Working Experience

I would say that I learn more or less, in my gathering news technique and writing skills. Learned a lot from the editors and seniors. But there are more to come. Throughout, I met a lot of people, spoke to them. It has taught me bravery, quick thinking, act quick, and use my advantage to an extent.

There are articles that I covered were published in the daily paper and online. I wouldn't say that I had reached, but I would say that I'm still in the process of learning. Indeed, writing news is not as easy as I think. One must write and rewrite and rephrase a sentence to make it sound sensible and easy to absorb (short, concise, straight to the point).

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As of today, the article I wrote came out:

Saturday August 30, 2008 - The Star

Convent Light Street head calls it a day

CONVENT Light Street principal Amy Tan plans to catch up with some reading, cooking and baking following her retirement yesterday.

The dedicated educator was given a rousing farewell amid cheers and appreciative goodbyes from scores of students.

Fond farewell:Students shaking hands with Tan at the school.

Tan was promoted to the post of principal in 2001 after having taught Commerce and English from 1992.

“After this, I’m going to read, cook, bake and take up Mandarin,” she said in Penang.

“I wish to invest in meaningful things while I’m still mentally and physically able and do something challenging to keep my adrenaline active.

“I also wish to spend more time with my husband and family.”

In her farewell speech, she advised her students to have the right attitude and discipline in order to succeed.

Apart from thank you speeches, Tan was presented with gifts such as a card and students’ messages compiled in a book. The students and school staff also surprised her with a birthday cake and song.

The choir group also presented her with a song and cha-cha dance.

They later bade her farewell as she made her way down the school corridors for the last time accompanied by husband Tan Phaik Guan and two daughters before riding off in a shiny dark blue car.

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Yay for me, this is my first by line:

Saturday August 30, 2008

Students spice it up for N-Day

By ABIGAIL TAN

GEORGE TOWN: Students of a private college here have come up with a “spicy” Jalur Gemilang – believed to be first of its kind in the country – to show their patriotism.

They took one week to make the 4.2m by 9.1m flag using dried chilli, white sago and yellow lentils (dhal) glued on white cloth.

The chilli and sago were used for the stripes, the lentils for the crescent and star. Sago, which was sprayed blue, was used as the background.

They used 17kg of chilli, 250kg of sago and 20kg of lentils costing RM800 to design the flag.

Unique mix: Segi students putting the finishing touches to their Jalur Gemilang in George Town yesterday. It took them one week to make the flag.

Segi College Penang Business Executive Club committee member Ch’ng Hoe Soon, who headed the project, said the 26 club members spent sleepless nights to complete the project.

“The aroma of the ground chilli caused us discomfort and we even wore masks,” he said.

Principal Jeffrey Goh launched the flag at the college lobby in Jalan Greenhall yesterday.

“Just like there are different spices, Malaysia has different races and cultures. But we are all Malaysians and proud of it,” he said.

Lecturer and club advisor D. Parimala Devi said she got the idea for the “spicy” flag from the different spices used in nasi kandar restaurants.

Online link - The Star

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I must say that driving around this area (jetty, dewan sri, and green hall, jln. masjid kapitan and pitt street) had help me to understand these road in the hard way. Going to these destinations caused a lot of trials and errors like driving round and round the place over and over again and also a love letter from the council :P

One thing that is concern is the high petrol consumption, especially I have to make trips up and down town, almost everyday. There's one day I was assigned with two assignments that I had to complete. In the morning, I had to drive all the way to Penang Chinese Town (PCT) hall, and then in the afternoon to Balik Pulau area. The driving is killing me. In addition, my car air-cond is not working properly, so it's very stuffy inside with the air-cond cooler going downhill with only hot fan. At times I had to wind down the window, but that only invite unpleasant air inside the car. Let me tell you more.

After coming back from PCT in the morning, I came back to office to write about it. Then, I depart an hour earlier from office to get to Balik Pulau schools. I reach there super early, which is 50 minutes before the event. Supposedly to start at 2.30pm. Now I'm there and there's not many people yet. Slowly it picked up and I interviewed some teachers and students for details. Almost at the end of the ceromony, it rained heavily. As the rain subsided, I went into my car, and my front and back window was fogged with water vapor. That's because when I arrived there, it was so sunshiny hot, what more with my non-working air-cond. And now, with the sudden rain, it had created water vapor. Immediately I wiped the front and climbed to the back to wipe it as well. Then off I go. But the fogging picked up again since my air-cond is HOT-cond. Glad that my car got a heater for the back window, but not for the front. I had to constantly wipe it with my hand while driving, cruising along the windy and slippery road with a bad vision :( It's not fun at all! But I thank God that I safely arrived office.

This is just my second week coming to a close, another 2 months and 2 weeks to go. Oh ya, being a journalist, the schedule is uncertain. You won't know your assignment in advance. It's a day before notice. Besides, you even have to work during your weekends and get off on weekday. Oh..working life! With this, it makes me think of my college days where I had ample of free time, play time, and freedom..only no $$ :P

Ok, gtg..working night shift today..CYA and HAPPY MERDEKA!

P/S: I miss my hiking days.. :(

Lazyness of Busyness?

Oh well, here comes the same old story. Yes, I had not been blogging for some time here, it could be i'm lazy or busy. Sometimes I'm just lost for words and sometimes there's too many things that I wanna do or blog that I ended up not doing anything. Sigh. So here I am, rambling about it. Do you know that kinda feeling? Like you become like blur or dreamy for some moment. This is gonna be a short post, so here it is, that's all I gotta say for now..too many stuff in my head..argh!

Lost Abigail

Fire!!

2nd time this had happened at my apartment.

FIRE!

Well, not that my house is on fire, but the apartment's trash that is located near the stairs.
I was in my living room when suddenly I smelt some haze. So, I supposed it was the haze that came by Penang few days ago, so I don't bother.

Few moments later, the smell became intense. My mom and uncle realized it and went out to check. Smoke were flying up freely from the trash room, beginning from 8th floor. My other neighbours also came out from their house and checked. I even saw the very smoke seeped into my room through the living room.

My mom called the management, and the management called the Bomba. That was like 10 sth in the morning. My mom suspected the cause of the fire is a cigarrette since she saw a man smoking at the staircase. But we don't really know for sure.

Eventually, the smell lessen but it did not subside. The old stench smell of the smoke still lingers around in my house.

12pm. Time to fetch my brother to school. I opt for the stairs since the lifts are working like tortise. As I reached the ground floor, I saw firemen in orange and black stripes walking down the stairs. As I walk towards them to go to my car, I saw their dinasour. Their majestic truck with thick wires of hos to channel water. I saw one unplugging the rubber hos from the yellow water hidrant and some rolling up the water hos. The whole place was wet. They had finished their job and was packing up. I witnessed this at that very moment, but, unfortunately, I didn't bring down my camera! Aiks! If not, this post will be illustrated, and indeed, a picture worth a thousand words. Oh well, what a wordy post this is, I must say.

First Time To Lighthouse YEAH!!

Destination: Go further than Monkey Beach, that is, the Muka Head and up to the Lighthouse!
Date: 9th August 2008
Day: A lovely, fine weather of a Saturday
Time: 9.30am
(supposedly to reach here by 8am but some bugger turn up L8 -__-)

STONED

Is this how you feel like when you're going to hike to one of Penang's greatest hike?

No.

Actually I was just testing my camera to get the right light exposure :P

This picture has became a MUST every time I hike here.

And HERE WE GO! Into the gate, pass the guard, and march right on.

We walk, and hike, and climb, until we reached USM research station beside the beach.


It became a spot for us to catch our breath.

*inhale~exhale~inhale~exhale*


Remember the bird's grave in my last hike? After four days, it had become like this.
Must be the wind that blows off those leaves :S

Some creatures' footprint. Must be the sea turtles that they let loose during the night.

Two Kawaai Girls

And now, here's the action pack! :

Once upon a time..
Action 1
Den call Nick to join him on the bridge to amaze the girls by performing some stuns.

Action 2
Here they are on the bridge, discussing their strategies

Action 3
The obstacle is to jump over the small river so that they might not get wet. Discussion still on..this is not gonna be easy...

Action 4
"Are you ready Nick?" said Den.
"I hope so!" replied Nick.

Action 5
How do I explain this act? It could be that Den is:

i) I'm so scared..I might lose my balance and fell into the little river..and poor little fishy have to bear my weight.
ii) I'm saying my prayer so that I will be able to jump over the little river with definite success.

Action 6
"Ready, set..."

Action 7
"Just do it!"

Narrator: And they did it successfully

THE END
@__@


and it continues..the camwhore queens and kings..


It is believed that this footsteps belongs to crabs..amazingly, this time I don't see much crab like I saw four days ago..

Comparison: black & white, plump & skinny, fair & dark

I'm walking on seaside..Wooooooo~




What are you looking at, peeps?

I love this pic!
It's at the right spot, right scenery, right lighting, and right angle!


Olympic training

Says it all..

It's time to get serious..

Candid and natural

Journey continued..

Over the tree

Nick's dried tail..

Showing off their strong, muscular legs..at least they think so themselves :P

After much of ups and downs, jumping down, robes, rocks, leaves, trees, bridge, and staircase, we finally reached Monkey Beach / Muka Head.

When we first reach at the beach after a series of hiking trails, all are rejoicing, greeting the salty water, boats, sunshiny day, and fine sand.

We first sat at the nearest table and chair but was asked to move somewhere by some local there because he wanted to reserve the seats to foreigners. Bummer.

So we walked and walked under the scorching sunlight, and we find that there are more people there rather than from the start. Then we finally found a perfect spot, free from the crowds, free from the sunlight.


I especially brought some marshmellow, Super rings, and Mister Potato..

As a results...

Marshmallow halfway into the mouth!
(how does this look like to you? I don't see any resemblance..hehe..does he looked like a robot from his mouth?)

Rachel's blue marshmallow flower in between her lips..muaks!

My artificial marshmallow teeth..grr...

***
Could Nick and Den enter the Man's Hunt?
Whose stare is the deadliest?
***

We left our comfort zone and pursued our ambition

Along the way,
Den spotted something among the sand..a horseshoe crab perhaps?
Took a video of it but too lazy to post it up :P

As we were walking, we could smell delicious aromas of grilled fish and it's kinds..
Makes me drawn to it..
I supposed that these locals who are doing this business earn alot from the foreigners for this.

Though we can't eat it, we can camwhore in front of these little huts..hehe..self-comforting..

This is a nice picture, isn't it?
An anchored boat

Then we passed a man-made cave-house with fresh, green baby trees

It's architect? A child.
The blue plastic bag is the swimming pool
The cave is at the bottom decorated with tiny shells

And then, I found an interesting idea..

..Manipulation of our shadows

***
Some of the hikers with their heads covered:

Contestant 1: Rachel Tan

Contestant 2: Den Lee
***

We passed two bangalows..the first one looked haunted, dark, and abandoned, and the second one is resided.

and we saw this post:

Pak Atan.
According to Den, Pak Atan was the one who gave him some tour guide when he came here five times before with his youth group

Past this post, is where all the hard work needed. We are at the climax of our destination.
To the lighthouse!
We have to climb up all the way by staircase for 30-45 minutes, based on our speed and how often we stop for rest.

The starting point of the staircase

Hiking before Monkey Beach is not that tiring, but this one drains every bit of our energy. Lactic asid rushed in our muscles so freely that we had to stop quite often to restore our body.
It was the most tiring hike from the whole journey.

So, we stopped by a hut

Rachel & Tung is very HOT

The trying to act cool Nick
But I tell you, it's good to go hiking with Nick cause he will be your inspiration, as when he hike, he's like as light as a feather, walking far ahead of you..really an inspiration to move on faster.

Den can't take it anymore! sweat sweat sweat!!

Wiping off my sweat

Then we continued. This is how the staircase look like:


We climbed for about an hour just to find out that the lighthouse is CLOSED!
Grrr...


But I popped in my camera through the fences and took a picture of the great lighthouse:

Can see but cannot go up :(

That time it was 1pm.


Dissapointed, exhausted, tired, and fatigue, we dragged ourselves downstairs.

BUT..
Always beware of strangers..

Be aware of the 'ham sap lou'

***


Then we came down and reach back to the beach. We decided to take boat back since it's already 2pm and we're all very very tired.

Fortunately, we managed to get Pak Atan's boat. He had been on business for 16 years already, and his customers who came back has evolved in life, which is, from single life to marriage, and have children and they are still the loyal customers of Pak Atan!

But seriously, he's a very friendly person and doesn't charge extra. He charge RM 40 per boat for per trip. What more, he just changed his old boat to a new one. This one is really fast.




As it journeys, we can feel strong wind hitting on our faces.
This is what happened to Rachel's hair!

The so called 'Makan angin'


A picture with Pak Atan
I would highly recommend to you to take his boat. It's only RM 8 per person compared to my last trip was RM 10. The previous one wasn't a very friendly person, quite stuck up.

We reached to our car in no time. Some of us was jumping and shouting "hot hot!" as tar road was very hot for our bare foots (took off our shoes to board the boat) to the toilet to wash our legs.

Next, is makan time!
First thing comes to everyone's mind is to have an icy cool ice kacang that melts in the mouth.

Then we remembered that Tung's mom sells ice kacang, so we went there.
This coffee shop is famous for ice kacang and home made durian ice cream.
The shop is very near Komtar.

Ice kacang with jelly and ice cream


Other food sold:

Jawa Mee

Koay Teow Th'ng

Char Koay Teow (this is good!)

Poh piah
This is made by Tung's granny

Pai Tee
Also by Tung's granny

Loh Bak

We ate all we could to our limit. Indeed, the food is more than enough but it was finished anyway.

The home made durian ice cream. Nice!


Den ordered Char Koay Teow, and as you know, it is filled with prawns, lap cheong, and ham, and these are Den's enemies! He just don't eat them!

"No seafood messes around with me!!"

Everyone went home with a satisfied heart.

What I enjoy most from this trip is the camwhoring session, and also the sight seeing.

Next up, Kerachut again this Sunday!!