On life, transitions and big plans

Eek. I knew that I hadn’t written anything here for a pretty long time, but I didn’t realise exactly how long till I checked, and well…I am not proud. In my (very very very weak) defence, I’ve been caught up in a lot of stuff lately, having (sort of) graduated from SMU about a month ago.

What I’ve been up to:

1. Gotten a new hairstyle (haha)

Ok, so this is rather superficial, but hey, if you’ve been obsessed with having straight hair for as long as I have, this is a big thing. By the way, at the risk of sounding utterly bimbotic, having curly hair is awesome - my hair looks different everyday, but in a good way, and suddenly poofy isn’t such a bad word. Ok, that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

2. Participated in the Real Singapore Freeze

The Great Singapore Freeze was modeled after the Grand Central Freeze first done by ImprovEverywhere and adopted in many other countries. The Singapore version was held last Saturday, May 17th, in front of Ngee Ann City and was really quite a cool event. Ironically, the sun was blazing down mercilessly on us and by the end of the 5 minutes I was melting like a popsicle in summer.

You can see me (unfortunately, no close-up shots) in 2.54-2.58 and 3.30-3.34, in the bottom left corner in the black dress.

3. Getting an internship

After months of looking for a job, I finally got my big break at Ogilvy PR and will hard at work from tomorrow onwards. Excited!

4. Preparing for Vienna

In other exciting news, I’ll be going on exchange to Vienna in September, and am currently reading up as much as I can on the city. I’ll also be visiting the other European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy are on the agenda for now) but I’d love your suggestions on places I can visit. Also, I’m trying to learn a bit of German now, so if there’s anybody who’s willing to teach me, perhaps we can work out a deal (I really have no use for this extra kidney…)

5. Turned 23

I turned 23 on May the 18th. And if anyone is wondering about the pink blouse I’m wearing, it was my mother’s! The theme was “Wear Your Parents’ Clothes” and unsurprisingly, I was one of the few who stuck to the theme (Boo to those who didn’t!) Btw, as a testament to the sense of humour my friends have, the cake said “Happy Vesak Day Tomorrow Nabs” instead of happy birthday. Very funny guys, very funny.

6. Preparing for a half-marathon

Me and Erfen just signed up for the Army Half Marathon which is on 24th August. This is my first marathon so I’m a bit nervous. So far the furthest I’ve run is about 12km, so I need to step up on my training a little so that I don’t faint during the actual race (haha)

Phew! For one month I guess there’s been a lot of changes in my life, but I’m really not complaining. Things are certainly looking up. Well, but that’s it from me for now. Here’s to more regular blog posts! Hopefully those who read this blog haven’t given up on me.

post-exams

For those of you wondering about the photos and haikus I’ve been putting up, well, it was my lazy attempt to show you how me and Jacqueline’s exhibition looked like. The exhibition has come and gone, but I really look back on it with a smile, it was truly one of the few things where I could show people what I was about. And if you’re interested, you can see the full exhibition here.

These few days I’ve been absent from the online world, well mainly I’ve been catching up on my sleep and enjoying my newfound freedom. But as often is the case with freedom that is newfound, you find yourself with a lot of time and nothing to do.

And so I’m trying to find an internship at the moment (PR, corp comm or advertising), something that will last me till end August, before I head of to Vienna for my exchange. Which is one of the highlights of my year, if not my entire life.

Now excuse me while I write more cover letters…

Advice for (PR) students

I found a really good blog, Student PR Blog, written by Chris Clarke, aimed at communication and PR students and graduates. Chris started blogging while still in school, and his story is really rather inspirational because he got his first job through his blog. I don’t know about you, but that made me sit up. I also like the fact that he has continued writing in his blog even though he is pretty much not a student anymore, because of his commitment to lifelong learning and his desire to help us clueless communication students.

He recently wrote an entry, Getting Hired in PR, where he outline 3 things that PR students should focus on when trying to get a job in PR:

1) Networking

Chris says that we shouldn’t be afraid of networking, that it’s just about talking to people and building relationships. Personally I don’t like the term, or rather my perception of what networking really is has made me rather resentful of it, but he does offer a good perspective on it.

2) The Internship

I think most students already know the value of a good internship. Ultimately, we want our boss to like us so much that he’ll offer us a job (that is, if we like the company in the first place). But what struck me, was this “Plenty of people out there will let you work for free”. I did a double-take. I think a typical Singaporean student (and yes, myself) would look at that sentence and think, “No way am I working for free.”

But then I think we need to look at the internship differently. An internship is an opportunity for you to prove that you have mettle, and really, you want to be noticed by the people in power. And what better way than to do that for free?

Doing the job for free benefits both you and your employer. It makes you ask yourself, does this job mean so much to me that I’d it for free? And for your employer, if you do a really good job he’ll know you did it not because of the monetary compensation at the end of every month. Passion shines through when you are willing to work for free. (It also reminds me of this post on The Long Tail which says that the biggest misconception about free is that no cost = no value.)

3) Online (presence)

Chris makes an important point here: he says that every student coming out of school today will be expected to have some knowledge of the online realm, and that it is no longer exceptional for a student to do so. Explore online, explore all the tools available and manage your online presence. I have to admit, this is a whole new world for me as well. Most of the blogs that I follow today, I never knew about the existence till I took my Social Media class, and I’m still struggling with the tools (how do I find friends on Twitter??)

But I have to say that I’ve been enjoying the experience tremendously (and a lot of things I’ve been reading, the ideas presented, have truly blown my mind). I really do think that no matter if you’re a PR student or otherwise, you can really benefit from being more active online. Read blogs, listen to podcasts, join social networks, get a Feed Reader!! It’s really a whole new world that I think everyone should join.

While writing this post, I was listening to Mitch Joel’s The Twist Image Podcast #92 about how technology makes marketing easier, and he was saying that it’s not just technology anymore, it’s now a massive university that we should all take advantage of. Although Mitch was talking about marketers, I think he said what I was trying to say in much more eloquent terms, and I really do think it can apply to everyone.