Ch-ch-ch changes

There was once not too long ago that someone who used to be in advertising for many years and incidentally was my ex boss as well told me when he has nothing to do, he will study or rather look at people and observe the things that they do. I felt that it was rather strange and though I thought observing people might make me a better ad man, I never really did pick that up as a habit. Fast forward to four years later, I’ve found looking and laughing as I see people go about with their own things in my free time.

One such occasion was during Cook’s long call and honestly aside from looking around there wasn’t much that I can do seeing that smoking was prohibited in the building (though some lawyers were busy puffing away, I’ve decided not to take the risk since I wasn’t one to begin with and there’s a 2 year jail sentence warning at every corner that I turned to) and I didn’t bring anything worth looking at.

At one corner, there’s the bunch of overly pompous old fart lawyers with the air of importance they are throwing and that’s the same with advertising where you sometimes find artistically tortured international award winning creative director bitching about how stupid their client is not to understand their need to do a scam ad. Then there’s the noisy young punk advocate with their blackberry and big firm background but it’s the same with advertising; you have the international agency young cikus with their cigarette instead of blackberry and finished with jaded seen it all faces. The only major difference would be in general the advertising boys and girls are much much more better dressed but these lawyers do earn so much more.

So you can see that human is still human no matter how you separate them by building, education or even industry. Still with the same tendency for hierarchy, competition and backstabbing. The same need for acknowledgement, praises and love, with or without that Prada tote. It’s not entirely a bad thing but lately I have been obsessed with thinking about how much we change a person. It’s already proven that certain things are of human nature and no matter what predicament or situation you throw them into, the results are still the same, sort of the knee jerk reaction of behavior and personality. But then again, we are the product of evolution and it’s all about change, us human defying our current self and improving all in the name of surviving.

Can it then be true to say that we can only change when forced into a corner without any choices but adapt to something else? Then what are considered life changing situations? The fact that you go along year after year without someone? Or that you are not getting any younger but building on the pounds and wrinkles?

How much are you willing to change then? Will you look back one day and laugh at yourself for being so insistent on certain things about the men that you should love and then be settled with something that you’ve never thought you would settle for? The bigger question is that will someone change for you just as you might consider changing for them. Maybe it really depends on the carrot or rather what is in stake - change or ship out for both parties? Or maybe no reasons or excuses are needed. When you feel like it or when the situation is right, you will just naturally evolve.

There are just too many questions with too little answers. I guess the only to find out is to be the agent of change and get the ball rolling.