August 13, 2006

Finally, a job I've wanted..

The long wait is finally over...

Finally, the long wait is thankfully over. I've landed myself a job in a production team with a production house apparently quite well-known in the industry. To be exact, they call it an internship and therefore there won't be a salary but we'll be given an allowance for it. Exposure to the industry is what I need and want most presently, the quite satisfying allowance is actually a bonus though it can't quite be compared to a salary.

I introduced myself as a tv-addict during a part of the interview. Very apt, eh? It sounds funny, but I do enjoy watching 'the makings' of some productions more than the production itself at times. Haha.. When I was young, I thought I had an interest in acting and even signed up for some acting classes. Sadly, the classes never started cuz there were insufficient applications to start a class, while the karaoke class had too many applications that they started two classes for it. Urgh.

The interviewer said the people there are generally fun-loving people, but some not-so-pleasant words may be thrown around sometimes when production deadlines are approaching. Well, I fully understand that, it happens everywhere(almost), isn't it? One can't take these words blurted in the heat of the moments to heart cuz you'll end up being the only one hurt. I've learnt that. Quite long ago. My previous editor calls it 'creative criticisms' - how apt.

So, it's a brand new opening for me when the sun rises for me tomorrow.

I'm hoping for it to be a good day where I'll learn the ropes while having fun. Is that too much to ask for? Hmmm..ok, i'll lower my expectations then. How about just a reasonably pleasant day where I'll start with hanging on to the rope? Sounds good enough.

Wish me good luck!

Til then folks! Cheers!

August 08, 2006

Simple yet fulfilling trip

July 5, 2006 - Simple yet fulfilling trip

It's always nice to just meet up with old or new friends, even if there's no valid or important reason why you should.

For a coffee, a haircut, a dinner(whether at some restaurant or hawker centre), a movie, a concert, a musical, or even just a stroll downtown or down the park. Occassional spurs of the moments might just bring you pleasant surprises, who knows?

Sometimes, things just develop from a mere thought.

Huimin and I wanted a haircut rather badly, and for some rather funny reason, our discussion led us to Aizat to clear some of our doubts about this certain salon. A few short messages with the mobile and the three kakhis went on a mission give-me-a-new-hairstyle.

When we arrived at Bugis, the two hungry prefects(of the main gate in the past) had their stomaches growling so loudly that we had to put food in them immediately, which saw us settling in the V8 Movie Cafe.
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True enough, they showed this Jackie Chan's film on several televisions at one side of the cafe. But we were too busy chatting about everything you could think of, that the flick wasn't given due attention even after the food came (I guess only the really bored diners who had boring lives and nothing to share among themselves were watching it. Oops.. no offence!). We thought only the waitress serving our table was unprofessional, perhaps due to inexperience. Then we decided it was too thoughtful of us to give her the benefit of doubt when another waitress gave quite the same unprofessional attitude. The food is pretty good though, and they come at quite reasonable prices. You might want to visit the outlet for the food and decor and forgo some attentive service. And if you're not in a rush, do ask for a feedback form!

After our very satisfying haircuts, Aizat(the night owl, so we found out) led the way from Bugis to Marina Square for a good view of the fireworks display by the Italy team. The watching of the fireworks display wasn't in our itinerary initially, but either Min or Aizat got hold of the news and some spare time and minimal distance brought us to the crowd. The display was beautiful. Fireworks displays always invoke a feeling of warmth and happiness to people of all ages. A stunning ball burst into colourful captivating sparks at about 2110 hours and marked the first of a 5 minutes or so of fireworks display. The crowd went 'Wah!' in unison while some babies started crying and looking for their mummies. The exclamations of excitement lasted throughout the display, but sort of died down in the middle part, probably caused by thirst. I took in the warmth and happiness of the event suitable for almost all ages in silence and captured the sight with my camera with a smile on the face. I'd even managed a shot of Huimin & Aizat enjoying the sight (even though their expressions in the photo didn't really show).
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I always wonder what goes through others' mind when they're presented with such situations. Do flashes of their families, or friends, or significant others, or unfortunate others go through their minds as the events goes through their sight? Or do people just go blank in the mind and enjoy such sights? I'm one who tends to work my mind a little to hard by thinking a lot. Even as I'm watching some really interesting show, my mind could be thinking about other stuff at the same time. Gee..

I love the silence of the night - The tranquility and peace of it when all hectic schedules come to a halt for relaxation is priceless... which also explains the time of this entry. Haha..

Well, til then folks! Cheers! ;)

August 03, 2006

{Update: August 3, 2006 -- Of adventures(& misadventures) }

{Update: August 3, 2006}

*~ Of adventures(& misadventures) ~*

Story 1: Discoveries - August 1, 2006

It was a day of adventures and misadventures that turned out rather fruitful and enriching.

I had to settle some stuff at my to-be-Unicampus in the morning, after which I decided to pack some food up to my grandma's place for lunch and nap till evening, then meet up with my cousin. The plan brought me across the bridge from my campus and onto the path we used to walk down so frequently almost a decade ago. Though the school building had been replaced by high-rise apartment blocks, the vivid mental imagery seemed to have brought me back to the good old days. The field where we'd played countless times of soccer, boys and girls running across the fields for games of catching, and screamings from the girls when we were unable to snatch the soccer ball from the boys. Every Kodak moment seemed to hit right into me with the gentle breezes. We had left our footprints in almost every corner of the field from morning PE runs, soccer games, catching, and whatever took us there. It wasn't a tad hard to recall the scenes of pure childhood bliss.
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Remember we tried climbing over this gate not only once, but twice or even thrice around Primary four cuz we were almost late for school and the other way to school would only make us late, Sis? For once, some boys from our class even stopped their usual morning soccer game to cheer us on, but it only made matters worse. Being the monkey ching, you climbed over without a hitch quickly and gestured for me to start climbing over before we got really late, and it didn't help at all that I had a crush on one of them and they were cheering us on for an embarassing act. Just what was I thinking? Fortunately I didn't end up like Humpty Dumpty!

Oh, and the other side of the gate used to be this deserted school building formerly housing the students of Queenstown secondary when their school building underwent construction. Remember the days where our guts got the better of us and we explored the deserted school? And who can forget the sudden creaking of a rusty door that sent us on a record-breaking fly back into the safety of our compound?

The concrete path is now buried under layers and layers of wild grass. It will come to a day where people would forget that such a path even existed.

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And remember the ground level house selling the best Ice Lollies Aizat introduced us? Remember the path we used to walk home together everyday? Remember block 24 to block 28 where our 'block catching' and 'area catching' took place every now and then?

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Our favourite desert and Hokkien Mee & Char Kway Teow stalls. The thumb never goes downwards for the quality and affordability of the food from these stalls. If I'm not wrong, I even treated the girls (our 'seven sisters') to desert on one of my birthdays cuz you lovely girls gave me such endearing presents. ;) Thankfully most of you gave a thought for my wallet and ordered the cheaper choices.

I'm never deprived of topics to chat with my Grandmother. Even with my not-so-fluent-Teochew, I can blabber on and on about everything from updates of my friends they know of, to what I'm up to, to what the other relatives are up to. Speaking of which, there's sort of a saga that's brewing over slow fire before exploding one not-very-fine day. Well, what can we say? It won't help anyway. Since the leads of the saga are unaware of the situation for now, the rest of us in the know will just stay away from troubled waters and wish for the best. Phew!

Then Grandpa showed me this very adorable photo of me and my cousin, JinCai, after I gobbled down my sinfully delicious Hokkien Mee. Heehee..
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For unknown reasons, I didn't exactly like smiling for the camera when I was younger, though my mum trained me to get accustommed to getting into cheesy poses when I got older (and I think I actually grew to enjoy it). I loved acting cool, well.. ok, I still do - just in a different manner.

A full stomach and a welcoming sea-blue bed brought me into Dreamland effortlessly. Before my beautiful dream could get to the finale, the melody from my mobile aroused the drooling big bear from her sweet dreams as the alarm dutifully went off at 5pm.

Then, the misadventures started when a just-awoken bear met up with a blur sotong. I thought I was quite good with directions and recognising of routes, but when you meet someone like my cousin, don't be surprised when you turn into some unfamiliar route unknowingly and walk on to a totally different place.

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But it was a fruitful misadventure. We discovered many different, special, and some exciting places I could bring the rest to the next time we decide to have any gatherings or meals. There was a Japanese Dining Place we came across that I knew our dear Clarice would love coming to. The red and black painted wooden decor looks exactly like a replica of one of those japanese dining huts you see very frequently in modern japanese dramas.

When we finally gave up looking for the damned mall and headed back to where we came from by taking turns to ask for directions, we came across the map at the MRT station which made us felt all the more dumb. So much for walking all over and around where we wanted to go, walked every way, crossed every bridge in vain. Hahaha..Luckily my court shoes were seasoned and marinated to the point of saturation so my feet escaped unscathed from blisters. Wahahaha..can't help but laugh at our own silliness. Silly me!

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Story 2: Treasure Hunt - July 29, 2006

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Nina, Clarice and I decided to go for a treaure hunt together at Chinatown to get 'Cheena-fied', like Nina suggested. In fact, I'm already a certified 'Cheena-town treasure hunter' since I'd found treasures at low costs since the start of the year and you can quite safely say I'm a regular there. Besides good rates for various cosmetic and skincare ranges, the variey of handicraft and accessories there is unbeatable! And what I loved of that place is the spirit of 'digging for treasure'. When you find something there you've always wanted after much effort, the phrase 'sweet fruits of labour' can't be more apt. The ladies went home as happy as they could get with a truck full of things they couldn't believe were priced that low when simple things like these could retail for 10 times the profit.

It wouldn't be right if we'd missed savouring authentically good traditional desserts. Being good kids, all three of us filial children even packed home packets of desserts to ferry all the way back to the West. Wahahaha..

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I love exploring new places, especially interesting ones like these. Be it an adventure or misadventure, it's exhilirating when you go exploring without an itinerary. Hmmm... where shall we venture next?

Hahaha..

Til then folks! Cheers to this drama-addict who has gotten herself more active outdoors! Wahahaha.. ;)