07.22.09

Metallurgy and Decorum

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , at 6:50 pm by vanormalcy

I’m not really an oddity, in context of my generation. I used to fall a little more towards the ‘alternative’ end of the spectrum (or at least, as it was called at that point…I think it’s sort of melding with the ‘hipster’ tag now), but I’m less so these days – still, I’ve been thinking.

I enjoy body modification. Piercings and tattoos, particularly. Most of my modifications are not immediately apparent to the general population, but there are a couple that are noticeable to someone who’s moderately observant. No one’s going to see the art that takes up most of my mid-back, but a few people notice the small black ink piece on my foot. It’s the facial piercing that inspires this post, though.

I’ve had my monroe pierced for almost 3 years – most of the time I don’t even notice it myself. It’s just a part of my face, at this point, and many people don’t even notice it until it’s pointed out. Still, an older male relative of mine swears I’ll never get a real job unless I take it out. I went for three interviews this summer, for ‘professional’ type internships, and was offered the position all three times – all three times, I forgot to remove the stud. Still, these are student positions, and I would not be directly interacting with clients. So I’m curious, and thought I’d put out the feelers, because I’m neurotic and worrying far in advance of the matter:

It’s spring 2010 – I’m a 24 year old female, graduated top of my class from the Kwantlen PR program. I’m coming out with multiple scholarships, considerable volunteer experience in social media and event management and three professional internships under my belt. I have volunteered for and am a member of both CPRS and IABC, and I have references from several PR practitioners who are worth listening to. I have a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and History from UBC, and I’m a compulsively organized keener. I have (as it stands now, that you can see) a monroe, an industrial, a helix piercing, a small black ink piece on my foot and seldom seen bits of purple hair. Would you hire me? Would you request a few changes? Forget for now whether you’re in a hiring position or not.

Perhaps I’m worrying for nothing, and perhaps not – I worked a retail job a year or so ago, and funnily enough, they didn’t object to the metal in my face, just the stuff in my ears…I was asked to wear my hair down. But this is me, here…since I started in this program, I’ve done everything I can think of to make myself an attractive candidate for employment upon graduation, and will continue doing so. Any work that I’m currently planning will be easily concealed, and I’m sure I’ll remove a piercing here or there at some point, dye back those purple bits of hair – but I’m not sure how I feel about that choice being taken out of my hands.

I read something on a blog a while back, though I can’t find the post, about distilling your personal style down to three words, in a sort of de-cluttering attempt. I, apparently, am: quirky, retro, urban. Fashion-wise, I lean to classic lines, good construction and pops of colour – very work appropriate. I just don’t know…there seem to be so many angles you need to cover, and I’m unsure of precisely how to go ahead.

What do you think?

06.05.09

In attainment of happiness…

Posted in Uncategorized at 3:54 pm by vanormalcy

I proposed to a few people, a couple of weeks ago, that life has not been so good since 2006.  In all honesty, I can’t remember the last time I was so happy with my existence.  Not that I’m normally exceedingly dreary, life is just…really *bleeping* good right now.  So, if you’ll permit me, I’m going to wallow in joy a little here.

I have a job.  I am employed.  While this in itself would be cause for glee from the girl watching her savings dip far below rent levels, I also happen to have the most ridiculously perfect job in the world.  I am currently employed as ‘the intern’ for LintBucket Media, and as an Associate Editor for OneDegree.ca (oooh, the glamour!…of typepad formatting…hush.)  It rocks.  I am legitimately working in a field to gain experience for my some-day career, which, for an eternal student, is a bizarre and marvelous sort of situation.  Also, I have Fridays off…all summer.  Yeah.

Next!  I have brilliant friends who are all making the commitment with me to do things this summer.  I’m one of those people who gets sluggish and grumpy when it’s hot, and tend to hibernate with many fans – but not this time.  Oh no, this summer so far has been an awesome progression of barbeques, wine, bike rides and trip planning.  Oh, but trip planning for what, you might ask?

MEXICO!  We are going.  The boyfriend, the two best friends, and I – Mayan Riviera last week of August.  My awesome, let me show you it.  I can practically bask in the beams of jealousy from all non-mexican-vacationers present.  But don’t worry – I’ll take pictures.

I will also take pictures this Saturday night, at the awesome date night I won from Miss604.  Seriously, elaborate dates are certainly not in the general budget for Alex and myself, but I some how got immensely lucky and won tickets to Othello and a gift certificate for Il Nido on Saturday evening.  I promise a full post mortem here.

Over in PR land, I’ll be volunteering and live blogging a bunch of sessions for the CPRS National Conference this weekend – check out the sessions I’ll be covering after the break…

Read the rest of this entry »

05.13.09

Seattle and South a.k.a. farewell tax return

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , , at 6:52 pm by vanormalcy

Ah Seattle – I am fond of you.  You are pretty to drive down to.  You are near the water.  You contain a Nordstrom Rack and multiple yummy eateries.  You hold the place that sells me my omg-most-favourite-in-the-world spicy garlic infused olive oil.

We headed down south around the crack of dawn on Friday morning, and missed any real back-up at the border, which was nice.  I can now say that I have stayed in a Motel 6, and that it really wasn’t that bad.  I just have a couple of things to recommend:  Beecher’s, across from Pike Place Market, with their awesome amazing incredible cheeses; Sotto Voce, also across from PP, with delicious infused oils and vinegars; and the Marshal’s just down the road from South Centre mall – think Winners, but better.

It was a really enjoyable girls’ weekend, and it was fantastically fun to browse around Sephora with enough funds to really indulge.  Hey, what can I say – it was nice to be able to spend frivolously with only minimal guilt.  Of course, now I have a work wardrobe and nowhere to wear it.

A bit of a sad note to end it:  I didn’t end up getting the internship I was gunning for, as the company decided to go with someone with more business experience.  I’m actually quite sad – I really thought it would be a fantastic learning experience, as well as a chance to earn a wage doing something I really enjoy, and I thought I had a decent shot.  It’s a sadly missed opportunity, and I’ll keep on looking, but the chances of finding a PR related position this summer are looking iffy.

Job hunting is the devil

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , at 4:41 pm by vanormalcy

I don’t think there’s anyone that really particularly enjoys the process of job hunting.  Personally, I’d rather stick toothpicks under my fingernails than go through the process of trolling craigslist for possible opportunities, writing obsequious letters and groveling for positions I’ll probably hate.  Alright, that all sounds very doom and gloomy, but truly – this sucks.

I liked Tartan, they liked me, they still don’t know if they can keep me (see, I’m driven to rhyme).  I’m waiting to hear from them about funding, I’m waiting to hear about another internship position (which, incidentally, I really, really want), I’m waiting for anything that will mean I don’t have to take another summer job as a receptionist or data-entry clerk.  Yes, I’ve put in applications for both, and managed not to cry.

Funny – I was trying to put off writing a new post until I had a chance to make the blog all pretty (with significant help from Lesley Chang), but I’m afraid the rage inspired me.

On the bright side, I saw Star Trek last night and was happily transported back to my childhood trekkie.  On the not so bright side, there were not only 3 screaming matches on the bus ride home, but one fist fight that ended with a drunkard landing on my foot.  So, last night’s bizarre mix has left me feeling a little untethered to reality today.  Possibly, not the best headspace for beating said head against lists of job postings.

Mrowr.  I think I’ll go for a walk, grab a (free) coffee and then come back and bury this post beneath a happy-go-lucky recount of my Seattle excursion and the massive overexpenditure contained therein.

04.24.09

Purple cows and flaming computer towers

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , , , , at 3:40 am by vanormalcy

So, I just attended IABC’s Communications Kung-Fu event with Darren Barefoot, all about social media.  The talk itself was honestly fantastic.  Darren was engaging and informative, the presentation was well laid out and the whole event was comfortable and enjoyable.  And yet, I realized as I walked out that I had essentially sent my Visa over limit for no real reason.

This was no fault of the event, but rather some sort of confusion on my part.  I had seen a portion of Darren’s presentation when he and his partner spoke to our class at Kwantlen, and I enjoyed it both times.  But, perhaps unjustifiably, I still classify myself as a social media novice, and so I registered myself for an introductory event.  Problem is, I’m not really a novice with social media, just with social media marketing.  I’ve been working with computers since I was 3 years old.  On a bones and organs level, I’ve built bits of my own computer from pieces, I’ve learned how to go into the guts and fix my darling, overheating monster and I know how to navigate in bloody DOS.  On a different level, I’m an early adopter with most online social trends – I was one of the first people at UBC to get on facebook (when it was still universities only), I’m an occasional blogger and I’ve got a small but established presence on sites like twitter, linkedin, yelp, flickr, etc.  But I know F all about activating any of those familiarities in a marketing/PR sense.  So, this left me sitting (and enjoying) this evening’s event, feeling guilty that I wasn’t getting more out of it.

So I attend events, I read books and I click every link that mashable tweets my way.  I’ve set up an informational interview with Kate Trgovac and I’m hoping that from there, I’ll get a little bit of direction of where to seek further education…I’m most certainly not at a level to meet the SMM community as an equal, but I don’t want pour more investment (time or financial) into intro sessions…no matter how clever the drawings of flaming computer towers (I’ll admit, that alone almost made my night).  I guess my dilemma lies in the fact that I really don’t know what questions I need to be asking.

On an unrelated note, I’m counting the days until May 8th, which brings with it a short road trip south of the border and oodles of shopping and dining excitement with one of my best friends.  I need a bit of a girl’s getaway, right now, to shake off the dust of 6 years of post secondary that seems to be lying heavy lately.

On another related note, I had cinnamon gelato today.  From the International Ice Cream Factory Inc.  It was delicious.

04.19.09

The week from:

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , , , , , at 6:44 pm by vanormalcy

I’m not quite sure if it’s the cloudy, misty place somewhere ‘up’ or the burn-y place somewhere ‘down’ that guided the course of this past week, but it was by turns fantastical and brutally exhausting – mostly both.  Aside from mind-numbing exhaustion, very sore feet and a supposed single-day-bike-repair that stretched to nearly a week, though, it was pretty damn cool.  First week free of school-related obligations!

Monday saw me  in the basement of the Wall Centre stuffing gift bags with decidedly un-fun ‘gifts…the bags themselves gave of an aroma that had half the girls heads’ aching, and the only really exciting item they were to hold was a rather delicious chocolat from Xoxolat on Burrard.  However, this was the down side – getting to catch up with a few ladies that I’ve met at various CPRS/IABC events or volunteer gigs was actually pretty neat, and Simone and Gwen from Elettra are absolutely lovely (both as people and as formidable professionals).

But this was only the warm up – the main event was Tuesday, and the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards.  Confession – I just wanted to get up close and personal with a giant roomful of like-minded foodies.  It was a success!  Also, perhaps a little telling, how many people remembered me as I checked them in (like the manager of Salt…not that I go there too much…especially now that I work a block away…).  The event itself was stunning (and bacon chocolate filled…), and came off without any noticeably hitch.  I can’t say too much on the actual event, as I observed most of it from behind either the registration table or the coat check, but they did give us wine at the end!  But LORD do I wish I had brought along flats, no matter how ridiculous my skirt would have looked.  The balls of my feet were screaming by 7pm.  Of course, now that I’ve nabbed a list of the winners, my list of ‘must visit’ establishments is growing unmanageable.  I’d sigh, but I’d be lying.

No time to stop and recharge, Wednesday was the first day of my internship with Tartan.  While considerably lower key (and with less standing involved) than Tuesday, it was nearly as tiring, in a mental sense.  I so want to do well and impress everyone, but at the moment I’ve little clue as to how to go about it.  So, in the meatime: do what I’m told, do extra when I can, and do it all very, very well.  In this case, it meant proofreading for several hours…that, at least, I know how to do.  From now on, I’ll be in the office Mon-Wed from 10-3 until the second week of may – after that, I haven’t the foggiest idea of what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be.  Here’s to hoping I can spin this into a summer job!

Friday and Saturday were at the job that pays the bills, and there’s little enough to say on that topic.  Things are picking up into the last 2 weeks of tax season, so Liberty Tax – North Vancouver is happy, which means my dad is happy, which means I don’t get growled at when I ask for a lift home.  Win.

Alex is trying to convince me to renew my WoW account after my last final (this Wednesday), just so we can finish what we started and hit 80.  I’m resisting – I lost way too much of my life to that game, but I understand why he wants to do it.  If I think I can manage to control it, and cancel once again one we’ve hit what he wants, then I might do it for him.  It was fun, after all, and I am a geek, so…we shall see.

Speaking of Alex, he picked up Bella the Big Pink Bike at Simon’s Bike Shop for me yesterday (though I thought she’d be done early last week).  Get ready to cheer – her front caliper brake works now!  Here’s to me not doing a face plant into a parked car when the coasters fail me.

Michelle, a friend of ours, is coming in from Calgary this evening and will be, as far as I know, crashing on our couch.  We’re thinking of using that as an excuse to check out Au Petit Chavignol up on Hastings.  Not that I really need an excuse for a cheese pilgrimage, but it might be nice to be able to justify the expense (as I’m currently working for free).

I’m hoping updates from here on out will be a little more cohesive, and not so much of a technicolour explosion of “here’s-everything-that’s-happened-in-my-life-lately”.  Then again, who am I kidding?  I’ll forget to blog for a bit, then I’ll get worried that whatever I update with won’t be good enough, and put it off.  Then the pressure grows and grows until I finally break down and just spit out whatever’s in my head in no logical order.  So…that’s that, then.

Cheers!

03.30.09

The blogs and the bees

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , , , at 11:13 pm by vanormalcy

As I mentioned before, I’m going to be one of the volunteers live blogging the CPRS National Conference, On The Edge. Naturally, me being fledgling in this whole area, I started researching – I do that a lot…call it a product of a history major. I get a little panicky when I can’t find resources…it’s a problem, I know – I’ll look into therapy.

Anyways, as clearly as I can make it out, live blogging is the lovechild of twitter, msn messenger and the notes I passed in 10th grade social studies (back before texting would’ve made the whole thing WAY more covert…incidentally, the phone I had then was probably the same sort that caused a whole bunch of blunt object head trauma in the late 90’s). For the conference, we’ll be using Cover it Live , which looks fairly idiot-proof. A good thing, I figure – not because we’re all idiots (well…), but because with all the action promised during the event, a more complex system could inspire instant migraines. Thus, I’m happy with the direction so far.

Now, full disclosure: I’ve never live blogged. I’ve never done anything remotely similar, other than sending out a few tweets while attending some event or other. Obviously, I have my reservations. Me being me, I automatically assume I’ll tumble headlong into some form of disaster – not that I normally do, but I always go that direction mentally in the early stages. Added pressure, of course is the fact that I’ll be engaging in this activity while sitting watching Brian Solis or Darren Barefoot, which for some reason seems weird to me. They pretty much wrote the book – scratch that, they DID write the bookshere, here and here – and I’m trying to be social media-savvy in the face of that? I’ve made no secret of the fact that I consider myself fledgling at best, and this whole situation might be a little daunting.

Regardless, I’m stoked about the whole thing. I think it’s an amazing opportunity to participate in the conference, and through this method in particular. The more experience I can get in this arena, the more prepared I’ll feel in future in offering myself upon the altar of social media marketing. I might have a panic attack the night before, but I’ll be bright eyed and bushy tailed when it comes to game-time. I’m pretty dependable, like that.

Also: I REALLY want to go to both the Communications Kung Fu session hosted by IABC in late April, and the Social Media Marketing Bootcamp (#cmmvan) put on by Darren and Julie from Capulet, and I’ll be volunteering full time til mid-May (aka, gaining experience and making NO money)…I need a quick way to make a few hundred bucks. Any suggestions?

03.27.09

Loyal attender, part what?

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , , , at 8:38 pm by vanormalcy

Of all the events that I’ve attended since I started in this whole ‘PR’ related direction, yesterday’s breakfast event with Kate Trgovac, hosted by CNW, was one of the most exciting for me.

I am a geek, but really only a fledgling one in some ways.  I thoroughly enjoy the world of social media, but I haven’t the faintest idea of how to go about utilizing it effectively as a PR tool – or at least, that’s what I panic about when I stop and think too hard about what I’m going to be expected to do this summer.  Yesterday morning did positive wonders for my self esteem – maybe I do kind of know what I’m talking about!  Sort of.

Basically, at the lowest level, it comes down to a few main principles that I can glean.  Own your brand, be personable, transparent and authentic, and get involved.  Now, there are vast, vast reaches of social media sophistication beyond this that I really don’t know how to approach, but that I am in the midst of (endlessly) researching.  However, I feel like I could maybe, maybe, show someone else how to take the baby steps to at least get familiar with the apparatus.  You have no idea what a relief this is to me…and my boyfriend, who will not have to listen to me obsess about it instead of falling asleep peacefully (for a little while, at least).

At present, I’m about half-way through The New Rules of Marketing and PR, as  I couldn’t justify starting it until I was done my marketing textbook.  Fairly interesting read so far, though it hasn’t quite gotten into the nuts and bolts of things yet.  It’s got a bit of an ‘informercial’ tone in spots, but not overwhelmingly enough to get irritating.  I’d recommend it, based on my experience so far.

I’d also recommend Great Canadian Donair – W 3rd, half a block west of Lonsdale in North Van.  Working for my dad today, and they’re my standby, half a block away.  I’ve been going there for 5 or 6 years, and I’m still not over it.  The prices have gone up, sadly, but it’s still a reasonable price for lunch!

03.26.09

I’m doing what?

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , , at 4:12 am by vanormalcy

Guess who might be live blogging the CPRS National Conference come June?  Me!  Oh, the joy!  If all goes well, I”ll be blogging On The Edge live from the Westin Bayshore…now, if I can figure out how to construct a successful and fascinating live blog by that point, things’ll be just dandy.

The volunteer meeting this evening was a bit surreal, as very few of the committee members had a solid idea of just what exactly they needed volunteers for.  However, I get that they need to get an idea of the number of warm bodies they can expect.  As well, even if they didn’t have solid answers for us, every single one of the organizers was more than willing to share any and all knowledge they had so far.  I have high hopes for the conference, what with the possibilities of 100-mile diet friendly menus and yoga breaks.  Downside?  I’ll have to be hauling around my heavy-as-hell laptop the entire time.  Alas, these things we must bear.

Other than that and getting shafted and overcharged by the parkade, the evening was pretty mellow.  Not a bad day, all in all.

03.25.09

Eager beaver

Posted in Uncategorized tagged , at 9:43 pm by vanormalcy

I really, really need to follow this new mantra:

It is not absolutely necessary that I volunteer for every opportunity that comes my way.  This will not negatively impact my future career.

Honestly, my sanity depends on whether I can wrap my head around that.  I spent 11+ hours this weekend, on my only day off in two weeks, putting together a PowerPoint presentation for a media training session Maryse had been approached to, and which she was including this in.  I couldn’t have just volunteered to do one of the 30 second presentations, eh?  Oh lordy, I’m tired.

Still, let’s be honest – it’s all ego.  I like when it’s my work on display.

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