Wednesday 15 February 2006

Tuesday

It feels like some people at the office are freaking out about me possibly leaving. Everyone's gotten so much nicer... It feels very strange. Now my boss wants to have lunch with me next week. I'm not sure what she has in mind. Yesterday, she heard that I was leaving and in private, asked what was going on. I told her the entire story but that I haven't decided. She was quite fair and said that she'd really like me to stay, but she wishes me all the best if I decide to go--quite a contrast to the vibes I'm getting from the MD, whom by the way, still hasn't called me into her office yet. She'd rather talk to my father, apparently.

Yesterday and today were both very, very busy. I was at the office tonight (this morning?) until nearly 02h00, finishing up work because I'll be stuck at camp with a bunch of elite college/grad school kids for the next five days at a leadership camp. Starting Sunday, I had been getting things together for MediaCorp TV, including my English and Chinese CV's and some of my previous reports on DVD. Even though I haven't packed for the next five days and still haven't written that 300 word essay on "Taiwanese Identity" and it's 4h20 now, I'm glad things have been crammed together the way they are. My reports at FTV are taken care of, my MediaCorp packet is out and all I have to do for the next few days is give the kids a chance to shine, since I'll be the oldest one there. Breakfast at camp will be at an atrocious 7h35, but looking on the bright side, at least I'll be forced to sleep at 22h00 every night. I bet my skin is very pleased about that.

So tired... Did I just miss Valentine's Day???

Good night, everyone. Have to be up in three hours.

I wonder what Mr Handsome did tonight.

Sunday 12 February 2006

I feel GOOD

Another crazy week of 月月火水木金金. I got so tired towards the end that I started munching and eating sweets.
Ah, but it's been a good one. It's been a rather good start, this year of the Dog, actually. First, my friend asked me to pose in their photo shoot, which I did today. Out of the 800 pictures that were taken, 300 were of me. There were four other models, so I guess the photographer was quite happy with me. I liked how most of them turned out. I didn't know I had so many different expressions. I guess the roller coaster I've been through this year has let me experience many different things to come up with those expressions. The shoot was really fun, and since my first one last year, I think I've improved quite a bit.

The start date for my weekly radio feature has been set, too, for 3 March. I may have to turn them down, however because I was offered the position of Taiwan foreign correspondent and bureau chief at Channel News Asia, a subsidiary of MediaCorp TV, the Singapore state-owned media conglomerate. They have eight TV channels, film, print and radio companies as well. Technically, I'm not supposed to moonlight (not at FTV or MediaCorp). Plus, I will have much more on my plate and also constant and stable exposure, so I won't need the radio bit as much. I'll even get to do live reports from the studio sometimes. Now nothing is finalized yet, but even if the bureau chief/foreign correspondent job doesn't pan out, it sure feels good to be recognized and appreciated for once.

My news MD went to my father today to tell him not to let me leave FTV. She showed up at his EMBA class at 8h00 this morning and said in a very loud voice, "don't let Michella jump ship!" in front of his entire class. And since class was starting, he said he'll talk to her later, but she stayed in his class for the full session, waiting for him. Everyone thought she was auditing or something. Then they talked outside the classroom for the entire recess, until the TA called my father back in for the next session. Hee hee. He's so proud of me. My uncle James was there too.

In any case, I think it will be fun in the office for the next few weeks before the MediaCorp issue settles down. I still have to go through the approval process at Singapore HQ. Who knows what can happen. Of course, I'll still be a good girl at FTV until the end, whenever that may be, and perhaps I will get some better offers at FTV after this episode. I have to keep my options open and all bridges strong and steady, like my father says.

Bureau chief is a very big responsibility, and I'm not in a position to fill those shoes adequately, but I've been given the chance because they think I have flare and potential, so I'm going to face that challenge and do my best. Working hard is a piece of cake. I'm so happy to be given the chance to do much, much more. Yahoo!

I am in my favorite underwear, favorite pajamas and favorite multi-colored toed socks. I have no report tomorrow morning, no lunch meetings, no doctors to see... I am going to sleep until 12h00 and then go to work. Ooooooh, I'm so tired, and happy.

Thursday 2 February 2006

New Year's Eve dinner

We had our traditional New Year's Eve dinner (年夜飯/大晦日) at my father's parents' home, as always.

Picture 1: Grandmother, Parents, Cousin-in-law and myself



Picture 2: Grandmother and myself




I've been so busy and tired in the past few days. Now I finally have some quite time to myself, inside a hotel room, all the way on the eastern coast of Taiwan. More on the holidays later.

Pre-holiday craziness

Needless to say, we were quite excited about our 9-day holiday. We weren't able to take off last year, but this year, especially since the team is so small now, there was just no way to take shifts. So, we got the entire week plus two weekends off! Hooray! Half of us were bouncing around all day and almost couldn't get our stuff done on time. My cameraman was in a big hurry to his majong game, so I ended up having to recut the entire package... Well, more practice for me. But not fun in a time crunch. I hate it when people don't care about what they do.

Here are a couple of happy coworkers. Ken the translator/voice over on the left and Xiao Qi the IT guy on the right. He wandered in to show off his new 8.0 megapixel digital camera. Well, I threw one right back at him--my Sony Ericsson 800i 3G phone. Hee.



Reporting: Talbott's New Year holidays

This was aired 27 Jan 2006. The fourth and final installment of our representatives' New Year's.

Slug: Talbott’s New Year Holidays
外使過年系列四

Lead-in:
The Honduran ambassador, Marlene Villela-Talbott, appreciates the different cultures she encounters in the line of her duties. She told FTV’s Michella Weng about memorable Lunar New Year Holidays she has had.##

Honduran Ambassador Marlene Villela-Talbott invited FTV into her home, to where she’s brought back a piece of every culture she has come in contact with. 年節將近 宏都拉斯大使Marlene Villela-Talbott邀請民視到官邸一聚
所有各國文化的佈置都是大使在當地工作的時候買的

This Lunar New Year Holiday, Ambassador Talbott won’t get to do much because she is writing her master’s thesis on Taiwan studies, but she did have some interesting experiences -- in temples.
今年的農曆過年 Talbott大使沒有辦法好好的享受
因為她得完成碩士論文 不過她說往年在寺廟裡體驗的新年很有趣

Sound bite:
Marlena Villela-Talbott
Honduran Ambassador
It was an amazing experience to see how it's celebrated at midnight, and to have the opportunity to share the food and to share the joys of the occasion. Even though I don't speak Mandarin and people didn't speak English or Spanish, people were very warm, very welcome, and I had a lot of fun.
看大家半夜在那邊 然後我們一起吃東西 一起慶祝 真的是個特別的經驗
雖然我不會講國語 那邊的人也不會講英文或西班牙文
但是大家都很熱情的歡迎我們 真的玩得很快樂



Possibly at the end of her term in Taiwan, Talbott does seem to have collected enough memories and furniture for her to remember Taiwan and the Taiwanese well.
雖然大使即將要調離台灣了 但是她似乎已經收藏了足夠的台灣文物和傢具讓她有個好的回憶

[[NS Gonxifachai Xinnienkuaile]]

Michella Weng, Formosa TV, Taiwan.
民視新聞 蔡明和 翁郁容 台北報導