Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I WANT TO COMPLAIN!!!

i'm in an incredibly bitchy mood since yesterday since i've attended the worst organised event and met the worst EVER PR since i've started my internship.. well which resulted in me filing an inaccurate report. totally pisses me off.

first the event started early at 8plus am (early by all journalist standards) and we went there to find out they prepare no press release, no fact sheet, NOTHING for any of us. insisted it's only going to be a doorstop and will provide info later.. me being the greenhorn thinks it's ok but my colleagues form a different desk can't take it and started bitching to the PR and she finally gave us ONE piece of fact sheet.

then when we ask the PR about the information provided, she cannot answer 9.5 out of 10 questions we pose. What bloody PR is that? her answer is always, 'I can check for you', 'I'll let you know later'. Redundant person altogether.

I'm particularly irritated by the PR cos the only thing she's excited about is talking the her GSS experience and how she was the one who sent her boss the email at midnight - cos she went shopping before that - and saying that's cos she has a life. all for work-life balance. HELLO! wake up your ideas. if she only has the same amount of fervour in getting me the right facts.

and trying to get facts and figures from her is like i'm trying to make things difficult for her. it's your job ok. so dun whine to me and pass sacarstic remarks at me. and it's ur job to handle the red tape in ur (governmental) organisation to get me the facts, not tell me there's nothing. on top of that she has the cheek to tell me things contrary to what the facts show. and i was stupid enough to take her word for it, well hence a report that was not accurate and different from what the rest of the media was reporting.

well it's also partly my fault for not consulting with my editor again when i got the contradicting figures.

still she totally spoilt my day. perhaps even my week.

the sort of people that works for the governmental organisations.

Monday, May 28, 2007

I've seen quite a few ppl posting these personality tests results on their blogs recently. well, so i decided to try them out too. maybe it's just me trying to find out what i'm really like. i thought this one is quite accurate, or rather i wish i really am what they said i am.


is this what you think of me too?

The Real You

Here is the analysis:

  1. You've got great self-confidence and you're full of charm. Most guys who get to know you will be attracted to you. You are far from sweet and proper; your intriguing personality fascinates them. Most guys find it easy to fall for a girl like you. (ok the guy part is so not true)
  2. You really care about other people's feelings and are quite serious about the issues that affect your life. You are sincere, and your concern for the well-being of others makes many people want to be your friend.
  3. You are a bright, cheerful and bubbly person. You are thoughtful and considerate, and like to have fun. Everybody feels comfortable around you because of your pleasant nature. When you walk into a room, people's eyes are likely to be drawn to you because of your charm. (i doubt the last line tho)
  4. Guys see you as being a thinker and a careful person. They will be really attracted to this quality in you, but you need to learn to speak your mind, otherwise people will find you too shy and quiet. Learn to relax and lighten up--it's okay to have fun sometimes. When you learn to develop your fun-loving side, guys are going to flock to your side.
  5. Your boyfriend believes that you are a strong and independent person. Your confidence and cheerfulness make you an attractive person to be around, but sometimes you need to pay more attention to what other people, including your boyfriend, are thinking.


Saturday, May 26, 2007

101 things to complete

It has been the busiest week for me on internship so far. PI report, court case, feature production, file live report... yesterday still got that whole water spout thing.

But mainly because of Singapore Arts Festival.

But I feel accomplished! Did my first feature by myself and also filed 2 pseudo live report from Padang yesterday, before and after the opening performance.

The opening performance was pretty good, just that I was too worried about my report when watching the show to enjoy it thoroughly.

Some sneak peeks to the show, 'Dreams in Flight':-

The first scene: Shadow play. Nothing very exciting to me, but still it was nicely done.

10 Spanish acrobats in a turning wheel. The wow factor comes from it being hung above the audience and that the wheel is roving all the time. I would love to be in that wheel actually.. like so fun.

The human net formed by 36 volunteers. Almost ended up as one of the volunteers but I was given too short a notice. I would love to hang from 40m high man.. so cool.. and perform for like almost 20,000 people in all. The view up there must be damn good! Now i a bit regret nv go and volunteer cos I tot it was too much commitment to perform for 3 nights and go for 2 days' training. Argh! Once in a lifetime leh.

Well Singaporeans' fav, fireworks brought an end to the performance. It was pretty nice but not THAT spectacular. But i was quite horrified when i got a reply from a public that he will be back today to watch the performance for the fireworks. *roll eyes* I think Singapore just need a Fireworks Festival and we will draw record number of audience.


Well, the show will still be on tonight and tomorrow night, 8pm, at Padang. And it's free so do catch it!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

on death

i seem to be facing a lot of deaths recently.. in the news at least..

everyday there will bound to be some deaths in road accidents and what not.. latest being that fallen trees killed people.

well i guess we can still sometimes joke about it, like no deaths means not serious, means we don't need to do follow-up and dun need to report.

but when death occurs, means we have a story. it's really saddening but that's what news is about. and so far i have not been given the task to speak to the relatives/friends of the deceased but i do believe it's hard. more than hard, it's probably excruciating. knowing the kind of grief they are going through and yet we need to get them to talk, to tell us the story, to provide us with the sound bite. i don't know if it has anything to do with being unethical but at least it's not really compassionate. or rather i won't say we are not compassionate but we just need to get the job done. so the hope is that there will be less of such cases.

back to the fallen tree. all i can say is life is unpredictable. imagine you are trying to keep a healthy lifestyle so you can live longer, hence you go out and have morning jog everyday BUT you get hit by a fallen tree and just lose your life. how ironic.

i guess this is life.

Monday, May 14, 2007

busy like a bee

bzzzz... busy busy busy... pretty up sums up my life now

constantly worrying about one thing after another. my feature program, fyp, pi report, upcoming production... there is indeed much to keep me occupied these days.. perhaps a bit too much.

it's come to the stage to write my pi report... a time to reflect on the past 4.5 months on the job and all i must say i've pretty much enjoyed every moment. maybe not the moments that i got scolded over the hotline for no rhyme or reason but every other moment had been pretty enjoyable. there was no sai gang for me (unless manning hotline counts), minimal overtime, no overworking, no being side-lined. got to try my hands on news from entertainment to government workplans and doing hotline reporting, pretty much everything there is. So i'm not really counting down to the end of the internship like many are and i know i will definitely miss the people there. i'm counting my lucky stars here.

anyway, just want to share some really moving moments that i experienced on saturday while i was out covering a yellow ribbon project event at changi prison. and what a coincidence, cheryl tan was there too. act we were the only 2 press there. so glad to see her cos otherwise i would really be quite out of place.

the prison had been a place i've wanted to visit and well without this internship i would probably not have the chance to. although we did not really get to see the living quarters of the inmates like i hoped to. still the event was a really touching one being that it was in conjunction of mother's day and the families of some of the inmates who took part in this cooking competition were allowed to haf lunch with them. and for most of them, it's the first time they get to see the inmates close up, without a piece of glass between them and they could feel and hug them. for many, it was just too emotional a moment when these inmates presented them with the mother's day cake and rose (of cos having a live band singing 'you raise me up' and the lights dimmed definitely put one in the mood)that they juz teared on the spot. and not juz mothers, many of the fathers broke out in tears too. it was such a heartwarming moment, yet heartbreaking at the same time. i think cheryl was in the brink of tears. and interviewing the families, i can somewhat feel the emotional trauma they go through having their children and family members in prison.

felt so much for the report that i did in the end. poor cheryl had her story axed as they could not show the faces and reveal the real names of the inmates. so we were the only one carrying the report! it was a very meaningful event just that i think there's a bit of media fatigue on the yellow ribbon project, hence the lack of coverage.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Capitalist "America", Socialist Korea



Capitalist "America", Socialist Korea?

Some 'interesting' video juxtaposing footages from American and North Korea. Well, food for thought.

I can never understand North Koreans, how they bow to 'the one' person there and think that he's the greatest of all. I once told someone that if I had a real death note, Kim Jong Il would be one name I want to put in it. But then, we cannot say the North Koreans are not happy. We'll nv know. Happiness is an elusive thing. We might say that they are happy with what they have because they do not know better, but at least they are happy. So what if we know better, it just makes us unhappy that we are not part of the 'better'.