[Tuesday, 22 May, 2007]

I was busy with work and had my supper after 2am. Finally, I went to bed at around 4am. I waked up at 8am and set off for MediaCorp.

By the time I reached the Radio Gate, Wanyu called me and I got to find out the instructions from her. I went over to the guard at the guard house and asked him whether I had to register somewhere in order to go in. he answered in a sarcastic manner like as if I was born to know all the procedures.

I walked to the wrong direction but managed to find my way to the costume department with the aid of a lady. The auntie at the counter was not as polite. She told me to find a suitable pair of leather shoes which were hung outside and since the sizes were not indicated properly, I had to take extra time to compare the sizes. Suddenly she called me in a rude tone and said that I could have told her if I could not find it, as if I knew she had many more shoes inside the store. If she had the brain, she would have told me earlier that she could get a pair with exact size for me. I got changed into the policeman’s uniform and the belt was a hassle. The auntie helped guided me along with the same “heck care” tone and thus I decided to forgive her for her rudeness since she was kind enough to help me.

I managed to make friends with three other part time actors. The bus did not set off on time. After a girl boarded it, we finally set off which was around half an hour upon the scheduled time. She sat at the front seat like as if she was at home and later, I got to know from my fellow “policemen” that she was an actress called “Jessica”.

We went to Hougang, which was very near to Lorong Ah Soo. We proceeded to the car park straight away and started rotting there. The big group of MediaCorp workers spent lots of time just on a scene and I could see that the actors’ acting were not very good. I got to know more stuffs about MediaCorp from my fellow “policemen” again.

Soon, it was 1pm and the four of us went down to have our lunch. It was an awkward moment for me to dress in the police uniform at the public. I went straight to the nasi lemak stall and went back to sit down as soon as possible to avoid drawing too much attention from the public.

At 2pm, we went back and finally began our work. As foreseen, there was nothing much I had to do but to walk around. The director was a lady who was not very impressive but was able to control everything good enough. The video camera man was a joker. I had roughly three scenes as background policeman and I could not hear the “cut” from the director most of the time. The vehicles leaving the car park delayed the filming.

We set off for MediaCorp after 3pm. Like previously, we did not talk on the bus. As I was returning the stuffs to the costume store, a different auntie served me and she was far worse than the earlier one. She was looking at stupid things like not tightening the belt before returning to her. She also claimed that it was polite to pin the socks together before returning, indirectly scolding me. Alas, she told me to pin the socks with the uniform and after doing it, she said it was common sense to pin the socks on the same hanger as the uniform instead. I felt like slapping her for that was the first time I was there and different people obviously had different ways to keep the stuffs; her method might not be the best but she could have given clearer instruction. After all, I could have junked everything there instead of making them nicely for her. I remained polite.

I had a final clearer understanding about MediaCorp on this day. There were a number of cocky staffs working there, putting on air even though they were only doing the support roles like the guard and costume store. The part time actors were paid very low and they were basically earning nothing much after travelling and taking their own meals in between the filming; they were mainly doing it as interest. The actors and actresses were not as friendly as seen on television but it did not matter to me since I did not give a damn to any of them except for those who could prove great acting skill and did not put on air.

I took bus 167 home and dozed off a couple of time until I waked up at Kim Tian Road. I got so frustrated and at the same time, my brain was almost numbed. I walked home instead of going to the opposite side to take another bus back. I was walking like a zombie somehow with the dizziness.

I took a little rest and bathed before meeting up with Gilbert near my place. We went to Cityhall and Raymond aka Bunnie aka Dog Dog was late as usual. We went to Marina Square and shopped at the Top Man shop. Gilbert was so mesmerized by a top and he refused to leave the shop even though Raymond was already famished. We decided on dining at the Secret Receipt and I had a plate of Fish and Chips, which was not very fascinating or rather, it was plain. Gilbert and I shared a plate of salad as appetiser which was quite satisfying. It took them very long to come over after we called for the bill.

We went back to Top Man shop where Gilbert purchased his top foolishly. He was short of money and he could have saved up the thirty over bucks when he was not very short of causal wear. We went to the G2000 shop but I could not make up my mind to purchase the formal shirts since I was not short I had how many of them inside my wardrobe.

I took train home and started working as usual and got very disappointed that the shares price went down very greatly. It was very stupid to be paid just one cent for every click on advertisements by visitors.