September 14

Was on Reference Room Duty today. Met up with some difficult and frustrating cases. Was busy serving the researchers while i handled calls from boss asking why everything else wasn't done. Didn't pay too much attention to a lady who walked into Reference Room in late afternoon asking to meet our Senior Archivist (SA). She briefly told me to inform SA that Mediacorp crew would like to conduct the interview soon. As usual, I picked up the phone and wanted to call SA's office number. Made a few calls and finally got him on his mobile:

Me: "Hi Mr. XXX, this is gracie. I would like to inform you that Mediacorp crew is here for the interview. Would you be coming down anytime soon?"

SA: "Oh, yep, i do know about it. Just ask them to do general filming of the building and surroundings first..."

Me: "Urhuh." For the moment, I was just receiving instructions from him, so I wasn't prepared for the next phrase.

SA: "...as for the interview, you can represent me. No problems right? they will ask simple questions about the building and you can just answer accordingly. you can...you can..."

Me: "huh...Mr. XXX, no...i can't...no, you are kidding." (in Mandarin)

Quickly, i passed the phone over to the Mediacorp Producer, who was standing in front of me. She took over the conversation, asking him whether he told us to prepare for the interview. She grinned after he replied. She told me after hanging up the conversation saying that, SA refrained from informing us in advance of the interview because he knew that we wouldn't be able to sleep well the night before if we had known about it! haha! How true is that! After the phone call, I was a little disturbed. My hands felt cold and my feet felt like jelly. My first thoughts were--Wow, how cool is that?! What a privilege to appear on tv! But, what if i said the wrong thing?!! How embarassing that would be!

What strucked me "dead" while I was deep in thought was i bumped into the famous Mediacorp artist: Zhou Chu Ming, who said "hi" and smiled generously at me. i didn't expect him to be seated right outside the Reference Room with other Mediacorp Artists and the camera crew. i wasn't prepared for that kind gesture from someone i only saw on tv all these while. i guess my initial response to that was- *SHOCK* just didn't expect to meet these artists so upclose. It finally clicked. Zhou Chu Ming and Lim Peifen are the hosts for the TV program: Where in Singapore? every Tuesday 8pm. They were here to film the historical spot :)

Oh well, are you guys interested to hear the conclusion of the story? When SA finally came, he dragged me in to represent him for the interview. I managed to convince him right before the shoot that I am still very new to this historical environment and history of the building. *phew...sigh of relief! :) *So eventually, he did.

Well, it was a nice day at the Reference Room afterall :)