Day 39, 40, and 41 - Time Off Work

I am off work for the next few days and i have a bunch of loose ends still hanging out there. it's stressing me out, because I don't want to drop any balls while I'm away, but there's not really much i can do. in all my previous jobs, i've looked forward to time off work with anticipation and excitement. although i'm happy about taking a break this time around, there's a strong pull keeping me here (at least mentally). it's weird. i never thought i'd prefer to stay at work over going on holiday.

if i had a stroke of creative genius in the next 45 minutes, that would ease my mind a bit, but then why not have one stroke of genius everyday? that'd be ideal. i'm sure they can handle stuff without me...but it's kinda bad if they can, because that means I'm still not indispensable. which means a job offer may not be in the near future...who knows, though.

Day 38 The Elusive Creativity Triangle

I was shown a diagram a little while back that made a lot of sense. it was a triangle that represented the creative process. one side was labeled "fast," the next side was "well made" and the last side is "cheap." you will almost always be able to get two of the sides, but you'll never be able to get all three. just a thought.

Day 37 - Client Lunch

Today we met for lunch with a client, to get a better feel for what they're expecting from us. Lunch is good, but it's even better when we get more information that is useable in our concepting and ad creation. The guy we met with was really cool and was able to shed some light on questions that had come up between me and the AD in the early stages of thinking, so that we were a little more focused in our message. It's funny how easily you can get off-target if you're not paying attention, or if your instructions and/or creative briefs aren't crystal clear. Sometimes that lends itself to creative freedom, but other times, it just muddles things so that you don't know if you're going in the right direction or not. It was the tastiest meeting I've had here so far, in multiple ways.

Day 36 - On The Fly

I'm a little more than halfway through my internship. It seems to be going well. I'm enjoying myself. I'm trying to be busy and appear busy and be willing to do whatever is asked of me (and even some stuff above and beyond). Things seem to always be changing...I suppose that's a constant in this industry. It's a little scary, but I guess I need to just get used to it; just ignore the anxiety that comes in various levels, depending on what's going on. It's fun though, for sure.

Day 35 - That's Not My Job

There are a lot of things to do in an advertising agency, and sometimes the lines are blurred as far as who's responsibility it is to do. Some people get into the habit of only doing what's in their job description. I'm trying not to be one of those people though. It seems, especially in a small agency such as this, that if everyone works together, even if account people are pulling some creative weight and vice versa, it works better for everyone. I like being a part of a bigger organism rather than relegating myself to a cave just to put my foot down about what I'm paid to do.

Day 34 - Genies

I shook a Magic Eightball today after thinking the following question really hard: Will this internship turn into a job in September? The answer: Signs point to Yes.

So the real question: Should I start putting my feelers out to other jobs or just count on the magic to make it happen? I'm thinking I should hedge my bets. I've heard from several people at work that Austin, TX is a good place to work...

Day 33 - New Media

Social Media - the wave of the future. (Or is it "the way of the future?" I'm going with the former.) It's pretty amazing to see how advertising is changing with the rise of social websites, especially because it was only a few years ago when people were feeling like there was nothing new and innovative that could be done in this field; like it might die sometime soon.

On the other hand, I can see how Facebook brings communities together. Some of these other things don't make as much sense. (Twitter, for instance, is just an update - it seems too cumbersome to use as a mode of communal conversations...but maybe that's just me.) It's interesting how everyone's on the same page as far as this goes, so no one has an upper hand. it makes it easier for smaller shops to do excellent work, especially if they're younger, since they're using these social sites more than the older generations. everyone's crawling around in the dark, so lots of things are being attempted, and there are lots of failures. it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next 5-10 years.