The Gordon interview

ON CALL

April 3- I thought today's just going to be an ordinary stay in the office but when we were about to check out, suddenly, my phone rang. To my surprise, it was Dick Gordon asking me if I was just around so I can have the interview with him done right away. Cut it short, he made us (me and my partner, Jenna) rush all the way from the office to UST where he said he's available for interview.  

He has lots of engagements to attend to especially at this time of elections, so it was totally understandable that the sudden interview took place inside his ride driving all the way to a rally somewhere in Makati where he has to show up. 

EMBARASSEMENT

To be honest, I was so ashamed of myself after the interview, that has spanned about half an hour, because it was the most embarrassing moment and the most horrifying move I have done in my life by far. I was so intimidated by the great Gordon that I was shut tongue-tied the whole time and most of the follow up questions that came out from me were articulated VERY wrong that made us crippled in embarrassment.

"What kind of question is that?", "You are designed to think and research, ladies." 

THE DOWNSIDE 

He's beyond good and he's got what it takes to be a big time achiever with all the bills he passed into laws plus his successful projects the Philippines was known for, but I noticed, during the interview he seemed to be full of himself. A huge part of the transcriptions falls to his  "I did [insert law here] single handedly," repetitions.  

POIGNANT MOMENT

My favorite part was the casual conversation after the tensioned interview when he told us he's tired of fighting for the country where the people kept on choosing the wrong 'leaders', but still he chooses to stand with his conviction. 

LET'S CALL IT A DAY

On the bright side, we were able to get suffice statements for our nearing article- Fulfilled and unfulfilled platforms of politicians.

We joined the Makati rally with Gordon accompanied by his bouncers, had free dinner buffet, and he even offered us a ride back to MB right after he show up to the rally people but it was a little late then so we had to head back to office immediately. 

I must say, with all the writing tasks one after another, this experience is never to be forgotten.

My first published write-ups

   April 2:

              Above is the newspaper draft for tomorrow's publish placed on the desk this morning. I was surprised and a bit flattered when my superior told me that the couple of write-ups for Poll Extra I wrote yesterday were now ready for publishing.  Quite a shallow joy I have here, but the first timer here feels so much bliss. Apologies for the low-qual of the photo. Nevertheless, I do not want to spoil what the MB has for us for tomorrow.

April 3:

              Below is the Manila Bulletin today's issue of MB 2013 Polls. I took some pictures of the couple of short write-ups I submitted. Looking forward to the accomplishment of our several pending articles and hoping for more good write-ups output.

Internship begins

Today, the internship begins!

I was accepted to take my internship in Manila Bulletin (MB) at Intramuros, and work with the MB research team. Right now, we are sort of having a lot of things to write about the approaching elections. We are assigned to work on this brief segment attached to every bundle of an MB copy, the MB 2013 Polls which runs within the election craze.

Let me just have a short recap of how today started out ordinarily, but turned out pretty good. 

Woke up as early as five thirty in the morning so I could have my recommendation letter printed and the waiver form photocopied. I got in at exactly 8:41 am and worked for 11 hours in the office.


Privileges given to an MB intern like me: 

• MB has a very nice cafeteria that serves affordable and savory home cooked meals. 
• I don't have to bother buying an 18-peso worth of MB copy because they give out the daily gazette for free.
• I have a couple of friendly superiors, Sir Leo and Sir Monch.

I want to share with you guys the tasks I am to face during the entire internship span. Basically, all I have to do is to sit in front of the monitor most of the time and read, research and write. 

My superior already assigned the topics as well as the deadlines for each. Good thing, I am with Jenna, my classmate, friend and my consort through thick and thin for the whole internship life. 

Published or unpublished, I am required to show my output here so my professor can see to it that I am not hanging unproductive. I'll be writing those outputs on a separate blogpost.