AsianPersuasion
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Guilty Pleasures
They say; the way to a man’s heart, is through his stomach… but I think that this MUST apply to women as well because I have a major weakness for ANYTHING SWEET. I don’t know how people in Western countries control their urges to over-eat. In all seriousness, if I had to walk past delicious pastry cake shops everyday…like they have in Australia or America, I’d be the size of Penang by now. Luckily for me, the closest thing they have in Ampang to a pastry shop is Delifrance…and I’m NOT about to fork out $4 for a curry puff! Hah!
I’m going to admit this though…
I indulge in ice cream at least once or twice a week, be it McDonalds or Italian gelato. I can’t help it!!! It’s nearly impossible to tear myself away from those chilled, glass displays of irresistible, creamy, icy, juicy ice cream. It’s one of my major weaknesses, besides puppies and shopping. One major plus for puppies and shopping is that fact that I won’t gain weight if I engage in either.
I’ve attempted to trace back to the root of this evil…and I believe I might have discovered the secret to my ice cream addiction. The earliest memory I have of my love for creamy ice was when I was a mere five years old. When we were living in London, the ice cream van use to come down our street with it’s “jingle” blasting from the van speakers. I can remember the feeling of sheer elation sweeping through my entire 5-year old body, as I bolted towards the window to peer at that white van. However, there was one malevolent twist… my mother was The Sugar Nazi…I was banned from eating anything and everything that contained sugar…and that included my beloved ice cream.
So perhaps, to balance out my childhood YEARS of ice cream depravation, I am now (in the absence of The Sugar Nazi) making up for lost calories.
I feel that’s an honorable reason for a lack of self control, don’t you? *cough cough*
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Staring Fear in the Face
So... Last night I was an Emcee...err hem...THE Emcee for an event...I'm still trying to convince myself that it actually happened...I never thought that someone as stage-frightened as I am, would be doing public speaking. Yikes!
Let me first of all say this: I am SO GLAD I’m not part of the “events” industry here in Malaysia…it is absolute MAYHAM MANIA. When I arrived at the scene at 10am yesterday, the MD of the agency was there and apparently he and his wife had not slept in THREE days. WHAT?!! People here are crazy…. Everyone needs to draw the line somewhere, but as I see it…the line doesn’t even exist in Malaysia. *sigh* I’ll leave the event planning to the crazy people who don't need sleep and I’ll stick to the simple stuff…like freelance writing, producing and presenting (the key word here is, freelance).
The Uninvited Hiccup
Before yesterday, there was a bit of an “Emcee Script” dilemma. It was so unnecessary. A certain…let’s call her Ms. Up Tight…got all, holier-than-thou over the phone with me over the damn script. It's an emcee script, it's not a big deal, it can be fixed in a few minutes...I didn’t even want to write the fucking script in the first place, her boss forced me to! But he did say he’d give me extra money to do it…so there was a little incentive lah…but not much.
To my repulsion, this entire affair gave me an uncomfortable spell of déjà vu, of a time when I was writing a newsletter and I had to deal with all sorts of nonsense and attitude, from silly little people who actually don’t make a positive difference in the world. *Argh!*
That’s one pet peeve of mine; dealing with young executives who self appoint themselves as overly authoritative masters over me, just because I’m working freelance, when in actual fact…they’re my age and they aren't that experienced. This attitude translates to be a little on the disrespectful side...it happens...as inadvertent as it may be.
I went to meet her boss, the guy who hired me…and I was a little anxious because she had made it seem as if I had ruined the whole thing. When I arrived at the hotel, the MD was so cool and was like, “hey, how are you? Let’s sit down for a while and we’ll work on this thing together.” It was so laid back and comfortable and his client guy was even there and he was so easy going about everything. I was relieved to say the least….and at the same time, particularly annoyed with little Ms. Up Tight for making such a hissy fit out of nothing! If she could only see herself, she'd probably be a little bit malu (i think the other people who work with her feel the same way). Right before the event, there were some last minute changes and I proceeded to type up the final script with client and she even looked over my shoulder the entire time I was making amendments! She wasn’t even involved in the conversation! I know You know what I’m talking about, because EVERYONE knows someone like this in their lives…
My Happy Ending (Not Avril's, "So much for my happy ending")
Well, my performance as a second-time emcee was positively received and I sighed a gigantic sigh of relief after my closing remarks. People even shook my hand and congratulated me and asked me for my card so I could emcee at other events...it was cool but weird at the same time. Ms. Up Tight finally loosened up her concrete front in the end, smiled, and said, “thank you” to me.
Eventhough my heart was pounding a million miles an hour, as I stepped up to the mic for the very first time and insecurity hit me hard (in the form of nausea), it turned out well. I was proud of myself for pulling through and firmly deciding from the get-go, that I was going to be a success that evening and nothing was going to stand in my way. It is so incredibly empowering to face your fears and walk right though them anyway...you will always triumph in the end no matter what the result is...and it feels awsome!
Monday, April 04, 2005
Moved, Touched and Inspired
We just had the 6th screening of Sex Education tonight at HELP institute. What an amazing crowd! We’ve never felt so much support from viewers in our audience…this was so wonderful. I was particularly touched when an elderly Indian woman waited patiently by the side to speak to Yazid and I (when people we asking us so many questions after our Q and A)…when she finally had her chance she approached us….and as she shook our hands she stuffed a RM 50 note in each of our hands! I was speechless. A gush of emotion rose into my chest and I thought I was going to cry. She said, “you really did a great job. You two were so brave to make a film like that, go and treat yourselves to something to eat.” She was a complete stranger. It was one of those things that will never happen twice in a lifetime. Memorable moments don’t really get any better than that.
It has always been a dream of mine to have people respond in such a positive way to a film that I made. That’s exactly what I wanted…to reach out and touch people in some small or big way through video…because film is so powerful…you can do so much with it. If something is important to me, naturally, I want other people to think it's important too.
I was asked during Q and A whether I had achieved my goal in doing this film…and after the outpouring of support tonight, I feel that I’m very satisfied. That’s what it’s all about for me really, making films that touch, move or inspire an audience….even if it’s a tiny little bit…that counts. I love movies and documentaries that make me FEEL something or change my perception of the world. And that’s what I would like to be able to do though my work, be it through film, volunteer work or other forms of communication…that’s my vision. It’s not an simple feat but I’m prepared to spend my life working towards that.
