Oh, look at the kitty.
Song For the Moment
Song: Upside down
Artist: Jack Johnson
Album: Curious George: Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies
***Ok, so I know this is a personal blog and all, and it really is supposed to be all about me (what a vain exercise eh??), but most of the time I do try to incorporate little tidbits about more than what surrounds my tiny little universe in hopes of not being swallowed up inside it.
This, however, will not be one of those posts.
I AM SO AWESOME!!!
Does that fall under the category of tooting horns? It doesn’t matter, cuz it’s TRUE!! :D.
Ok, so I may have had a good day yesterday. I’ll elaborate so as not to make it seem as though I’ve turned into a narcissistic shrew.
Last night was a big night in the public relations course I took this semester. At the beginning of the semester, Bernie—my professor—split us into three groups of five and gave us each a real-live non-profit organization for which we would spend the semester getting to know, and creating a marketing campaign for, based on the things we would learn in class. Seems like the perfect win-win situation because the orgs get a free campaign and we get to learn stuff.
Flash-forward four months: three people that I barely knew at the beginning of the semester have now become amazing friends. A fourth has been discovered for who she really is (a selfish, inconsiderate, two-faced…oh, don’t get me started…). Despite all the late nights, early mornings, crazy amounts of revisions (version 14 by the time we printed!!), and many other obstacles we faced over the last couple weeks (not to mention all the work up until now) we came together as a team last night and pitched our campaign to our clients in a 25 minute presentation.
And we NAILED it!!
I’m not kidding. We were good. We were REALLY good.
Of the three teams, I seriously, honestly and sincerely think we kicked an amazing amount of PR ass.
It was funny, it was edgy, it was animated, and most importantly of all, we showed what we could do (and had done) for
them. The campaign wasn’t about us, and all the effort we had put into creating it over the last four months. It was about the results, about selling our ideas to a client and making them feel as though they never could have done it without us. We blew ’em away and honestly I’ve never been prouder of myself and my team. We rock.
We were the only team with no questions at the end of it. We were the only team that had our 150-page document professionally bound. We were the only team that didn’t stand up there and instead of pitching an idea to a client, gave a presentation that could have been titled “What We Did This Semester.” We did it, we got it, we nailed it.
In case you were wondering, our client was the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Network of Eastern Ontario (come to be known by us as ADHD NEO, or simply ‘The Network’). They’re a small group of doctors, psychologists, teachers and others who work with those affected by ADHD and are trying to find a way to survive among all the other similar organizations out there dedicated to the same cause. They had good resources; they just needed to be shown how to use them. And boy-howdy did we do that…and oh, oh so much more.
Over three months we basically did the following things for them:
- Created a brand new website complete with message boards, extensive lists of resources, a newsletter, an online membership application page and a crazy-awesome lay-out (MY IDEA!) to throw it all together.
- Organized their entire conference, set to take place at the end of April
- Created a marketing campaign for them including a new logo, slogan, banner, two brochures, six poster ads, letters to send to prospective donors and members, and a list of newspapers/magazines directed at their target audiences (which we also identified for them) that were willing to advertise at low-cost.
Oh man, it was great. Our group even had a slogan for ourselves by the end of it: “Go team ADH—oh, look at the kitty.”
Heehee.
After the pitch, which took place at Bernie’s marketing firm located in the Delta Hotel downtown, he took us down to the hotel bar and bought us all a round of drinks. We also got some finger foods and basically just celebrated the fact that it was all over. After a while everyone slowly started to trickle out, leaving only our group (minus the bitch) left at the table. We were still on such a high from the presentation that we stumbled over to D’arcy McGee’s on Sparks and kept the party going for another few hours.
What an awesome experience. After last night’s performance, that has definitely become one of the highlights of my university career.
Thanks Bernie, and GO TEAM ADH—oh look at the kitty.
This is what I have become (25 days)
Dumped by Denmark
Well, the verdict is in: I didn't get the scholarship to Denmark.
Last night in my inbox, nestled between two emails from stressed-out PR group members was a non-threatening little message titled "Erasmas Mundus Masters." Inevitably the heart beat quickens and there comes a sharp intake of breath. Scanning through the first three sentences of bullshit "Thank you for your interest in the Erasmus Mundus program..." I came upon the word "unfortunately" and didn't bother to read the rest. That pretty much sums it up right there.
So, it seems, my future lies in New Zealand.
Here's to tall mountains, lush rainforests and a fuzzy little brown fuit in the shape of a giant rabbit terd.
Hoorah.
30 Days
Song For the Moment
Song: If I Can't Change Your Mind
Artist: Train
Album: For Me, It's You
***
I finish school in less than one month, and I am currently lacking in the following aspects:
Motivation
Inspiration
Patience
Yesterday I was in my third-year Mass Com class and for three hours had to stare at the ass-crack of the girl sitting in front of me. This brought to mind a thought I have had more than once throughout my time at Carleton: where’s a sling-shot when you need one?
I mean really, pull up your goddamn pants.
What a hoe.
Anyway, moving on: I’m looking for a job. This is not fun. The anxiety, the waiting, the scrutinizing over your resume to make sure every
single detail is just right. Plus the potential guilt of talking someone into hiring me when all I’m going to do is quit in eight months. I say potential because I haven’t been put anywhere near that situation as of yet, and thus wouldn’t know whether I would actually feel guilty (I’m leaning towards not, but you never know, I might have a soul).
I’ve applied to jobs all over the government, media outlets galore, through agencies (I have a meeting tomorrow which I’m not sure is actually for a job, but might just be to sign up for the agency through which I applied for the job…) and even at the BBC, since I recently found out I’m eligible for British citizenship. Apparently the UK changed the rules about the number of generations citizenship can extend to from one to two. Kudos Nan, way to be British, I ‘preciate it.
Oh, and speaking of work, did I mention how retarded I am? Not in general, I mean, there’s a specific example of my retardedness: I agreed to work for the three busiest weeks of the semester. That’s right, I’ve spent every Wednesday and Friday all semester sitting on my ass, collecting dust, and March hits and I decide THAT’S the best time to make myself useful. Never mind that I have assignments, essays and oral presentations coming out the wazoo, I can totally spend two full days a week in a government office making labels and organizing file cabinets. And you know what? For fun let’s throw in Monday afternoons too! Sleep is for losers anyway.
Kill me. Kill me now.
Are we there yet?
Gotta love the Irish
Happy St. Patty's Day all!!
So this is what growing up feels like...
Ladies and gentlemen, today I bought my first suit.
A SUIT.
ME!!
Weird eh?
Although I am happy to report that it's fairly stylish, fits me perfectly and makes me look damn sexy (/powerful...it's like wearing a gun).
Anyway, that's all. Just felt like it was one of those milestones I should record in some fashion (HA! GET IT?? FASHION! CUZ I BOUGHT A SUIT!!)
Hoo.
There were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.
Song For the Moment
Song: Afternoon Delight
Artist: The Channel Four News Team
Album: Anchorman Soundtrack***
For those of you who have yet to encounter my recent obsession with Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team, that's just my little way of saying:
SWEET GRANDMOTHER'S SPATULA I'M BUSY!!
As predicted, after reading week school work escaladed quickly (I mean it really got out of hand fast!) and there seems to be no end in sight until I finish exams. My due dates for the rest of the year are as follows:
March 9: 1500-word Science story due, & 15 minute oral presentation in PR.
March 14: Mass Com media analysis assignment due.
March 16: PR deliverables due.
March 30: PR pitch and final binder due (basically a third of my mark all rolled up into one 30 minute presentation).
April 3: J4000 presentation (worth half my mark for the semester. Length: 75 minutes shared between 5 group members).
April 4: Mass Com oral presentation (this one's only 30 minutes, and there's 4 group members).
April 7: Mass Com esay due (last one EVER!!).
April 10: J4000 exam.
April 21: History exam - At 11:00 a.m. I have officially graduated!!!!
Spiderman's balls that's a lot of work.
Seriously, looking at that list makes me all kinds of queasy.
BUT ANYWAY (shoving my impending doom to the back of my mind), the last couple of weeks, though crazy, have mostly been filled with fun stuff.
I tried to finish my history essay before heading out to Fredericton to visit my buddy for reading week, but mostly wound up spending all my energy on trying not to spill the beans about the fact that I was going away to my father. He had, at an earlier juncture, expressed an...opinion...about spending money on going on a trip right now (lets just say there were lots of LOUUUUUUD NOOOIISES!!). My mom knew all about it of course, and since Dad was going to Turkey on business anyway, I could head out undetected and deal with the consequences upon my return. As it turns out, there were none, as mom covered for me by saying I got a last-minute deal on airfare for precicely the same amount they had talked about giving me as a brithday present...I tell ya, sometimes it's just FANTASTIC that my father "eats ice cream and enjoys a nice pair of slacks"...if ya know what I mean.
Years later, I had a great time with Lauren in Freddie, getting a peak at her alternate life as Captain Entomology. Her apartment is absolutely gorgeous, quite stylishly decorated, and very much condusive to sitting on our asses and catching up, which is pretty much all I wanted to do anyway. Fredericton is nice but small, with very few attractions aside from a giant bookstore and a strange obsession with samosas (which I must admit were quite tasty).
I got a pretty necklace for my birthday, took Lauren out to dinner for her birthday and we ended the whole experience with a drunken night on the town. The first bar had a great vibe to it (which I think may partly be tied to the fact that it was $3 a pint), after which we decided to explore life on the opposite end of the spectrum by visiting the neighbourhood cougar bar (tip #457 for recognizing when you're in a cougar bar: the hit song of the evening is Cotton-Eye Joe). It was an awesome four days, thanks buddy!!
When I got back the birthday craziness began. I had Wednesday off so I basically spent my birthday maxin' and relaxin' and bonding with my kitty who was pissed that I'd left him for four days (he's so wise...like a little Buddha covered in hair). I met Karen and Shannon downtown for drinks in the afternoon and then came home to enjoy a lobster dinner with the fam.
Thursday was crazy-amounts-of-school day, as usual, but the tonnes of birthday wishes (not to mention CUPCAKES from Colleen in Science Journalism...I mean, how sweet is THAT??) made it entirely bareable.
GREAT ODEN'S RAVEN this is taking a long time!!
By the magic of the Interweb, those of you who are not me will not have noticed that it's taken me FOUR days to write this post. This is how busy my life has gotten.
Moving on. Friday I made an ass of myself by drinking far too much at my birthday celebrations with Lee, Kel and the rest of the j-school gang (I blame my brother and the three pitchers/weed he was responsible for introducing to my system. Yea..that was bad.) Needless to say Saturday I was hung ouuuverr, and wound up having to skip out on Zoo Crew celebrations in favour of a toilet bowl and a nap.
Booyea.
Saturday was also tattoo day, as I was finally able to pluck up the nerve I didn't have five years ago when Steph got hers. Kel sat with me through the minimal amounts of pain (TOTALLY not as bad as I thought it was going to be). Anyway, I absolutely LOVE it, and can't stop looking at it. I have to be very stealthy about taking care of it though, since mom and pop don't know I got it, and I can't quite find the right greeting card to say "I've done the one thing you asked me to never do." What happens when they do find out? That'll be a fun day...
Photographic evidence of said event:
And psst Lauren, if I haven't made this abundantly clear already: don't tell your mom or I swear it'll be worse then that time the racoon got stuck in the copier!!
Alright, that's it for now. I'm gonna go find a safehouse, or a relative close by...lay low for a little while because I'm probably wanted for bed time.
You stay classy...you.
Song: Upside down
