret information their own way. You do not need to take up communication studies to write well or fuss out details. Law students can write well, arts students have that flair too, and the pool can be opened to students from any type of discipline. However, you need to be an engineering student to crack those tribal looking equations and only science students can decode the crafty scientific formulae with their nifty brains. Business students have their own set of terms to grapple with. The point I am heading towards is specialization. These and many other courses are specialized – people outside this field will not have the slightest idea of what the subject is about, without studying about them. a science student can formulate a new reaction for ethanoic acid and write decently well ( if the person so happens to have that flair). At least, there is a possibility. Whereas, a communication hangs on and clings onto the strength of “communication”, without knowing any jargon pertaining to any field. He cannot permutate anything outside his field, with that “jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none-knowledge”. we do not have any in-depth knowledge, exclusive to any field. That is a scary thought to straddle with.
Things become scarier when I realize that a considerable amount of people in the industry were not Communication studies majors. You need to be a CS graduate to be, say a journalist. But you definitely need to be armed with a civil engineering degree to become a civil engineer or say an accountancy degree to become an accountant. These are specialized skills bestowed upon them. and if things do not work out in their own specialized field, they are rewarded with the second option or lifeline of doing something “relatively general” like writing. Where for people, like me, who have chosen this path, we have effectively crossed out a whole lot of industries and the difference is, unlike others, we do not have their luxury of entering into a different field, as we are not equipped to be specialized in them. whereas the two-way direction only works for them as they need not to be specialized to enter our field.
The scariest part is when people with specialized degree stand a much better opportunity, strangely, compared to people who have devoted the peak of theur academic years to better understand this very industry. A person with a nutrition degree is in a much better position to write about food than a “general” CS student, with the technical knowledge of nutrition, the jargons, the technologies, the “insider” content. A CS student only skims through it with a “neither here nor there knowledge”. A business student can do financial writing, with better knowledge in market, stocks, sales and figures.
This leads to the question of why use up 4 years on a general course, when people from other fields can fill your shoes in a flash?
Why why why why why?…and on days when I am down with writers’ block or unable to spell to save my life or making incorrigible grammatical errors, I wonder what am I even known to be good at? It is hard to grasp onto something as there is no “inside world” to seek comfort in.
I do not what to have fought my way into media school and end up being forced to teach English language in a secondary school, in order to make ends meet. I do not want that.
These are my feelings now. Having seen how writers function in the media industry. I realized that they do know everything well, but have no expert knowledge in something. Their “resources” that they succumb to only re-enforces their descriptive power and honed-up paraphrasing skills. This is disappointing.
These are some thoughts into the future of mine.Labels: personal insecurities
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If KENNETH was a magazine, it will be all about
