November 5, 2004
fear and happiness is the best combination
Yes, the cartoon above is there for a reason. Heh.
In a funny mood today– caught by two conflicting, adrenaline-fuelled emotions: (1) The reality of living in Paris out of a suitcase, flying by the seat of my pants etc and (2) The excitement of what I’m doing professionally.
Fear and Happiness is the best combination. Indeed.
Paris is fine. Still basking in the French glow. I’ve gotten to the point where I prefer speaking French to speaking English on an everyday basis. Sure, with my bloody awful command of the language it makes for limited conversations but hey, at the same time I’m having a real adventure.
Adventures are freaky things, are they not? People long for them in order to cleanse themselves of the oppressive mundanity of everyday life, but when you’re actually experiencing one in the present tense, the reality is never quite what you imagined beforehand. What you imagined is quite light and jolly in comparison. The reality has much sharper teeth.
Much sharper.
[THE STORY OF THE COPYWRITER WHO DIDN’T GET IT:]
Here’s a good example of someone involved in marketing who either just doesn’t get it or feels intimidated by a communication channel that he doesn’t understand. I’m talking about blogs, of course.
There’s a bloke in the US called Robert Bly who apparently is a copywriting wiz. He wrote an article in DM News about blogs that simply illustrates a total lack of comprehension about blogs in a buisness context. Perhaps it better illustrates his fear of blogs that presents a challenge to conventional marketing thinking.
My two cents: Marketing et al is changing too fast for anyone to really have a clue anymore. The only thing a poor hack can do is try to convince the client that isn’t the case.
“Branding is alive and well, Harry! Please give me some cash! Hooray!”
Just wanted to let you know, I too am in Paris, vicariously, through you and your blog.
You are being heard here on the Northern Coast of CA.
Althought not Paris, S.F. has some pretty good cafe’s. There are sharp teeth here as well, but I noticed something when traveling to some poorer parts of the country this summer…the smaller the crumbs the sharper the knives.
Citizen K
Just wanted to let you know, I too am in Paris, vicariously, through you and your blog.
You are being heard here on the Northern Coast of CA.
Althought not Paris, S.F. has some pretty good cafe’s. There are sharp teeth here as well, but I noticed something when traveling to some poorer parts of the country this summer…the smaller the crumbs the sharper the knives.
Citizen K
Yes, but give me the sharp teeth of a real adventure over mind numbing dailiness any time.
Heh.
Interestingly enough, the French expression for someone who has evident ambition, is:
“Il a les longues dentes..”
Or, he has long teeth. I think that there is no shortage of teeth in Paris. In terms of culture, Paris is the centre of the French world, except, and this is hard for the native Anglophone to grasp, there is no other. Imagine. New York with no LA or London if you fuck it up. Well, Bruxelles, if the Flemish don’t bother you, or Quebec, if suicidally cold winters are your ticket. You see my point.
French is an interesting language, and they still revere the beautifully turned phrase, the “mot juste”. This also partly explains their total incomprehension of Anglo-Saxon politics… Blair is a bit wooden at best, and G.W.Bush is not, whatever your political convictions, a gifted speaker…
Having said that, find a convivial bar, and there are many, many of these, simply grunting and smoking a cigarette will get you by for hours and hours.
If your reality doesn’t bite back on ocassion, you aren’t taking any risks.
I do love travel, though. If for nothing else than the comforting familiarity you find en route back home.
Enjoy your time in Paris!
As we say in the trade, drama is conflict. If there ain’t a little friction, ain’t too much of interest happening.
Which is not to say that comfort doesn’t have its place. I’m all for naps. Frequently for me they come in the form of Law & Order jags.
But that juice…that “plugged in” feeling? That trumps all. Even with that frisson of pain thrown in. (Maybe even because of it.)
xxx
c
You know how life seems to go by faster the longer we live? The reason for this is routine. The brain simply ignores mundane, repetitive tasks when mapping out the journey so far.
That’s one of the reason I love moving. Change equals stimulation.
Marketing et al is changing too fast for anyone to really have a clue anymore. The only thing a poor hack can do is try to convince the client that isn’t the case.
Sssssssshhhhhhhh!!!!
thank god my wealthiest clients are mostly too stupid to even own computers, much less surf the internet…
i too have recently started living in paris… it was spur of the moment, spontaneous, didn’t have a job or any idea of what i wanted to do … i was travelling around france for a bit this summer after gleefully leaving the corporate world and when i got to paris i simply stopped travelling …
it has been simultaneously the most terrifying and exciting, the most confusing and satisfying, and the most unstable and and yet assured experience of my life…
it’s the first time in my life i’ve well and absolutely truly followed my spirit and it’s the first time in my life i feel my life (although no where concrete at the moment) is finally on track …
paris is a pretty remarkable … enjoy the ride!
wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!