So much to learn

One thing I always noticed about those in advertising is that they seemed to know everything -- and I mean everything in that sense that they knew EVERYTHING. It seemed only natural that you would pick up some things here and there when you work with a client. But I never suspected that working for the U.S. Mint for a week and a half would now leave me with more information than I ever expected to know about it (to be fair, I expected to know very little about the U.S. Mint in my lifetime).

Lately, I have realized that working on social media has allowed me to see the internet differently. Before I simply utilized the most basic of Google's offerings (search, gmail, maps, and street view when I was bored), and now I can't help but poke and prod around every site I know simply to see more of what they have to offer.
We all know that the internet is an insanley vast resources (rule 34 anyone?). Yet many people don't realize just how much there really is out there. It seems that only recently with a lot of developments in RSS and the wide use of blogs and tags that we can finally utilize the awesome storage which lies dormant within the internet.

Anyway! Agency life is still very nice. My take on things is slightly skewed since, as an intern, they're treating us a bit differently with a lunch and learn tomorrow, and a road rally on Thursday. I have no idea what this 'rally' is, but I like to think that anything which encourages drinking at the end is sure to have some kind of fun attached to it.

We also have an 'intern project' which we are required to do. While I'm not sure if I can talk about it (I'm not kidding when I say all those papers and handbooks they give you REALLY do well in scaring you to shut the fuck up about work), I'm sure that I can disclose that the project has taught me a lot of shit. And that shit goes as follows:

1) Account people and Creatives aren't that different. A lot of times people just set themselves up to thinking they are due to fear/laziness
2) When everyone is talking, talking loudly doesn't help to get your point across.
3) Unless you are the boss, you can't choose who you work with. Deal with it.
4) Don't be afraid to go out there. Go big or go home -- advertising isn't for second best.
5) If you shoot down and idea, be sure to offer another one up. It's so easy to condemn, but when you're at hour 0 you have to put all aside.
6) Seriously -- account people. Don't be afraid to be creative! I mean, as long as you aren't a dick about it, any Creative is more than happy to hear some ideas (if simply so that they can feel better about their own ideas).

Yes, there are stories and lessons behind all of these -- which I managed to experience within the last two weeks. Looking back at this list, I sort of wonder what the entire list will look like at the end of this internship.
My partner and I had some...err...head butting? But, you know, at the end of the day if I managed to convince him, I knew that I had convinced the toughest person. And convincing him would ensure that we could take on anything that the client would ask of us.

Oh! And on another unrelated note -- don't steer away from people when they seem to be in a bad mood. If anything, a sour mood seems to make a lot of people more likely to open up and bestow upon you a fountain of thoughts/ideas/funny phrases.


P.S. -- Funny story which I had no idea how to fit into this: while I was looking up information on a client, I accidentally clicked on one of those web sites which lists tag after tag for every word out there. Once the page loaded I was treated to a face full of...umm...female genitalia.
Thank GOD no one was walking by my cube just then. That would have been awkward to explain.