I've been on a few activities that are completely new to me these few days.

I never had instant cup noodles in the office before for lunch. But since Ray gave it to me (bought it from Japan), and I didn't have my lunch, so I ate the cup noodle.

Hahaa..

I've never sung in a band. But on Thursday, one of my colleague suddenly wanted to go 'gup band' (having a jam session). He rounded up some others who can play guitars, bass, drums, and can sing. I didn't hear about it, I just overheard them talking about going somewhere and if so and so is free. I was curious. I asked. Then they asked me if I want to go. On normal days, I wouldn't go, because it was late and I would've had to go home for dinner, but my grandma is in Jakarta, so I had to make my own dinner on that day anyway, so I said yes!

So the thing is, it never hurt to ask! I mean, if they wanted it to be private, they'd stop at saying "we're having a jamming session". But by asking, you open up opportunities. (I know such people who wouldn't bother to ask but feel bummed when they miss the opportunities coming at them)

So I sang about 1.5 songs.. hahaha.. It was hard to find English songs they have heard of before that I can sing to. So I sang "My Happy Ending" hahhaa... I wanted to sing something more up to date.. but they didn't know t  he songs I knew..

Bun and Kahong doing their thing. Terry and Fung sang most of the songs in Cantonese :D
   
I only have a few shots from my iphone... but it was a cool experience!

I'm going to watch Linkin Park in Macau in August, by the way! Haha.. ermmm.. unrelated stuff. No, I'm not like.. a big big fan, but.. it sounds fun, going to rock concerts and jumping to the music :D I did it once with Anit (also Linkin Park, ha!) but didn't have the chance to do it again.

Another one:
On Wednesday Ray asked if I would be interested in going to a war game on Saturday. My angle was that it's summer already, and it might rain, but either way it would be hot and difficult. Also, I didn't know people who were going except for Ray. So I hesitated.

But on Friday I said yes, because I find out that I know about 2-3 people in the 20people group. So, what the heck. Let there be sun. Or rain. Or heatstroke. I never played war game before (except in Counter Strike!XD) so I said yes.

The place was called Gulf War Games, in Sai Kung just next to the Sai kung town centre. The morning games were difficult for me, because it was so hot, and I was starting to feel a heatstroke coming.. I had to quit after the first 2 rounds and took a seat. I saw stars and the sky was dark even though it was actually blue and beautiful.

We completely forgot to take pics of ourselves in army uniforms holding guns, btw..

After missing two rounds, I had pocari and was up and running again. After lunch, I was on full gear! Sorta. So I stayed in the back most of the time because I was too scared to move forward and scared of being shot at when running from post to post, but hey, I always end up the last survivor! (haha notice 'last survivor' means everybody else in my team 'died' because they attacked and I didn't. Well, I stayed and keep watch...).

It was a long hard day. Typhoon Lin Fa was coming, and so it was especially hot and humid and there was no wind at all. The sun shone like crazy, even though rain poured down for 10 minutes right after we finished the day's games. After every round, my face would be completely wet under the mask and I had sweat pouring down my eyes. Obviously my shirt was like being washed by sweat.... I have no idea how the army survive in such conditions in real life...

I was shot on my neck (in my very first round.. ouch), on the head a few times (strangely no bruise there), fell and bruised my hand

And that's the worst thing... getting a bruise not because I got shot but because I was going to stand up to say "I'm shot, I'm dead!" but fell on the process.. duh!



I also have a bullet bruise on my left thigh... and it's pretty bad haha but I don't remember how I got this one. I have another one on my right thigh but it's not as bad.

And I'm now starting the aches... I did a lot of half-squats while hiding... tomorrow is gonna be physical hell...

My next challenge is conquering the G-force in my coming trip to Singapore. Defying gravity, here I go!

Now, here's a video on Obama which was aired on TV news today. On both TVB and ATV, amazing huh?
http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/hes_barack_obama

BTW, here's some photos from my dept's BBQ in Shek O for celebrating Astroboy's finish.
 
Notice in my hand I had two different colored ice pops. Haha! I ate two back to back.

Its now 11.30am.. I'm at home, writing this entry... Why? Because...

Last night, my department went for a celebration BBQ after finishing Astroboy in Shek O beach. It was my first beach trip this year!! I wish we'd gone there earlier (although we arrived there before 6pm) and had our swimsuits on so we could go in the water!

We played volleyball (not the game, just the ball) and burnt our food.. My dept heads were there, and so is my boss, Mr. Francis Kao. Francis and Tim (one of my dept heads) were avid drinkers, along with Ken Tsumura, our producer.

Into the night, they each have had a few drinks, and started talking. I don't think they were drunk. Well, maybe a little. Tim was talking to Kwong non-stop (about I don't know what). And Ken kept telling the other guys to drink with his half-canton half-english words. Francis shared what he feels about astroboy and all. And he kept repeating one point:

"TOMORROW ONLY! GO TO WORK ANY TIME YOU LIKE. GET OFF WORK ANYTIME YOU LIKE. MY WORDS!"

with the addition of:

"IF SOMEBODY SAYS YOU'RE LATE. TELL THEM TO _____ _____!"

Well... I woke up at 10.30 today and got a message from my colleagues: "HR says, if you arrive later than 1.30pm, you are counted as late. Be careful."

Sigh... well.. not bad. At least I had half the day off. Yippie!


On a serious note, though. Francis is a really cool guy. I mean, if only our salaries were up to standard, I guess Imagi would be the most ideal place to work at in Hong Kong. What company would pay for your ride from the office so that you can leave early (at 5.30pm) to go to the beach and eat food paid by the company just to celebrate a finished job?? What company will allow game stations in the office so you can play it during lunchtime? Which boss would say to you "you're gonna have a boat trip? Great, remember to tell me when, so I can go. We can even go on weekdays! No work during downtime anyway!"?

Johnny (not from Animation..) was asking Tim about our salaries last night. About why our salaries as Hong Kong animators were so far below our counterparts in America.

Its not a question for Tim to answer.. because before we can make people fully appreciate what we do, we can't make them pay for it. Everybody knows that in Asia, when you work in filmmaking, you are most definitely poor. Except if you are a big famous actor/actress.

And thats sad. Because after you drive yourself through all the years of work with passion, reality finally sets in. Someone will want to build a family. Get married. Have kids. And that are the things that passion cannot pay for. Not in Hong Kong, anyway.

When will passion bear fruit? Youth for most of my colleagues are mostly gone. They are in their late 20s, and losing drive. Without proper returns, investment using passion will eventually die.

Sorry for sounding sad. But thats the truth for all animators.. all filmmakers. Unless if you're rich and you can pay for yourself no matter what you do...


blah.

Time to go to work!