2010 in review.

Years ago, a few of my best friends and I decided to climb Mount Ophir in Malaysia. During the arduous climb, we continually questioned why we there and why we were tormenting ourselves. However, looking back, it was a memory that has been etched in my mind forever, and it’s mainly the good parts that I remember.

Humans are weird this way, it’s always the tough and challenging times that we remember most, because we beat the odds and overcame the challenges. Before starting little red ants, there were many considerations to take; the initial investment to pump into the company, how viable our company model is, what future do I see with this company, but above all, one issue kept sticking out – I’m ultimately starting a company with friends. As cool and fun as it sounds, it’s actually the most important criteria for me to consider then, because a friendship and a working relationship is wildly different and I didn’t want to jeopardize the friendship.

However, I’m glad I started the company with my friends. Being friends, my partners and I have no qualms about being blatantly honest with each other, and we often thrash our concerns and views honestly and we’ve been very professional about it all. I think being friends first, and partners after also helps because we already have an underlying understanding of each other. It’s also a plus that we’re very comfortable with each other already. So far, we have had two interns in 2010, both of whom, have been very amused at our day-to-day conversations with each other, because in a sentence of 20 words, it seemed to consist of at least 10 Hokkien-based expletives. Sarcasm and teasing have also been sort of a company tradition and one of my partners have no qualms about physical violence when we’re teasing her. (there’s only 1 “her” in the company, so go figure”) However, in all fairness, it is this fun, spontaneous, friendship driven relationship that drives the company. It’s like what we often say, that we don’t actually go to work, because it’s not work when you actually like it. And it is this shared belief and understanding that the company has come to where we are today.

In all seriousness, starting the company was not easy, there were many “firsts” to be done and not everyone was very supportive of me. Many friends and family much preferred that I took up a regular job, something less risky. My Dad even wanted me to join the military. I was also told horror stories by people in the industry. We knew it was going to be tough. My partners and I spent countless hours sorting out administrative and legal matters and had to juggle the business side of things in the mean time. We started out working from our homes, working on the floor, or where-ever there was space, then, with the help of Kaychin, a friend-teacher-mentor, we managed to rent a temporary space that was more conducive for working, whilst searching for a more permanent office solution. With a stroke of luck, we found an ideal office space and now we’re housed in a quaint shophouse in Joo Chiat road.

So, here’s some stuff that happened in 2010 that I’ve learnt about and has been memorable to me. (I’ve only listed down things that I feel have been really memorable and I’ve left out business projects, because its more fun to hear about things that you don’t usually know of.) Here goes:

We, as a company, is destined not to have a proper company retreat. This year alone, we’ve had 2 attempts. The first was in Phuket. And we were there for less than 36 hours because we had to fly back for some work stuff that cropped up. And mostly we were in the airport waiting, because the damn Jetstar flight was delayed for 5 hours. By the way, my complaint letter to them was ignored, of which I’m still sore about. The second was in Redang, this time around, we were supposed to spend 3 days 2 nights there but because of some work stuff, Alex and YZ had to go back early. So Alex and YZ spent 26 hours travelling on a bus to in Redang for 1 day. With an incomplete team, Adeline, Kang Li and I decided to do some stupid stuff.

Adeline decided to test the weatherproofing of a Canon 7D by taking it for a swim in the sea, (it’s a nice paper weight now) then she decided to buy a Canon 5D Mark 2 to replace it, then decided she wanted a 7D instead. So she and was looking for a buyer for the 5D Mark 2. Then Yan Zhao bought a separate Canon 5D Mark 2 for his sabbatical trip and after his trip decided he wanted to sell it. Then Kang Li expressed that he wanted to buy a Canon 5D Mark 2. However. By the time Kang Li said he wanted one, Adeline’s set found a buyer. Then, he took a look at Yan Zhao’s set and fussed that the knob was too stiff. So Yan Zhao sold it to someone on Clubsnap. Thereafter, Kang Li grew quite desperate to purchase one because he was 2 days away from going to Perth to catch U2, the band. So he bought one from a Clubsnapper that was in a really really really really bad and salty state. After some egging from us, he decided to return it and he bought another one at a higher price. So, in 2 months, there were 2 5D mark 2s in the office floating around and Kang Li managed to get neither. Nice.

Laptops are meant for your lap, not to run around in. We managed to kill 2 macbook pros in the space of 1 week. During the shoot for 插班生‘s first music video, we ran around with 2 macbook pros and killed both. NICE. So much for reliability. Remember to buy your apple care guys.

We are equipment destroyers. This year alone, we have managed to destroy 10 filters, break 1 lens mount, 1 lens adaptor got stuck and needed to be pried open, destroyed 1 multi-storey height limit signboard, killed 2 Macbook Pros, killed 1 CF card, destroyed a tripod, and killed a server.

We suck at painting. Mid-way into the year, we had our office expanded to twice the size, but for the expansion, we needed to knock down the wall that our logo was painted on. So we had to paint our logo onto a new wall. And we used brushes. NOT a good idea. Lesson 1; there’s no liquid paper in painting, lesson 2, use a roller.

Lack of sleep brings out the weirdness in people. During one of our very late night colour grading sessions, Adeline decided that sitting under the glass table was something she had to do, and she sat there for quite a bit while we edited.

We calculated that Alex on average loses about 2 days a year of his life picking Yan Zhao up for work.

Kang Li is on a brown diet. Any food that is brown in colour, he will consume. Anything green, unless its sour worms, he will not eat.

Yan Zhao likes to burp when talking to Alex. Nice.

Happy New Year everyone!

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