CandyMag.Com

So! The feature articles. (And yes, it really is me, Gela, back in the flesh! =D)

Obviously I can’t say much about the part of the articles that I didn’t take part in writing, because I wasn’t there to witness them being born. But I sure can tell you about the part Pat and I worked on, namely the quiz.

It took a lot of idea-changing and a lot of drafts before the two of us finally came up with that. My original idea was “What Type of Explorer Are You?” in relation to the theme EXPLORE! I was thinking the answers would be something like archaeologist-captain-traveler-something (I never got around to deciding on the last option because we thought of a different idea).

The final one came out, I remember, during our Hotspot shoot. I’d asked Pat to ride with us in the Adventure, and the two of us were in the back-back seat while Rubie, Sandra and Mheems (did I get that right? haha! I forgot.) were in the middle-back seat. We both had our notebooks open, and ideas just started flowing right out of us. Funny how that happens when we’re all together. It’s like when we’re getting really into brainstorming, our minds connect effortlessly onto one track, one wavelength, and it all comes together and bam! we come up with something. One time, the eds even said they should have done more brainstorming with us. Haha! Well, going back. Somewhere during that bumpy ride, we came up with the idea of thinking about the gadget the reader uses most and telling the reader what kind of exploring she should do more. Within the span of say, five minutes, we already had a basic outline and a draft of the design, and once that was done, we shut our notebooks and joined into the other girls’ conversation on school and Gossip Girl (although I couldn’t relate with that! =P) as we cruised along the roads.
The trickier part came after the Field Trip. So now we had an outline, what next? Patricia and I agreed to both make a first draft and then I’d send mine to her and she’d merge it together, and she would send it back to me and if I okay it, then I’ll send it back and she could send it to the eds. Whew! That is a LOT of sending. I can’t remember the exact date I sat down to do the article anymore. All I remember was facing a blank Notepad screen and putting my fingers on the keyboard. Maybe I was watching TV, maybe I was listening to music. I was in my aunt’s house and it was quiet, just the way I like it. I finished my half of the article within the day.

The next afternoon, it was drizzling. I remember awkwardly putting on my grandma’s cardi over my shirt before I went to the computer shop near the entrance of my aunt’s village so I could send the article to Pat. The screen of the computer they let me use was shaking. Haha. Like there’s interference every ten seconds. Hmm. *racks her brains and tries to remember what else happened*

Days later, Pat E-mailed her merged copy back to me, and I didn’t need to take long. I read it through, then I remember correcting something, and then I sent it back to her right away.

I didn’t get to see that article again until the day I saw the minimag. When school started, things started to pile up…and oops, that is a story for another day.=) I’m really going to get back to blogging.

Finally! The day I saw the minimag. The guy in the Beauty and the Beast photo is my “brother” Kuia Rei Gill. He was the first one who told me that our minimag was out already, Sept. 28, if I’m not mistaken. I freaked out, and bounced up and down on my mattress of a bed in excitement. YAAAY! The next day at school, my PE teacher, T. Meanne, called me over and asked me if I had seen our minimag. I told her I hadn’t, and she made me follow her to the Faculty Room. Ma’am said she had confiscated it from the junior girls because they were disrupting her class with well…you know. Haha! Apologies, Ma’am. Anyway, I browsed through it, and the very first thing I looked at was our article. I read it word for word, and I tell you, it’s incredibly cool to see those words in print, in black and white. Yeah, yeah, we’ve done assignments for the actual magazine, but since it’s our minimag, it’s like, ten times more special.

Oh euphoria, euphoria, euphoria.

Hmm. Great work, Pat!=D

Gela out!

PS: I’m really going to blog again. Swear it.=)))