'Tis the season to travel!
Tonight I'll be off for an 18-day-tour around the imperial capitals of Europe. I'm so excited but so far I've been able to compose myself and not get too carried away. I think it's starting to kick in though and I really can't wait any longer :)
We'll be visiting London, and then from there head off to Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republik. Maybe France if time permits. But my budget may disagree. Truth be told, I think I've reached a financial cul de sac :p
Well, au revoir all and hope everyone enjoys their holidays! Pray I get their safe and return here with goodies and tons to tell :)
Muahs!
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
TO THE STARS AND BACK...
My, my how time does fly...
Last week was a wicked ride. I finally completed my Delia Smith piece (due to come up the week of August the 2nd, ladies and gents..) and I also actually interviewed...hold your horses everybody...a cosmonaut! Hell yeah. And who says astronauts only exist on your tv screen :p
It was awesome - except for the fact that I was having a bad case of "runny-nose-dripping-all-over-my-face" flu. But like a true intern, I braved the flu and went on on this intergalactic task of interviewing Colonel Yuri Gidzenko.
I am proud to say that this time around I was a lot more sane and did not stutter at all. I was composed and calm. I was Cool Yazmin. Yazmin the Journalist. Yazmin the Oh-So-Cool Journalist. *grin*
It also helped that this Russian fella wasn't exactly a linguist and English wasn't his mother tongue. So naturally I was a lot more confident and conducted the interview somewhat professionally (with the occasional sniffs, poor me). He was a warm character, I must add, and we had a few laughs during our little session. Russians are funny. In a nice kind of way :)
The Cosmonaut Edpisode was fun and if it weren't for my flu, I would have been celebrating on table tops that night. Unfortunately the flu took over and soon enough I was sprawled on my bed. Two days straight. I developed rashes and went frantic for awhile when my mum (always the all-knowing doctor :) ) suggested it was measles. So the next day we went to the hospital to get my blood checked, just to see if it was dengue. Funnily enough, as soon as we stepped out of the hospital, the rashes magically disappeared.
Hmmm....
Anyway, so at least it got me out of work. Not that I wanted to (work is so fun!). But I did get enough rest. Only three weeks into this journalism field and already I am starting to feel the exhaustion of being in the frontline. And my tasks aren't even half as hard or demanding as Cheryl's or Sheila's. Who says writing is easy?
After the fading of the mysterious rashes, I was back on my feet and at work. How I missed the Zoo and the other ladies. Seriously, The Edge is the best place to hang out :)
Come Saturday, I went to my first squash match. I honestly didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Unfortunately Nicole lost to some other lass. This has happened before, and I'm wondering if I bring bad luck...
Anyway, after all that, now I'm finally in my final week here at The Edge. It's rather sad and yet I know that somehow it's not exactly the end. Don't ask me the end of what, for I surely can't elaborate. It's just that somehow I feel this is probably the beginning of something more interesting for me. And I'm very much happy :)
But for now, I'm coming to the end of this little chapter of my 3-month-summer. And as much as I feel I have almost reached the stars, I know it's time to fly back down for awhile and get on with college.
Life is full of fun :)
Last week was a wicked ride. I finally completed my Delia Smith piece (due to come up the week of August the 2nd, ladies and gents..) and I also actually interviewed...hold your horses everybody...a cosmonaut! Hell yeah. And who says astronauts only exist on your tv screen :p
It was awesome - except for the fact that I was having a bad case of "runny-nose-dripping-all-over-my-face" flu. But like a true intern, I braved the flu and went on on this intergalactic task of interviewing Colonel Yuri Gidzenko.
I am proud to say that this time around I was a lot more sane and did not stutter at all. I was composed and calm. I was Cool Yazmin. Yazmin the Journalist. Yazmin the Oh-So-Cool Journalist. *grin*
It also helped that this Russian fella wasn't exactly a linguist and English wasn't his mother tongue. So naturally I was a lot more confident and conducted the interview somewhat professionally (with the occasional sniffs, poor me). He was a warm character, I must add, and we had a few laughs during our little session. Russians are funny. In a nice kind of way :)
The Cosmonaut Edpisode was fun and if it weren't for my flu, I would have been celebrating on table tops that night. Unfortunately the flu took over and soon enough I was sprawled on my bed. Two days straight. I developed rashes and went frantic for awhile when my mum (always the all-knowing doctor :) ) suggested it was measles. So the next day we went to the hospital to get my blood checked, just to see if it was dengue. Funnily enough, as soon as we stepped out of the hospital, the rashes magically disappeared.
Hmmm....
Anyway, so at least it got me out of work. Not that I wanted to (work is so fun!). But I did get enough rest. Only three weeks into this journalism field and already I am starting to feel the exhaustion of being in the frontline. And my tasks aren't even half as hard or demanding as Cheryl's or Sheila's. Who says writing is easy?
After the fading of the mysterious rashes, I was back on my feet and at work. How I missed the Zoo and the other ladies. Seriously, The Edge is the best place to hang out :)
Come Saturday, I went to my first squash match. I honestly didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Unfortunately Nicole lost to some other lass. This has happened before, and I'm wondering if I bring bad luck...
Anyway, after all that, now I'm finally in my final week here at The Edge. It's rather sad and yet I know that somehow it's not exactly the end. Don't ask me the end of what, for I surely can't elaborate. It's just that somehow I feel this is probably the beginning of something more interesting for me. And I'm very much happy :)
But for now, I'm coming to the end of this little chapter of my 3-month-summer. And as much as I feel I have almost reached the stars, I know it's time to fly back down for awhile and get on with college.
Life is full of fun :)
Sunday, July 18, 2004
ARTICLES, DELIA SMITH, AND AN INTERESTING SATURDAY AFTERNOON
A week with The Edge and I'm starting to feel the pressures of deadlines and interviews. The first week, I was given the task of preparing the Markets section of Options (which will be out tomorrow for the week of July 19th :)). Though it's nothing huge - just 2 short articles "selling" some products and a 500+ word story on juggling careers and parenting - I'm still pretty psyched; my very first byline :D
The next excitement was that I attended a pretty posh launching of a well-known beauty product. It was a modest affair with only a couple of journalists from 6-8 selected newspapers. I came home with a goody bag and some serious reconsideration of my current major :p I was later told by Cheryl that they travel a number of places each year, with Switzerland being an annual visit, in order to cover stories. If that's not enough, they actually get a lot of stuff from the launchings they attend. Think Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Drool...
Then came my major assignment: I was to interview Delia Smith: national icon, bestselling cookery author and director of Norwich City Football Club. I might as well have entered myself into Fear Factor and chugged a bucket of snails. So great was my fear. However, I came out of the interview in one piece, though my interview notes are another story (I kept forgetting to jot down what she said). And as much as I'd like to brag that I conducted the interview like a natural, I actually froze a couple of times and stuttered like an old jalopy ("S-So h-ho-ho-how, er wh-wh-what inspires you?"). Sheila saved me many a time, filling in the awkward silences that followed when my mind went blank. Oh the agony (Kill me somebody, kill me now). Sheila told me not to kick myself too hard since it was, after all, my first interview. It was indeed a great experience; priceless some might say. And acting a fool in front of Sheila and Delia was actually a decent price to pay.
The next excitement was that I attended a pretty posh launching of a well-known beauty product. It was a modest affair with only a couple of journalists from 6-8 selected newspapers. I came home with a goody bag and some serious reconsideration of my current major :p I was later told by Cheryl that they travel a number of places each year, with Switzerland being an annual visit, in order to cover stories. If that's not enough, they actually get a lot of stuff from the launchings they attend. Think Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Drool...
Then came my major assignment: I was to interview Delia Smith: national icon, bestselling cookery author and director of Norwich City Football Club. I might as well have entered myself into Fear Factor and chugged a bucket of snails. So great was my fear. However, I came out of the interview in one piece, though my interview notes are another story (I kept forgetting to jot down what she said). And as much as I'd like to brag that I conducted the interview like a natural, I actually froze a couple of times and stuttered like an old jalopy ("S-So h-ho-ho-how, er wh-wh-what inspires you?"). Sheila saved me many a time, filling in the awkward silences that followed when my mind went blank. Oh the agony (Kill me somebody, kill me now). Sheila told me not to kick myself too hard since it was, after all, my first interview. It was indeed a great experience; priceless some might say. And acting a fool in front of Sheila and Delia was actually a decent price to pay.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
A WANNABE'S WRITING STINT
As soon as I arrived home, I felt elated that I had a whole 3 months to neglect my brains and stuff my face with real food. But come the second week of hols, I couldn't stand it; it was too dull to stay home, too quiet, and it didn't help that I spent the first weeks shopping with mum all day buying stuff out of pure lust.
So I distributed my writing portfolio and resume to a couple of magazine/newspaper publishers. I figured that since I'd propably be coding for the rest of my life (oh joy..), this would be the only chance for me to try my hand at journalism/publishing.
The Asian Wall Street Journal offered me a 1-week stint and The Edge offered me a month with their paper. I chose the latter mainly because The Edge is well-known locally to the corporate world and because I needed that whole month to occupy myself and the fact that the words 'Wall Street Journal' (brrr...) scares me a little: I wanted to settle on something a little lighthearted and a little less technical. Besides, their HQ is in Hong Kong, so I probably wouldn't get to see the entire workings of a published newspaper.
Upon arriving at The Edge, I was greeted by Ms. Alicia who handled all the formalities which consisted of me signing some documents stating I had to keep company secrets to myself (heh heh heh...no I promise I will, Brownie's honours!). Then I was brought on a tour around the building(s). Apparently they had read my writing portfolio and figured I was best suited at the lifestyle section of The Edge called Options.
No more than 2 minutes had passed as I sat at my desk when a lady came over. She introduced herself as Maryanne and stood there talking with me for awhile. The name struck a chord but I wasn't sure. Then I asked, "Maryanne? You're Maryanne Tan?!?" For the first time in journalism history I was star-struck. I have read her columns before and here she was standing by my desk chatting away about something (I was only half listening because I was flabbergasted). Looking like an overeager amateur writer wannabe, I instantly bombarded her with questions and advice. Maryanne was so nice to actually answer me well and bear my eternal smile I was wearing (so much like an idiot's that by the time the conversation ended, my face was aching).
The entire crew for Options consists of only 3 beautiful ladies: Surinda the Editor, Sheila whose forever jetlagged, the poor thing and Cheryl the sweet and zesty. I finally met them around 10-ish and we all went to grab a drink at the cafe. Surinda had to run some errands before she could head out with us so she told Sheila, "I'll meet y'all at the zoo".
Light dawned when we reached the cafe: above the door was a sign that said FinancialZoo. Oh what fun it was when I found out that staff could have all the coffe, tea or milo they want and all the ice-cream they could eat!
As I sat there with my pelangi Paddle-Pop listening to Surinda talk about assignments and interviews and explaining that they normally come in to work at 10am (you don't say..), I knew that this was the best job ever...
So I distributed my writing portfolio and resume to a couple of magazine/newspaper publishers. I figured that since I'd propably be coding for the rest of my life (oh joy..), this would be the only chance for me to try my hand at journalism/publishing.
The Asian Wall Street Journal offered me a 1-week stint and The Edge offered me a month with their paper. I chose the latter mainly because The Edge is well-known locally to the corporate world and because I needed that whole month to occupy myself and the fact that the words 'Wall Street Journal' (brrr...) scares me a little: I wanted to settle on something a little lighthearted and a little less technical. Besides, their HQ is in Hong Kong, so I probably wouldn't get to see the entire workings of a published newspaper.
Upon arriving at The Edge, I was greeted by Ms. Alicia who handled all the formalities which consisted of me signing some documents stating I had to keep company secrets to myself (heh heh heh...no I promise I will, Brownie's honours!). Then I was brought on a tour around the building(s). Apparently they had read my writing portfolio and figured I was best suited at the lifestyle section of The Edge called Options.
No more than 2 minutes had passed as I sat at my desk when a lady came over. She introduced herself as Maryanne and stood there talking with me for awhile. The name struck a chord but I wasn't sure. Then I asked, "Maryanne? You're Maryanne Tan?!?" For the first time in journalism history I was star-struck. I have read her columns before and here she was standing by my desk chatting away about something (I was only half listening because I was flabbergasted). Looking like an overeager amateur writer wannabe, I instantly bombarded her with questions and advice. Maryanne was so nice to actually answer me well and bear my eternal smile I was wearing (so much like an idiot's that by the time the conversation ended, my face was aching).
The entire crew for Options consists of only 3 beautiful ladies: Surinda the Editor, Sheila whose forever jetlagged, the poor thing and Cheryl the sweet and zesty. I finally met them around 10-ish and we all went to grab a drink at the cafe. Surinda had to run some errands before she could head out with us so she told Sheila, "I'll meet y'all at the zoo".
Light dawned when we reached the cafe: above the door was a sign that said FinancialZoo. Oh what fun it was when I found out that staff could have all the coffe, tea or milo they want and all the ice-cream they could eat!
As I sat there with my pelangi Paddle-Pop listening to Surinda talk about assignments and interviews and explaining that they normally come in to work at 10am (you don't say..), I knew that this was the best job ever...