Reason #8 of Why I Love Doing The Rock

Working on The Rock magazine with Raymond and Tricia has all these little happy perks. One of them being pretty and yummy food at events. I went with Rico to cover the Chairman’s Cup dinner, and I was just glad to be with a boy I could pig out with–with class. Clearly I’m not a foodie, but this blog is just desperate for a post. So ta-da! Post-processed gourmet dishes that I ate months ago, for free, merci to Chef Laudico and the Rockwell Club team.

This post is so old I dont remember what this dish is.

 

Enderun kids clocking in OJT hours. Props to these kitchen wonders!

Strawberry Mousse Forever. So. Fucking. Good.

Jacques of Hearts

Looking at Arlene Sy‘s work made me block off my schedule some quiet, watercolor time for this week before things get too tight. Busy-ness is in the horizon, and although I’m very very very excited, I want to make sure I do the things I wanted to do as a sorta-bum before I end that phase. The last time I sat on my bedroom floor and started painting, I came up with these heart bookmarks, which eventually ended up in notebook designs for KartON.

Collection de Coeurs

And this entry is more of an announcement to myself that being busy is merely a convenient excuse for not painting. This is something I keep telling myself (and other people who insist they don’t have time to go through the books they stacked up to read, start the sideline they want to explore, cook the new recipe they want to eat, etcetera etcetera): if you have time to Facebook, you have time to pursue your (side) passion. It doesn’t always have to be one-time-big-time, just put a little time and effort to keep it going. Better small steps than none at all  So here’s to more little watercolor bookmarks to come!

Geladdicto

So a new addiction has taken hold of me (and my wallet), and it goes by the name Caffe Ti Amo. The cozy coffee+gelato joint opened just last week, very close to KartON in Greenbelt 5, in front of Mango. Imagine my excitement at having a gelato shop near “home”! Now I don’t have to walk all the way to the other end of Greenbelt to Gelatissimo for a gelato fix! Or to Coffee Bean in GB3 to settle down and work with fast, free-flowing wifi! I have found a new nest and a chance of being Mayor somewhere (not that I’m Foursquare-competitive or anything).

Nothing says Benvenuti better than an array of frozen Italian goodness

The start of an alternate, watercolored life

I keep thinking (out loud) how much I want to learn watercolor painting. Keep looking, right-clicking at the creations of Stina Persson, Marguerite Sauvage, Fifi Lapin, Miss Capricho and now Valerie Chua. I keep imagining the pictures I will paint, the colors I will use, the techniques I will try, blah blah blah. I never studied art or even the basics of watercolor painting, so one can imagine my fear of coming up with total crap. Of course, I blame this on my Management course (because I chose it for JTA and “practical reasons,” because I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance in the talent test for UP Fine Arts), which, of course, is plain stupid because being a Management graduate doesn’t mean I can’t paint. Right?

So today, while walking around the grocery not helping mom, I concluded that all this time, I’ve just been too scared/lazy to try, and that I will prove myself wrong today. It’s part of my Nike life–the one where I just do it. Because (1) All our Logical Reasons are in fact just  Lame Excuses for not doing what we want to do and (2) If I have time to Facebook, I have time to learn watercolor painting and (3) Pag ayaw may dahilan, pag gusto ay laging mayroong paraan.

I walked into National Bookstore and picked out the cheapest stuff (because I didn’t want the price to pressure me into coming up with brilliance this early on). Also, if I do end up being a disgrace to the watercolor world, I didn’t want the endeavor to cost a heartbreak PLUS a bank-break. When I showed dad my loot though, he scoffed at my Lil’ Kids and Best Buy watercolor, saying they would only leave the wannabe artist in me frustrated, and my painting future un-pursued. He picked these out for me:

Look mom, watercolor shopping!

He chose Prang watercolor, the same brand he used back in college, a couple of pencils whose purposes he will show me tomorrow, cheap brushes and paper to play with.

Now that I was beyond my initial P150 budget anyway, I threw in a sale item I spotted from the counter:

Watercolor Shopping Trip Bonus: P22 Classic

An Oscar Wilde quote descriptive of my initial attempts below:

“Art, like Nature, has her monsters, things of bestial shape and with hideous voices.”

First watercolor works: work on it.

Wish me luck that I don’t fuck up and give up!

Three reasons to vote for the Filipinas in the Clean & Clear competition.

1. If your Facebook newsfeed hasn’t informed you yet, Filipina representatives to the Clean & Clear Best Buddies competition are only second in Southeast Asia right now. They’ve got 11,000+ votes, and team Malaysia is leading with 13,000+ votes–the rest of the girls don’t stand a chance (64 votes, 520 votes, sad sad votes). SECOND??? How could we let this happen? I thought we could count on Filipinos to throw off judges’ numbers by voting by the millions?

Now we’ve heard enough talk about building the Philippines’ image to the world again, I say this is one way to do it! Let’s show the teenage girls of Southeast Asia that Filipinas are the role models to be! Vote here to support Filipina power aaaaand…

2. Get a chance to win one of these sexy babies! Keep voting until September 16 and you might get a FREE ZARA ACCESORY! Clicking vote is so much easier (and cheaper) than fighting with Zarawhores during the sale.

Tissue ideas: yours are for wiping crap

Some things are best learned the hard way. But really now, most things can be learned just fine the painless way, or in my case, through TV. I learned what tissue paper ideas are in the most painful way possible, when I could have gotten the lesson from the very first scene of Mad Men’s very first episode.

Don Draper’s Tissue Ideas: Better Than Mine

I happened to be hanging out with Charz in the 12th floor veranda when legendary awesome gay genius Chief Creative Officer, after his yosi break, spotted us and pulled us into an impromptu brainstorming for a pitch of apparently epic proportions. In the meeting were veterans, top art and creative directors–I think we were thrown in for variety’s sake. He gave us the brief and told us to come back in 30 minutes with tons of tissue ideas. Sounded simple enough.

So I spent the next 30 minutes jotting down ideas on my pretty gradient-colored pad (from Dijon, nonetheless) and ended up with 2-3 cool (or so I thought) taglines. CCO passes by shouting for us to regroup in his room. Everyone settles down, I’m seated on the couch right across the big boss.

CCO: (looking down at me) Okay, go.
Kim: Oh okay! So my idea is (brandishing pretty pad) blah blah blah blah…
CCO: Stop stop stop. Darling, do you know what tissue ideas are?
Kim: Mmmmnot yet.
CCO: Akin na yan (gets my pretty pad, looks at my scribbles and re-writes each tagline on separate, 1/4 letter-size scratch pieces paper). That is a tissue idea. Next.

Needless to say I was mortified, but I guess everyone else was too preoccupied with their own “tissue papers” to care about other people’s ideas. Or bloopers. One by one the non-newbies laid down tissue papers with tag lines or key visuals, each person having five to seven ideas each. I only had one. And in the wrong format. Ah well. At least I got a taste of high-pressure brainstorming early on.

Learned my lesson, life moves on! At least I didn’t almost cost the company thousands (ahem ahem accounts girl). Now I’m wondering how many mistakes I’ll have to make before I get my first advertising award.

Blueberry Pancake Day

Beautiful breakfasts are the best way to start the day, and Pancake House always delivers. So damn good I’m naming my day after it.

Blueberry Pcakes: Best with Bacon!

The purpley syrup added to the prettiness (and sumptuousness) of the whole meal, but it really was the bacon that put it on the top of my breakfast list.
Grabe sarap. Thanks for the tip, sincere waiter!

Reverse show and tell (Part 1)

Instead of bringing something funky to work and showing it off to impress the new officemates, I’m doing the opposite–that is showing people outside work my favorite things about work. For this first installation, I’m showing off some peeples, but maybe that’s because I’m still too dyahe to actually roam around the place and snap away the awesomedawesome 35th-floor view/ interesting details in the office that everyone else already ignores.

Let’s start with…

Charz: The In-house Japanese-looking Model

Even in my first week, I already noticed Charz. Not for his long, luscious hair. Not for his bright blue eyes. Not for his cool shirts and shoes. Neigh. Charz looked very familiar in that I’ve-met-you-before way (which I feel with almost every other person in the office, weirdly enough). The day I finally do chat him up, turns out he’s also from CSA! And Ateneo! And he was THE Charles of the Chad and Charles Mendoza heartthrob twins of high school. Life, you ha, so funny talaga sometimes. Today I greeted Charz a “Happy Friendship Day!” because it is friendship day in Colegio San Agustin Makati every 20-something in August. That pretty much caps off what I loved about CSA–friendships and twin heartthrobs. One last thing about Charz: I finally found someone who talks way more than I do. Wait, that was still about me… eh. NVM.

Next!

Tipay: My Sista from Anotha Motha

Miss Tipay Caintic! So someone already thought I was Tipay. Tips, I’m sorry if anyone thought you were me. But oui. Wild hair, the cutest nose(s), shamelesss energy–trademark Amanderz and Tipperz. We have been called BFFs by a sort-of boss, probably because we don’t just look like twins, we also play the part perfectly. Lunch together, projects together, brainstorm together, (any verb or noun) together. Thank God we don’t have crushes together, otherwise, WAR NA ITO wala, we’d still be cool! Coz we cool and confident like that. Wink wink!

An apology

Now that you’re here, I am sorry about the senselessness of all other posts before this post.

When I was picking up this blog again, dusting it off and slowly polishing it, I figured it would be wise to see how other friends with blogs have been loyal with theirs. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to start with blogger friends from The Guidon, or Heights because then it became a little too intimidating for someone who hasn’t written anything longer than 5-word catchphrases for ads in months.

I looked at my past entries here and I knew none of my past editors would approve. Even I wouldn’t read this shit! It’s really a shame I’ve forgotten to put more thought and importance to the stringing together of words. Worse, in my day job where the purpose is quick impression on customers, I am forced to cut off 80% of words, ignore proper grammar and stick to 5 syllables per sentence. How am I supposed to get back to proper writing when 8 hours a day, I have to do the opposite? (That is not me making up excuses!)

My temporary solution: take photos instead. Leave the writing to a minimum, at least until I can muster enough courage (or effort lol) to write something decent. It’s part avoidance, part baby-steps strategy. In the meantime, I’m sorry. To friends who used to laugh at my Multiply blog, to friends I used to be with in Features, to strangers who can’t believe another prick wasted more internet space on crap. I will make up for it. Zat ees a promees.

Week 1 at McCann

Who’s got a chance at being McCann Erickson’s newest copywriter? Huzzaaaaaah! Yours truly!

It’s the top-earning multi-national ad agency in the country, the office is in premiere address GT Tower along Ayala Avenue, and the pay isn’t bad at all! Plus, the name just sounds so good to the ear. Like Drew said, it’s “matunog.” But stop. Rewind.

I’m not celebrating yet because I’m still a temp. Yeap, they needed a senior copywriter for the job, and being a fresh graduate with no internship/work experience, and from a Management course at that, they wanted to make sure I could fill up the position without much guidance or training. (Sabi na kasi Comm na lang dapat ako back in college eh. All those degrading D’s from Accounting 101 and for what? I was going to end up in a Communication job din pala. Hay parents. They never listen.) Now I don’t mind this arrangement at all (I was even thinking of suggesting they try me out for free, just to get myself in) and it’s also a great test drive to see if I’ll enjoy driving around Don Draper’s world (errr, the 21st century version of it, of course).

One week down and it’s been good so far My creative director is still extremely busy that her schedule won’t even allow much delegation just yet. I’ve been spending more hours going through articles online on basic copywriting than actually copywriting, so it’s quite understandable that I’m genuinely looking forward to my first official overtime tomorrow! There’s going to be a client presentation on Tuesday (I won’t talk about the account here, not just because it’s probably against company rules, but I personally feel I don’t have the right to anyway, at least not yet), so we’ll be keeping the lights on in the office probably til past midnight.

The office. Ohhhman. I wish I could take a photo of my desk and post it, but that would be being possessive of it too much too soon, and if things don’t turn out as I hope, I’m sure to go through some heart-breaking separation anxiety with the workspace. That’s also why I’m restraining myself from adjusting settings on my desktop browser to my convenience, or making my own little folders for my work documents. What I can’t help is the surge of appreciation for the awesomedawesome view from the 35th floor. You can see Manila Bay from my seat, and pretty much everyone in the office has a view of Makati’s bustling streets and the prettiful sunsets.

So wish me all the luck I’ll need (and more), because I really do like the view.