preamble to journalism

Listening to: The All-American Rejects' Move Along

A teacher's job is never easy. Every time you think your students are mature enough, they prove to you otherwise. Sometimes you think they can be trusted, but they come up with all sorts of ridiculous antics. Life is supposed to be simple, but why does Man like to complicate things? I do wonder when my patience will ever run out. That's a scary thought.

Oh okay, I didn't start off wanting to blog about this. But it just came out. Ha. for a moment, I considered deleting.. but never mind, you bunch should be able to empathise? :) So sorry to those who have signed up for teaching as a career, the above pre-amble is not meant to discourage you k?

So ryan asked about my journalism career. Where do I start?
The reasons why I wanted to be a journo were aplenty:
1. I have a cousin who's a journalist. I respected him and his influence helped to make the decision;
2. I thought journalism was cool, glam, and everything a gung-ho person would relish;
3. My uni mates wanted to be journalists too..so we went for the interview together.
4. They said that it was difficult to get into S*H, and so when they offered me a job, I was flattered and just had to say yes. (yah, I know, so self-absorbed)

the career lasted an entire three years. When I decided to leave, my ex-boss said he supported my decision. he said: "You are a good reporter, but you'll have problems becoming the best. Because you lack ruthlessness." For a moment, I didn't know if that was a compliment.

But for three years, I hardly had a social life (outside the newsroom). Life was exciting, hectic and I learnt and changed so much in the short three years. But in the end, I packed up and left. And when asked if I hated the job, that's why I left, the answer's no. I loved my previous job. Really.

But if I started to share stories now, this post will last forever. Another day, perhaps.

ps: peiwen, was it you I saw in college recently? with the streaks in your hair?

my history, my story

Listening to: Goo Goo Dolls' Iris

After two weeks of non-stop marking, I've finally found time to blog again.
And just as I was wondering what to blog about, Alyssa came to the rescue with her question on the tagboard. So let's see how I'm going to answer this. What was my dream course and job?

Well, as a young child, I dreamt of being a lawyer. The only reason I can remember is because it seemed like a cool job to have. And it involved talking, just my kind of thing. But as I entered secondary school, I soon realised that it wasn't easy being a lawyer. I began to understood how difficult the job could be - esp when dealing with morals. For example, would I defend a person whom I believed was guilty? If I were to agree, would I be able to do a good job? And of course, someone told me that not all lawyers get to work in court. Okay, cool factor cooled off.

In JC, I told myself that getting into Communications Studies would be my dream course. Why? Because I wanted to be a journalist. Then I couldn't get in. Ha :) I wasn't brilliant in Chemistry and a lot of other stuff. So oh well, I entered Arts and Soci in NUS.

Even though FASS wasn't my first choice. I think I had consciously made sure that I was going to enjoy myself in university and still work hard, in order to make up for the lack of As at the A levels. I did work hard at uni and did better than i had ever expected :)

In the end, I still manage my first dream job: a journalist. Actually, at the time of graduation, I toyed with the idea of teaching. But decided that my youth was probably better spent at journalism, cos it seemed a tougher vocation. And today, i'm a teacher.

Sure hope I didn't bore you fellas.
You are at a crossroads that I was at (many) years before.
From this moment on, make sure you will walk on a road that will not leave you any regrets. I wouldn't be able to promise a smooth journey, but if you don't even try, then remember: You'll only be a failure if you choose to give up.

trust me to nag even when telling you my history.