A(H1N1), Malate and a Fashion Web Marketing Job

Amidst the scare and all, I braved the grimy streets of Malate along Vito Cruz and Ocampo Sr. St.

I was really paranoid sitting inside LRT car habang may ubos-biyayang umuubong ale a few metres away. Bago pa man ako sumakay, si Manong Guard bumahing without covering his mouth. He was a yard away from me. Yikes!
Sa totoo lang hindi naman talaga ako maarte, napapraning lang talaga ako sa pandemic flu.

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During the interview, I was all over the place. I was this and that. I never intended to sound too eager pero I kept defending myself na I'm really into fashion, as culture and as web marketing challenge.

Paano ba naman kasi, she (Madame Interviewer A) kept on insisting that she find it rather "malayo sa field" ko. From NGO geek, rights issues and all tapos mag-aapply ako sa Fashion Industry post. She even mentioned the word "shallow" when it comes to fashion. Kept on implying (or maybe praning lang ako) to me that I will get bored with the fashion thing because I'm used to "deep" kuno stuff like advocacy, development work, and child and nature stuff.

This thing actually surprised me. Sa panahon ngayon natatali pa rin pala ang mga tao sa stereotypes. What? Are you saying that just because one's field is in fashion it cannot be considered as important as environmental and development work? What type of image ng babae ang nasa isip niya when world issues are mentioned? Martir at endlessly selfless like Mother Theresa? Sumalangit nawa.

Narinig ko na before sa isang movie "Raising Helen" that family and fashion don't mix. Parang ang kulang na lang sa nangyari kanina ay sabihin sakin na "fashion and the future of mankind don't mix."

Ano kaya ang konsepto niya ng mahalagang profession? Yung tipong "save the planet, save the seas (save the cheerleader)" mode? What? You mean fashion is frivolity? Dapat pala I mention to her na I dance and I spend so much time sweating and torturing my body inside dance studios. Tulad ng fashion, ano nga ba ang dance? Bakit, hindi ka naman mamatay kung walang fashion at kung walang dance a! Pero bakit ginagawa ko pa rin ang pagsasanay sa dance?

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Madame Interviewer B, she was such a pretty chinita. Again, I was asked bakit fashion? I fit the job description and I am into fashion (minus the designer-label-buying aspect, of course). Tamang hinala pa din ba? eAdvocacy = fashion web marketing. They both involve networking, information design, effective communication, rich multimedia experience, Granovetter's strength in weak ties. But, of course, I would sound like a manic geek yapper if I mentioned any of these concepts. Tapos this absurd question came up, "if a genie could grant your dream job... I blurted out New Media Artist. And I went on a tirade about this and that. That medium in its practice is not tangible at all. NMA basically tackles the issues of the 21st like privacy paradox, nodes and bits traffic, augmented realities, cultures of knowledge, research process could be considered as one of NMA's artistic output. WTF, it was too late. Sana pala sinabi ko na lang I wanted to become Naomi Campbell.