Empurau 2010 - My Best & My Last

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SMK Katibas - Empurau Magazine 2010
It's finally out! It was actually out 3 weeks ago. haha~~
My 2nd SMK Katibas school magazine.
I can truly say it's mine because this time I've made significant changes to it & put in my soul & spirit into making it the best magazine any school could dream of.
All the careful planning, dream dreaming, delegating, information sourcing, sponsor soliciting, photo taking/editing/arranging, typing, editing & translating BM to English (Yes, it's a school magazine that is wholly in English!) comes down to this little RM10 book.

Here a hint of how cool this magazine is
I am very proud of this book & the team that supported me in it's production but I was let down by the printer, one Vicskill Printing of Sibu.
They gave a really good offer of significantly extra coloured pages for the same price as our previous printer, Kai Ming of Sibu, but they printed the black & white pages very badly & they did not arrange the page borders properly.
Bloody hell, they printed some pages darker than others & some pages so light, a cheap photocopy would look better!

I felt betrayed when I flipped through the completed book for the first time.
It was as if somebody sunk a large kitchen knife through the heart of my newborn child.
Their samples were flawless for the larger schools but, for mine, an atrocity.
Was it because we were an obscure school printing a minuscule amount?

I was really pissed. Actually, I still am. Neither have I been compensated in any way!
When I brought the issue up with the management, they just looked at me blankly! WTF?!!
When I asked them to compensate by printing out 10-20 copies perfectly, they asked me to list down the bad pages for them & come back later with the list.
WTF? Shouldn't THEY be the ones to do this? And to think they did not even apologise.
Well, F you. That's how hurt I am.
Why did you ever vouch for them, Arthur?

No matter. The students still loved the magazine nonetheless.
And I still received plenty of compliments.
One person even called it a 4-star magazine!
How undiscerning. hahaha~~

Well, I'm very deeply saddened that the final product did not live up to my expectations. Everything was perfect except the printing.
Even more so when this was supposed to be my best & last.
Yes, this will sadly be my last magazine.

I'm really swamped as Chief Warden so I have to teach someone else to take over the production.
I have already got a team in place & I plan to put in more members for him so that he will not have to do as much as I did the past 2 years.
The magazine will go on in a different direction from the vision of a different man.

It has been a blast.
I've learnt so much through both the 2009 & 2010 productions.
I've met many people who have greatly encouraged & supported me.
But it's time to move on to bigger & better things.

I shall not interfere with future productions unless I am sought.
However, I will go after the printers for my PERFECT best & last.
My heart demands that I simply must have my baby.
That's how much effort & love I've put into the production.

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