intern days..

Print Internship

My print internship was rather, well… interesting and tiring at the same time. Don’t get me wrong with the word tiring, but the fact that you are writing stories but still at the end of the day, your story won’t be published, then, that is tiring and very much depressing. You’ll understand what I mean as you read on…

IN THE BEGINNING

I just came from Leyte when my classmate, Kim Amor sent me a text message saying that we will be meeting the "CDN people" at five in the afternoon. Imagine how tired I was when I came home and then had to go out again to meet with my classmates. I actually had no choice but to go since our internship is very important. When we were in CDN office, we were first briefed by the HR manager. And we had to wait for 30 minutes to meet her. Then she had to make us wait for 3 hours or so to meet with the editor in chief which was having her dinner first. We haven’t had our dinner yet. Kristine, my other classmate, was very agitated since she was made to wait for such a long time without having much to do but to sit there in their office looking at the newspapers and the headlines and stuff. She was really getting angry since she still had a scheduled tutorial. And I was getting very bored as well.

When the editor in chief finally showed up, the air inside the office got very thick, and I can’t seem to look her straight to her eyes. The other guys inside the office seem to look at us with strange look in their eyes, and I knew we were going to be in the hot sit any moment then.

FACE TO FACE WITH THE EDITOR

We were called inside a room they call the Library. We met the editor. They call her Ms. Connie, so we called her that way too. We also met Ms. Mars, she’s the one directly in charge with us- The INTERNS- as they call us. Miss Mars is this petite lady with a sweet voice, but I can sense an air of perfection in her too. Miss Connie, well… I am afraid of her, if I must admit. She is very pretty though… Attractive…

She interviewed us. I was lucky it was a group interview, or else I would have blacked out and I would not know what to say. She told us her expectations, the deadlines that we should meet, and she gave us our beat. I got the City beat. Kimmie got the Provincial beat. Amor got the Police beat. Kristine got the Metro or Mandaue beat and Aireene got the Business beat.

MY FIRST DAY

I was lucky during my first day because I was paired with a reporter with a motorcycle. He is correspondent Chris Ligan. And I was spared with all the hassles of getting out and getting inside a jeepney. I was assigned to do a follow up on the flood victims in Sitio Dakit, Brgy. Guadalupe. It was ok. The next day, my first story was published included in the report of reporter Cris Evert Lato.

DIFFICULTIES AND THE OPPOSITE

It was very hard for me to get my stories published since we have to schedule them ahead of time, and to schedule, we have to send a text message to the CDN Editorial; the message should be the gist of your story with the complete details. Sometimes, I cannot do this because I do not have load. And because I am on a tight budget since my internship allowance is not included in  my mother’s daily budget account, I cannot buy cell phone load always. But then, later on, I learned the technique of PASALOAD. I get load from my mother’s phone, and then use it to schedule my stories.

UNFORGETTABLE DAYS

I have to unforgettable assignments. I really can’t take these days off my mind. The first day was when I was assigned to cover the distribution of wheelchairs with Joy Augustus Young to the Person’s with Disability and the Culminating of the Montessori Training. I had a free lunch and at the same time, I was able to save my money for fare since Sir Young was kind enough to let me ride inside his car, and I had an exclusive interview with him. It was like hitting two birds with one stone. Haha!!

My second most unforgettable assignment was when I was assigned to cover the Takakura Composting Method. I didn’t know how to get to San Carlos Girl’s High and there was a problem in our house that I got to the event late. Luckily, Sir Fernandez was a very good host, that I got the interview with the Japanese and with Paul Villarete and the other people in the program. I also got several hand-outs about the method. My next event to cover in the Young Mind’s Academy at RAFI. I met Chloe there. What is interesting about this day is when I was about to go back to CDN Office to encode and submit my stories, I got pickpocket. I discovered that my wallet was gone. And I had to e-mail my articles instead. I was very disappointed because I lost my wallet!!!!

IN CONCLUSION

At the end of the day, I still go home. Eat dinner. And go to sleep. My internship was something that I could be proud of to tell my grandchildren in the future.

quite perfect..

even though
i’m a little doubtful if i can have 120 points for our print
internship, i will try my best. i’m not a very pessimistic person so at
least i can think positively about this. i’m starting to love the
atmosphere in cebu daily news. i don’t know why, it’s just that there’s
about it today that made me smile. i’m also inspired because kristine,
one of my fellow interns, already finished her internship, and i’m
going to follow her footsteps. it’s good to start fresh..hhhmmmhhmm..

i’m
also excited because cliff nygel will be here soon. i just hope that
they’ll have a safe trip from manila to here; only riding a bus. now,
i’m really familiar with the route they’re taking, but i know that’d be
too tiring..

today,
well i guess i’ve accomplished something. i just don’t know how to name
it. i guess i’m just overwhelmed. and i’m very happy for kristine.

good luck to me!!

a poem..

              MEANDERINGS

Have you ever asked yourself why
Some people are afraid to die?
Have you ever asked why people dwell in pain,
Why some rejoices for other’s gain?

Have you questioned God of your existence,
In a world full of violence and ignorance?
Have you ever doubted your faith in Him
While some praises and glorifies His name?

Is love enough to cover your lies?
Is it enough to hide you disguise?
Can it quench your deadly thirst,
Guide you to the right road you’ll traverse?

Is it enough to follow your heart?
Does it make you weak if you cry when you’re apart?
Or is it better to face reality,
And turn your back to what makes you happy?

                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                        Mara

solitude..

last night i had a dream of my classmate april.

april died last
year during new year’s eve. the car they were in fell off a cliff in
davao which took their lives (she and her sister). imagine our grief
when we heard the news? she was a very good friend to us. she was also
a very talented and intelligent student.

last night i dreamed of
her. she was in apas. i don’t know why but then she approached me an
told me that she was here to visit a friend, she was smiling. i was a
little surprised cause i didn’t know that we had another classmate who
lived in apas. i was thinking that she was visiting me. when she asked
me to go with her to her friend’s house, i woke up.

surprisingly, i was not afraid. i know april would not scare us. i just hope that wherever she is right now, she’s happy.

spaced out..

i woke up because of the
ramblings i heard outside my room. those things were my wake up calls
ever since i can remember. my breakfast was..ahmm..four pieces of bread
and piatos. haha! and i’m not on a diet. i’ve never been on a diet.

i was a little disappointed
last night. i slept at 2 in the morning and all i got from nygel was a
text message saying he was very tired and he’s going to sleep. and i
waited for hours for his message, but that was all that i got! well, i
couldn’t blame him since they just came from aliwan fiesta and i’m sure
they were tired of dancing and walking under the heat of the sun in the
quirino grandstand. but i wished he’d be more considerate to how i felt
last night. well, at least he called.

i guess this dramatic feeling
that i’m feeling right now is just a bi-product of genetically lazy
hormones that has been populating my body! haha! now, where did i get
that? i admit i’ve been very inactive lately. and it’s not me.

i wish this day would be different.

gotta have my breakfast first!

ciao blog!

ps.
my sister and mom and cousin
are coming back today. so i guess it’s bye bye computer. they will take
charge again. which means i can’t update my blogs for some time, i
can’t check my friendster and multiply accounts…
which sucks!