Pulau Tenggol

In September, a bunch of us from the dive club at work headed down to Tenggol for the long weekend. This was a particularly significant trip because it was the first one planned entirely by Takuya and myself. I don't think it's possible to understate the amount of nervousness I had going in. 

From the onset, a bunch of things went wrong. The only bus company that plied the route between Singapore and Terengganu seemed terribly unsure of their own schedule. Then, on our way into Malaysia, we overshot our stop and ended up almost a hundred kilometres from the jetty. It was a huge relief when we finally got everyone checked into their rooms.

On good days, Tenggol is known for its clear waters and white beaches. But while we were there the haze levels hit a high, and the faint smell of smoke dogged us relentlessly throughout. Even underwater we never really escaped from the haze, for the gloom permeated everything indiscriminately.

Still, there were nice moments. We saw a whole variety of nudibranches, and there was a very large school of yellow-tailed fusilier that didn't mind our presence. Our underwater clean-up initiative was also a success - we sorted over fifteen kilograms of trash at the end of a forty minute dive on the house reef.

Nights were spent chatting over delicious home-style food, games of bridge, and some furtive facial sessions. A fellow guest who turned out to be a fire dancer put on thrilling performances on the beach two nights in a row. But the most memorable evening of all had to be the one when we released baby turtles - that the dive resort had reared from hatchlings - back into the sea. Watching them swim away, buffeted back and forth by the waves and getting smaller as they vanished into the darkness of the distance, you can't help but realise just how vast the world is.

What It's Like to Attend a (K-Pop) Press Conference

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to attend the press conference preceding the Mnet Asia Music Awards (MAMA) in Singapore. This was one of the high-points of my short foray into the life of an interpreter, and suffice to say it was a very eye-opening experience.

Here's what it's like to be a reporter at a press conference.

1. It is very, very competitive.

You have to report to the venue far ahead of time in order to get a good seat, preferably at the front, so the moderator can see your raised hand. Worse still if you are a camera man - arrive behind the pack and you won't get any good shots of the celebrities. No one is going to shuffle up so you get a better angle - and why should they?

2. You need to come as a team.

Having no prior experience nor having received any instructions from the company that sent me, I didn't know what to expect. I was also the only employee in this part of the world, and being a start-up, they didn't have the budget to either hire locally or send a team down to accompany me. "Find your own camera-man," they said, "We'll get you two passes, but try and get someone who has a camera."

I ended up asking a favour from a photographer I'd met once, years ago in the fashion industry. I think it was his first time at a press conference as well. We didn't know each other's equipment or working style, and we were awkward around each other. This put us at a severe disadvantage right from the start.

The other reporters came in teams that functioned like well-oiled machinery. Each of them had a defined role and the equipment necessary to fulfill their objectives. I didn't even have a functioning laptop - I thought all I had to do was record on my phone and type out the articles at home later that week.

The reality is, as the celebrities speak, reporters are writing and uploading their articles real-time. The articles are accompanied by photos that the camera-men transmit wirelessly to them, which are then instantly post-processed by a photo editor sitting just beside the reporter. 

In other words: about a bajillion articles made it up on the Internet before I even reached home that night.

3. It is very well-rehearsed.

You can see the hours of practice in the perfectly coiffed hair, the crease-less outfits, the way questions are answered without needing much thought, the way they pose subtly behind the microphone, or have specific members answer certain types of questions.

Everyone also has a character expected of them that they must play. They may ham it up in front of the cameras, but the moment the flashes die down, you see them become business-like again. 

And yet, despite all their carefully planned actions...

4. You stop seeing celebrities as, well, celebrities.

You see the boredom in their eyes, even though they are too polite and smart to do anything but smile and answer a question they must have heard for the thousandth time. You see the false eyelashes and makeup shading on the nose bridges and jawlines, a trick that fools the camera but not your eyes. You see them as just another person in a crowd, even though you know they are here as objects of fame. 

Unlike a television show, which has the power to highlight and focus on a specific person or point, the celebrities do not necessarily stand out in real life. They look surprisingly like normal human beings.

5. Being sincere is a skill.

So why do some celebrities get better press than others?

Simply put, these are the ones who take an effort to engage with the reporters, or the ones who speak with earnest. When Hyoyeon of Girls' Generation walked into the room, she made it a point to look into the eyes of everyone in the first row and smile in acknowledgement. Leeteuk of Super Junior spoke for more than three minutes on a topic that escapes me now, though I distinctly remember how impressed I was at his sincerity. Neither of these two are persons I'd ever paid much attention to before the conference, but they were the ones I left with the strongest impressions of. 

Sunset over the Bay

We formally set up a dive club in the bank this year, and since then it's been growing quickly, partly because we've been quite aggressive in getting our name out there. A large part of it has been down to luck though - we got featured on a newsletter because of a misdirected email, for instance, and a platform for interest groups to host homepages was launched right when we came onto the scene.

Last week, we held an event for divers from different banks to get together and chit chat over drinks at the Central Business District. It's not a place I have reason to visit often - so I was quite taken by the stunning sunset that greeted us as we walked along the bay. Who knew the city could be so beautiful!

Milestone

It's been an absolutely draining start to the year, but then I suppose there is a bit of merit in that. January has zipped by so quickly that I found myself startled when I looked at the rows of crossed-out dates on my desk calendar this morning. I couldn't quite believe that it's been a month since the end of 2014, much less a year since I signed my first permanent work contract. Crazy.

Anyway, I've been promoted! My title if you look me up in the corporate directory is now "Assistant Vice President", which is a little self-aggrandising, but I have to admit I'm quite pleased with the way things turned out. Over the moon may be a more accurate way of saying it. 

Amazingly enough, I was "scouted" for a job upon graduation. (The word scouted is in quotation marks because it isn't a formal, contractual offer, and because my reply in retrospect may have been too non-commital for anything to materialise.)

You have to understand why I consider this amazing:

1. I hardly, if ever, spoke up in class.
2. When I do, I don't think I'm particularly eloquent, nor do I think I raise thought-provoking points.
3. I did not complete my exam.
4. Was usually late for lessons.

In fact, I initially thought that the offer was made to everyone in class, and it was only when I messaged a few friends that I realised otherwise.

All in all I'm quite flattered, but more than that bewildered. I simply don't understand why -- and don't mistake that for a low self-esteem, because that's one thing I don't suffer from.

Like I said though my reply was in retrospect a little too ambiguous, and every day that I don't receive a response makes me wonder if the opportunity went by as abruptly as it had come. Meh, what's done is done; nevertheless it remains as one of the cooler and more unexpected things that has ever happened so far in uni.

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Song of the day: Field of Gold by Eva Cassidy

Yikes.

I just took on a tuition job -- commencing next week -- teaching lower Secondary science and math. Which should be really easy, considering I got A's for both subjects, but I'm totally freaking out because I can't remember the syllabi.

Any suggestions for the first lesson? Should I go there and concentrate on his background, find out as much as I can, and do a general introductory course? Or should I have a lesson plan ready for the first meeting? Is it normal to feel this nervous about a 12 year old punk?