shocks..this is my very first entry, and yes, i am aware that this account has been here for four months already..tsktsktsk..i really have problems with journals, sad..anyway, i spent my summer "vacation" in a six-storey building in salcedo village reading newspapers, watching news programs, and viewing blogs  and websites everyday..i worked at the center for media freedom and responsibility from april 10 to may 19, a full 39 days of hard work, diarrhea, flu, and fun, fun, fun! yep, it was fun, despite other people thinking it was a tedious internship program that we got into..there were 24 of us, majority were from up..it was nice meeting new friends like ross, my, clarence, joyce, and kin from st. scho (not sure of the spelling..). also JC and noel (whose name i'd always get wrong, sorry)...

i worked in the politics/public policy/controversy/miscellaneous beat..the task was daunting at first, but i managed to work and follow the system as days progressed..

i learned a lot from this internship program, allow me to enumerate..
1. never ever get your facts wrong. always check your spelling, your punctuation marks, etc before passing your articles to your supervisors..it's not that they will yell at you for getting those simple things wrong. it's just that it will make you feel really bad because those little things may ruin your copy, may cause you your precious job, or worse, may get you jeers in the PJR Reports Monitor section, you know what i mean...(for me, getting jeers is worse than being reprimanded by my supervisor, coz that would mean i really sucked bigtime!)

2. always know when to play around and  pull those corny jokes. sometimes, those corny jokes lead to bigger trouble cause others may hear you and challenge you into a contest..too bad for not having that stock of jokes all the time.

3. always have that precious lip balm in you pocket. it helps to beat the cracks.

4. never take the mrt during rush hours. prepare yourself for a wrestling match when you ride the MRT with big bags and all...huhu, good thing i trained with ma'am san juan from the Philippine judo team..

5. always have that extra energy to work overtime. huhu, remove "dinner" from your list if you have limited budget...

6. be friends with your officemates. it's not bad to give compliments every time you want to..masaya magbigay ng compliment sa iba, lalo na kung dapat naman sila bigyan ng compliments, diba?

7. and last but not the least, never eat camote sticks from the jolly jeeps..they'll either give you stomach spasms or endless dates with the bathroom..yeah, you guessed that right!


i enjoy being with people who have passion for inspiring change to those who have seemingly lost it..sir brye is a special mention..he is laudable for his dedication to his work (five years na sya sa CMFR)..to ma'am mdj, ma'am khan, ma'am chit, ma'am venus, sir nathan, sir don, ma'am carol, ate sheila, kuya amiel, thank you po. cheers to the PJR Reports staff! you're the best...

more to share next time...cgeya!