Extra, Extra; Read All About It...

Or not. Depending on the context taken.

Now, one of my modules I've been taking has been a challenge for me of late. In fact, this semester should have been labelled as LEVEL 5 CHALLENGE...TAKE AT OWN RISK.

Anywayz, Print News 1 is not a walk in the park as it had seemed back when Veronickah was taking it. I'm done with my photo story where I half-smoked my way through just to make it seem credible but, hah!! I just asked the questions that got me the answers that I wanted.

This current assignment however, is a whole different ball game. Photo Story was like, learning in depth how to play soccer and further defining your skills --not that I have much to begin with but you get my drift.

Feature Story is like learning to play hockey and skate all at the same time, trying your damnedest not to fall flat on the cold, hard ice.

I got the idea of my Feature Story through my lecturer who was just tossing us ideas on what to write and one of the better ones that she tossed --that was of my interest, of course-- was to do an interview. As she went deeper into the topic of interviews, something about a family of footballers came up.

And duhh, did I know a family of footballers.

So. Here I thought, okay, this was going to be a piece of strawberry cheesecake, right?? I mean, how hard could be it to be granted an at-home interview??

Rock hard.

Being a non-press member, I couldn't ring up my contacts from the Singapore Sports Council for me to get connected to the club who would then put me through to the general manager.

The best I could drum up was of course, the general manager's wife. When his wife came to pass me a casserole dish filled to the brim with kacang pool --and let me tell you, that is one of my weaknesses and it took my all not to lick that dish clean-- I mustered up enough steel to ask for an interview with the general manager and her boys. Then I proposed to her an idea by my lecturer of following her family around for a day just to get a feel of being in their shoes.

My God. The way she got all antsy and defensive.

You'd think I was a paparazzi with a dSLR strapped across my shoulder and would click at 50 frames per second at the sight of her used-to-be-or-maybe-not famous husband and four less-than-well-behaved brats and splash their pictures all over The New Paper.

Are you friggin' KIDDING me!?!?

Please, woman. I need a grade, okay?? Without this assignment hounding my ass, do you think I would actually give a tiny rat's ass to find out all the details about your high life?? You're shitting me, right?? I live right next door. I live it too. It's no big deal. Although sometimes I think it's more of a liability than an asset, but whatever, I've deviated.

And I think she insulted my intelligence by insinuating I write up about the general manager's wife being pregnant with her fifth child.

"But you're not pregnant," I pointed out, giving her flat stomach the evil eye.

She had the gall to suggest I strive for speculation.

"You mean like tabloids?? Sorry, I don't do trashy news," I gave my best disdain-tinted tone. Not that I don't appreciate a good sensationalized news piece every now and again but this wasn't about trying to dig up something that wasn't true. It was for a school paper, for God's sake.

That set her straight.

Even then, my interview with the general manager was not to be granted because Madam Control Freak Slash Manager said she'd give me whatever material needed --a.k.a through HER, not her husband, not her boys-- to ensure that I received a good grade.

She obviously didn't get it. It's not about the grade. It's about being a good news writer. One who can convey observations and pen it to paper so others can live that experience.

Well, fine. I've already typed down my questions for a supposed interview that obviously isn't going to happen. I'll just pass it to her and she can answer ALL of them. Sorry, though. None of the questions are about you.

If it boils down to it and I can't get the story that I want, I'm sorry. I'll have to smoke my way through. And trust me, that would go even worse than how a simple interview would.

Because of this whole shenanigan, I'm increasingly thinking Print News 1 is a bitch to deal with.

Talk about being anal.

BOLLOCKS!!

Laterz...
Lenny