#working-rach

Ito ang unang beses na hindi ako excited pumasok ulit. 'Di ba pag gusto, may paraan, pag ayaw maraming dahilan. O eto sila. 1. Kasi wala naman akong mahabang bakasyon. 2. Kasi June is eve of July. And July is MCO month. Hihihi. *cracksknuckles* 3. Kasi inurong ni GMA ang holiday sa June 9. Aanhin ko yun? Hindi naman nila alam dito ang bagong sked. Huhu. 4. Kasi naman the transition from a J102-oriented summer to thesis-/feature-/ interpretive-writing-filled sem. C'mon. 5. Kasi tinatamad pa talaga ako. Pagod pa ako eh. I wanna bum pa. Waaah. Yun yun eh.

The last post seemed too impersonal, heh. And besides, I missed youuuuuu. <3 Of holidays and Babysitters Club Aside from finally waging war against my room (Plurked more here), I love how I got to spend the holidays with Mom and Dad (even if they're soo not together). Spent Christmas with Dad and the fishies. Spent New Year with Mom and the foodies. Fair enough. I express this amazement because it sort of reminds me of a storyline from Babysitters Club that stuck in my head (yes, I got hooked with the series alongside SVH/SVK). I forgot the names, but there's this kid whose parents are divorced and remarried other people. Abiding by the custody rules, she lives with her mom and stepdad on weekdays, and with her dad and stepmom on weekends. It works for her because she has two sets of bikes, two sets of toys and two sets of rooms. Fair enough.* And then this. Unlike my brother, I do not want my parents to be reunited (too much hassle, if you ask me). I just like the fact that I get to spend time with each party no matter how shortlived. I get to see both sides. I can fairly defend Dad to Mom just as I can with Dad. Mediation is key, I say. My confidence was built, all right But I wish there is also a tangible key to survive Investigative Journ. Haha! Frankly I'm glad the midterm investigative assignment is over (though I still intend to do some legwork if time permits). Prof. Chua always tells us this course and the legwork it entails is really about confidence building. I couldn't agree more. Plus, the midterm was sort of a test for me: if I get to pass the initial draft on time, perhaps I really can survive this course. And then come deadline Tuesday 1:00pm and I'm still on my way to school. Very good, Rach. Imagine my surprise when I saw Kea slumped on the floor along other people's stuff. "Don't tell me you were locked out?" I asked incredulously. Apparently she was. No, we were. Incredible! And so there we were, Riziel, Jodee, Kea, Cherrie and me, slumped on the floor, dreading the worse. As far as our memory's concerned---and I've been in the college longer than these kids---Prof. Chua is not the type who'd lock the tardy people outside. Heck, I used to go to her J121 class at 3pm and she still lets me in with a smile. This isn't Chuaesque; it's Chitoesque! So I resorted to texting Dionne. Thank goodness we had an insider. Nope, Ma'am's not in a foul mood. Yes, they'll have a break in a while. Nope, D's not sure if Ma'am will still accept our papers. WTF. Afraid. As the rest of the class went outside (without forgetting to ask us where the hell were we), we stood by, heads bowed, feet immobile, as Ma'am headed to the door. "Pwede kayong pumasok. Pwede pa rin kayong mag-submit. Pero may deduction na yung papers niyo dahil late kayo," she told us. I swear I could've jumped ten feet for joy. Oh yes Ma'am, bring on the deductions. Better that than not having to pass at all. Later in the break she confronted us. Apparently, Kea had a chance to come in had she knocked; her bag was already parked in the room after all. And then she asked the rest of us why we didn't knock. "Well you know, if you've had Avecilla as your prof, you wouldn't dare knock that door," I answered, breaking the silence. The room shook with laughter; clearly a lot of people could relate. "Oh, but he's really sweet," Ma'am said after letting out a laugh. Don't worry Ma'am. We think so too. ;) Oh future, why confusing much? On to other things. I learned last week through Joey Alarilla's plurk about Vic Agustin's blog about the changes in Inquirer.net. While no one's going on record about it in cyberspace, this move by the biggest paper toward "editorial convergence" disconcerts the future plans in my head. And why not. I had my internship with the news website. While its autonomy from PDI felt weird at first, it's easy to get used to and it's easy to see why it was necessary. Online media works with a different framework, with the battle for scoops, updates and editorial judgements waged by the seconds. Someone told me she saw this coming, but not thissoon. Well here's me hoping it ain't true (hey, one can hope), because I really would like to work with the company after college. If it is true that Inquirer.net will be "gobbled" (Agustin, 2009) by its parent company, then meh. Meanwhile there's this raket I still haven't decided on. A certain senator is looking for UP Journ people, preferrably those who had taken up Online Journ, who will write for him and report to him twice weekly for the next 12-16 months. Hmmmmm. It sure is inviting, but I don't know if I'm in it for the long haul. And as if mulling over career choices isn't confusing enough, someone told me over lunch that I should consider working for the government first, particularly Congress, to stock up on my network of sources. That's a fairly good advice, but I don't really know where to start. (Uh, Jam? Heehee.) Must get started on acads first, I suppose. XD *ETA: I just checked out the wiki page of the Baby-sitters Club and there seems to be no character that fits my description. Bah. Must've been talking about another book or something.

I am now officially one month married...to my work! Yes, one month nang employed, one month nang pinagtitiyagaan ng ANC, one month na akong tuluyang nakaalpas mula sa malungkot na mundo ng unemployment. Hep hep hooray sa codeswitching! Haha. :) I admit it hasn't been easy for me, but I'm still here and I am grateful for that. So to celebrate, I'm going to write about the experience. As if I haven't been writing for 5-6 days a week! Hohoho. Rach vs. The Morning My day starts at 4 a.m. I KNOW RIGHT. It's a stark contrast to the past five years when I am sleepless at 4 a.m. while cramming for an article or thesis. I am actually surprised at how my alarm clock works for me, kasi nung college hindi niya ako kayang gisingin. So I take a bath, eat breakfast and stuff. I have the TV tuned in to the DZMM Teleradyo simulcast so I can get my first news fix. Around 5 a.m. I leave the house, targeting to reach Sgt. Esguerra before 6 a.m. Mind you, I have only failed twice at it. I detested the sunrise in college because it always prompts me to say "Sinisikatan na naman ako ng araw nang walang natatapos (Bedspacer Leni, 2005)," but now I enjoy literally racing against it. Nerdy as it sounds, I like seeing the initial rays of sunshine on my way to work. I consider it a success if I reach the ABS compound before the sun has fully risen. Added visual bonus pa kung maganda yung kulay ng skies, hehe. Rach vs. The Job For those who don't know what exactly what my job entails, here’s the slug: I write scripts for the ANC morning shows News@8, Mornings@ANC and Dateline Philippines. The executive producers (EPs) check my script, I ask the production assistants to have the video edited and the possible infographics prepared, then voila, a story. Skip this part if you're not interested in the detailed job description. As soon as I get to the newsroom, I check the front page stories of Business Mirror, Business World, Manila Bulletin, and (just recently) ABS-CBNNews.com so I can summarize at least three from each publication for News@8. Sometimes I get to write a handful of the scripts for the first gap a.k.a. major news stories. At the same time we all monitor the interviews in Umagang Kay Ganda, which airs on ANC before News@8. If the interviews are BIG news, the EP sometimes assigns me to write about them. That'll involve megaheavytranscribing and ultraspeedyscriptwriting. While News@8 is on, I scout the video feed from The Associated Press and Reuters; check RSS feeds of the numerous news sites through Google Reader; and visit my favorite quirky sites Digg.com, Fark.com, Buzzfeed.com and Ananova.com to look for possible feature stories worthy of airtime for the two-hour Mornings@ANC. Then I prepare the features lineup and write some of them. I have to make sure I'm done with the features scripts by 9 a.m., the start of Mornings@ANC. Recently I've been assigned to go to the control room to check if there are grammar, spelling and factual errors in every text that goes on air: crawlers, upstreams, downstreams, headlines, EVERYTHING. (So yeah, if you spot any errors on air, feel free to text me! Hohoho!) I sit beside the chargen people who work their magic with every possible software. Sila ang mga panginoon ng Photoshop at Typing Maniac, hahaha. At 11 a.m. after the hourly rundown of the latest headlines goes on air, I go back to the newsroom and write about two scripts of international news for Dateline Philippines. With my latest assignment for Mornings, this task hasn't been easy these days. More on the struggle later. By 12 p.m. I'm off again to the control room to check the texts coming out of the TV screens, though this time another writer gets the bigger checking share. By 1 p.m. after ANC Headlines, I consider the day done. So there. *sigh* Rach vs. The Medium College journ life and internship life have conditioned me to write news articles consisting of around 300-1000 words. Okay lang sana yun, pero iba na ngayon. This time I have to write 30-second-long scripts. Buti na lang kita agad sa computer kung gaano kahaba yung script. With the kind of scripts I write, hindi ako pwedeng lumagpas ng 30 seconds, kasi the bigger news obviously gets the longer airtime. So good luck talaga kung paano mo pagkakasyahin ang context, backgrounders and all sa trenta segundos. But it doesn't end there. I have to think about the visuals too. Malamang I write for TV ‘di ba? Anong silbi ng magandang script kung wala namang kasamang video? Kung walang video available, anong magandang graphics ang dapat isama to complement the script? Lahat ng yun kailangang pag-isipan. It was tough at first, getting used to writing for TV. I am getting the hang of it, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I also have to contend with the lack of Sky Cable coverage here in our place, which means I can't monitor ANC shows after work. Siyempre para mas maging mahusay ako sa trabaho ko, dapat mino-monitor ko yung sarili kong channel 'di ba? Para alam ko ang tamang atake nila sa storya, lalo na't iba ang target audience ng ANC. So when something big airs on ANC such as Noynoy's guesting on Talkback or the live coverage of Senate hearings, I will have absolutely no idea about what transpired. Sure the EPs let the more experienced writers "storify" those ANC exclusives, but what if the time comes when I'm assigned to that task? Oh well papel. And then there's speed. Sanay naman na ako sa madalian, thanks to my internship experience with online journ. Pero dahil sa mga nabanggit ko sa itaas, tila namamatay ako sa bawat minutong nag-aalala ako na hindi pa ako tapos sa script at malapit nang umere ang programa ko. Kung dati I regularly allow myself a break from news fatigue—something most journ students feel whether they admit it or not—ngayon kahit after the shift umiinog pa rin ang mundo ko sa balita. I check Twitter where most accounts I follow are dedicated to news. Heck, I even record the major items shown in TV Patrol. Lahat ng yun ginagawa ko para kinabukasan may grasp ako ng sinusulat ko, kasi napapatagal ako pag wala talaga akong idea kung tungkol saan yung balita. Grabe. Kung nakakapayat lang ang pressure from these things, underweight na ko ngayon. Haay. Rach vs. The Bad Days Sa trabahong ito, isang buong team ang nakasalalay sa isang produksyon, and if you do good, eh yun naman talaga ang dapat mong gawin 'di ba? Kaya tinuturi ko nang "Job well done" kapag dumaan ang isang shift nang hindi ako nasasabon nang bongga. And then there are bad days. There was one Monday that totally sucked, perhaps the lowest point of my fledgling career. It was my worst workday ever: I committed a cocktail of spelling, grammar and factual errors at lumusot lahat sa ere. Like putangina, EPIC FAIL. Hindi ko alam ba't ako nagkaganun noon. Parang nagkahalo-halo yung fatigue (I did double shifts that Monday and on the Friday before that), yung pressure kong magmadali, o talagang naging careless ako ng sobra. Pero siyempre hindi excuse yun. "I'd rather have a conscientious writer than a careless one," so I was told. As in isipin ko lang yung Monday na yun, nade-depress na ko nang sobra. During the first two weeks, sobrang takot na takot akong magtanong, isang abominasyon para sa tulad kong baguhan. Dahil dun, ilang beses na akong nagkamali dulot na rin nang kawalan ng alam sa mga bagay na teknikal. In one of those days, the EP for Dateline was thisclose to her losing it. "Hindi ba tinuro yan sa inyo sa Journ?" tanong niya. "Ang taong tanong nang tanong, tanga. Pero ang taong hindi nagtatanong, nananatiling tanga." Muntik na akong maiyak nung narinig ko yung salitang "journ." Niyanig niya ang mundo ko sa pagkakatumbok niya ang kahinaan ko. Parang dun ko lang naisip na shit, dala ko ang pangalan ng UP at ng Departamento ng Peryodismo, keri? Nung college naman ako makulit naman akong magtanong, pero para akong tumiklop pagsabak ko sa trabaho. Ako man, nahiwagaan sa sarili ko. Ewan. Every day is a learning process. I keep a notebook where I jot down stuff I need to remember. Yung iba mental notes. Yung iba, sa phone. I try as much as possible not to commit the same mistakes again. I never take personally all the flak I draw because they're all constructive. Para sa ikabubuti ko naman lahat yun, para habang tumatagal baka matulad ako sa mga newsroom people I aspire to be. Rach vs. The Newsroom Heroes Bilang isa sa mga pinakabago sa ANC, lahat ng mga katrabaho ko ang taas na ng level. Sa kanilang lahat, meron tatlong taong tinitingala ko. Gusto kong maging katulad ng super mentor ko sa trabaho. Fresh grad siyang pumasok sa ANC, pero ten years after, news manager na siya rito. Mabait siya kung sa mabait, pero hindi siya maghuhunos diling magtaray pag kinakailangan. Pagkatapos ng litanya at pagsesermon, mabait na siya sa'yo ulit. Pero ewan ko na lang kung hindi ka pa matututo sa pagkakamali pagkatapos ka niyang mapagalitan. Gusto kong maging katulad ng seatmate ko sa cubicle, isa sa mga pinakamalupit na writers ng morning shift. Late lang siya lagi, pero kahit marami na siyang nakatenggang trabaho pagdating niya, kayang-kaya niya akong ungusan. Sa kanya pinagkakatiwala ng mga EP ang mga mabibigat na storya. Ganun siya kalupit. Gusto kong maging katulad ng isa pang writer sa morning shift. Magkasingtanda kami, pero hanggang dun lang ang pagkakapareho namin. Malupit siya sa multi-tasking: sa News@8, pinapagawa siya ng malalaking storya. Tapos magsusulat ng entertainment news para sa Mornings. Minsan isisingit pa niya ang maiksing phone interview sa isang future guest. Tapos magla-line up at magsusulat ng foreign stories para sa Dateline, kung saan siya rin ang taga-check ng chargen at headlines. At kung news judgement din lang ang pag-uusapan, mas bihasa siya kaysa sa akin. These three make me want to be better at my job. Sabi ko nga, pag umabot ako ng six months dito, sana masasabi ko man lang na mas magaling na ako kaysa nung unang beses  akong pumasok sa ANC. Yun bang marating ko man lang kahit katiting ng kung ano sila ngayon. Sa trabahong ito—well kahit saan naman ano—kailangan mo ng inspirasyon. At para sa akin, sila na yun. Rach vs. Work and Love Sabi nila, if you love what you do, you'll never have to work a day in your life. Sabi ko naman, true and false yang kasabihan na yan. This thing I'm doing is still work for me in a sense na araw-araw para akong nag-aaral at may natututunan akong bago. Na I'm constantly trying to be better than I was yesterday. Na kahit walang cable at tapos na ang shift eh puro na lang ako balita, balita, balita. Tsaka aminin naman nating highly stressful ang industriyang ito. Pero I agree kasi I love how kahit papaano nagagamit ko yung natutunan ko sa unibersidad. I love that I'm doing what I'm doing. I love that I love what I’m doing. Malabo, pero yun ang totoo. Madalas naiisip ko, kung napunta ako sa mga previous job offers na muntik ko nang patulan out of desperation, tapos ikukumpara ko sa kung nasaan ako ngayon, palagay ko hindi uubra ang alarm clock ko sa akin every 4:00 a.m. at magiging excited akong gumising bawat umaga. Let's just say I look forward to more mornings of chasing sunrises and writing news stories for ANC. #

  It's amazing how circumstances can be so different, but in essence the dilemma's just the same.

Ikalawang buwan ko na bilang mamamayang nagtatrabaho. Hindi ko mapigilang hindi mamangha. Ang daming nangyari sa nakaraang buwan. Si Mar, umatras sa kampanya para sa kandidatura ni Noynoy. Ang Lakas-Kampi-CMD nagkaroon ng unsolicited airtime sa kanilang pagpupulong upang mamili ng imamanok sa eleksyon. Lumubog ang Superferry 9. Nanalasa ang nakamamatay na sigwang si Ondoy. At natapos ang buwan na nangangamba ang bayan sa pagdating ng mas malakas na bagyong si Pepeng. Naranasan ko nang lumusong sa baha para lamang makapagbalita. Naranasan ko na ring matulog sa opisina dahil dito. Ang mga dating katabi ay hindi na basta kakilala lamang. Inagahan ko na ring gumising at pumasok dahil sa aking tingin, mas nakakapagtrabaho ako ng maayos kapag maaga akong pumapasok. Unti-unti ko nang mas nagagamay ang mundong ito, medyo nakaalpas na kumpara noong isang buwan na nangangapa pa ako. Oo, naninindigan pa rin akong marami pa akong bigas na kakainin sa industriyang ito, pero sa dami ng kailangang isulat upang maging mulat at mapanuri ang mga manonood, sino ba naman ang hindi mapipilit na mapapabuti sa kanyang trabaho? Hindi sa pagbubuhat ng bangko, pero sa dami ng nangyari at sa dami ng kinailangan kong maisulat, tila hinulma ako ng Setyembre. Isang tagay sa marami pang buwan (at, may awa ang Diyos, taon) ng pagbabalita't pagseserbisyo sa bayan.

So you had to get 5 guests in a span of 1 1/2 days. Your first confirmed guest suddenly came down with the flu. You stopped counting how many people you had to call. You even had to shell out a few bucks at a restaurant just to get the manager's number. And then, lo and behold, another one calls to confirm her attendance. An hour before airing, you realize 4 out of 5 is definitely a good thing than 2/5. So you hadn't had a decent meal for 7+ hours. And then by some generous act of God you later found yourself high on sugar and full with your favorite pesto with grilled chicken meal. It was the last time -- at least for this year --- that you had to coordinate guests, and it's definitely a great time to celebrate. So last week you lost sleep over doing research to complement a 2-minute script. You also had to stay past midnight at the office just to finish it. Today you get an email from a higher up saying she had fun reading what you wrote. And you realize it was definitely worth the sleepless nights. Admit it dude, you had fun doing it naman eh. It's a good day to be grateful and thankful. :)

And of course I recognize that you can scrutinize my tweets and pass me off as this know-it-all middle class kid. I'm just saying! :)

June 19-21, 2010 Newsroom - Subic - Cabangan, Zambales Here's to hoping this will be the first of the many. :)