The Silent Room

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Small Talk:
It’s a new year, so I figured I’d celebrate it with a new site theme! Hope you guys like it, especially the overused orange-blue contrast XD I now owe Ross a very nice dinner and lepak session for all the trouble I put him through.

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I felt like writing a long, dramatic post about my very very turbulent 2009. It’s been one hell of a crazy year, and I actually drafted a pretty dramatic piece – too dramatic, in fact. When I read it, I realised that I sounded like a total douchebag.

Can’t help but keep it real, I guess. I think I’ll just review the things I’ve learned over the past 12 months.

A bit of loyalty goes a long way

The biggest highlight of 2009 was an epic struggle when a certain group of sock puppets tried to overthrow me and attempted to publicly tear me down. Fortunately, with the help of my ever so resourceful and loyal friends, we managed to stand fast and emerged victorious.

Thank you, all of you. I am truly in your debt.

Focus and Peace of Mind are rare commodities

Since the beginning of the year my life has been rather hectic. I found myself often going off-track and doing things that seemed important at first, but turned out to be redundant later. There’s a constant debate within me when it comes to the things that I pursue. Graduating, portfolio, personal agendas. Supposedly serving a ‘higher purpose’, hahaha. It seems that I haven’t been able to fully empty my mind and fully enjoy a peaceful evening over the past year.

It’s actually a bit depressing.

Affirmation and Resolve

This year, I managed to settle some things with my past. I couldn’t decide whether or not I still want to walk in the light or sneak in the shadows. For a long time I’ve been struggling about the things I want to do and the things I ‘need’ to do. About why should I be doing the things that I do, why I would choose any particular path. I’ve been feeling like a hypocrite for a long, long time that I decided it’s time to end it all.

A couple of months ago, I came to a conclusion and resolved to stick to one path and be honest to myself for the rest of my life. I’m quite glad that I did.

Marketing and Promotions

I realised once more that I really, really love marketing. Marketing, advertising, promotions, branding. All aspects of it too. Creation, development, the visual arts, the copywriting, the discipline. Before this, I only thought it was just one of those cool things to do that also make a lot of money. Now, though, I realised that I really love creating hype.

Heightening moods, creating awareness, plucking at people’s curiosity, drawing their attention and entice them into thinking. I love seeing marketing ideas at work, I love seeing them in action and I love seeing the results they return.

I’m glad that I left that hellhole called Engineering.

People Change

Okay, yeah, so this is pretty much straight-forward, right? This is something everyone already knows by the time they hit their teens, but this year, this bit of knowledge dawned on me in a really profound way. One friend awakened his potential and begins to see new paths that lay ahead of him. Another friend turned around and walked away, unable to take sides. Changes of heart, changes of attitude.

I can’t really talk about it in detail here, but man, so many things happened that I found myself saying it more than a few times. What really meant a lot to me was when someone said to me, almost regretfully, “Apparently I’m not supposed to be seen hanging out with you guys.” Man.

Turning The Last Page

It’s been a wildly insane 2009 for me. I lost many friends, made plenty of new ones, and reunited with old ones that I once thought lost. I learned many new things, found myself standing amongst amazing people and found my hands trembling with excitement at the potential things I could do.

I must admit that all the intensity has left me feeling very exhausted. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. At this point, I’m a little unsure about looking forward to 2010. I can somewhat foresee another shitstorm looming over the horizon, but I guess I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get there.

With that, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.