Harvard and Realities of Unrealities

There is something unreal about Harvard, yet it pinches you with an overload of reality. What does that mean?

Every person, who is conscious enough, knows about Harvard, heard about its excellent programs, 340+ year history, accomplished alumni and, most importantly, the hefty price tag of the brand name degree.

But not everybody gets a chance to visit the campus, or has the desire to. I won’t preoccupy myself with those who don’t want to visit, but those who do. I’m one of those people. I haven’t had a lot of prior images of Harvard before I showed up, neither did I really research the school. Actually, little did I know that Transformers 2 boasted a stint on Harvard campus, involving some massive destructions inside the Widener Library, until I went and checked myself.

Being on campus, though, was certainly real. Yet the whole time I felt like Harvard was still this imaginary place that exists in this unapproachable world. A lot of people never think they’d come to the best educational institution in the world. And those who do, are probably in awe. One can only imagine what an enrolled student feels like. Or should probably feel like.

I feel that this visit has influenced a change in my middle-term strategy, a change that’s going to flower in the next 5 years or so…

Filed under: Great Times, the world eh , changes, education, film, future, harvard, movies, plans, travels, university

Gimme 15, Gimme 20, Gimme 30

I’ve been saying this for two years now: “When I graduate and have a decent job, I will get a personal trainer to get in stellar shape.” This phrase became especially important when last semester I fell into Pizza Pizza’s trap and final examinations’ pit. Then I spent three weeks aboard a couch in my home base in Vancouver, and you can figure that my lady self-consciousness and body image concerns shot up (LOL).

So in April, my month of taking control and shooting forward through the highways of life, I went and got a membership at Extreme Fitness gym. Reserve your criticisms of this gym, please, I’ve done my research. Roger complained about Extreme, because there are a lot gym rats and avid bodybuilders that it’s not always pleasant to pump iron around them. On the contrary, this ardent drive sparks my own motivations to work out and PUSHHH TEH LIMITSSS. I just love this whole, YEAH! GO! attitude that’s at Extreme Fitness, because it sets my blood on fire.

I got a personal trainer and now love working out. He’s awesome, but many muscles keep hurting for days (although stopped this week). I am in the conditioning stage for another 8-9 weeks, after which I step into the muscle building stage and meet with a nutritionist to develop a proper meal program. On top of training 3x a week, I burn 1000 or more calories a week by running, however, I’ve yet to make hot yoga a definite staple of my workout week. Besides having to adjust a couple of elements of my current diet and burning even more calories, I’m on the right path and feel energized, happy and in control of my own self. *Runs off to the gym*

Filed under: moving up , beauty, development, exercise, fitness, health, improvements, plans, self

Monopolist Half The Time

We return to you once again. In the past week our orders skyrocketed and we couldn’t manufacture enough to meet the demand. Process innovation, in which we engaged,now allows us to produce more, faster and at a lower cost.

Speaking of which, I’m enjoying my Industry Analysis class. My professor, a former art director, is an eccentric, socialist wine connoisseur Dr Richard Michon, well-versed in creative positioning. I’m loving the class, despite originally wincing at the Economics of Strategy text. You see, I didn’t really like to listen during econ lectures back in the day, but it came back to me.

Strategic thinking and seeing the big picture are my strengths. I kinda drool over the military terms that we deal with, and I learn useful things on positioning and sustainable competitive advantage. I’m eager to do the best job I can on the class project which involves a novel-long analysis of a particular industry and maybe more.

One line I’m going to remember for a while and possibly invite into my fleet of mottos, came from a discussion of early mover advantage. Some firms may not want to move in first only to share space with other, possibly improved products of competitors. But! “It’s better to be a monopolist half the time than oligopolist all the time.” I’m running for the market! Bye for now!

Filed under: moving up , changes, learning, plans, ryerson, self, strategy

2009 Goals

1. Make health and fitness my top priority
Tactics: personal trainer, planning my meals, scheduled food intake, not eating out, and running regularly.
2. Make fly career moves
Tactics: do my best during the internship that starts in a week, kick serious buttocks in the Industry Analysis class, read literature on Advertising, blogs, meet relevant people and pick their brains, keep up with the hype.
3. Go back to Europe (Czech Republic, Germany and Greece). I can’t wait to go to Greece – parents’ friends have a house in Athens. I can actually see Sparta, Crete and emerge, like Venus, out of the foam. Eat perfect souvlaki and keep Dionysus at bay.
Tactics: save, save save, flight alerts.
4. Start meditating
Tactics: thanks to M for a wonderful introductory lecture. Start slow, practice, dig deeper, take the trash out of my soul.
5. Get through that pile of Russian classics that’s been growing on my floor.
Tactics: read when commuting, read before bed (goes well with #3 goal)

Filed under: moving up , plans, Europe, improvements, career, 2009

Highlights of 2008

I’m glad the year of the Mouse/Rat is over. It was a tough year, but also a very rewarding one, filled with events, color and life. It was definitely a great one for meeting new people and leaving the dead end contacts behind. It was a year of travels, learning, emotional change of scenery, breaking the habits, and finding peace. In short:

Vice internship, movies with Slava, Barbi, snow angel challenge, high tea, cuckoo New York trip, mad revelations and heartbreaks, the legendary night of the Justice show at the Great Hall, indoor pool voleyball in Richmond Hill with a blizzard outside, Montreal for the first time ever, straight to Vancouver, the return of Dimitri, straight A’s that semester, “I love nature” cottage visit, summer internship, more Montreal, Lemeac, Rajni, Ottawa, Rafael Nadal, gourmet adventures with Roberto, Magdalena’s return, dancing late and coming to work early, Osho, red eye to Europe, constantly ringing cell in Berlin, Baltic Sea, goth party in the bunker, wasp attack, Kunstwerke, Michael and Karin’s epic search for a gallery, scootering in Ibiza, flying, getting lost in the hills with fuel running out, Gaudi, Joan Miro, Catalan people, Faulkner’s Light in August, La Tomatina, Valencia’s paellas, the girl from Jupiter, getting lost in Barcelona with a flight to catch, gloomy London and port, vintage stores in Shoreditch, Strategic Planning, yoga, wonderful professors, wonderful people, PalmsOut in October, jerks stealing my possessions, Vosges chocolate in SoHo, Coney Island freak show, Mad Men, calming down, peace of mind, movie night with dear C.L., playing the tambourine till 4am, BBDO, roommate reunion, blizzards in Vancouver, the return of Scotch, securing that opportunity, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf, light at the end of the tunnel, Russian madhouse, caviar and champagne on New Year’s Eve.

Filed under: memories , 2008, barcelona, bbdo, Berlin, career, Europe, friends, fun, fun time, ibiza, improvements, joy, life, London, memories, montreal, plans, review, ryerson, Spain, tomatina, toronto, travels

End of Semester Musings

The semester ended on a very positive note. In fact, the last 4 months were the most productive in 2008, most positive and great – except for the strip between mid-Nov to mid-Dec: never again. I established relationships with my professors (3 out of 8 all time favorites are from this term), finally figured out what shape my career should take – accounts in the advertising business or strategic planning, particularly for creative ventures. God knows creative folk need help with directions (love y’all). Last semester was actually the best semester one, school-wise and life-wise. Marks were: A+, A, A- and B. Pretty satisfying, considering I didn’t study for the Int’l Mkt final, and got a B, and I pulled myself out of the B zone in Ethics in Finance. In fact, that class was one of the best ones I took, thanks to the amazing prof Allen Goss.

I leveled out and gained some perspective; I don’t take no for an answer and don’t feel lost at all. I’ve thrown out skeletons out of my closet and become more honest than ever before. I stopped wondering what this person’s and that person’s opinion of me would be if I did this and that. I am my own kind of person, I’ve done my inventory, and I patiently wait to break bread with my nearest and dearest (R, W, H, B, T, R, P, M, R in particular!).

I’m ready to hit the ground running and I cannot wait for the next year to start. Two thousand and hate is over, that ridiculous, cleansing, all-encompassing year, and now it’s time to conquer the next one. All my dreams will come true, and there is not a single thing I won’t be able to claim as my own. Look out, two thousand and mine! Sneak peek:2010 is to explode, considering it’s the year of the Tiger. And guess who’s the tiger here.

Filed under: memories , 2008, 2009, achievement, friends, improvements, plans, productivity, results, ryerson, toronto, university

Party in Style (N. America excluded)

While working on compiling Travel Packs for PlanetEye, I found some pretty interesting spots. Reading Forbes Travel makes me so much more excited about traveling in general. First of all, their writers are amazing. Second of all, they really do know what to select, especially if you have your AmEx ready to pay for the recommendations.

The story on Insomnia in Style a.k.a. after hours locations from Madrid to Hong Kong. What caught my eye is the fact that people start partying later, and go all the way to the morning, ending a night on town with breakfast. The place I wanna go to in London after hopping from place to place is “London’s first 24-hour upscale brassiere, Vingt-Quatre, is a cross-Channel import meant to fill the hungry stomachs of Chelsea’s party clique with staple French food.” Yeah! Yeah!

I’m not a big fan of extremely upscale venues, because usually the music is not so good and it becomes more about your designer outfit or a quid stack. Maybe I’m too young Oh yeah, since this post is about “partying in style”, London’s Intercontinental recently started to offer the “3am to 10am exclusive experience” priced at $7,000. It buys you one of the four Signature Suites at the Park Lane property and plenty of Belvedere vodka, mixers and soft beverages for you and 9 others.

Oh, also a while back when I had an issue with squirrels, I wanted to find out if any restaurants cook it. And what do you know, London’s St John Restaurant offered squirrel. Apparently it’s like tender rabbit, or a very gamey chicken or something like that. Point being, why not try that. Unfortunately, it seems that August is not the squirrel season, and I won’t get to try it. When I live there, then.

PS. Jebus Christ, I really do blog about food too much. Well, excuse me, fine food, company and conversation are some of the most important things for me. As are respect, productivity, health and trendhunting.

Filed under: moving up , animals, dancing, food, fun, London, nightlife, planeteye, plans, restaurants, self, squirrel, travels