One night not too long ago, I found myself walking along Oxford Street, off for a bite to eat after a long afternoon of work in our university's fashion college campus. If you've been to Oxford Street, you'd know that the place is brand name-landia. H & M, Adidas, Nike, etc. If you can think it, you'll see it on Oxford Street. The place is London's high street of high streets.
There's a basketball cliche that a lot of would-be analysts love to bandy about. "Game over Name", they say. It makes perfect sense. It's just so darn cliche, though. It's sort of like saying that London IS Big Ben and Trafalgar Square. In reality, it is so much more than just uber-touristy nonsense.
I do a lot of running, and what I am about to talk about is based purely on my experience, and not any scientific or economic data. I do not like using Nike trainers for workouts, or races. The shoes often look like a million bucks, but perform like something you got for far less than a tenner. The shoes are often stiff, and in the long run, they aren't really very durable. You would be far better off investing in a pair of kicks by Asics or New Balance. Now there's value for money.
All to often, we get caught up in being brand conscious. Brand loyalty is different from brand consciousness. Being loyal to a particular label can mean you sticking to the same pair of trainers, the same coffee shop, or the same brand of laptops, for valid reasons. Maybe your preferred brand can keep up with your busy lifestyle- or your penchant for dropping things on concrete. Perhaps your favorite coffee shop not only serves you up delicious, reasonably-priced coffee, but, also managed to have one of their baristas chat you up and calm you down before another day in the salt mines. Your chosen product, your weapon of choice, may hold such a distinction not because of flair- but rather, because of how far it can and will go, when push comes to shove.
I have noticed that I've gone all "stream of consciousness" with my recent blog entries. This is good. Living in London can tend to make the imagination of an international postgraduate student like myself wander endlessly. Imagination is the main ingredient for brilliant realities. I believe that. I've seen it happen. Hey, if I really do have to go back home to the Philippines in a couple of months, then I might as well take advantage of having castles and ancient roads and estuaries being as close to me as gum is to an unwilling piece of pavement.
So, "Game over Name". Yeah, that makes sense. I hope to be able to get my masters' degree soon. Once I get the extra letters after my name, I'll get to prove whether I can live up to that old basketball cliche.
Soon, I will once again find myself having to start over.
MC
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