Hi, anon! Here's my part 2 for yaaa.

Yes!!!! My pilot is down for the interview.

I'll be heading to his home for the interview with my colleague. So happy to have her with me, so that I know I have someone for guidance! I love her, she's so funnyyyyy

Argh, terribly excited for the episode.


At the same time, in the process of pursuing interviewees... I realise what a tight position journalists often find themselves in, especially when dealing with touchy or emotionally sensitive issues.

On one hand, you really need to get an interviewee to speak about their story, otherwise you've nothing to work with. And you need to make it appealing to your audiences. A juicy story always makes for good TV. On the other hand, you want to be sensitive to your interviewees. Instead of being a kaypo and eating up their privacy. Thus, I think a journalist needs to know when to draw the line between doing their job and being human.


For this episode, I was tasked to contact relatives of the passengers on board MH370.

Today, I managed to find a family friend of a passenger. She was initially very hostile towards me, questioning me where I got her number from. And when I asked if she would grant me an interview, she immediately turned me down, saying she didn't want to talk on TV.

But after talking with her for a bit, she started to calm down. The lady began telling me stories about how she got acquainted to the victim and his family who were all on board the plane.

As she spoke, she sounded wistful of the good times when she first met them, laughing and speaking about how she and their family got along so well. She didn't know them as well as her husband, but she liked them a lot.

I could sense the happiness and fondness of those people to her when she talked to me.

And as our conversation carried on, she began to tear and cry...

I felt helpless. Even I wanted to cry as she related her story to me through the phone. I felt my windpipe clench as she told me about how she and her husband had been watching the news day in day out, hoping for something good to come by. She felt helpless for them. And felt it so strange that she knew these people. She was supposed to meet the family on one of the days before the airplane incident but the meeting fell through and she didn't get to meet them.

That was when she realised the gravity of the issue. Felt awful that she didn't get to meet them one last time before their eventual departure. I listened to every word she said, and felt every emotion.

Sometimes, I wonder how journalists get by, handling stories like these.

I felt like a friend to her even though I was only a stranger. That's when I get amazed by the human connection to empathise. Sometimes, it's not about the job. I do want to get that interview, yet I want to be human and understand that it's not easy for them to even be speaking to me.

So I get into a dilemma as to whether I should pursue the interview or let it go. For the wider audience, their stories need to be heard. At the same time, I'm thinking, am I encroaching onto their privacy? A person's passing is depressing... and families need time for grieving. But for a journalist, time is of the essence, and time is money. With the news still fresh, it is necessary to catch wind of these stories before they turn old.

All these goes on behind the scenes. One of the lessons I learn on internship.




All right it's 12am, time for bed.

I feel like I'm ready, yet I'm not exactly ready for the interview tomorrow haha. I have a few questions in my head but I feel like they're not substantial enough for the interview. I will head to work 3 hours early just to get my questions down and hammered. I realise I come up with better questions when I'm rushing myself to think haha. Besides, I left my iPhone wire back in the office on my table lol. So yeah, I can't even charge it.

I can't contain my excitement... I'm gonna interview a pilot this Thursday!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

My first real interview in my 3 months of internship. I've been waiting for this!!!!

But I'm damn scared for one big ass reason,

I'm so afraid he'll pull out last minute. I'm so damn scared. I pray to the Lawrd.

As everyone knows... it's the season of MH370.

This whole mystery about Malaysian Airlines is finally over. Well, at least I'd like to think that it's over. At the Southern Indian Ocean. I've been following this piece of news for quite a while. At first, I had little interest in it coz I was really so sick and tired of listening to conflicting reports. It was in Vietnam, then it was in the Indian Ocean... I was thinking what the hell is going on man?! Give us a conclusion.

Now, it seems like the search is finally focused on something concrete, according to Najib. It was quite heart wrenching just hearing the sounds of wailing through the television speakers when Kristine Lim was delivering her news live. It was scary and I can't imagine how a journalist like herself can pull through a story like that. Depressing..

But here I am, ready to rock and roll. It was exciting to see how ORD programme managed to pull together something so quick within a week to get a story out. It really is quite exciting. I'm so excitedddd. Friday I'm prolly gonna interview a psychologist too.

Yessarrrrr Arafat!

See ya soon tata, I'mma have a good night's rest and pray my pilot doesn't back out. It was so hard to find one to talk on the show.

Because my answers will be very long, I believe I should reply in a blog post for you - anonymous.
(put your name lah dont shy shy. 'starz' also can or 'ilovepies' also can hahahah.)


- First thing's first, do you intend to join wkwsci? Because I'll be replying according to what I know and how it relates to my school. So most of it is with relevance to my school, but well, read on, and see if it helps ya!

1) I'm into Broadcast, journalism and advertising, and I can't decide. What are the downsides of the interdisciplinary course?

Well gurl, I assume you're a girl coz comms is just FULL of girls, you asked the right person. I consider myself an Interdisciplinarian and I'm one of the few in my school who declared my concentration as Interdisciplinary. I like both Broadcast and Journalism. Well, coz my interest lies in a mix because I like News, yet I'm not into print but Broadcast News, so I'm both and therefore, an Interdisciplinarian. My school, being anal haha whoops, wanted me to choose a PREFERENCE, so I put Broadcast. Doesn't really matter though, it's just for their books.

Anyway, there aren't any downsides of the course if you're talking about wkwsci. Because the school actually doesn't really actively encourage you to take a one track thing. The school is fine with you taking different types of courses and it doesn't affect you academically or anything. Mentally or emotionally hahaha. Being lame, but yes, there aren't any downsides actually.

BUT I do recommend that you at least know 2 of your MOST preferred concentrations. To have all 3 of it - Broadcast, Journalism and Advertising, makes you appear confused. I think you don't really know yet, what specifically you want to do. But at least 2 ya? 3 is just a bit too much. At least streamline it down to 2 that you really really know that you want. Because we also have a certain number of Academic Units (AUs- point system) and you can't really use all of your AUs on all 3 of them. You have to focus and narrow it down to 2.

Majority of the students don't take ALL journ courses or ALL broadcast courses, usually we mix the courses that we like to take and so, we are ALL 'sort of' interdisciplinarians. So yes, there isn't a downside.

If you're talking about employment, we all graduate with a general Degree in Communications. No specifics are mentioned. IF I'M NOT WRONG. So it's not like, you chose advertising and halfway you decide 'broadcast is for me', but you stated it early that you like advertising and you've been taking advert mods all the while and SO no Broadcasting companies will hire you just coz your cert reflects that you're an Advert student. Nah, we graduate with a general degree. So don't worry about that.

I have colleagues who were once from wkwsci and they all thought that they were going to a certain track that they like, but ended up... they are working for another track. For example, I've a colleague who studied PR but she's now in Journ. Another colleague, Print Journalism but now working in Broadcast Journalism. So yeah, it's not cast in stone. You won't really be at a disadvantage.

BUT OF COZ, please do know what you want to do, otherwise you study the wrong thing for nothing.

Like everything else, it's important to find out what you like to do, otherwise time is wasted. I've schoolmates, up till now, they don't know what they want to do. And keep switching tracks. I find that slightly iffy and jumpy because you need to know what it is you want, otherwise you'll waste time.


2) Is it a disadvantage for FYP if you're in a Interdisciplinary track?

Neh. If you're good at your shit, EVERYONE WILL WANT YOU.

Nowadays there are groups formed with members from different tracks. They put up a comprehensive campaign with different skill sets involved. So nope, I don't think you're at a disadvantage. As long as you find people who are like-minded and would like to carry out an FYP similar to what you have in mind, then you've got da powah.

For me, compromise lah. Broadcast Journalism (BJ) is so niche and nobody has ever done an FYP on BJ before. And it's weird lah. So I guess I can go about doing something like a documentary. That is pretty much quite similar to BJ. It's real and current. I've friends who are like-minded so here we goooo.

Basically, if you're good at what you do and get along well with people, you're good to go. Don't need to worry.


3) Is the Broadcast industry small in Singapore? What are the career prospects like?

It depends on what area you want to go into. Do you like to make movies? Or do you like the news like me? Or Documentaries?

As we all know, as of now, there is only one holy grail and mother broadcasting company of Singapore. That is, MediaCorp. Channel 5, 8, U, Suria, Vasantham, CNA, you want it you got it. That's under the Government.

But if you talk about SMEs or smaller companies, there are a LOT. They are called Production Houses. My school is linked to a number of them like Little Red Ants, and... quite a few lah, it's just that I'm not quite aware. I only know Little Red Ants coz me friends are there heh. Others, you can go google production houses in Singapore. They are approached by companies to produce content. So for example, if a company wants to make an advertisement, they can approach a Production House to create one. Or if you want to make a short film, there are Production Houses. If you want to clean your mother's backside..... I'm just kidding.

But yes, THERE ARE JUST SO MANY PRODUCTION HOUSES AROUND.

You just gotta find them out.

Even MediaCorp goes to Production Houses to produce content. Pay them and get content. Goodness am I even allowed to say that? But yeah, you get the drift~

For Broadcast Journalism, there are overseas branches here like BBC, CNBC, Bloomburg. Yeah, quite a few.

Even Documentary... there's Nat Geo and ESPN branches. I don't think you CREATE the documentaries here but yeah, there are branches here. For a start haha.

So I guess there is definitely an industry. Not quite as big as other countries, but there are jobs lah nonetheless.

Unless you wanna make a blockbuster movie like Ilo Ilo, yeah, that one I'm sure you can do it, but it'll take a lot of talent, hardwork and patience to get there. In Singapore, it's tough getting recognised as an independent filmmaker. That one, you gotta carve your own name. Not easy.

If you wanna be a moviemaker, quite hard. But other than that, I'm sure there are jobs out there.


So yeahhhh, here ya go!

Hope it's comprehensive enough. Otherwise, shoot away. I'm here to reply.

What I saw from Pearl Centre (almost typed Harbour hahah) today on the eleventh floor. Apparently it's gonna be torn down, so my cousin really wanted my other cousin and I to view this magic, which he was very excited to show us. I must admit I have seen crazy-ass city lights that have amazed me ten times more atop of MBS. But this one kinda had its little Chinatown neighbourhood charms.

Teehee! I look sibeh cui lah coz Saturdays for me are relac days.

Anyway, here I am blogging again ugh coz all you taggers leave stuff on the board that make me feel like ugh, I do need to continue~ I mean, I will prolly come back once in a while, but I can't blog as regularly anymore. At least for now, I just don't seem to have the blogging fritters. Hahaha am I even using the term right? It's like banana fritters. But ya lah, yall make me guilty only! So here I am wahlau yall ah!!!!

I'll give yall as much blogging stuff I can before I disappear again. Work has really been leaving me drained almost everyday. But I'm happy at least I enjoy doing it?

Ok, a lot... like almost EVERYONE has asked me about what I do at Mediacorp, Channel NewsAsia. And I've been answering it a gazibABOLILLION times, and I kinda feel a bit tired explaining HAHAHAHA. But honestly, I dunno how to describe my work too. But here goes,

I am working as an intern for the show called, On the Red Dot. Shows on Channel 5, 9pm and Channel NewsAsia 11:30pm on Wednesdays. It covers Singapore-based issues and WHATEVER Singaporean. You know, sometimes I think it's fate that I kena this show leh. I mean of all shows, I FATED to get On the Red Dot. Like how much more Singaporean can I get?

What do I do on On the Red Dot?

Well, I'm a Production Assistant. I am also an intern.

First thing you think- Intern, ok, she does Sai kang. But for me, I don't think that what I'm doing is Saikang. Not trying to validate anything or cover up anything but seriously, it's not saikang. If you ask whether I am asked to buy food for my colleagues and bosses, the answer is no. I've never been asked to buy food for my colleagues, in fact, they treat me really really well. They're almost like my friends. A wkw friend who once did an internship in Mediacorp once said that, that's the nature of MC (from here on, I shall shortform it to MC). The people are just really family-like. I must say I'm lucky to be on a team that fits that mould. The people in my team really are, very family-like.

That's without saying that I get scolded too. Of course I've been scolded before. Then, I felt a bit indignant and embarrassed about getting scolded. But on hindsight, I kinda deserved to get scolded to learn. I need to get scolded lah. If not, I'd never learn. I put a lot of pride in my work so this. is necessary.

I thought, CNA would be of a different breed actually. I thought it'd be corporate-like, super office and stuff. But I guess for the Current Affairs department, it's not so much of that. I guess it's good in a way, you don't feel so stifled. For the News department... definitely more formal. Haven't got a taste of it, but I would really really like to, tho it's a bit daunting.

What else do I do?

Admin stuff, I've to do. I won't bore you with the technical stuff, but basically whatever you see on your tv screens, I must ensure it gets there. So all the coordinating, checking blahblah. While the video gets edited, I have to make sure bumpers, credits are in, subtitling looks alright. I help the senior producer spot mistakes and relate it to the video editor.

Also, whatever you see on Facebook, I post them up. I write them and it gets vetted by my senior producer. So actually all those posts you see on Facebook, not so easy hor, people screen them k hahah. But I enjoy doing Facebook coz I love to see people like, share, comment on the posts. Pretty exciting I think. It feels like the producers' work is appreciated.

I help cut the trailers as well. I'll sit in with the video editors and direct them what to cut. Usually, the editors know what to do when they see the script, which has been written by producers. So all I have to do is make sure music is all right and the trailer looks good. Get the different layers to approve the trailer, which are A LOT of layers.

It's quite cool coz I never really thought about CENSORS. You know? They check if any F words or too much dialects or if smoking is on TV. Can never show smoking on TV. Didn't know. They'd point those out and you'll have to change stuff around.

There was one time, my god, I stayed back till 3am coz there was a hell lot of sheesha in the episode. And the censors AXED them ALL out. And a smoking scene. So there was a scramble to re-write the entire episode. Well, not exactly the whole thing, but there were a lot of parts to be redone. So I was there to be a runner hahaha. 3am fooyooh. Latest I stayed up till. It was all right I thought. My bosses even felt bad for making me stay up when I truly felt obliged to stay back. I mean, it's my job anyways! So yes, my bosses are reallllyyy nice. I am lucky indeed.

So I never knew that much about censorship. Censorship in Singapore bro. Sometimes.... I think there needn't be that much censorship. It takes away a lot of the essence of the episode. For example, there was one with sheesha, it was about Kampong Glam and HAJI LANE. Haji Lane is KNOWN for sheesha... so to me, it needs to be in there. It might seem a little promotional, but it really loses a lot of the essence lah.

Anyways,

Now more to the fun side - Production.

I get to go for shoots with my colleagues. And I swear, there have been SO many places in Singapore that I'd never been before and I got the chance to explore.

Like this place in Sembawang. It's in Sembawang Park. I had never seen a sunrise as beautiful as the one over there at Kampong Wak Hassan.



Now how gorgeous is that?
Pictures like these, I don't put on Instagram haha. I save for myself. Kidding, true reason is I dunno how to post panoramic photos HAHHA. But yeah.. I've been to Singapore's ONLY HOT SPRINGS in Sembawang as well! And it's really cool.. Just working on On the Red Dot got me in touch with THE LITTLE RED DOT so much more.

Sometimes, I think there's actually a whole lot more to this country that we can ever know. I agree sometimes when people bemoan that there's nothing to do here. It's true, there are thousands of shopping malls, and more to be erected. But I think it's our passiveness to explore further in this little country of ours. I myself am amazed. Thinking I know everything already, but actually.. no.

And yes, on shoots, I help to take production photos, act as calefare or move things about. Yeap, I'll be there. I don't have to be there most of the time. The producer manages on their own, but I kaypo and go coz I wanna learn. It's quite cool to watch them direct their own episodes. But usually, once I reach the location, I get so damn tired I wanna sleep ahhaha. But yes, learn I do.

Once, I helped to conduct an interview with an aunty who could only speak mandarin. I was helping my Malay colleague. Thought it'd be easy, but nabeh, I realised how bad my Mandarin was. I seriously REFLECTED. Even my Malay colleague could tell how jialat I was. I struggled. I'm thinking of borrowing Chinese library books to read. I'm guessing my basics is pretty screwed up. Ever since Primary 3. My first Band 3. Primary 2 it was Band 1. I dunno what happened.


Also, I work with Otelli Edwards, presenter for ORD. She's really really cool and nice. She's the only presenter I've ever worked with but everyone tells me... she's one of the best. Coz she's not a diva hahaha. Pretty down-to-earth. Had drinks with her too fwahahha. I was really quite shy when I first met her. Star-struck, I must admit. Now, she's a colleague. Texting and emailing her doesn't seem as daunting as when I first did.

Working as an Intern here in CNA has made me realise....

Yes, a degree is important. It gives you the head start coz I realise how important it is as a gateway for you to job offers. It really is. I've a colleague, no degree, therefore he couldn't start off as producer. And my boss is waiting for him to graduate SO that he can BECOME a producer. And they're just waiting. So.. that piece of paper, as they all say, is really important.

Also, whatever I learnt in school does actually help. The technical skills of Final Cut Pro really did help me I believe. I understood the terminology in the scripts. I understood all those things. Having a degree in Communications is not NOTHING. Having studied Communications and am still studying Comms, is something. It actually helped me at work. Quite impressed by how closely related those things were.. what I studied and real life.

All those are important, but they are never as important as what you will learn On-the-Job. Experience truly is the most valuable lesson you can ever have. Therefore, I say the internship has really opened my eyes to quite a lot of things.

Firstly, you might have the qualifications, the know-hows, the very valuable piece of paper, but I've never felt that this one other thing overrules all other qualifications, and that is...

PEOPLE SKILLS.

I swear to God, you need people skills at work. I've never felt it more valuable than anything else ever. And you will only know when you work. You realise... knowing your shit is not as important as knowing the people around you. And how well you get along with them.

On my side, being able to work with the cameramen, the video editors, your fellow producers, YOUR BOSSES (duh), ALL lead up to a great work life. I swear. In any point in your career, you will need help. And help comes in the form of those around you. Without that help, you will really struggle. And I've seen it lah. One of my previous colleagues, she had the BEST qualifications out of everyone. But she couldn't get along with people, and guess what, she left. Maybe that was her intention all along lah, like she never wanted to stay. But even so, I really couldn't see her stay for long as well.

So yes, whatever the Chinese said... Guan Xi, that is the key to every career. You need to know how to work your way around people. Ya know, it's not the work that is scary sometimes.. PEOPLE ARE THE SCARIEST THINGS ON EARTH. My goodness.

That really is how my job is like. And I've learnt aplenty. But I feel like I've a lot more to learn tho.

What now?

I'm happy to say that my bosses are letting me and another intern produce an episode together. And that is awesome balllzzz. Which means I get to write my own script, do my own interviews, direct production. WOW. It is really quite exciting tho challenging at the same time. I've been waiting to do this lah. In fact, I've been so HUNGRY to do this.

I'll tell y'all more as we progress into April coz that episode is due in May but we've to film in April so there's much prepping to do.

That's what I've been doing the past 3 months and I feel like my internship is gonna end real soon. Like exchange, I kinda don't want it to end? Haha.

And starting on this internship has really got me thinking about what I wanna do upon graduation. Like what job I want to do, where I want to go, do I like what I'm doing?

A lot of things are not cast in stone yet, and I do hope life brings me a lot of great opportunities. I mean that's what everyone hopes for. I'll save this for another time tho, I think it deserves another post on its own.

For now, WHATTA COMPREHENSIVE POST THIS HAS BEEN. Pat on the back. But I'm gonna lose sleep. Tmr gotta wake up bright and early to go roller blading with cousin and uncle, then Joo Chiat with May and finally round it off with Huiquan's Dance Concert. Fooyooh, I'm made of steel bro.


I'm gonna leave y'all with some photos of me and my outings with friends. Many, I don't post on Instagram, and only for y'all to see : ) Cheers!

Thanks again, those taggers whoever you are. It really does make me feel touched that PEOPLE DO WANNA HEAR ME TALK. Loll. Why ah? Why yall wanna hear me talk? Haha. It makes leaving blogging even harder. I do like to blog, it's just the time. I know it may sound like an excuse but I think it comes with growing older. There's so much more things to do that blogging takes the backseat. Don't even have time for myself to stop, reflect and blog anymore. It's hard, but I will try guys. I will try. It's something I enjoy doing anyways, it's just pure laziness and tiredness. I must confess.







See you guys real soon : )

This is sad.

It really is. But I think I'm losing my blogging mojo. I no longer have the itch to blog. No longer feel guilty for not blogging (which was what always brought me back to blogging). But I really no longer feel like blogging.

I'm afraid... this could really be the end of blogging for me. Oh ma gad. You're sad? EVEN I AM SAD. I think it's becoming one of those msn fads. Once so popular, then it goes away. I usually am the last few clinging on. In fact, when msn was dying, I clung on to it. And of course, to be able to cling on to it, I must still have had friends on msn. Well, there was one. And that was Jia qi hahahahaha. After I got Facebook, Msn died. It died for me.

Now, blogging seems to be going with it. Which is sad lah. I mean, it's like a diary that has run out of pages, closed, and dumped to a side in a cardboard box. Safely kept forever. With thoughts, memories, in this case of zapyou, years and years of memories. Since I was 14. That is almost 8 years worth of memories.

Interesting how these technological fads come and go...

Unlike the case of msn, whereby Facebook became a more popular means of communication, no other medium stole me away from blogging. Yet I've grown lazy from blogging.

Then, actually, I think.. there WAS a medium that stole me away.

I think Instagram took its place. It took blogging's place. I must admit, I've been Instagramming a lot lately.

Why?

Because it's so much more user-friendly than blogging in terms of picture uploading. You send it right there and then when you snap the picture, you have a little caption to go with it. There you go, a wrap up of the things interesting in my life. Then there really isn't no point in blogging anymore. Uploading pictures takes agesssss on blogs. And with so many pictures, it takes even longerrrr. For Instagram, you just pick one perfect picture and done, it's shared with all my friends.

Best of all, your picture gets validated. You get likes. You know who's following you. You know that people know about your life. And that's simply that. We love sharing about our lives. And a small mouthful of that is enough. One picture. That's all it takes.

I think one thing about Instagram is that, my circle of friends are on it. They no longer blog. So, Instagram is the new place to be. To update and update on your life. It's the new means of updating your friends about your life.

But I still love how blogs dig deeper. You know and understand a blogger- his traits and whims- by the way she or he types. The way he comprehensively writes down his thoughts, it's easier to dissect and understand what a person is like through their writing.

Whereas Instagram? NEH. Everyone shares about the good stuff. Nobody takes a picture of a dead cat and says "That's me. My life is dead. Like this pussy." Then you're just gonna be awkward and nobody's gonna give a shit about your dead picture of a cat hahaha. There's an image to upkeep on social media man. Blogging isn't really social media. More like old media now. Even Xiaxue is failing to blog coz of her motherly duties. Only Tammytay, who recently announced her pregnancy to the whole world. But for her, I think it's kinda like her bread and butter. Xiaxue has made a name for herself already, everyone knows her and so the money comes to her. She's not obliged to blog regularly.

And me? Hahahahha, I'm just an NTU kid on Internship right now. I probably have lost all my lovely readers. One of them is me. I have stopped contributing. Sigh.

Before I decided to blog about this post, I even hesitated coz I was lazy. Lazy to type. Lazy to do anything. Nobody's gonna read. Even my friends aren't gonna read. Coz they no longer blog. And I think they've recently seen a lack of updates on my blog. So they're not gonna read.

NO ONE'S READING. So there's almost no obligation to continue blogging.

It's really sad lah. I mean, I can continue typing this to myself. Yes, like a diary. But diligence and commitment must come with it.

Actually. Even Facebook is getting boring to me. I dunno what I should do. Actually I do. I have the itch to travel again. Need to get my bum off and do something. I have the itch to get my ears pierced (finally) but maybe in May haha. I have the itch to simply try something new lah. Change my look or something.

Working has been keeping me really occupied recently. It's slowly getting into the daily grind of things. Like I know what comes next etc etc. And things go smoothly. I just can't wait to start filming my own episode of On the Red Dot. I want to challenge myself to do something. I feel BORED. I dunno why suddenly. Maybe coz I'm just tired now.

Or maybe I'm just sad that I'm at the brink of putting an end to this blog. Sigh!!!!

In any case, the blog will always be here. I won't ever shut it down as long as the great World Wide Web is still around. I won't~ It'll always be here. I will always be here. I wish to blog about something amazing soon. Share more thoughts about things I think about. Have so much inner thoughts that need to be typed out eh.

See ya lata, soon I hope : )

Ahh shucks, I was supposed to help my school blog about today's Open House on Thursday but I procrastinated!! So I guess, blogging about it wouldn't help much. But I'll list the stuff about my school!