You can read my tech reviews and other write-ups for FACES magazine here.
I've been contributing to FACES magazine for nearly 5 years now. From the time I was fresh out of university, just wanting to try something new... to this day, doing it full-time. Back then, the thought of contributing to magazines and newspapers never really crossed my mind. I was just too busy deciding whether I loved or hated being in the advertising industry.
So by 2003, I was already contributing to FACES magazine, thanks to the encouragement of my friend, who is also the editor of the mag. She said "just write me a sample tech story, a free topic tech write up of 1,000 words and we'll decide from there". So I did a tech article on MP3 players, which was big news back in 2003 (and in many ways still is today).
Based on my keen passion and knowledge of techie stuff, it seemed like a good idea, but I was unsure of my writing ability. Sure, I have written lots of essays in college and university, but will it be interesting and good enough that everyday people who pick up the magazine would want to stop at my page and read them? The editor-in-chief read it and loved it, so my first article was published. From there, I took up my permanent work as a Client Servicing Executive in an advertising agency and worked both jobs. It was hard work, my advertising work demanded long hours and finding time to write was near impossible.
Thanks to an incident in Sept 2003, when I lost my Apple iBook which I had bought using my credit card, I had no choice but to persevere with both jobs in order to make enough money to pay off a laptop computer that I don't own anymore. I left my laptop in the car for 30 minutes to grab a quick late dinner before heading home from work on a weekday. I was dog tired at 11pm and someone broke into my car and stole my precious iBook. I was just seated about 40 meters away and my car was ironically parked in front of a church! However, my vision of my car was blocked by a white van, so I couldn't see what happened from where I was eating.
So there, the tragic story of my first Apple iBook ownership. I had the laptop for barely 3 months. It was a difficult time, for the next few days, I was extremely paranoid and began questioning the virtues of mankind. You're constantly looking over your shoulders and checking if the car is locked and safe. You can't sleep at night wondering if your house is broken into... you're not working well because the spot that your laptop used to occupy is now a vacant real estate on your table... It was just a shitty time.
But thanks to FACES magazine, I was able to pay off that instalment rather quickly. And a few years on, I have a Apple Macbook (black). I have also learnt my lesson - I will never again leave my laptop computer in the car. I've been writing a lot for the magazine since 2003, and believe I've grown a lot together with the mag... so.... have a read.
Labels: apple, caberawet, faces, ibook, kenny teoh, kennyt, magazine, Malaysia, malaysian, stolen, tech review, teoh khin yee
