NOTE: This post is a little bit personal because it’s something which is straight from my mind. It might help those who are facing similar situations as I am.

I’ve been thinking a lot these few days (before Jamy commented on my previous blog post HERE). Hahha, i know some of you will say this guy has always been thinking a lot…and dreaming a lot as well. Yeap, true. That explains why my hair is getting lesser.

Ok, back to topic. I’m beginning to face the reality. I do have BIG dreams. But I can’t see myself achieving those dreams in my current situation. Furthermore, my “passions” are just too broad…I like drawing….i like creating nice stories….i like animation…i like to make people laugh….i like to touch people’s heart (with stories, mind you)…..i like 3D. There are so many likes and passions that I’m afraid I cannot really be a specialist! Maybe it’s a blessing? Or maybe it’s not really a blessing in this world where people stress for “specialisation”. Anyway, that’s one whole topic altogether.

Today, I came across Escape Studios’ web site. All of a sudden, I have this urge in me that I really really want to go there and have a look. The courses are expensive…4500 pound for 4-6 weeks full time…but I do have high hope for their courses. I don’t need a degree in animation, i need practical skills. But 4500 pound is really not a small sum of money. What if I later find out it’s not my cup of tea? That’s why I ended up checking out the “Learning Days” session where you pay 35 pound to tour their studio and to talk to the professionals….see whether you are suited for the job before you enroll. Unfortunately, it only happens once a month……and for April, it is after my last day in London. For now, I can only wait for their online courses in June…..and try to find out some ways to earn more money to sponsor myself for the course. Malaysia might have such courses…but they are not as good and they are normally full degree/diploma courses.

And then there’s this reality that I need to face……… my sis doesn’t earn as much as I do….and my parents are not working anymore….and i still have a study loan to pay. Unless i sell off my car, my condo…. but that’s too big a risk for something which is not firm yet…and i cannot be so irresponsible to throw my family out. They will give me full support of course, but my parents really came a longgg way for me and my sis. I don’t want to let them worry so much at their age.

So there you go…my dilemma. After thinking for soooo long….i came to a conclusion. My drawing is just my hobby…my story writing…is also my hobby. I’ll go all out for this year’s ANIMAX awards…maybe submitting more than one entry. If there’s really one competition, i will try to be the grand champion this term. And about my dream to work in Pixar or some big game companies……… it still remains a dream…a BIG one.

And after thinking all these things……one person came to my mind – Steve Jobs. He started Pixar but he has no real skill in 3D or animation. He has the passion, the will and of course the fund. If he can do it, why can’t I?

In the end, it all drills down to money. Harsh world. Harsh reality. But that’s the fact. I will still pursue whatever I believe in, but I will also work hard to earn more money so that I can fulfill what I feel I’m supposed to do in my life.

So what’s your opinion on this? If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

p/s…. in an ideal world…i will be able to pursue my dreams + earning money to support my family at the same time. or I can follow whatever dreams i have without troubling over the money issue. But that’s the ideal world. Our world is not that ideal but it’s not hopeless. We just need to work harder using a different perspective to get there….at least that’s what i want to believe

p/s…. i’ll be going to Rome until Monday. Will not be able to reply any comments or post up anything. This will be my last trip to another country for a long long time

During my trip to South Wales, I was staying in this nice cosy hostel called the Old School Hostel. The hostel is owned by a friendly couple. The husband is a retired Railway announcer, those that report the incoming trains bla bla bla….not really sure the name for that job though. The wife is a school teacher. Both have grey hairs but they don’t look old at all. They look to be in their early 40s or late 30s.

Our first night there, the husband was busy showing off one of his favourite books to the other residents. It’s a book on space. They started debating whether human being actually landed on the moon. It was quite a funny conversation since some of them were quite stubborn Ah well, i didn’t join them. haha.

The next day, we went down for breakfast and met the couple again. My colleague started asking him what did he do for a living before this. So he told us his story and asked us what’s our occupation. My colleague said IT and he said “Whoa, that’s cool. Do you like it?”. My colleague said yes but i was kind of shaking my head in disagreement. Then the husband said “Oh, you don’t like it?” and my colleague said “He likes to draw and write story”. The husband said “Whoa, that’s amazing! You know what, you should always follow what you believe in. Keep your day job, and train up the artistic and creative side of you. Once you’re ready, push ahead in full force!”

And I can feel he really mean it.

Honestly…i didn’t expect that kind of response from a stranger. I believe he walked down that path before…from the way he said those words.

How many of us have actually lost track of our own life goals? How many of us have actually forget who we are? The world now is no longer the same like 10 or 20 years ago. It’s moving very fast and everyone needs to follow the pace. Some of us might focus too much trying to keep up to the pace….but maybe…just maybe… it’s good to just stop for a while and look at the world…….and look at yourself. What is it that you really believe in? Are you happy with what you are now? Or there’s still some emptiness in you that you feel you need to fill up?
I’m happy because i have a lot of things others don’t have. But I’ve yet to reach THERE…… and i’m finding my paths to go there. I hope that one day, I can be as happy as the owner of the hostel.

As for him, he looked very happy in the hostel. Perhaps it is his dream to run this hostel…to meet people from all over the world and provide a nice place for them to stay overnight.

But that’s him. What about you? Is there something that you really want to do in this world but you’re just not there yet?

My friend Bill sent me the links for these 2 articles. I find them very meaningful. Do read them when you have time.

Dream Small!

The Trying 20s

Enjoy

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I was discussing about globalization (shouldn’t be a new word to you) with Jamy before I went to Wales for vacation. I claimed that globalization will not work properly for some years to come and got “lectured” by her.

She has her valid points and I see where she’s coming from. There are so many things happening around us that shows the signs of globalization. Stuff like ADIDAS and NIKE are no longer made in US but in China or somewhere. The designs are being done in US…then delivered to the manufacturer for mass production using cheap labor cost….and then distribute the end products to different parts of the world. If this is not called globalization…then what is?

But the industry I wanna talk about is the IT industry. A good software engineer can cost you a lot of money in US or UK. So the “smart” guys usually outsource their IT projects to India or China or Asia Pacific where they can get 5 equally good software engineers for the price of 1. Well…..sometimes, it depends on your luck as well. You don’t always get “good” engineers.

Globalization is not taking the world by storm…..it has already taken over the world. It’s there whether you like it or not. But the problem now is….. how effective is it? I’m not sure about manufacturing industry or any other industries. All I know is IT industry. I used to work in one of the largest IT outsourcing company in the US. I’ve seen how things worked and I must say that things can go REALLY wrong if you’re not careful.

Timezone is one problem. People have to shorten their life span to work night shift in order to support clients from the other side of the world. Work life balance…anyone?  One may argue that you can live your personal life in daytime and work at night…..but it’s not that easy. You will feel very tired. It’s not healthy at all. And in the end, you might find difficulties trying to find the proper people to work on this shift.

2nd problem is irresponsible staff. The above comic was a real story experienced by me. I worked till 1am…and slept…and then i got a call from the US side at 3.30am. He said it was very urgent and I was required to online. I went online and the guy actually asked me to find my boss…and if i cannot find, drop a message for him. =_= I was so tired that I forgot to tell him that there’s such a thing called e-mail. Hahaa, but in the end, he really e-mailed my boss….Just that i was the one who really suffered. I was seriously deprived of my sleep and couldn’t work properly.

Also, we’ll need few proper people to manage the “globalization” part of the business. It is very critical since this person will be the contact point. I know it sounds very simple and sounds like “common sense” to some of you….. but there are cases when 1 project has too many contact points contradicting each other……or no contact point at all. For the team in Malaysia, it’s a big headache. How can the team work when there’s no people on the other side of the world? Hmm, actually, it’s not that big a problem. The Malaysia team will just do whatever they think is proper. The BIG problem will start from there.
I think at the end of the day, we need to see what kind of business model we’re working on. Some things cannot be moved. I’m currently in one project which will be offshored to Malaysia in May (that’s why I’m leaving UK earlier than scheduled). I will not say anything. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and it’s not just Malaysia…the development work will be offshored to Spain as well. So some in UK, some in Spain and some in Malaysia. Hahha. Let’s see how it goes. I wouldn’t be surprised that the company will ask us to come back to UK soon.

Ah well, globalization is helpful. I don’t deny. But it really needs a lot of attention at the starting point and also throughout the entire process. Without proper planning, globalization might actually bring more harm than good.

It’s been a while. I was away to Wales during the Easter break (we have Friday and Monday off). Quite a good experience I must say.

We (me and 2 senior colleagues who are also my housemates) departed from London to Bristol on Thursday night. In case you’re wondering, yea, i didn’t celebrate my birthday. Nothing much to celebrate actually. Anyway, we went to Bristol to find another of our colleague who has a car. We stayed one night there and departed for North Wales the next morning.

Wales is famous for 2 things – the beach and the mountain. In Snowdonia (Northern Wales), you get both. You get the nice mountains facing the sea. It’s a bit cold though and it can get very windy at times. I witnessed my first snow (ah well, it was actually sleet…frost + rain…but never mind, just call it snow) in Snowdonia. We took the train to go up the Snowdonia mountain (tallest in UK) but did not manage to go to the top and did not manage to step out from the train. It was too windy. A train full of people…shaking so badly due to the strong wind even before reaching the top. It was that bad. I managed to see some snow though…on the grass. So if you are to Snowdon, I think it’s a better option to gear yourselves up and hike all the way to the top. The next time i go, i will try to go there during Summer and will climb it ! It’s not that difficult….the trails are quite OK from the looks of it.

Oh, and you get to see a lot of cows and sheeps (and i mean A LOTTTTTTTTT of sheeps…everywhere! even on the mountains…wild sheeps). That’s why Northern Wales is famous for its steak and lamb shanks. I don’t eat beef, but I’ve definitely tried the lamb shank Very nice.

After the Snowdon mountain train trip, each of us bought 1 ice cream and started to eat outside……with the cold cold wind (around 30-40 mph …cold wind coming from the mountain) blowing at us. Hahaha. What an experience. Yea, we ended up shivering in the car after that.  Oh, and it was my idea…the sick fella’s idea.

We then went to Conwy castle. Hmm…….to be honest….it looks very nice from the outside……but …..really nothing much on the inside =_= It looks like a bigger version of our very own A Farmosa (much bigger version).

After the castle trip, we started our journey down south to Pembrokeshire, South Western Wales – famous for its beaches and seafood. We went to a hostel called Old School Hostel in Trefin. I must say, it’s one of the best hostels I’ve ever stayed in. The owner Chris and his wife Sue are very friendly and the entire hostel has this cosy feeling. The hostel is still quite new. Try search for this hostel if you are planning to go there.

Mmm…so what did we do here? We went to Porthgain where the famous pub Sloop Inn is located. We went to the pub for breakfast and then continued to the beach. The wind was very very very strong and frosty. The sea water was very cold and we saw some of them turned into sleet in mid air. I think the wind was more than 50 mph at that time. I couldn’t stand well =_=

Next destination was St David? We tried the famous sugar-free ice-cream. Guess what, as soon as we bought the ice cream….the temperature somehow dropped. We started shivering even before eating the ice-cream. So you can already imagine what happened after that. OK, I DID NOT SUGGEST THIS. ahaha.

Mmm….i think the best place for me is Tenby. It’s a tourist area. The beach is very very nice and there are a lot of nice restaurants….and a lot of people. It’s still early Spring. Most of the activities will start in April. Maybe that’s why nearly all the parking fees have been waived before April. Anyway, we took a stroll on the beach and continued to a nearby pub. We ordered queen scallops, seafood scones, sea bass, lamb shank (cannot miss this wherever i go), onion rings…. quite a lot eh? It’s only 43 pound for 4 of us. Sea bass is not cheap you know. And the food was VERY nice, the best for the entire trip.

Mmmm, after that, nothing much. Hahaha. We drove back to Bristol. End of my Wales trip.

I haven’t been drawing lately. Will try to draw some stuff this week. I’ll be away again from Saturday to Monday. This time, to Rome with my housemates

p/s…. if you are looking for a place to relax….Wales is a good place to go especially Northern Wales. You can even stay in one of the farmhouses.