Melbourne City Newspaper June 2011 + Updates

Long time no see. Finally back with some updates from my insignificant, but busy life.

First things first, the latest June 2011 edition of Melbourne City News is out, and it will be distributed in the CBD area (city loop train stations, RMIT, Malthouse, Fed Square, QV Market, news agencies etc) as well as some inner-city suburbs today - Friday 17/6. However, the copy has already been uploaded onto the website on Wednesday, so I have already seen the paper on that day. I have an article contribution on Local News, page 4, bottom half of the page, re: climate change and global warming. Visit www.mc-news.com.au if you are interested and I welcome all kinds of feedback on my article, so feel free to comment. 

Hard copies of the paper were printed and sent to our office at 11am yesterday, so we all got our hands on a copy each. My friends told me to laminate or frame the article since it's my first published article. Should I really do that? 

the front page of the June 2011 edition

page 4 of this edition is my article on climate change and global warming

Somehow I didn't feel as excited because I know that writing is not my main job, but selling is. But I haven't had much luck in selling... In fact, I am starting to hate it. I should've known better when I did the interview and trial that I am not made for selling, and should have just be honest with the manager that I can't picture myself doing this. However, I lied that I am OK with the job, just because I wanted some experience and a proper job (despite that it's only part-time). I really dislike the idea of randomly cold calling companies for them to advertise with us, and repeating over and over again the facts, statistics, reasons etc so that they can advertise with us. And all I've received are rejections after rejections. I admit it sort of gets me down, but then this is also the side of marketing I really dislike, especially that I am not selling a product that is not too expensive, but ad space easily cost at least $500. But it appears that at the moment my main task is to sell ad space, so I need to perform in this area in order for me to succeed in the position.


I really cannot tell the difference now, between telemarketing and what I am now doing, other than we are now targeting at businesses as consumers, and not individual as consumers. I hate telemarketers, and I hate receiving their calls. So I don't want to do their job too, because I will hate myself. ARGH! 

Then, I was being introduced to writing, and I am indeed excited about it. I enjoy interviewing people and then writing out what I have learnt from them. I want to take this opportunity as much as I can to write as much as I can so I can get my name out there. However, right now, I feel like 'quitting' my job - quit the selling job; apply for writing job. MCN only has freelance journalists, so I can be that. I don't mind working from home and get paid by articles written/contributed. I am not sure as yet, if my manager is happy to take me as a freelance writer. I am not sure as yet, if my writing did impress her. I feel that even though I think I write pretty well, I still fall short because I am not specially trained in that area. Plus, the locals definitely will write better than me, be it expressing themselves, or being able to cater to the reading preferences of locals. I am straddling between creative writing and formal news report. I've never personally done a news report before, but creative writing has no limits. How do you impress the socks off your readers with your writing? Again, it's selling. But this is the selling I will be willing to do, and not just cold calling people and persuading them to advertise with us.

If I do not make sales, our boss will not take me either. So rather than having him kick me out, I will kick myself out. It's not for me. So I hope I can get a writing job within the company, and see how far it takes me from there.

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Sometimes I wonder, if what I am passionate about will actually bring me anywhere. Can I write for life? Can I be a low-paid journalist (they usually are especially if you are a rookie) and live my life like that? How can I differentiate myself to be different from all the writers out there? Is my level of English proficiency competent enough to beat the people out there? Will I be able to find a job out there writing after MCN? Why do I want to write when my future seems bleak at the moment? Why do I have to be so incompetent in all other areas, including writing itself, and be such a useless person? Why is it that all I can do is to envy those seriously smart fast learners, and I am such a stupid individual? 


So many questions. I don't even have answers for any of them. 


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Wednesday afternoon, finally met up with Eva for lunch. Unfortunately Zoe wasn't there, and I miss her heaps! Went for Japanese, at Meshiya, in QV.

With Eva

We ate so much!
I had a chef special bento box, which comes with a miso soup and a chawan mushi. And on the side we ordered a spicy salmon maki, and a california roll.
And I also had a ramune.
So bloated afterwards!

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Me, me, me, MORE ME
Get sick of ME!

With iphone4, you can really take your own pictures easily with their fantastic front camera~ No more trying to guess if I fit in the frame by flipping the phone around to take a picture of myself. YAY!

I admit I have become a camwhore, and these are only part of those I think I look 'nicer', so I post them on my blog cuz people hardly visits me to read my posts. I don't really post my 'camwhore' pics on Facebook cuz it's not like I am some pretty model or something to be displaying my face for all my friends to see.

Weirdly, I have discovered that my iphone dials itself out to friends on my contact list automatically sometimes, especially when I leave my phone in my bag with a lot of things, or when it's in my pocket and I am pressing on it. It seems like it is unable to take pressure and will dial out to my friends without my intention to. So I have put a pass-code on my phone to prevent that from happening again, but it is still the same! So 'pek chek'! Maybe I should go down to the shops again to ask what could be the main reason for this to happen. Anyone else experiencing the same problem?

I wonder what is gonna happen next  Life is so unpredictable, and full of ups and downs. I guess the only thing I can do is to keep positive, and never give up.