I wouldn’t say that people underestimate PR, at the rate PR agencies are paying and nicking individuals with natural PR skills to said industry. In fact, i wholly respect those who have the ability to sweet talk and assert themselves as friends in the first ten minutes upon meeting anybody when it’s not an easy task.
Moving on, the reason for the title of the post was ignited by a small incident that happened last week at an event. A fellow blogger came up to say hi, that they’re coming for CGYT and, hey, by the way, could you take a picture with this phone?
I replied, “Urm, yeah, sure,” till i saw the brand of the phone.
Now. I wouldn’t have petty beef with the brand unless it was something that really ticked me off. And when i say really, i say it with memory of the profound annoyance i felt at the time.
This was sometime mid-2007 when particular mobile phone brand approached me for blog advertising and viral blog marketing. I readily agreed and we went through the pipeline to get the project through.
Countless emails.
Meetings.
Phonecalls.
Drafts of ideas.
You get my drift.
When push came to shove, my finance consultant and i sat down to work out the quotation. Emailed it in. Never got a reply.
I thoroughly respect how it works when it comes to pitches.
You pitch, it doesn’t work out, hey no problem, thanks for trying, move on.
What pushed my our buttons was that after chasing me for this and that, you disappeared out of thin air.
I called. Left a voicemail. Emailed you, so what’s happening?
No reply.
Wow. Can chase me day and night, tiba-tiba no reply?
To think the PR people in your company have no, well, PR courtesy (and common sense) to merely email, “Hey, we don’t think this is working out, but thank you very much for your effort and time,” didn’t go down well.
And you think, hey, this will blow by, bla bla bla.
Pfft. You think by foregoing a small email, it’ll blow away but the toes you stepped on remember.
Ever since then, i swore never to buy a phone from your brand.
Not because i hate your brand. But because i disrespect the PR people you hired.
I’m not one to hold grudges easily, but the amount of hours that was required to pitch for the project minus a singular line of rejection is unacceptable.
When i was hunting for a new phone to buy early this year, someone pointed out your brand, “Hey, what about this one? Slim, something you want right?”
Glancing at it, i said firmly, “No. I will never buy that brand. Show me any other phone except that.”
And i will never buy your brand. It’s funny cos i used to think it’s quite cool. Now every time i look at it on a phone, i can’t help but scoff inwardly.
It’s awesome being away from the internet for four days! I think it’s like a relationship. It rekindles passion again. But what do i know about relationships, i seem to suck at them.
I think Kenny was worse at being away from the Internet.
Wait, i don’t *think* he was worse.
He was definitely worse!
At one point he was hugging his laptop outside a cyber cafe in Mersing which was late in opening cos he needed to put a post up.
I think MaryBerry couldn’t tahan being with two bloggers so dependent on communication that she wailed at us, “Switch off handphones! No laptops!”
Me: Chill la Mary… no reception also la
We went diving, i saw an adult black-tipped shark, drank to bits, made DoraemonKenny drink a flaming, made friends with our dive group and ate and drank with them, went to two deserted beaches where we took heaps of camwhoring pictures underwater, another day MaryBerry and i went to a beach alone and NOONE was there, so we stripped and ran around the beach stark naked till we saw a couple snorkeling to shore and ran for our clothes giggling.
I read half of Richard Branson’s Losing my Virginity (which i bought AGES ago and never had the time to start!), got well tanned from all that mooching about in the sun, and ate four times a day (i usually have time for only one or two meals a day here -_-).
Happiest picture i have of MaryBerry!
Most poser picture i have of DoraemonKenny.
Most relaxed picture of the fairy
Will post up Langkawi and other Tioman pics later tonight. Gonna run out and join Milcah and her friends for dinner. She be my caretaker.
One Friday night, i persuaded FaiTheMai to accompany me have some Guinness Draught before meeting up with the rest of the gang in KL later that night. Fai, never one to turn down Guinness, picked me up and we headed to Backyard in Hartamas.
I’ve been to Backyard previously when LaughingLoga used to bring me there a couple of years back.
Guinness was having their Black Challenge going on, meaning with every purchase of Guinness® Draught or Guinness® Foreign Extra Stout, you’d get a Guinness® Black Challenge card to partake in their 9 ball speed pool challenge.
I got a card and wasn’t sure exactly what the whole thing was about, but thought hey, why not.
I filled it up then looked towards the pool table in trepidation…
I thought, “Die la. I haven’t played pool for ages. I’m going to embarrass myself kau kau.”
The Guinness promoter girls were super sweet and helpful, explaining patiently (to blurcases like me) what the competition was about.
Amy + Cheryl
Basically, all one has to do is pot nine balls that are placed on the pool table like so…
… while being timed, and the player who does it in the fastest time wins.
It was pretty simple, i could start off with placing the white ball wherever i wanted and there was no particular order in which i had to pot them.
The cue ball (white ball) cannot be in motion while i’m shooting, whereas it’s okay if the coloured ones are.
Different outlets in cities across Malaysia are holding the Guinness® Black Challenge. Naturally there has to be a winner for each outlet, whom then gets sent for the city-challenge.
If you’re the regional winner in your city, you then get to compete at the national Guinness® Black Challenge held in Genting Highlands Resort end of this month (30 May-1 June)
I was thinking heck… no way i can win this… but fastest player in outlet wins 10 pints/bottles Guinness + exclusive limited edition Guinness® 9 Ball Tour merchandise!
Needless to say which prize i’m more interested in.
Six of the balls are already so near the pool table pockets, can’t be that bad right?
So i started shooting.
One thing i realise now is, by aiming to pot all the balls that are near the pockets first, you have to move around the table quickly.
Me being short and not being able to take long strides didn’t help.
I can only imagine how i looked like hopping around the table like a bunny while Fai laughed and laughed.
39.9 seconds.
Okay.
That’s not the time i took.
I’m too embarrassed to put up how long i took.
People could make babies with the amount of time i took.
Even though i failed terribly at the 9 ball speed challenge, the Guinness® Black Challenge promoters surprised me by saying i could still try out their Lucky 9 Ball Pick.
With every purchase of Guinness® Draught or Guinness® Foreign Extra Stout, you get a chance to dunk your hand into a black box and try picking a coloured ball.
Prizes are their limited edition Guinness® 9 Ball Tour merchandise, but if you’re lucky enough to pick the 9 ball, you win RM100 in cash on the spot.
I ducked my hand in chanting, “Come on… come on, colour, come to meeeee, i love colours and colours love me!”
I picked white balls twice.
-_-
It was fun though, and was an additional activity that came with us drinking Guinness Draught.
I’m just saying all this to myself cos i’m a sore loser okay.
If you reckon you’d stand a better chance, you still can partake in Fuel Chill Out Place in Penang on the 21st.
If you’re interested in watching the finals in Genting Highlands, you can RSVP on their website *here!*
I was having a meeting with Navin outside in the garden when SarChan bounced out.
She placed the giraffe RIGHT NEXT to my head going, “He wants to be nearrrr you! He’s feeling neglected!”
I guess our notebooks and pens on the table weren’t enough to signify we were in the middle of discussion.
-_-
We ended up arguing what the two long knobs atop the giraffe’s head which were most definitely not his ears. What’s that? asked SarChan. Er, horns? i answered without thinking how stupid that sounded cos i know giraffes don’t have horns!! It could be his ears… spoke up Navin. His ears are here la! shouted SarChan, pointing at his ears. Eeyer, then what’s that? ew-ed Navin. So ugly, he said. Shh! You’ll hurt his feelings! SarChan clamped her hands over the giraffe’s ears.
After work the topic came up again on what those funny knobs were and we googled it. I think it’s antlers maybe… i said while clicking on the mac.
Yeah this is late, but i gathered its for the best.
Cos then, the pics will excite you for Cat Got Your Tongue #2 which is next Thursday at Mansion again!
Just before the event started, we all trooped to the mamak to get some grub, seeing it was gonna be a longggg night of running around.
The happy stuff we put at the main entrance to greet people!