On a Night in June

I'm very much a person who believes that everyone likes celebrations in their own ways. Some like big parties with balloons, popcorn and beer. Some like little gatherings with coffee, cake, candles and tiny bites.  We Chinese, of course, have a natural inclination for all the big gatherings and the grand, grand stuff, but as times go and situations change, we adjust, and we modify.

That's how The Parent and I found ourselves at a coffee shop "downstairs our house" on this very late evening, surrounded by fellow diners down for a late dinner or supper. It had been decided beforehand that we would come here for a special meal- the stall here was highly recommended for its char kuay teow, fried Hokkien mee and oyster omelette- all of which were family favorites.

So we had the fried Hokkien mee and oyster omelette.

Both of which were really good.

The noodles were prepared dry texture style- the way I prefer them- had full of flavour and with just the right amount of lard. Yeah, I know, fried pork fat and all, but whatever. How to eat this dish without lard? Where got nice?

I don't know how many pieces each of us had, though.

We didn't count.
 We didn't count how many oysters there were in the oyster omelette either. I just know that they were really big, juicy ones scattered all over the thick, well-fried egg, and that there were two bowls of really spicy chili to dip the oysters in. Truth be told, I know The Parent loves oysters more than I do, so I took two pieces and surreptitiously played around with my chopsticks and the egg until I was told to take more.

That's how we do it most of the time- we do estimates of each other's favorites- unless, of course, we decide to play quantitatively fair and start counting out portions.

It was a lovely time we had that late evening.

After the coffee shop we headed to the shops around the 'hood- those that were still open- stopped by the supermarket to compare prices and chat about new shampoos, then crossed over to the NTWU canteen at the bus interchange for a cup of very strong, very sweet, very solid  kopi.

(Don't mess with the bus uncle's kopi, that's all I'm going to say)

two Stores, two Ways

Walking down a particular stretch of Orchard Road during the season of the Great Singapore Sales, I decided, quite on a whim, that this scene warranted a picture.

 

And so even though it took a little bit of standing under the hot late afternoon sun just to grab a picture, I did, because it isn't every day that one gets to perceive the difference between indie small-time businesses and large corporations wrapped within a single frame.

 

There are many differences, of course, when one speaks of them two- and I don't mean it only in terms of size, product development, management, processes, employee numbers, office culture and everything, even if, when one thinks about it, they do define the degree of separation between one and the other.

 

If one business consists of a small team where one person plays multiple roles in the same day and sometimes at the same time, the other consists of a much larger team where the roles are so defined that one gets hired into a certain position, and likely stays there until the time comes to climb the ladder. 

 

Here's the question: When is the structure relevant, and when does one implement it? How does one measure growth? How does one measure the performance indicators? And what sort of management is the best for which phase of business at what point in time?  
 

There are theories to explain all this away- but the professional expertise belongs to a management expert- and I'm not one. 

 

Still, I do wonder if  there are situations where proper management structure and systems  are required to keep things moving instead of putting in place groupthink-collaborative efforts.

Because on that afternoon outside one container I saw two frazzled, exasperated souls standing by the entrance surrounded by bags and bags of merchandise, luggage bags, and an empty trolley, looking for all the world like they had been excluded from the action taking place inside. Then again, I may be wrong- it may have been just a matter of timing- that it just wasn't their turn to be inside with the (very busy) others setting up the space for retail sales.

Candidly, however, I just felt like the atmosphere reminded me of those group activities we used to do in school where Someone gave a reporting time and so we all turned up at said time only to realize that initial preps were still carrying on and it wasn't our turn yet, and so we got relegated to standing around listlessly watching them discuss whilst waiting for ourselves be assigned.

Yes, collaborative efforts are good- they grant individuals the space to express their capabilities and expertise, they allow for a win-win situation, everyone gets a share of the pie, everyone works together to get everyone on board and have them contribute their skillsets and passions- but the lead coordinator has to be very good, decisive, systematic and strong in organizational capabilities.

Lest the situation turn into chaos, disgruntlement, disharmony and eventually resentment.

Now, I can't say for sure whether the other company in the container next to theirs has excellent organizational structure, perfect systems and efficient operations, but I can safely say that they must have some sort of system somewhere.

Because they knew exactly what they had to do, they knew exactly when their stocks had to come down, when their marketing material had to be up, how the decor and everything was going to be, and they knew exactly who to deploy at the right time.

There were only three workmen down at the container on that afternoon. And I don't even think they were direct employees of the company- they weren't wearing any uniforms or company teeshirts. Neither were they sleek haired in neat attire. 

They were in dusty work clothes and well worn work boots.

And what they were supposed to do, I think, was to unroll the posters, stick them up on the walls and set up the lights, whilst the stocks, the marketing personnel, the sales personnel and the managerial teams would come thereafter. 

I can't be absolutely certain of this part, but I can be sure that these three dudes had their work cut out for them, they knew what to do, they weren't wasting any time, and they were just gonna do their job, finish it, do an inspection, hand over, and go. 

Very effective, very efficient, no nonsense, and no longwinded discussion at all.   

toys at a Meeting

 

What will come out of this meeting, I don't know. No one really knows if a deal will be closed when they go to any meeting- they just go, do what they do best- and pursue it in one way or another until it turns out positive. (I've not heard from these guys, but hey, not giving up!)

 

What is absolute about these meetings though is that the business of entertainment is  a very serious business.

 

People often (erroneously) assume that us who are in the entertainment industry, especially the animation studios, are immature, childish, frivolous, playful, mindless types who don't do real work, and have no understanding of the serious s*** that takes place in the world.

 

They would think very differently if they knew what goes on in the production pipeline, the calculated effort that is required to actually get from one phase to another, who the investors are, what sort of software and hardware is utilized to get from one phase to another, what happens simultaneously, what happens progressively, the necessity of understanding humanity, the discipline of communicating that understanding to the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, and then there's the task of chopping up that WHOLE WIDE WORLD into segmented audiences before refining the message all over again etc. 

 

No, this business isn't just a serious business.

 

It is an obsessive, possessive one.

 

It is a business that once you step in, you don't step out. It is a business that consumes your time day in, day out, and whether or not you're away from the desk, whether or not you're away from the phone, even if you're in nature, there is always something that inspires and influences you. I kid you not.

 

The entertainment industry is an all-encompassing, all-enveloping one. You don't escape from it. You can't. Whether it is a book you read, a picture you draw, a photograph you take; whether it is a stage play you attend, a poetry reading you go to, or even any other non-entertainment related activity, why, it's there. Go to the gym- what's playing over the loudspeakers? Bake a cake- there're the social media posts and the cooking shows. Hike outdoors- you get the sound of the birds and the crickets and the leaves that move in the wind, oh, and now, with 5G coming in, there's the 6DoF to consider about. 

 

If you thought that content creators- like the creators of SpongeBob SquarePants- didn't have to think about technology, you'd be so wrong. And if you thought that the people in Pixar Animation Studios didn't give a hoot about technology but only about toys and cars, and child-friendly dialogue and happy looking pictures, you'd also couldn't be more wrong.

Toy Story came out in 1995.

And so did Windows 95.
 

And just in case some still don't get it... Steve Jobs and Pixar Animation Studios are intricately linked.

You get the picture.

And with content creation and licensing and franchising being such a critical part of the whole business, it is also not an industry that you can simply just hop over from one company to another at the twiddle of a thumb- because there are lots and lots and lots of rules- and restrictions- and you would do well to follow.

 

That's how this industry is, but there's also satisfaction in this industry. Not so much as to see your work on the big screen, but the realization that whatever it is  you do, whatever genre it is you do, or whatever theme it might be, whether you be in music, animation, comedy, live-action, console games, mobile games, video games, television, computer games etc, it is a world you're connecting with, it is an audience you're speaking to, and that what you do can definitely bring people together through communities, which, by the way, have always been around, even before the days of social media. 

 

The entertainment industry is like a cycle of life. Regardless what age you are, regardless what stories you prefer, even if you be the serious sort who goes for classical music and operas and documentaries and newsreels, or historical stuff, or English-literature-based films from the libraries of the BBC, to us behind the scenes, to us who treat it like any corporate structure and as seriously as we do any corporate business, it is all the same.

 

Yes, that means, to us, in terms of the business, Vivaldi and The Corrs are the same, Lil Wayne and Bach are the same, and so are Handel and Lecrae.

 

Likewise Cesar Milan's The Dog Whisperer, anything you see on Discovery Channel, Frozen, Paw Patrol and SpongeBob SquarePants.

 

To us, they are all the same.

 

And if you like them, well, so do we.

 

 

lotion of Lychee & Palm

 

A loved one gifted this to me many moons ago, and even though I'd taken this picture as early as this year, it is only now that I realize that, goodness gracious me, I haven't written about it at all.

 

No, it isn't because I've put it out of sight or that this gift has slipped my mind.

It is because I took the picture but then slotted it into a folder and then- as things go- didn't go back to the folder for a while.

 

Truth is, I've finished the entire bottle- there was a phase that I used it rather luxuriously- and if there is one hand and body lotion that I won't forget about, it is this.

 

See, I love anything and everything that is lychee infused. I've had lychee drinks, lychee sweets, lychee jellies, lychee ice cream (thank you McDonalds)... but it's all been food. So when I saw that this specially-flown-over from New Zealand body care lotion had lychee right smack on the front of the bottle and had its scent listed as an ingredient, I was completely blown over.

 

Only thing is... I didn't give too much attention to the other ingredient right there on the bottle- the palm.

 

And if you ask me, I don't know how the palm smells like either.

 

Because the scent of the lychee- yes, it had a real scent!- was pleasant, distinct and which overwhelmed me in such a lovely, fruity way that I wouldn't have minded if it were just lychee entirely. That would be very, very fruity, but as in all good quality scented stuff, there was a balance, a sort of roundedness that I think was brought about by the palm, where you had the rich scent of fruit balanced with the lighter, fresher scent of the green.  

It was lovely to be using the lotion in the mornings, and in the evenings. Interestingly, in the mornings, the lychee scent granted me a bit of perk, but in the evenings I got that vibe of fun.

How long I used it for, I can't remember now, but at one season of its usage, I was extremely thankful for it. The scent reminded me of the time I'd met up with the giver, and somehow made me feel like the person was around. 

Alas, the bottle is finished, but I'm glad for what I've had, I'm thankful for the present, the experience of lychee (and palm!)moisturiser, and most of all, the thoughtful one who gifted it to me.  

a little Lion on my bag

 

This little lion that now hangs on one of my handbags was an impulse buy as impulsive buying goes when you're at a value store, or at Daiso, in that I hadn't gone there specifically to get a bag accessory, and neither had I thought I'd even get one.

But $2 is very small a price to pay for a stuffed little toy as adorable as this that not only dresses up an otherwise plain-looking, serious-as-heck (read: old) handbag, reinforces the charm of the work I do and the strength of the industry that I'm in, but also reveala (subtly) the whimsical, friendlier side of me.

To be honest, I'm the sort who has no qualms carrying around a plush toy even though I don't have children, I don't work with children, and I'm long ahead in the minimum legal age. No doubt some children do carry around security blankets whilst others do have their dolls and toys with them when they go out, but I don't find it a childish, immature thing if an adult carries around a toy big or small. That's the charm of life. Just as serious-looking people may have very childish attitudes towards certain things, carrying around a plush toy is no indicator that the person is stupid and immature. There's a reason why plush toys never go out of style.

Because adults do squeal with delight over cute looking teddy bears, favorite characters, and charming toys.

And trust me, it is nothing to be embarrassed about. If you fancy Iron Man, well, bring him proudly around. If you want to go bop the noses of all the plushie bottle-nosed dolphins at SeaWorld, well, go ahead. They're so cute it would be a waste not to.  No one's gonna judge you, especially those who are in the comic book industry, the animation industry, the e-sports industry, and the IOTS industry. Shame on those who do. They can go s***w themselves.

Just be proud that you have the capacity to like and love a toy. Just be glad that you are confident enough to reveal this particular  side of yourself and that you have the confidence to do so.

In fact, there was a season in my life that I carried around a small Winnie-the-Pooh whilst going about my day simply because the sight of him sitting snugly inside my backpack made me smile. Unfortunately that season didn't last very long. Not because I lost interest, and  not because I suddenly matured, but because practicality reigned, there were more things I needed to carry, and there was no space without crushing the poor mid-sized plush toy.

But this little lion is a different matter.

He doesn't occupy any space inside my bag. He doesn't bounce around with the rest of my stuff. His shape is stretched, and his size is just right that I can easily hang him from the handle of my bag, catch sight of his cute charming smile, play with his little tuft of hair when I'm walking, and even shift his little plushie limbs when my handbag is resting on my lap.

Yes, he is a toy.

And a much needed one sometimes, because there are days when I just need to rest my mind from stuff that's going on, and although I haven't come to the stage where I'm speaking to him, I've come to see him almost like a friend.

Indeed he is mine.