Goodbye daytime marathon of bad MTV shows...

Yes, it's true. Starting Monday next week (July 10), I'll have to bid a tearful farewell to my giant green couch, MTV reality shows, the Oprah Winfrey Show and every single home decorating show you can think of -- why? Because I landed an internship with Fleishman-Hillard! Woohoo! Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely ecstatic (okay, maybe that's too strong a word for an internship, it's not a job afterall), so let's go with excited...so I'm absolutely excited about this internship because it's with one of the top 3 public relations agencies in the world, not in the U.S., but in the world. Which is super cool. I've always wanted an internship with FH, and like they say, it never hurts to aim high. I know some people who refuse to take internships after graduation because of pride and rather take an entry-level, bottom-of-the-rung job with boutique PR agencies, which I can see the sense in, but I figured, hey, FH has an excellent internship program and they're freaking global. In Asia alone, they have offices in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Manila, Melbourne, Sdyney, Seoul and Tokyo! I went in for the interview yesterday and questions aside, it was pretty intense because I had to take two-hour writing test. And we're talking about one essay or press release, but there were 4 parts to the test. In two hours, I had to edit a press release in AP style, research 2 topics, complete 2 summaries and write a pitch. And remember, this is for an internship (albeit full-time and paid), not a job.

What amazes me is that I actually turned down two other job offers (one with a film PR agency and another with Peet's Coffee) and two internships (one with a mid-size PR/Advertising agency and another with an ad agency that has clients like EA Games and Conde Nast, who's responsible for publishing magazines such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ). I mean, that's a lot to give up for an internship, but if feels right and all I can do is keep an open mind and hope for the best.

It feels weird too because when I stop to think about my year thus far, technically, I've only been unemployed for about two months because I've always had some form of income from a job since I started college here. So, it's actually not that bad because I know people who have had to wait up to six months before they even get an interview. I enjoy interviews, I love talking to people and it never feels like a stuffy interview, it's more of a "why-don't-you-drop-by-our-company-and-chat" kinda deals. What's even weirder is that immediately after graduation, I started questioning if PR was what I wanted to do, did I want to do it because I know I'm good at it or did I want to do it because it pays well? It was tough questioning myself, my self-doubt quotient level is extremely low but when it does creep up, it's a full blown doubt fest, which sorta explains my previous post. Suddenly, I was like, "Shit, did I just spend the last 2 1/2 years of my college life preparing academically and chalking experience in the PR industry for nothing? What if PR's not what I want to do?" It's nuts, so I switched over to advertising for a bit and I had to push PR aside because jobs in advertising called on very different skills.

I finally had to face the facts when job & internship offers came rolling in, because I had to choose. I couldn't do everything (although I would have loved to) so I finally decided to give up the supposed "glitz & glamour" of advertising in exchange for PR, where I own my projects and if shit happens, it's my responsibility and if all goes right, it's a pat on my back, not on some creative's back. And then again, this is not like a plan that I have to stick to for the rest of my life, ideally, I want to work with film but that's a luxury that I'll think about when the time is right.

I've always believed that: "If it's meant to be, it'll be." But that doesn't mean I believe in fate and sit on my tush waiting, because, me being me Ms. Walking Contradiction, I'm a firm believer of these ten words: "If it is to be, it is up to me." So who knows, I might go back to graduate school in a couple of years. I do know what I want to pursue though -- a double major in film and foreign languages with a minor in comparative literature. Just for the heck of it, here are some jobs that I've thought about and some jobs that I would hate:

• Jobs I would love -- film critic, film publicist, cafe owner, retail buyer, travel writer


• Jobs I wouldn't mind pursuing -- magazine editor, lawyer, author, fashion consultant, personal shopper


• Jobs that other people think I would be good at but I would hate -- newspaper/tv journalist (I don't believe in the pursuit for truth and objectiveness, no successful writer is objective), tv show host (#1 I don't have screen presence, #2 I'm waaay too opinionated and would probably piss a lot of celebs off)


• Jobs that cause my death on the first day of work (either out of boredom or excessive use of my brain) -- medical doctor, any form of engineer, accountant, kindergarten teacher (I actually listed that as one my ambitions when I was 7, now I would probably be convicted of murder on my first day coz I can't stand kids)

So that's the end of my looooooong ass post. If you've kept reading till you reached the end, yay for you! Remind me that I owe you a coffee. Hugs all round!