I never imagined that I would be doing a Pop Inc segment on MTV but as some people say, sometimes the unexpected will just come and hit you on the face. Boy was I hit hard! I was ever so excited, pestering Veron over and over again for my brief since it was going to be a fairly huge event to cover. Veron, being so patient and all, tried to calm me down (thanks for that!) and finally the brief came in the night before. Had a chat with Michell and found out that the dress I had planned to wear had some clashing colors. Oh no! All these happening on the night before! Besides that, I had tons to worry as I looked at the list of celebrities and people coming to the event and thought to myself “I don’t even recognize half of them!” Panic struck, and I spent almost the entire night doing research on everything and nothing coz I din know wat to expect!

Ok. Come morning. Woke up in to hit the shopping centres hard for that perfect little dress that would I would feel comfortable in and at least make me look a lil nice. Such headache! You know how it is that when you wanna find something, it always hides from you? 2 hours to meeting Michell and I finally find a dress that I think was suitable. Whew! Quickly rushed home, started preparing and all and hopped back into a cab to meet Michell at the Atrium@Orchard. Very soon, we were on our way to Suntec City to begin my shot at being an MTV reporter.

Upon arrival at Suntec City, we were whisked into the Press Conference where I got my first practice as a reporter. Michell got me to ask a question that was followed by a few minutes of silence as the panel was first stunned and then had to discussed amongst themselves the answer to my baffling question. That question posed as a lead question as a few other journalists asked similar baffling questions. It was a funny situation to hear the silence in the room, but I guess that’s normal since they cannot be ready for any questions. Ok, not to a very very good start with the organizers of the show… Never mind….

Soon, the press con was over and we made our way to position ourselves at the allocated MTV spot by the Red Carpet. Thus started my REAL responsibilities. I was getting more and more excited but then Michell & the camera crew (Ikram & Jasman) were really reassuring and nice. We were joking and laughing over everything. It really helped put me at ease somewhat. Finally, we started rolling. Did my opening shot withint 3 takes. Whew. That was the ‘easy’ part. Now all we had to do was wait for the celebrities & VIPs to walk down the carpet, and for me to ‘pounce’ on them to ask them questions. The wait was long. No one ever comes on time in Singapore! As we were waiting, Michell ran through some questions and identified the people I should ask the questions to. I think all that waiting made my brain go numb, because as the first few celebrities arrived, I seem to gabra and mess up my thoughts on what to ask them. Kinda hilarious yet embarrassing at the same time as we hear Michell shouting over the camera to ask them stuff. Hahaha..

Anyway, as the time went by, I was getting more and more comfortable asking questions and getting people to twirl for the camera. I managed to ‘intercept’ numerous celebrities such as (can only remember local celebrity names) Gurmit Singh, Patricia Mok, Zoe Tay, Tay Ping Hui, Edmund Chen, Hong Hui Fang, etc etc… I even got a double kiss from the twins, May & Choy. They’re really very perky and positively energetic people! The moment that I remembered most was when (Minister of Arts) Mr Vivien Balakrishnan came on the red carpet. I introduced myself as from MTV Asia and asked him if I could ask him a few questions. He nodded and was turning on my way when the organizer whisked him to the other side of the red carpet. I was a little stunned but then, what to do right! Must be coz I asked the stumping question earlier (the organizer was part of the panel, hehehe). Anyway, I turned around and wanted to do a side introduction to the camera about the person being Mr Balakrishnan, when Michell told me he was turning back to come to our direction! So Sweet!!!! He apologized (yes, apologized!), shook my hand, and let me ask him the question. He was very friendly, nice and enthusiastic in answering the question and I think he has really impacted my views on Ministers in Singapore! Michell and I decided he’d be our favourite Minister! Also, I got my  very own ‘celeb’ moment when this photographer (I think he’s from Indonesia or Phillipines) kept snapping my pictures from across the red carpet. He seems to either find me amusingly interesting or thinks I’m some celeb from MTV. That was quite cool too!

With the Red Carpet portion over, it was time for us to get to the ballroom for dinner and the awards. Whew. Major stress relief as I saw that my worries the night before were uncalled for. Things are really easier when you have a good team of producer and camera crew that are jovial and patient! Michell and I got our seats at the media table WAY at the back of the room that I can only see the people on stage as tiny objects. We calculated the number of awards to be given out- 39! Oh no! It felt like it was going to be a long long night. Hunger set in and we were eagerly looking forward to dinner starting. Finally dinner started! The opening of ATV was an array of colors, sights and sounds as they creatively blended cultures and music from the different countries. Come to think of it, it was still very exciting to be there, eventhough we were dreading the boredom that would present itself due to the numerous awards to be given out. But it was good that Michell had a sense of humour so we were laughing and joking about anything and everything we could to fill up our time.

Closer to the end of the event, Michell decided to just do the closing and we slipped out of the room and found a nice spot in front of a HUGE ATV replica. Oh no! All that relaxing, laughing and food must’ve made my brain go soft, because I kept messing up my closing! I must’ve taken close to 10 or more takes just to finish up my first line, and another 10 takes to finish up my second line. Poor crew! Just when they (or I for that matter) thought that it was going to be a good take, my tongue never fails to let me down! Argh. I was beginning to panic that we would stay there until the guests have all gone home before I could perfect the closing. Thank god it wasn’t that bad, and in the end, I managed to complete my sentences and expressions properly. Whew! We did an interview with a Malaysian artist who won the Best Comedy Performance by an Actress- Janet Khoo- and I took some more pictures of people around, with the crew and  with Michell. And that was a wrap!

All in all, a really fun and interesting day. I got to feel what it was like to be a reporter and to be part of a high profile event. It’s good being the media. Somehow you get the VIP treatment on the side and the organizers tend to try and treat you a little better since you’ll be the one reporting about their event. The event itself was almost all glitz and glamour as stars from each respective countries turned up to celebrate the evening and the winners. I’m really happy to have been given this chance to cover this event, and who knows, maybe, just maybe, I could be the next big thing! Hey, things DO happen, u just never know!!!