The two weeks holiday went by quickly and M2 goes back to school today. Funny when we had the school break, workload at the office seemed to take a break as well. We were rather free I must say.
But as the new term begins for her, work picks up for us too. I have a rare face-to-face meeting with a new client today. Looking forward to the exciting new challenge ahead!
The holiday season is here for Christmas shopping and a ‘Toys R Us’ catalog came in the mail recently. It was fun to look at the pictures of the offerings the toy store has for this year. It also brought back memories of when I first worked on a ‘Toys R Us’ catalog when I was an intern in New York City.
A semester prior, I had engineered an opportunity (before graduation) for a summer internship at WBMG, Inc. in New York City. The time, both in New York City and at WBMG, was exciting and the experience priceless. I had the privilege to work with Walter Bernard and his excellent team of designers as well as being counselled by Milton Glaser. My Polaroid picture is still on their website after all these years! (hint: look out for the bright green tee shirt and big glasses me!)
The project was to design a catalog for Toys R Us among other projects. During that time, the studio also redesigned Adweek, which I also assisted and eventually led to a full time job with the magazine.
Ahh… Such wonderful memories. Would I turn back time now to relive it? A definite yes! Do I regret leaving it? Well, no. I know this is contradictory to my earlier yes to turning back time but my life now is equally wonderful, with my two precious M1 and M2. So I will leave it as memories are meant to be made and cherished. Time and life is meant to be lived, move on and go on.
It’s been a long time since I was last creatively challenged. I guess I have not been working intensely enough. My current design project has left me brain-drained night after night.
The last super intense project that I can recall had me far worse off than now was ten years ago! The client never left me alone, chasing me right now to when I returned from a family vacation from Melbourne. The minute I landed and switched on my mobile, the phone rang! Aargh… Situation like this you remember a lifetime.
Six months after I finally completed that project, I discovered a patch of white hair at the lower right back of my skull. Creative patch, literally? Evidence of all the dead creative cells, that’s for sure!
While the current project has not resulted in any white patch (yet), it is not taking six months either. It is more of the creative differences within this short intense week that are enough to drain me and give me a splitting headache every night. Sigh…
I hope this will end soon so that I can resume my non-exciting life of crushing candies and playing golf.
I listen with awe every time when we Skype with M1 on how she’s doing. Paper after paper to write, little quizzes here and there, meetings with TAs (Teaching Assistants) when necessary and group work efforts. I could never do what she’s doing.
I don’t recall my workload during my college days to be such. But then again, it could be the major that I was pursuing versus what she’s taking now, Graphic Design versus declared Food Science & Technology.
I remember my Typography class where the professor would come into the class for just ten minutes or so. He would mumble some project to the class and then disappear into his office to smoke his cigar, leaving the classroom of students to their antics. Some students would leave, others would just chatter. I was diligent, sat there with my headphones in place and did the work though.
I also remember sauntering into Design class on time but leaving early, informing my professor I had to go home to watch my soap opera, Days of Our Lives, before my scheduled work slot at the bookstore.
Ahh… Those were the days. I never had that many papers to write nor did I ever met up with any TAs. And what’s this clicker thing that they use nowadays? Maybe times have changed. I seriously think if I ever went back to college, I would fail miserably.
The workload would be too much. So I am very pleased that M1 is coping well and holding up okay at university. Summer classes ends today and she flies off for a well-deserved break, heading two states away to spend some time with my girlfriend who lives there.
There were several occasions M1 tells me she is, at times, worried about the impending journey and new life ahead. I would simply raise my eyebrow at her and share with her, my journey to college to make her feel better, and reiterated that I don’t think history would repeat itself. I mean, what are the chances of what I experienced recurring again, this time with my child? This aside, I am proud that she is following my footsteps in her journey towards higher education in the USA.
I traveled alone halfway across the globe to pursue my degree in Graphic Design. And when I arrived at the little airport in Flagstaff, Arizona, after clocking in more than 24 hours of travel, nobody from the university came to meet and greet me! Can you imagine the horror and fear I went through?
But I guess I was tired and numbed beyond belief from the long journey and did the most unthinkable thing ever, and it is something I tell my child constantly NOT to do.
I hitched a ride with two strangers and their dog in their pickup to town. Hold your wild imaginations, nothing bad happened! They were very nice to drop me off in a motel across campus and went on with their journey.
But do that now in this era, the consequences may turn out differently. Thank goodness, there is someone definitely meeting her. With the internet, repeated correspondence via email, she will be met at the airport, shown the way to board the bus and journey on to campus where someone else will greet her and settle her into life as a freshman at university. So no, I shouldn’t worry.
Angieneering 
Remarks