Dear Dreams – Page 150

Acting as Pro Setter

Playing volleyball on last Thursday and Saturday made great difference because of the people present. Since on every Saturday we were playing against the group of old ex Hwa Chong players, no outsider was invited and therefore my team’s members were those who I really considered as team-mates.

The difference between Mingfa and other setters is not just skill but opportunities. He will never fail to neglect any player on the court even though I have been letting him down with my injuries.

I do not really dare to play as setter because the entire team depends too much on the setter. Without good setting skill, all spikers can never perform to their standard. Another crucial thing is the distribution of the ball. I always hesitate when Mingfa asks me to set because I know my own limit.

Sadly, some guys think too highly of themselves and sell themselves as setters. Maybe they can deliver second ball silently, but they cannot place the ball to the correct spot. Some bastards will only give the ball to either the impressive players or those who are closer to them, and you probably will never get to touch the ball at all.

Other than Mingfa and Jingpeng, whoever is trying too hard to play as setter on every Thursday is never deem as a setter to me. I hate being a clown on the court. A spiker who only manages to get a ball once throughout the game when the other spikers are “down” is being insulted, especially when you know obviously the setter does not intend to give you any ball.

On many occasions, I really hate Thursdays even though it is supposed to be the most fun day when Mingfa is in full control of the court. Sometimes I rush down right after filming, I set aside my work or even reject my friends’ outing, and yet I get bad treatments from outsiders.

I may be quiet outside the court at times because I’m really tired, but that does not mean that I have no temper at all. I do not like to label name here because I believe in giving chances.

Filming of Yuan Zhi Hui

This Thursday’s filming began disastrous but it ended up perfectly fine.

First was the unexpected screaming from the SMRT bus driver regardless of reasons that I could not press the bell earlier. I managed to remain as gentleman by not debating, such that, I also managed to save the passengers from being delayed.

The filming was supposed to start earlier but nobody told the other part-timers including me. I managed to reach there on actual time though. I met the wardrobe auntie whom attended to me at my first time. She was extremely demanding and nagging. She was very unpleased that I did not bring my own formal wear since I knew my role already. It was ridiculous because nobody told me before that I had to use my own clothes as props. Anyway, I would prefer to use my own clothes but I had to go for volleyball right after that and that my bag was already big and heavy.

We were sent to a shophouse restaurant behind Nanyang Girls’ High (NYGH) and then brought to the inner dining area besides the kitchen. It was actually such a small place that I wondered how many customers they could attend to at one time.

The “biggest” celebrity around was Dawn Yeoh, Yao Yi Shan, whom Mingfa told me he had teased her when she was in secondary one, tying pony tails to school every day. She looked sweet with her hair tied but when I went to youtube on her video during her singing competition, I saw the difference; both were not ugly but I just preferred her current style. Hairstyle indeed made big difference.

It was supposed to be my first ever and only line but the producer removed most of the lines of the script and even changed it. However, she was a very nice and patient lady; you probably could learn stuffs from her, or at least, build up your confidence. I was quite relieved in the end because both Monica and Jesedy had warned me about her, and she was probably in a very good mood that day.

It was quite boring to have no line; there was no creativity involved. I did not really feel like going down anymore since part-timers had to put up with weird and ridiculous permanent staffs sometimes, and I could not see a bright future continuing. I could have spent the time doing websites at home. However, it was really good experience and also, I could make good friends since most of the part-timers were very friendly people, and sometimes I could get bonus like talking good permanent staffs. After all, I really loved to talk to nice people, and especially the types that I did not get to meet before.

Same like Fiona Xie, Dawn Yeoh thanked everyone after filming. You probably could judge the “arrogance” of the celebrities by this, such that very arrogant ones would not bother to say any pleasing words to raise the morale of the poor staffs including part-timers and extras.

I accidentally left my script and the receipt (or contract) paper on the wardrobe’s briefcase in the end and I felt quite fed up somehow.

New Job Interview

I’m going for interviewing soon on next Tuesday and seriously time is running out. Thanks to Jingkun anyway for speaking up for me because I hate throwing myself at others, selling my good points by myself. I did not even do it during my previous interview, which I still managed to get into that company anyway.

What has it got to do with time is running out? I believe I would get the job given the opportunity to allow Mr Peh to judge me on Saturdays and that they are really short of staffs. To get a job means that I would definitely have less time to do my own websites. I have two domain names waiting for me to nurture them and announce them to the internet world.

I’m slow with lots of distractions at home; but in the past two months, I have managed to get things started. There are just too many things for me to handle on this lonely path.

I’m more efficient with more immediate things coming in at the same time, such that I will not slack as much as now. However, when I begin my job, I have to study so hard at the same time in order to be a good lecturer, and I may not have the time to continue with my projects.

The guilt that I still owe Gilbert our website is piercing at me daily without fail.

But there is one thing I have learnt from Mike that we should not be rushing on things, and instead, do them to the best even when we are lagging behind others.

I’m hesitating at the “quit smoking” site for the contents because my main objectives are just the interactivity and I really need to move on. I need to focus on them for the next few days before I weigh the balance between outstanding and good job.

Filming with Fiona Xie and Dinner with Ben and Jesedy

It was a rainy day. I met the female “reporter” whom I saw a week ago. She was quite nice but a pity that our ages were too far apart and did not have endless topics to chat about. Fiona Xie was sitting in front of me on the packed bus and I was pretty disappointed that we had to travel to as far as Woodlands.

The scenes involved many extras to be walking around or purchasing stuffs at the pasar malam. Since Fiona’s Chinese was not as good as other celebrities, we were worried that the scenes would be delayed due to NGs; moreover, the scenes involved a lot of dialogues.

I was scared at first when our prediction seemed very true but it happened that after the first scene, things went pretty smooth. I hated the same old heavy video camera and this time, the impact on my right shoulder was great. The same botak producer was a nice guy, which was a blessing after all.

When we reached Fiona Xie to start the “filming” on her, the producer enlightened me that they would usually close one eye while using the video camera. It was kind of common sense in fact, and especially when I had experiences holding camera, but it slipped off my mind inevitably. It was not a working video camera and once I closed my left eye, I could see nothing with my right eye blocked by the view finder which was not showing anything at all. I totally knew nuts about how near I was supposed to lean forward and they even had to keep telling me to point the video camera more upwards. While waiting in between scenes, one of the young staffs offered me a chair and I was quite impressed by him for I did not expect him to treat part-timers this good.

I got almost an hour of rest time after my scenes were over because the bus was supposed to send everyone back. At the end of the day, the extras were surrounding Fiona Xie to take photos with her. I did not join in the fun; otherwise I could have shown off to everyone with the photos.

Back at MediaCorp, I went to the Annex Building to look for Jesedy. That was the second time I saw her. It was good to be able to meet up her colleagues who had talked over the phone with me before. Monica recognised me while I was still a distance away from them since she had seen my photos before.

Later on, I had some cold sweat while listening to Jesedy and Ben’s phone conversation. We waited very long for bus 93 and Jesedy decided to take a cab. We met up Ben at Vivo City and camped quite long at the Safari pet shop to look at dogs. After which, we had dinner at Food Republic. The couple knew well that I was jobless and insisted it was their treat.

Unlike other girls, Jesedy knew well Ben and I had not met up for ages and she gave us quality time to chat and gossip without interfering. I supposed she have it all planned since we met up at MediaCorp, otherwise, there might be a cold war after we departed.

Fighting Spammers

I had long hours of battling against spammers, reporting their URL to Google and Technorati, and also updating of ban filter and removing of spammers from .
I came across websites which were actually duplicates. They shamelessly copied my old blog’s contents, which I managed to make some pocket money for a couple of months. It could be one of my greatest glories in my life that the Google page rank was at 6, which was so much better than other useful websites.
I see an increase of spammers from China and Russia from the spammers’ IP addresses, and I suspect a couple of those lame ones who copy site contents are from Singapore.
Shameless lamers are trying all ways to make money.

Should I Feel Weird?

After midnight, when the light was out, my mum tried to wake me up and asked me, “Want to eat pears?”

Should I feel weird?

New Smoking Site Still in Development

I finally decided on the new domain name for my quit smoking website and bought it two days ago in the early morning. However, Mike’s webhost’s side had some problems and we could not create the webspace for the new domain. Luckily, the site was not really for launch at that point of time and thus I was not really frustrated. However, it gave me more doubts in the efficiency of the webhosting company because someone inside probably had an itchy hand since it was working fine a month back.

Anyway, after more than forty-eight hours, the development site is finally moved to the new domain name but it will not be announced until development phase is over.

I’m dead tired after the month of endurance in the loner track, having to do all the designing, programming, researching and testing myself. It is true that only I know what I really want but progress is far too strenuous and lonely. My initial plan is to learn programming but I do not want my effort to go into waste and thus the contents have to be solid. I cannot be the best but I can do my best.

There are ideas to make the site more interactive but more research and programming have to be done.

Visiting Chinese Physician

I finally went to visit the Chinese physician after so many months of dry cough because of the gasp for breath recently during volleyball games. It was a free Buddhist clinic and it only functioned for two hours every morning during weekdays.

I was happy to see the same old doctor whom I used to be visiting for the same problem when I was young. Age had brought more wrinkles to his face.

After taking the medicine, I felt better upon waking up.

Boring Volleyball Games

It is impossible to play volleyball with some people who think highly of themselves. It is a game of six players on each side; if you like to play two persons’ game, go to the beach instead. You can jolly well go back to your previous team-mates and not spoiling other team’s fun.

When you get to see faces which do not seem to be interested on your side of the court after you repeatedly make merry around, do sense something is wrong.

My cough, sprained left finger, weird right shoulder and serious pull on my right leg have weakened me so much. I seriously wonder how much longer I can play on.

Anyway, the uncomfortable feeling of playing does not seem to go away; it could be due to lack of seriousness, too many unfamiliar faces or emerging of smaller groups.

Whatever the case, I suppose I should stick to my plan and focus on career instead.

Time and Money

Appointments always crash.

It is also on my part to play sometimes for the restriction. Vitamin “M” gets better of me. It is pretty good enough that I can survive till this day, being jobless other than earning less than hundred each month at Mediacorp.

I do not like to make things difficult for event organisers but I have to be firm and reject. It is impossible to accommodate to everyone’s request and I have to make sure I have enough vitamin in order to stay alive.

It is frustrating sometimes when things do not work out correctly, but it can be comforting to view in other angles.