Star-ring journalists

I'm working this weekend, and not much is happening (which is great) except that I have to write advertorials for the sponsors of our C4R poster campaign (not so great).

When I came in on Sat, I noticed at the corner of my floor was cameras, lights, mics, directors, actor and actresses milling around with name tags saying 'film crew'.

I don't know who these actors/ses are, though they must be some popular local celebrities but it beats me....maybe someone can help enlighten me.

So I thought 'Oo, looks happening in here' and decided to take a peek at how TV production is done. It's a series on journalists I think, a few requests had been going around in the office some weeks earlier for some of us Star journos to 'act' as ourselves, sitting down and doing work for a scene in a TV series. I don't know if anyone answered the call (I tried, but they randomly called me one afternoon and asked 'can you come to Cheras now?' when I was on the way to Gentings or something), but this must be that tv series.

So anyway, the directors kept giving instructions and saying 'cut!' 'Action!' a few times and they did many retakes. But I caught bits of the scene conversation...something like:

Girl A to Guy: *whisper whisper, you know etc...*

Girl B (walking by): What is??

Girl A: Why should you know (bla bla bla)

Girl B: You have to answer to me (or something like that)

Girl A: Hah! MAKE me...

and they go on being bitchy to each other while the guy slinks away.

I was thinking 'Oi, journalists are usually not like that la.' I dunno bout magazine writers, but really, if Star journos wanna be bitchy, its a bit more subtle than 'Oh my god, what did you say about me??!' or other bimbotic bitchiness.

But oh well, it's called tv drama for a reason.

The things I do for my job

The assignment (a drama competition organised by Digi) was supposed to be at 1pm, but I decided to reach at 1.30pm- to avoid all the protocol etc. Now, I dunno why this happened, but upon reaching Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka (DBP) and seeing all their back entrances blocked, I thought I would go in via the front entrance but there was where I lost my way...thanks to all the construction work surrounding that place.

So. After driving around for nearly an hour and my dad frantically trying to direct me on the phone (but the roads he was talking about were blocked too), I decided to park my car at Muzium and take a taxi to DBP.

The taxi guy, Joseph, was quiet at first and then I started talking to him in Malay thinking he was Malay, (that was before I saw his name on his license) and he replied in articulate English. Then I found out he was some construction consultant, lost everything and now driving a taxi "in the meanwhile to survive". We went on talking about KL roads, contruction industry, karma, astrology and God. At times the conversation became weird when he said maybe one day I'll write his book la, asked if I'm married la because I "don't have a married woman's body."

He lost his way about once or twice, so yeah. When I reached the place, it was about...3pm or so.

My head was throbbing, I sat in the packed hall full of screaming primary school kids. To make it worse, the emcee was yelling into the mic to get the kids up and pumping and making them shout FUIYOH and watever else.

I left early, because I wanted to catch a ride from the photographer...but ended up waiting on the kerb because his friend was holding his car keys, and his friend wasn't anywhere nearby. Zzzz.

Now I'm back at the office waiting to go for a night assignment. Save me.

Have you seen death in the face?

I saw it yesterday.

When I found my uncle in my grandma's house, he was sitting on the toilet bowl struggling to clean himself. His head was hanging to the side, struggling to breathe and he was drooling, not a good sight...we were guessing it was stroke or heart attack, I'm not sure. The maid and I helped to carry him out to the living room.

I propped him on my knees and prayed and prayed without stopping. I tried to call an ambulance and 911 was no help at all. When my dad finally managed to get an ambulance and arrived at the house, it was 1/2 hour later. The ambulance took another 1/2 hour to come.

I wasn't afraid, just begging God to give my uncle one more chance. Not so much that we can have him around longer, although that would have been really great, but more so that he can make peace with God.

But it was too late.

At one point, the maid kept telling me 'he's gone, he's gone, he's not breathing' and I refused to believe it. I kept saying, no he's ok, he's breathing, like I could will him to live.

The paramedics came and started CPR, and I kept thinking...maybe I could have taken him straight to the hospital, if only I knew how to do CPR properly, if this, if that. But I somehow deep down knew it may not have made a difference. Only God knows when is a person's appointed time, my uncle has cheated death before in a drunk driving accident.

People don't like to be told that heaven and hell is real, that God and Jesus is real. But when you look death in the face, I know it's true. And I may never see him again. Forever.

Khairy Jamaluddin: fact or fiction

I'm been keeping alot of things to myself, and one of them is my 'conversations' with Khairy- the son-in-law of Badawi and Rembau MP.

I dunno how he can single-handedly dominate the incredible amount of rumours here and there, and everyone seems to know what he's up to even though they never met him or heard from him talking on the TV etc. So, my curiosity piqued, I decided to post some questions to the man himself.

And here are excerpts of answers to some of my questions:
Me: I have one pressing question on my mind: Can you tell me what really happened in Rembau on the voting day (with the recount and postal votes)?

KJ: I can categorically state that there was NEVER a recount for any of the seats (parliament or DUN). In fact, the recount rumour was a deliberate attempt to spread disinformation that would discredit the final result.
I was at main polling centre the whole night and as the results came in from the different polling centres (peti undi), there was never at any point a need for a recount at the main centre where the results from all the streams (saluran) were collated. Whether or not there were recounts at the individual peti undi or saluran I am not sure but at no point was the main election result disputed since I won with a majority in excess of 5,000 votes on first (and only) count.
I know there is an urban legend now making its rounds saying that I lost by a couple of hundred votes then suddenly won by 5,000 plus in the recount (during which the lights may or may not have gone off), but none of that happened.
My challenger, Badrul, was not even present at the main polling centre where the results were announced. Were it true that he won and I lost or that there was a recount, you would think that he would be there for the announcement. But at no time did he show up.
As for the postal votes, there was nothing strange there either. I can't remember off hand but I think my majority from the postal votes was only about 500 so even without that I would have won. Plus, the postal vote results were among the first things the EC announced that night so there is no truth the allegation that postal votes suddenly showed up at the last minute to swing it for me.

Me: But are literally all the rumours surrounding you a complete farce then? I'm asking this on a personal basis cuz I'm curious (sometimes too curious). So like, you don't broker contracts at all...you have no influence with politicians etc? People don't try to get to your father-in-law through you? I thought it was a given with quite alot of politicians (getting contracts through, etc).

KJ: I think its safe to say that 99% of the rumours you hear about me are false or inaccurate. People hear things from people who have heard something from someone else. After a while the information gets distorted.
Many people see me for many different things. Some ask if I can help get their kids a scholarship. Some ask if they get a contract to build a university. My job is not to turn them away. Instead I listen but I don't promise anything. At best, I would just forward their requests to the relevant ministry/agency.
People expect me to bring things up to the PM. They think I can help them broker deals. They go to ministries and drop my name. Ministry officials who want to pass the buck tell businessmen that I am the only person who can help with government projects. So a myth is created. But the truth is, I don't do such things.
I am an opponent of this feudal game of patronage that has been created over the last two decades by you-know-whom. But now, I find myself as the poster boy for sleaze because of all the disinformation that's been circulating.I wish somebody would come forward with a concrete allegation so that matters can be clarified. Unfortunately its all innuendos, half-truths and spurious allegations. But once a myth is created, every little bit of falsehood feeds the legend which grows, grows and grows!

Well, that was in the words of the guy himself. Maybe your first reaction is 'yeah right, what bulls***' but think about it. If you're a Malaysian, you should know; aren't we all so good at spreading rumours? How many sms-es you received about some fuel prices rising tomorrow la, some fwd email about stuff happening la, and Mahathir saying on YouTube he admitted to throwing Anwar in jail when it was a speech taken out of context. And you believed them? So what makes stories about Khairy any different, when there isn't evidence? Think about it. I'm not for or against him, I just want people to think.

A guy hit on me

yesterday and he is only 16.

It was in a public speaking workshop I had to cover, so I sat at the table eating lunch and he came and sat next to me.

"What college are you in?" I asked.

"I'm only 16 unfortunately, though I wish I was one of those child geniuses who can do add math when they're 5, but yeah I'm not," he replied.

Then he went on and talked about how he wanted to invent a time machine so that he can go back in time and change things, then he can be the youngest genius in the world. I said he's too old to be the youngest genius.

"Well I have a gift," he said, "the gift is ME."

I kept looking at my lunch, abit stunned, but added "I hope you don't say that to all girls."

He grinned, "But some girls like it," he said. "So anyway, how about you, where are you studying?"

"I'm working...as a journalist," said I.

He stared. And stared. And nearly choked on his food.

"Oh my god."

My boyfriend trying to be blond

Here is a snippet of a online chat I had with Meng (insert typical American movie-dumb-blond-stereotype voice for red lines):

Meng: like whuuutever
me: aiyo, u trying to be bimbotic now is it...I dont like bimbo guys
Meng: like, oh my goodness, are you accusing me of being bimbotic
me: WHAHAHAHAHHA
Meng: where did u get that from, do u even know who u are
u little asian thing
me: yes, I'm ur boss
Meng: my boss?
do u even know who i ammm
me: my slave?
Meng: kiss my chihuahua

In the middle

No one likes to see their parents fighting.

At least, I hope no one does. My family is not perfect, although people envy how we are all closely knitted but sometimes it's a double edged sword. I love the fact that there are hardly any secrets in our family and we have dinner together nearly every night etc.

But then, when something is wrong with one part of the family, everyone hurts.

And sometimes I feel that I should do something to keep everyone together. Maybe I'll be the sacrifice, like the Sang Kancil caught between two elephants.

Or maybe I should just cover my ears with the pillows and pray it will pass. We've been a family together for so long, God has kept us thus far. He can do it again.

And some reading this may think, shouldn't things like these be kept as family secrets? But why, almost everyone knows what it is like to have your parents fight.

But like I said, I guess for my family there is one uniting factor. The love of God, it keeps us together anyway.

It will pass.

How many got raped this year?

WELCOME TO MALAYSIA 2007....(where about nearly 2,000 are raped)

It was reported in The Sun (25/10) that from March or April 2007 (in seven months) there were 1,830 rape cases in Malaysia.

That breaks down to about 261 a month and nearly 9 cases a day. And those are only reported cases.

Now, I know some will look at that and be alarmed and paranoid...and yes, the statistics are pretty bad. It was way worse than I thought.

But on the other hand, you can't lock yourself in the house forever, so my advice to girls is: be aware. Be always aware. Walk with your head up, your eyes sharp and stare any creepy fellow in the eye with a look that says "if you dare do anything, I will do worse to you."

I was arguing with a guy the other day who accused me and my gender of being too laxed about our personal safety, and wanted his GF to stay indoors because there was a recent murder case nearby and I was basically trying to say...look, you can get raped or murdered in your own home and by people you know even. You can even walk into the pillar without looking, hit your head on the pavement and die (eg: Angkasawan/Dr Syeikh's brother recently in papers).

Haha, this sounds so unlike me, but basically just be street smart la. And pray, I've personally seen God work for me through prayer, the best self-defense :) No use being fearful, people can smell fear.

'He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I will trust.

Surely He shall deliver me from snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence'
-Psalm 91-

Ethics and journalism?

Caller : I've got a story for you. But first, I'll have you know that I want the story to have a proper spin.

Journalist: Huh? What happened?

Caller : I'll tell you now I'm (--political party name--), so I want the story to be a certain way, I might as well tell you straight (laughs).

Journalist : Haha, yeah, you might as well.

Caller : Okay. Do you know this opposition student leader O?

Journalist : Yeah, we follow him for his rallies occasionally.

Caller: Why. Tell me why.

Journalist : I mean...well....there was an issue at his university, they were having a protest, so my colleague went over to find out what is going on.

Caller : Let me tell you, they have been hogging the limelight in the media and portraying themselves to be angels. Now, let me tell you something: He slapped a GIRL.

Journalist : Oh no. Oh dear. The girl is from (*censored*) faction?

Caller : Yeah. And I'm sorry, but a guy slapping a girl for whatever reason just doesn't go well with me. Now I want to know: how are you gonna write the story?

Journalist : I would definitely want to talk to the girl, know how it happened. There were witnesses? And I need to talk to O as well, to find out what he thinks.

Caller : But why? He's gonna tell you lies, I've known him to lie. Even the vice-chancellor is fed up with him. So what is your angle, can you assure me that he will be in a bad light, I mean, I just want people to know the truth.

Hey Badawi, wassup!!

I find it kinda weird that Malaysia's current PM Badawi doesn't seem to have much aura. If any at all. I knew some ppl were excited bout Mahathir, even to get a glimpse of him, but maybe I'm just skeptical- as most journalists would be I suppose. Kind of numb.

So the other day, I and two others covered the event of the unveiling of the National Higher Education Strategic and Action plan. Badawi and all the education ministers was there bla bla, speeches, speeches, nice quotes, yada ( I nearly slept during Badawi's speech). And I was trying to chase uni vice-chancellors to get quotes then I so happened to stand where Badawi was gonna get off stage and shake hands. And yes I shook his hand. I didn't faint and the sky didn't fall, and he doesn't have a firm handshake. It felt bit more like 'Oh my hands are soft so please kiss it gently' kind of thing.

Now, I think Badawi comes across as a nice guy but I kinda know why ppl think he is weak- he really is a bit too soft spoken for his own good. But that being said, I pray for him and the country as we should do.

My friend from sports desk told me the other day that when Mahathir started out as PM, he wasn't that great a personality either. "He had the brains but not the personality," he says. Only when he decided that he needed help with his image that he went to France to learn under an image consultant or something like that to totally overhaul his image. Which is why he remains such an icon (whether u like him or not) till today.

Anyway. I tried taking a close up pic of Badawi on my handphone but gave up fumbling with my huge bag cuz after awhile I realised- I don't really care.

link for newscasting

Sorry, its not the podcast link. If you wanna see me wear bad make up and speak on camera with my crooked teeth, it's here on http://videos.thestar.com.my/
You have to look for Daily News 6th August...probably on the 3rd or 4th list at the moment of videos.

MY CAR SLID INTO THE DRAIN and other stories

Yup that's my car. I had an interview in the Indonesian Embassy a month ago and since I couldn't find parking space, I side-parked on the narrow road behind, with drains at the side...and parked nicely between two tree stumps. But when I finished the interview and tried to get out, I kept hitting the tree stumps front and back. So after a few rounds of reversing and driving front just trying to get out, the car slid into the drain. There were many office people in collared shirts and ties, even Chinese, who walked by and ohhh ahhh-ed among themselves but no one helped me. Two Indonesian or Malay men in jeans and T-shirts stopped by to try push my car out and even hailed a passing CHINESE motorist to come help too. Nothing could be done and I had to wait by the road for about 40 mins for the tow truck to come. The tow guy saw it, scratched his head and said "Ah Moi, apa buat hingga macam ini??"

On the right is my Melbourne CG leader Geraldine Chow. She married Alex on 07/07/07 in Damansara Utama Methodist Church. They have been waiting for this day for seven years. Half of which was spent apart from each other and they still work in two different places, Alex in Sabah and she in Singapore. One of the most beautiful weddings I've seen- lots of tears, lots of laughter and alot of God.

I played futsal last month at The Star's company tournament with a team of fellow colleagues from various desks like Sunday Star, entertainment, weekender and education desks. I was the reserve and I played for...two mins? We lost at third round but it was a close call. That's us, after the game.

Oh and by the way, I'm dabbling in a bit of newscasting recently. Reading news off a moving screen with cameras in your face and lights glaring and sitting in the studio while pretending to shuffle papers kinda thing. No its not for TV and I'm still a journalist, but doing newscasting for The Star online...their news podcast. Go to http://podcast.thestar.com.my/ and see if you can find it. I'm no techy genius but if any one of you see me (one of the stories I read was on CLP examination fraud) and figure out how to download podcast, lemme know. Warning: I look horrible on camera without make-up. It was an impromptu thing and the MDs and bosses were watching.

and...............

Well. That's him.

.

His name is Ian. I spotted this 7-year old walking along the corridors of his primary school while I looked for people to interview for Teacher's Day. Everyone was busy giving gifts to teachers and bustling about while he, with the help of a teacher, gave out tulips. She says he is a 'special' child. I agree- his smile is special enough.

My Big Mouth

My editor is the kind who likes the androgynous look I believe. Ever since I started working here, she always wore men's clothes...men's collared shirts, pants, men's shoes. She walks like a man too.

Everytime we talked longingly about marriage and tease each other about men (90% of us in education are single females- so guys, if u wanna work here look out for Education desk), she would roll her eyes and say something like "For goodness sake!" I was half wondering if she is butch.

Today she wore a skirt. A white pleated skirt.

I went over to her desk (not noticing her skirt earlier) and was about to ask something about my assignments later in the day. So I walked to her desk and said "Hi, I wanna ask you about....ARE YOU WEARING A SKIRT??!"

She put her hands on her hips and gave me a half-amused-half-embarassed look akin to nearly laughing at my, erm, reaction. "I have knees and ankles too you know!" she said. I was like huh? for awhile but ok, maybe she has finally felt a need to be feminine.

I have yet to check out her legs.

A cheesy story

So it happened that more than a year ago that Matchgirl fell in love with a Stickboy that vaguely resembled her dad when he was young.

And like her mum, she was the oldest in her family and like her dad, Stickboy was the youngest in his family. Her mum used to tell Matchgirl that when she wanted to get her dad's attention before they started courting, she asked him to take her out to buy orange juice in the supermarket. Well as for Matchgirl, she cut her finger one day and Stickboy got her a plaster.

And everything was going along fine until Matchgirl had to go away to another country.

Then came a war and many sticksoldiers were ordered to fight, and they both got caught in the middle. Stickboy was drafted into the army but was injured and hurt his back so he had to stay at home for abit. Letters were sparse as one by one the postmen were killed and the post offices were bombed. Telephone cables were destroyed which didn't help. Soon enough, they couldn't communicate at all.

Then one day, Stickboy received a letter from Matchgirl saying she will not come back, at least not anytime soon. She explained very briefly that she had a baby that she had to attend to because the baby was sick. "I will explain later," she wrote.

A BABY??! Stickboy thought. He was heartbroken, betrayed and wounded inside, worse than any other physical injury he had. He wished he died in the war.

Then one day, Matchgirl came back. She was happy because she thought, at last, she could see Stickboy.

But Stickboy was hurt, and was not too pleased to see her although he still missed her badly.

"You said you had a baby. How could you do this to me?" he asked.

"It wasn't my baby, it was never mine to begin with. It is dead now."

She explained it was a baby she adopted because it lost its father in the war and mother in childbirth, she didn't have the heart to abandon the child when she saw him crying alone in the hospital where she worked. But in the end, he caught a fever and died.

"But look! Now I've come back!" Matchgirl told Stickboy.

And they got married, had a baby of their own and lived happily ever after. Ok, not really happily ever after because occasionally they would strike a flint in anger and burn each other but well. They were happy.

Public apology

Alright, I admit I'm wrong.

A few of my friends read my previous entry and said I really shouldn't do something like that and if I had a problem with someone, I should sort it out personally.

Here are a few things I thought of to defend myself:
1) I'm not gonna let people trample over me, I've had enough
2) I don't mind public shaming because really, if I sort it out personally, that person may just go on and do it to another person. Same with people borrowing money and never giving back, people lying and backstabbing...it's basically bad habits. No public shaming--no motivation for correction.
3) It's my blog.
4) I didn't do it out of anger, more out of indignation.
5) I'm tired of being nice all the time, I need some space to rant.

Here are a few things God told me:
1) I don't have any rights to begin with, all rights go back to Him.
2) Am I being a stumbling block?
3) 1 John 4...God is love, and those who love God loves his brother/sister/etc
4) Love covers a multitude of sins.
5) Rant to Him, not to people.
6) I should have tried reaching out to her and talking to her personally.

It's not really just about this issue but other things that people do to me that I push out of my mind or shrug my shoulders, but its still buried there until someone else comes along and digs it up. I once told my brother, "Your motto shouldn't be 'trust everyone until proven wrong', it should be 'trust no one until proven otherwise'."

I suppose there is a line between being a good Christian loving everyone and being a doormat. But I suppose if He's powerful enough to create the whole universe, He's powerful enough keep me from harm. And to pick me up when I do fall down.

Why are some people so shameless

At the very moment I'm writing this a friend (if I can call her that) from China who was my coursemate is asking me what to write for her assignment. Can I pass her my previous assignment? "Because I don't know what to write, I need some ideas," she says.

And this is not the first time, throughout my three years in Melbourne it is the same thing.

Ok, asking me for ideas is fine, but this is what annoys me. She blatantly asks me for my previous assignments and essays I've handed in before. I wanna tell her, like, there is such thing as plagiarism and I'm definitely not letting you copy my work which I took like, weeks to do.

But you see, since I'm such a nice girl and hardly wanna look like I'm so selfish I tried to help whenever I could. She has, in fact, took my previous essay before and till this day hasn't returned it.

What broke the camel's back was that one fine day, she called me at like, 9pm at night and said "Sarah, could you help me proofread my essay and give it back to me by 12am?" Man, she is SO thick-skin to treat me like a servant. But lo and behold, I agreed. Only because I wanted her to fill up a survey, I needed a Chinese participant. I took one hour plus to edit her work (because it was crap English, sorry but true), I dunno why I even bothered, she must have taken not more than 15 minutes on my survey.

I really don't wanna be racist, because I'm Chinese too, but only China students do this to me. And to another friend. And to heaps of other people I've spoken to before.

And whoever is reading this so happens to be that girl I'm talking about, I say: STOP IT YOU ARE BEING SUCH A.....%$*$%&*

Copying my work is a poor substitute for your stupidity. And shaming all your fellow countrymen of whom I'm sure some are smarter than you.

random pictures

I'm kinda bored and need a break from thinking about when my next deadline is. So here are some old pics of me and my family..

That's my little bro sitting in a car boot.

That's me and my brother who is, erm, frowning at me for I dunno what reason.

That's my little sister sitting on a toboggan with my mum hanging on to her. Taken on the French border of the Pyrenese.

OK enough pics for now, gotta go somewhere. More next time...

"Are you still alive?"

That was the first question my editor asked me when she called today to check on me. I had just sms-ed her and told her I would be coming to work late because I woke up with bad gastric and diarrhea regretting that I kept ignoring my hunger pangs the day before.

"Yes I'm surviving!" I reassured her.

And all my friends at office asked why I didn't take an MC. Now, I don't exactly want to look like I am one of those journalist freaks who are married to the job but I just wanted to finish up my centrespread story (which is equivalent to some of your essays, people) by today or I'll be regretting on Friday when we have to proofread and hound the artists about minute details in the text or pictures or layout or...etc.

Anyways, three of my features have come out last Sunday in education (March 25, 'Speak and you shall be heard', 'All I want...', 'Eating right in schools'). http://www.thestar.com.my/education/

And check out this Sunday's (April 1) education pullout on some music workshop thing by jazz drummer Lewis Pragasam. Centre-spread. Heh..

Ok, self-indulging over. Soon enough, I'll be writing so many things so I'm not gonna be bothered telling ppl to read. My byline is Sarah Chew by the way, look if u want.

So how is work? Everyone has been asking me and I suppose I have to say I survived 3 weeks of the job. Being the newbie here, people tend to make me do more work and I have to follow some seniors around if we're covering ministers. So far I've met the deputy education and higher education ministers and some ppl here and there on the exams board (no, I'm not gonna start leaking exam answers) and PR ppl everywhere. British Council la, UPM la, wheelchair basketball players, crappy school principals.

I told a friend that I covered ministers and he's like 'wah' but seriously. They're nothing great. They go on about things that even I could crap up in 5 mins, and their quotable quotes are like....'we need a paradigm shift' (shift from what also I dunno) or 'we want to do this and this in line with our goal of achieving world-class education'. Oh save me. Even if they didnt do their homework at least PRETEND to say something intelligent.

My senior told me all kinds of ridiculous stories of politicians and their...intelligence. She once interviewed some Pahang dude and she was pointing out to him a problem with libraries. Apparantly he said to her "Oh so how ah?" Mind you, she actually suggested an action plan to him and he was like "Oh wow ya, say that la. Watever you told me, just use my name for watever." It became one of the main news in Metro I think. And really, no wonder so many journalists are so skeptical. It comes with the job.

I hope I'll retain some innocence :) Wish me luck.

Work!

The person on my left computer terminal is typing about some environmental issue. Her phone rings, the ringtone has frogs croaking. Literally. Then she chats about sea monkeys to a friend and gasps at the latest Indonesian disaster. "Is the world falling apart?" she exclaims.

The woman on my right is writing about her tour of Egypt. Must have been paid for by the company. She stops for awhile and talks to the other woman beside her, "So how did the date go?" "Oh, not bad..." the other woman says. I can't help but eavesdrop. She went on a date with a 40-yr old man, he's into real estate and charity works. The women laugh about him collecting brownie points to gain her heart. She's going on a series of dates with 9 men, in hopes to find Mr. Right--and write about them. "I hope I don't break their hearts!" she tells me later. Well. Maybe you can watch out for her stories in Star Two one of these days.

This is my 4th day at work, I'm sitting here nearly alone on the entire section and I've learnt something new today.

Never come in on time. Everyone comes in after 9.30am. (Sounds familiar, MY?)

BUT. But. They tend to leave late too...basically, don't leave till your work is done for the day. That could mean 5.30pm, 8pm, 2am, etc.

Here are some cool things bout my job:
1) You get a pretty decent allowance for mobile phone bills (!)
2) The education section I'm in has a few overseas trips a year. The writers take turns to go on them. So far they've gone to Canada, Taipei, California, France, South Africa, LA, etc. Unfortunately, I'm new so I'm at the bottom of the list.
3) You get paid for doing work on my off days, or covering assignments outside normal working hours. Overtime.
4) If I ever need to wear specs, which I don't intend to, they will cover the expenses. Every year.
5) Medical and dental treatments are free. Job related or not.
6) Should you die, a decent amount of money will go to your family.
7) You get to claim for alot of things. Which I can't remember what. So it renders it pretty useless at the moment.

Some not-so-cool things bout the job:
1) You work hard. Datelines are real. Not only the editor is scrutinising your work, the sub-eds are too.
2) Education not only covers stuff that comes out in the pullout on Sunday, it covers news as well. Anything education related. If you're working on a news piece, you work till late, until the editor clears your piece.
3) You're expected to work weekend shifts. And my parents are gonna yell if I have to work Sundays. But I get some weekdays as my off days.
4) You probably have to bug every Tom, Dick and Harry that you know for interviews.
5) My baptism of fire begins next week. SPM results come out and we'll be running from school to school trying to grab the most interesting stories before other newspapers get it. And probably working till 3am or something.

Oh well. Let's see what else happens.