eight years and going strong

I spent some time today going through my desk drawers throwing things out that I don’t need anymore, and I stumbled upon an old flash drive.  I put it in to see what was on it, and it was my old online journal which I had downloaded when the service shut down (teenopendiary.com – RIP).  Reading through it, I realized a few things:

1.  All teenagers are ridiculously self-absorbed.

2.  I don’t think I ever really liked the guy I crushed on through the entirety of high school.

3.  It makes perfect sense that I became an Advertising major, the signs were everywhere:

• “I wish all my projects were group projects.”
• “I hate that I can’t draw anything.  Oh well, at least I know what I would draw.”
• “The presentation was so fun!”

4.  I’ve always been a nerd.

5. When I moved to New Haven, Connecticut from Sydney, Australia – the transition was much easier than I thought it would be.

6.  My mother has consistently given me really good advice.

I kept that first journal for three years, then moved over to another service, then blogger, then WordPress and now WordPress & Tumblr (which I’ve been updating more often than this blog).  So, technically I’ve been “blogging” since 2000.   I don’t think when I was fourteen I even knew what blogging was, but it’s so great to have this running track record of my life and thoughts between the ages of fourteen and twenty two.

I absolutely neglected blogging (and sleeping) during finals week, but now that it’s over I’ll be writing more frequently and enjoying having a little time off.

Pretty psyched.

No Bugs, No Hassles

Every time I see a pest control truck, I think back to last semester when I was the project manager for a Yellow Pages campaign through the YPA Collegiate Advertising Competition, and our client was Terminix.  I’m reminded of the absurd amount of research that we all did in the making of our campaigns, and of the fact that I know waaay more about pest control than is neccesary in the life of a twenty two year old kid (junior) adult.  

This morning on the way to work, I drove by a Terminix truck and I realized that this very thing is what I like best about having majored in advertising: learning about all sorts of different things, all the time, even if it’s something as random as Terminix.

pursuing direction

For the longest time, I’ve always said that unless someone has a very specific idea of what they want to do for a career, people just kind of figure it out as they go along.  Get a feel for what they’re good at, what they like, what they don’t like and so on.  If they change their mind, no big deal.

At this juncture in my life, I’m thinking that I should reconsider this “see what happens” mentality.  I’m 21, in my last year of college, and I (still) have only a vague idea what I’m doing.   I know that people change career paths all the time, and that what you set out thinking is right for you in college, often times isn’t what you wind up doing for the rest of your life.  When I decided on my major, I really thought that advertising was for me.  Although I think it’s really, really interesting (and, in all honesty, something that I think I’d be quite good at), I’m doubting whether I have the persistence to do it considering how competitive the field is.  Also, considering my wide array of interests, if I’ll suffer from lacking tunnel-vision as far as what I want.  Although I like advertising, I also like marketing, public relations, publishing, journalism, and new media in general (which is currently just an interest, not something I think I can really “study”). 

It’s strange for me to be this indecisive, and so unsure of things.  Which is exactly why it’s on my mind.

I recently saw a presentation where it was said,

 ”try to have a five year plan…an idea of where you want to be”.   

I asked, “Well, what if you have no idea what you’re doing?”.  Which was kind of odd considering that a big theme of the presentation was about planning for the future and orienting yourself in one direction or another, but I was just being honest.

   “Well, what are you good at?”
   “I like writing.  And I like to think I’m good at it.”
    :::glances over at my professor, who didn’t disagree:::

     “then write, write, write.”

So i’m writing and scheming.  I think unless you really do have a set goal, you have to pursue an interest and essentially turn it into a goal.  It’s something that I’m going to have to look into.  Actively pursuing some direction instead of waiting for some epiphany that will lay everything out for me.

A few nights ago,  Sean and I were having this conversation over coffee & cupcakes and I said, 

“Ideally, I’d get paid a gargantuan amount of money to write things, listen to music and drink coffee….all after 10am so I can sleep in.” 

It’s a little ridiculous but if you have any leads, let me know. 

Or if you have any other advice for that matter.

(On a personal, unrelated note: If you’re not taking advantage of RSS feeds, do it.  And thanks to Sean for opening my eyes to the wonders of Google Reader.)