COM 443: A Reflection #1

Professor Bob Armstrong, currently lecturing at SIM-UB, has requested that each of his students detail their experiences in his classes in an online fashion via a simple blog, and while some other have decided to set up entirely new ones for this purpose, the combination of me being too lazy and feeling quite satisfied with this current one led to me just sending him this here link.

Lengthy random introductory sentence aside, let's take a look at what we have.

I've made no secret of the fact that, for a long time, I've looked at the advertising industry with a combination of awe and desire. Ever since I learnt that a relative of mine had something to do with Jessica Alba being in a Singaporean commercial, that feeling has only escalated. This semester, though the advertising module that so many of us gleefully signed up for has been somewhat of a reality check.

Most of us are familiar with the instructor, jolly old Professor Armstrong, prone to the odd and erratic bout of singing and appreciative of a good Hollywood shootout. His somewhat ruthless and hectic schedule isn't a surprise to many of us either, though even the most experienced of us silly students would be hard-pressed to honestly say that they were well and truly prepared for this experience.

I'm not saying it's the most hellish course we've ever had to misfortune of sitting through (especially not after The Drooler and others...), but it's no walk in the park either. The fact that many of us have found ourselves in school early and/or late everyday finishing up projects and assignments, stressing over everything from HTML to tie colors, timing speeches to the second and cramming for 7.25% of the overall grade just adds to the general feeling of what exactly one would be up against in the industry.

Of course, I'm no expert at that, and for all I know our dear Professor could just be a sadistic and malicious prankster, aiming to give us early coronaries. But then my chats with my mystery friend from Ogilvy seems to confirm his assessment of the harsh and hard world of advertising.

One of the positives I can take away from the course so far, though, is the fact that the luck of the draw has been good for me. With the majority of the grade resting on a group performance, graded and assessed throughout the semester, the good Professor saw it fit to randomly group the class into teams of six to seven individuals. While it's fair and accurate to say that I'm not in my preferred combination and permutation of class-mates right now, I'm actually very pleased with the experience thus far. Good blend of talents and personalities, and it's given me the chance to grow closer to some people I wasn't as close to prior to the challenge.

Doesn't hurt, of course, that two of the top three from the recent SIM-UB Dinner & Dance Best Dressed competition are in there with me!

But that's it for now, got the aforementioned exam to cram for, when I get around to it.

Flavor of the Week

Lot has happened in the past seven days.

A week ago, Hari Raya came and went without incident, though the night of the first day was interesting, to say the least. The next few days saw hectic happenings in school and long nights outside. Dark rings and flu ensued, and I woke up at 2pm today, a feat only accomplished by a phone call that prevented me from sleeping through my Sunday.

But it's been a week to remember, for good and for bad, though really my only regret is how I didn't end it as well as I should have.

Question myself alot recently, wondering why I made some decisions, why some things happened, continue to happen. If others will or should.

Oh well.

Eventful

Past week or so has been interesting, to say the least. Alot of good and bad and everything in between, with surprising developments and frustrating obstructions. Decisions to make, things to turn away from, matters to settle too in the days to come. And I find myself spectacularly unmotivated.

I haven't watched Moon, probably won't have the time or company to. Hari Raya rounds are repetitively dull and inane. Certain people are getting increasingly difficult to tolerate. It's the little things that irritate me, and not a little.

Some people envy my position, some people don't know about it. I just want to sleep.

Spent a long time today talking to someone I've always thought of as a friend but who I never really bothered to really talk to prior to today, and I don't know why. Not why I talked to this person, but why I didn't before. Makes one think of what's been missed.

But also what was discussed, revealed, learnt, shared. Of how old, old, friends drift away and how everything seems infantile sometimes when you realize you're clutching at something you're not even sure is all there.

Too many things to do, too little drive to do it.

Something More

Sometimes it's the little things, the forgotten things, the things that have always been there but have never been paid attention to that suddenly jump out at you, painted in moonlight and keeping you up.

It's new, interesting, fun.

Play it by ear.