The Journey Within

Not exactly Friday the 13th, but it is one week after the omen on 6|6|06. I signed away my soul to an insurance company. Now to lead a life of misery and torture… Ok ok.. it’s not that bad. It just feels relatively worse from the free days I’m having now. Although I probably need to thank the stars for gaining employment! Hurray! And speaking of employment… the model agency called me for an interview today… it was “interesting” to say the least…

It was a small corner lot in an old building. I walked past it the first time not noticing it was there! When I walked in, there was another girl sitting down filling up a form. She was on the phone, so I couldn’t see her face. I walked up to the reception, and just told them that I’m here for an interview. They gave me a form to fill in as well. So I just sat beside the girl. There was probably only room for another person to sit down!

Now, the form has the normal things like name, address, contact etc. There was a bigger space for a photo than what you normally get from a passport application. You can put a 4″ x 6″ photo there! And below the photo were some measurements required. Height and weight – ok, i’ve seen this in medical forms. Shoe size – now, that’s new. Chest size, waist size, hip size – hmm… apart from waist size, i don’t actually know the others! Maybe it’s more important for females. I was tempted to peak at what the girl beside me filled in… (I didn’t have the guts!!)

Turning over the form, there’s more to fill in. Have you been in any activities below e.g. roadshow, advertisement, events, posters etc. (no, no, no, no, no….) Next, what talent do you have, tick where appropriate – singing, dancing, catwalk, drama, acting, hosting etc… I ticked the “other” box and put in “martial arts”. I have to at least put in something right?

And finally, what kind of jobs are you most likely to accept. Er.. i ticked commercials and advertisements. There were catwalk (me catwalking?!!), hosting, roadshow etc. Ok, sign on the dotted line.

After passing the form back to reception, which was just a step away, i sat down, not knowing what to expect. And then a tall hunky guy walked past with a goatie who could have passed off as Hugh Jackman! Ok, maybe just the goatie can pass as Hugh’s, but he was tall and has strong jawlines – a manly man. I suddenly shriveled into non-existence. Just when I’m doubting why exactly am I here, I was called in for the interview.

“So” she said, going through my application form, “you are a Malaysian?”

“yes”… and then we went on for some small talk.

“So, have u taken any photos like this before?” directing my attention to a wall of advertisements and some poser shots.

“er.. only once, when I got married.”

“ookaaaaay…” and then she starts explaining what they do and think i have the looks for older people.

Mental note: late 20s is OLD for modelling.

I can’t just not ask her the question. “Why did you you choose me in the first place?”

and she said… “you mean you haven’t been asked before?”

“No…” shuffling around uneasily… “although i did have a very geeky pair of glasses for most part of my life! until I considered laser surgery…” and the conversation took into a different direction – on the hows and the whys of the eye laser surgery. she did answer my question eventually.

“we do need people in your age group as well. it depends on the client.”

“ok…”

“u know, this is a modelling job after all. is your wife ok with shots like this?” showing me some marriage shots with another woman.

“er.. i’m sure she’s not”

“just bring her along to the set. we employ a lot of students, and we usually encourage their parents to come along as well.”

and finally, she said “ok, we will need to make a portfolio of photos of you so that we can send them off to our clients. We’ll subsidise most of the fees, but you will still have to pay something, $388 to be exact.”

Aha! Finally, the catch! “I’ll discuss it with my wife”

“Why? you mean you wouldn’t do it if your wife says no?”

“yes” although, probably it’s more of me saying no, but using wife as excuse! i don’t need to let her know that…

“ok.. but it’ll be such a waste!”

“sorry, i can’t make this decision now. don’t worry, i’ll let u know very soon.”

And so it ends. As I was walking out of the agency, everyone was checking me out! hey, it’s the modelling industry, looks is everything! And I chuckled after realising that we are checking each other out!

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Related posts:

1. Omen 666
2. My Heroes