:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: Must... have... coffee ::

As is typical right around this time of the quarter (week 8) my caffeine intake has risen to levels that would be fatal to normal humans, much in the way a trauma patient can withstand high doses of morphine after building up a tolerance, even though that high a dosage can kill an otherwise healthy person. I still come in around 8:00-8:10 or so and by 9:30, I'm already on my third cup of coffee. And it's not like back Miami where I must be at Taste Bakery for three hours to get my refills. This is free coffee that work provides. Free, unlimited access to caffeine and I go together as well as a pothead at a reggae concert.

The next two weeks – the final two weeks – are practically Studio Week for me. It's quite different from other quarters in that not only do I have schoolwork to complete I have real-life work to do as well. Fortunately, I'm about 60% done with school stuff, to which I must begrudgingly thank my partner who, absolutely abhors procrastination (what the hell’s he doing in advertising then?!?). As for it just seems odd to be starting on stuff that we're eventually handing off to the permanent employees. We're working on a neat introductory campaign for Milky Way that’s still in the pitch stage, but if our idea does get approved, it won't be produced for at least a couple of months, long after we're gone. But the fact that they might be carrying out our idea is a pretty cool thought.

Also different is my mentality as well as my approach to this week. The last couple of quarters, I almost didn't want it to end since I was learning a lot and creatively, I felt like I was on a roll. Not as much last quarter but certainly the quarter before. This time, I'm looking forward to the end. I'm looking forward to that first Saturday after our last day that I can stay in my bed and not worry about meeting a Monday deadline. I'm looking forward to going to see a classical music concert Sunday night and taking my time coming home afterwards since I don't have anything due the following day. Going on another aimless walkabout of Prague for one last glimpse at one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Stopping over at London and have lunch with some old classmates during my layover. Flying home, seeing more old friends, being ensconced in that comforting heat and humidity, playing my guitar, turning on the TV to SportCenter, and falling asleep in my own futon.

Last time I felt like this was my third quarter. I need a break.

It could be homesickness, it could be burnout, I'm not sure. I'm hesitant to admit the latter since it seems like such a Nancy-boy excuse especially since I had a greater workload my two previous quarters. But all I know right now is that as much as I've enjoyed my time in Prague, as many good memories as I'll take with me, as bittersweet it will be to leave, I want to go home.

And that feels weird to me.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 11:47 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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File this under "I guess mom was right." But I don't think this is what she had in mind. Headline of the month.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 7:58 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: What I'll miss about Prague ::

Conversely, some things I'll miss about Prague are:
- The architecture
- Beer
- The sense of history
- Czech-style Goulash and bread dumplings
- Some of the feelings that go with having a real job
- Seeing new things even when walking down the same street
- Blue-eyed women EVERYWHERE!
- How the attractive women here are that way thanks to nature
- The scenery walking to work
- The spirit of the Czech People
- My dinky little bedroom where one wall is the side of the roof so it almost feels like bunking in a large tent
- The really good Czech beer
- Fried cheese
- The cobblestone streets
- The way some people look at me funny when I speak perfect English
- Weather that changes
- Not a single Starbucks anywhere (as much as I like Starbucks, it just wouldn't look right here)
- A couple of co-workers
- Being completely out of my element
- It?s starts getting light around 4am and still bright out at 9pm
- Being a little bit different than anyone else, yet not really standing out
- Having a reason to wake up every day at 6:30 in the morning
- ... and realizing I can do it regularly, albeit begrudgingly
- Seeing all the cool cars that we don?t get in the States
- Food is so cheap!
- ... and good!
- ... and filling!
- Hills
- The subway
- The cool nights
- The beautiful bridges
- The really good CHEAP beer
- The sun coming in through my window every morning
- Living in a place where I actually enjoy walking everywhere and anywhere
- Hockey fanaticism
- Being in an environment where I'm constantly learning: about work, about life, about myself. Learning things I didn't know I had to; realizing things I didn't want to; relearning things I've forgotten; forcing myself out of my comfort zone and staying there; appreciating the good moments a little more.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 2:45 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Things I Miss ::

As much as I've enjoyed being in Prague, I'm looking forward to going back home. In no particular order, I miss:
- The muggy weather
- My bed
- Friends
- Free refills
- Playing guitar every day
- ESPN/SportsCenter/Baseball Tonight
- Starbucks
- Free refills
- Going home and knowing no one will be there
- Daily baseball games
- Playing sports
- Soccer Sundays
- Solitude
- Diversity
- The beach and the sand between my toes
- My dinky apartment
- Taste Bakery's overpriced sandwiches
- Walking around in shorts and sandals
- Playing sports
- Being able to sleep in past, say, 9:30
- Being able to call up whoever, whenever without thinking about how many minutes I have left
- Those spots that I can go to with a book and have quality alone-time, even if there are people around
- Dewey's
- Latin food
- Latin women
- Being able to blend in (somewhat)
- Moab
- Family
- Surrogate family (I still haven't seen "my" niece)
- Living alone
- Oatmeal
- Singing along to music in my place without worrying about waking anyone up or pissing anyone off
- Setting my alarm as loud as I want and using the snooze button almost endlessly
- Leaving dishes in the sink
- Unlimited hot water
- Walking around my place in just my boxers and not worrying about scaring anyone
- Haagen Daaz
- Ben AND Jerry
- Actually having a weekend off
- Staying up past 1am
- Lilly

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:51 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Well, she likes beer. ::

One little thing I left out of last week's post about going home through the post-hockey festivities was that I met a girl on the subway. I was waiting for the train, and turned to look behind me towards the stairs at a bunch of revelers walking down shouting and flag-waving when I first noticed her, and the look she had on her face while all the people were chanting was that of "oh... my... gawd." We made eye contact a couple of times and smiled, I guess because I must have had the same expression on my face. She ended up next to me on the train and I decided "what the hell" and started chatting her up. I asked her to translate the chants for me and between some casual conversation, lame humor from me, and some hardcore eyelash-batting from her, when I reached my exit five stops later, I had her number.

So we went out yesterday. It was alright. Just my luck, my first date with a Czech girl turns out to be a Jehovah's Witness (?!?!). And a vegetarian. Yeah. At least she likes beer (a true Czech) and was capable of good conversation, which was about all I was expecting after finding out that first tidbit. It could have gone a lot worse I suppose, and it's far from the worst date I've been on but... a little more chemistry would have been nice. As it was, it was a perfectly pleasant evening. And that's about it.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:21 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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One of the things about going to an advertising internship is that you're rarely going to do the edgy, crazy, out-there sort of work you get to do in school. You might do real work but it's not always good work. More than anything, it's about the experience. It's about applying everything you've learned to the real world. It's about long days, short nights, and not having much of a life. It's about putting in the hours to learn about the process. It's about realizing and enhancing your strengths and in turn, being exposed to and confronting your weaknesses.

Forgetting Prague for a minute and talking strictly about my agency experience: It's been a mixed bag. There have been a lot of fun moments but at other times, I just want to go home and drink myself into a stupor. (Which hasn't happened. Yet.) There's been some personal growth but acclimating to environments isn't that much of a challenge for me. On a professional level, because of the good and bad, this experience is exactly what I needed. From that perspective, it's been one of the best things that could have happened to me.

In many ways, this internship experience is almost exactly what I expected. In an equal number of ways, this is nothing like what I've expected. Let me be more specific: I was expecting a number of challenges and they were met; but I've been challenged in ways that I never saw coming, and to be completely honest, they're draining. Those challenges are regarding me as a person on a personal level in a professional environment. It’s not what you're thinking; I haven't messed up an account, I've met the deadlines, I get along well with everyone here including my bosses, and I've been more than willing to put in the long hours. Creatively, I've done better but there have been a couple of ideas that we've come up with that were chosen for development.

Being a good intern hasn't been an issue. Without going into specifics, there's a method to my madness that's worked alright for me during my time as a student but here in the real world, at least here, it's been exposed as a rather glaring flaw. And I have no idea whether it's a flaw only in this situation or if it's something that's a potential career-killer. As for now, it seems to be the former but it's forcing me to reconsider my way of approaching this job so it'll never become the latter.

To use a baseball analogy, MAS was a AAA club and there I was a good contact hitter. Defensively, I was a solid center fielder. Now that I've been called up, I still sorta make contact but they're not squirting through for hits since the defense is better at this level. My own defense, which served me well through the minors, hasn't transferred well to the majors and switching to left field for adjustments is probably a good idea. There are holes in my swing and I need to take better routes to the ball. And mentally, I’ve psyched myself out trying to prove I belong in the big leagues by constantly telling myself "don't fuck up, don't fuck up." And if you pressure yourself that much with that tone, guess what happens. I knew my swing needs work. I've always been working on it and probably always will. But being told I have defensive deficiencies was bit of a shocker.

Anyway, enough baseball talk. I've had misgivings before about many things, but I don't doubt that this is my proper career path. And every path has a rough patch and it's certainly better to work through it now as opposed to ten years down the line if I'm a creative director. And it's good to know that between now and jobs-ville, I still have one full quarter to work out these kinks. Though the way I'm looking at it now, I "only" have one quarter to work out these kinks.

But I'm grateful for the experience and certain that I'll look back and know that this was the best thing that could have happened to me.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 5:54 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Go Czechs P.II ::

I was walking home Sunday night right after the Czech team won the Hockey tournament and it was amazing. I walked through Old Town Sqaure earlier, where they set up an impromptu outdoor arena with a stage, a couple of huge TVs showing the game, and booths selling beer, hot dogs, and jerseys. The game hadn't started yet when I first passed through but there was already a huge crowd out there.

After the game, you could hear the crowd's cheers a mile away. There were people celebrating, waving flags, honking horns, and drinking beer. Wenceslas Square was even more of the same; people climbing on top of each other's cars, crowds chanting various Czech fight songs in unison, and it even carried into the subway, where random strangers would start chants together.

But unlike festivities in America like Boston winning the World Series or the Lakers winning the NBA title, I never once worried about my safety. There was no rioting, no destruction of property, no mob mentality. This despite the fact that it seemed like most of the people I saw out there were in their early-mid 20s who'd been drinking for a while.

Another key difference, and this is what impressed me most: when those cities won their titles, people were celebrating their team, and to a lesser degree their respective cities but even the casual viewer would realize that a lot of the "fans" were just idiots looking for an excuse to go out and act crazy. Here, almost everyone wore some sort of Czech memorabilia, jerseys, hats, flags, and face paint. But to them, it was more than just some guys bringing home a hockey trophy. This is was a matter of national pride. They were celebrating a triumph for the Czech Republic.

And it was beautiful.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 2:31 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Go Czechs! ::

So the Czech Republic has won the World Hockey Championships and right now, the entire country is celebrating. Which means that it'll probably be a slow day at work tomorrow since everyone's gonna walk in with a hangover. Assuming they're still not out partying.

Now, I'm not one to imply anything but the last time I moved, it was to the city of Miami and a few months later, the Florida Marlins won the World Series. Now that I've been in Prague for a month and a half, they win in Hockey. I'm not trying to suggest a connection or anything but I'm just saying...

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 5:27 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Time Flies ::

After today, there's only four more weeks left of my internship. I fly home in 32 days (June 14th). Where'd the time go, seriously?

United States lost to the Czechs yesterday, in case you were interested. Which means my partner and I won't be ostracized from the agency.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 11:29 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Game On! ::

If you're at all into winter sports, then you know that the World Hockey Championships have been going on for the last week and a half in Austria. Hockey is the Czech Republic's most popular sport. Right now the Czech Republic is playing the United States and nobody in the agency is working. If I'm to believe what they tell me, pretty much no one in the entire country is working and the national economy is going to lose a few million Koruns today. Should they lose, the country will be in mourning and no one is going to be working tomorrow.

GO USA!!!

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 10:58 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Prague update: halfway point ::

Coffee is my friend and I'm not letting it go any time soon.

Since week four I've developed the habit of coming into work at 8:00-8:10 or so. It's not to try to appease myself to my bosses or anything like that but mostly 'cuz I need that extra hour to keep up with everything. This is so against my typical behavior and yet I've become accustomed to this early-bird insanity. It probably helps that I turn in a little earlier than usual; I'm always in bed around midnight, as opposed to three or four in the morning. And pulling myself out of bed at 6:40 or so isn't the struggle I thought it would be. I even eat breakfast. In the past, I would sleep an extra 20 minutes and skip breakfast. But being an old man now I need all the energy I can get.

Last night was One of those Nights at the agency. There's a new client pitch later today (1pm Eastern European Time) and all the creatives involved in the project were here until at least 10:30 preparing material for it. I left around 11:30 and thanks to a seemingly interminable wait at the subway, I didn't get home till after midnight but me being me (read: idiot) I stayed up another hour to read.

And yet, none of that seems to bother me, since it's 8:20am as I'm typing this. From all the stories I've heard about how advertising is never a 9-5 job and the creatives at Crispin working almost 24-7, I fully expected days like this happen. I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner. There's something about the pressure of a deadline that I seem to like working against after a certain time, the only times I ever looked at my watch was whenever I heard someone griping about wanting to go home.

Things haven't been completely ideal. The people of the agency like us and the Creative Directors have no trepidations about giving us work, but at the same time I've had to deal with a couple of personal issues (none of which I'm going to expand on here) and a slew of other things that are always on the back of my mind. Despite these, my work seems to be getting better and I'm still enjoying my time in Prague. This entire experience, warts and all, is exactly what I needed.

The agency providing free pizza for working late helps =)

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 2:28 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Classical Concerto ::

Sunday night was the first time in a very long time that I went to a classical music concert. I can't pinpoint the last time but I'm guessing it was when my age only needed one digit and it wasn't a voluntary trip on my part.

I've wrote before about how I've become a classical music fan in the last few years and one of the things I looked forward to when coming to Prague was the chance to attend a few concerts. Since so many great composers came from Europe, what better place, right?

This was at one of the opera houses I photographed a while back, specifically,
The Municipal House. The concert was in one of the smaller roooms and the capacity was only a few hundred so it was a nice, intimate setting. It was performed by a string orchestra (no percussion, brass, etc.) and while it was only about 70 minutes long, it was a wonderful 70 minutes.

They performed selections from Dvorak, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Handel. I was familiar with Mozart and Bach's pieces (I'd write the names of the compositions but I don't have the program with me), the Tchaikovksy piece was vaugely familiar and the rest I never heard but like all forms of music, it's one thing to hear it through your headphones but to listen to it live is almost like listening for the first time.

It's amazing the degree of how the layers of sound and the emotions of the melody can permeat your senses. In the Mozart piece, I discovered depths of the composition that I would have never picked up through a pair of headphones. It gave me goosebumps a couple of times through that 20 minute set. Same thing with Bach.

If there's ever an Orchestra that'll be performing the works of Wagner, I'm so there. But even if there isn't, I'm making it a point to make sure that I attend at least one more concert before I leave.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:59 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Cigars anyone? ::

I'm an uncle! Sort of...

My best friend BN back in Los Angeles and I have known each other for over ten years and I've become close to the rest of the family as well. I'm always over their place for their family Christmas dinner (as long as it doesn't conflict with my family's plans) and a few holidays. His sisters are pretty much siblings to me (and I'm probably nicer to them ;-)) and I'm even in on some of the family gossip.

I was pretty much obligated to attend his sister's wedding reception a couple of years ago. I found out she was pregnent even before some extended family members did so it didn't surprise me to find photos of their new little girl in my email box this morning. What did surprise me was that my reaction was almost as if my own kid brother told me that I was going to become an uncle. For real, I mean.

Anyway, that's enough blathering. Say hello to Kayla.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 3:19 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Game On! ::

In terms of sports, just about all of Europe is fanatical about soccer. But the cool thing about the Czech Republic is that the people here even more fanatical about hockey. I'm not as into hockey as I am in to football or baseball but I do try to follow the season, at least when there is one, and the playoffs are always exciting.

So now that the World Hockey Championships are going on right now there's a little office pool going on to see who can pick the most winners in the preliminary rounds as well as the finishing order of the final four. Most of the guys here are hockey fans to some degree, certainly more devoted than I am, and my roomie is from Minnesota. Enough said. So it shouldn't surprise me that four days into it so far, I'm in last place.

By a pretty good margin.

Still, I have a chance to make it up in the semis but it's not looking too good for me at the moment. At least they haven't given me a hard time about it since I've made no secret about being a diehard baseball fan. That I keep my lucky baseball on my desk probably gave that away.

Dude, I really baseball by the way.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 2:21 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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