2013 is the year my life was consumed by work - to the point I come back on weekends to try to catch up with work, and the things I do started to get less related to art, and more related to management and dealing with people. I had a very unhealthy lifestyle, and although I learnt a lot on my job, the cons far outweights the benefits. I got burnout, to say the least. And the only work I ever did is for the company's annual artbook project (see the inset picture above). This year, I have a new resolution: F*CK WORK! (please excuse my language, but there's no other better way to put it at this moment of time) I don't hate my job (I try not to...), but when I find myself becoming more of a manager rather than a creative professional, I'm starting to doubt what I'm actually doing here. My current workplace has its perks, no doubt about that (and I did have my raise and promotion...so I can't complain about that either. I am 4 months away to being *Senior*!) but: Dealing with art is one thing. I can feel my art sense get sharper. The amount of retakes I dished out to my team members also gets higher (not my fault, we're doing a high-performance animation production here). Dealing with your nice boss, kind-of-nice director and kind-of-not-so-nice-other-director is another thing. You try pleasing 3 higher-ups without getting killed in the crossfire, and make that a daily routine. I did try to get back, but my soul and sanity is still at stake. Dealing with people is another. I enjoyed mentoring last year's April's batch. Some of them are currently my assistants too, to help lighten some of my workload in the background production. They are that good. The worst batch to date is the November one, which made me start to doubt the new crop of artists that the local art institutions here are churning out. Where's the quality, yo? Pepperidge Farm and myself still remembers the days we learnt the hard way to becoming a better artist, and it all starts with a good art foundation. (I'll save this rant for another post). Dealing with energy-draining-people-who-cannot-paint-to-save-their-ass-yet-getting-a-high-paycheck-every-month is another thing, too. To put it simply, there are a few overpaid a**holes sitting in my team, and due to weird policies, I can't get them removed. There's a loooooong procedure to terminating them. I only succeeded in one, and that one is the one that got away first by self-terminating himself. (I'll share that long story one day). And there are 2 more out there. They're not team players, they are detrimental to our workflow, they have lousy attitude problems --- basically, they are a liability to my team, because not only they make us missed the deadline, they don't feel guilty doing it and have no intention of improving. Why is my company still keeping them?? Beats me too. Hence, weird policy. I'm trying to minimize their damage by the way, but doing that the whole year round took a toll on me --- and by year-end, I basically demanded a long leave, and all my bosses are kind enough to comply. (I did not take any leave the whole damn year. Honest.) 2 weeks in Japan is a bliss. A calm that is too short but long enough to help me recharge. Now it's only February, and I find myself slowly getting bogged down again by all that's mentioned above. So...I want to seek that fine thing called work-life balance. Starting here in my personal spot on the Internet. Can I do a monthly post? I got to try. Weekly post is a stretch, but if it means getting my creative fire back (and not getting utterly frustrated at work on a daily basis), I will do it. No promises though. That's it for this post. Here's to a more fruitful and better Year of the Horse! (and hopefully, a better work life) -Lammy
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THE GOLDEN RULEDepending on what's being posted, I appreciate feedback/constructive criticisms/greetings/ or even a simple Hi!, Memory Bank
February 2014
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