Saturday, February 25, 2006

the xfresh experience

i spent a week interning at xfresh. yes. one week. not much of an internship because i didn't do much except park my butt on a nice comfy chair and type articles. of course i could have stayed longer, but i had stuff planned for my holidays and could only spare one proper week for my elective.

so why did i choose web journalism for my elective rather than opt for something exciting like climbing mt kinabalu - to "learn" about the flora there *cough* - or going diving in redang? well, my tutor thought that those very popular electives were holidays in disguise - *cough* - and so didn't approve of those suggestions. party pooper.

nevermind...i like writing so i didn't sulk about it for very long.

anyway, as my...erm...supervisor william said, if i had stayed longer i would know that the real xfresh experience goes beyond writing stuff and then finding pics to complement the articles before uploading them onto the site. i would have been able to cover events and get lots of freebies gain more insight into the life of a feature journalist.

pity. i could have done with the free concert/movie passes experience.

well, william got me started on writing 10 articles. doesn't sound too bad right? 2 stories a day? and nothing else to do? well, i found that it wasn't that easy sticking to that quota because being the perfectionist i am, it was tough getting the right pictures and the right layout to go with the articles. maybe it's easy but i can never be happy with just any old look so it did take me awhile to get the 10 articles written and posted up.

i told albert that when i got to xfresh, i felt like everyone in the office really belonged there - as in they enjoy their work and have a real passion for what they do. i lamented the fact that i am far more anti-social than the staff at xfresh and my short stint there has sadly proven that i am definitely not entirely tuned to a career in the media industry.

i wonder if any of you remember a post i wrote at my old diary-x blog. i wrote that sometimes i feel like an anti-social individual disguised as a social person. guess it just means that there are limits to how sociable i am, and that was probably the determining factor in my decision to discard the thought of pursuing media studies and go ahead with my childhood dream of being a doctor.

alright. enough of that.

my time at xfresh has taught me that it's pretty easy being a content writer for a webzine, but that's only because everything is nicely pre-programmed now. dreamweaver, photoshop, uploading tools...writers are really spoilt these days. besides that, i've learnt that it's alot more than just a desk job, though i do see most of the staff sitting alot. haha.

speaking of sitting...i'm surprised that everyone in xfresh looks so fit. lol. for people who seem to sit alot. turns out most of them join gyms. figures. i still say jogging in the park beats running on a treadmill anytime.

anyway, i'm sure you know that i'm not a very humble person by nature. edrei has mentioned time and time again that bloggers are actually very narcissistic - hence the need to display their lives for everyone to see. i check my blog for comments several times a day, so i guess it must be true. haha.

well in light of my narcissism, it would only make sense if i put up the links to the 10 articles i wrote during my week at xfresh. do consider that the articles are written with the teenage target audience in mind. happy reading!

Your Epidermis Is Showing! - Medical Dramas Stripped
Love Is Only A Feeling...Not
Overcoming "Bridget Moments"
Stories From The Great Ocean Road
To Stay Or Not To Stay?

Just A First Year Medical Student
The Age-old Debate...Continued!
Three Footie Questions Women Are Too Embarrassed To Ask
Deviation From Education
Loving The Idea Or Really Loving It

lishun at 3:51 PM

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