The Year That Was 2012

I suppose I could do the shortcut by using the FB 2012 review thingy, but there is definitely more personal touch in my own story of 2012. (more accurate too... FB 2012 review shows that I got married this year when I did that almost 4 years ago :p)

One word to sum up 2012?? AMAZING!!!

It was the year I swallowed my pride, took the risk, and took that leap of faith to take a long break after 10 years of life in the corporate world. No work? No money? *gasp* What did I do for food? Car loan? House loan? What did I do with all that extra time?? Let's see:

1. March: Cambodian mission-trip to Kampong Speu.

2. March: My Bangkok mission to source for clothes suppliers may have failed miserably but I had an artsy trip instead and my first awesome experience Dining in the Dark.

3. April: Auditioned for Everworld, the Musical which sparked my brand new spiritual journey in SIBKL for 2012.

4. May: My first vacation with my mom!! Due to time constraints, normally my sis is the one who brings her for vacations.

5. June - July: My first trip to the USA with my sis, to visit my bestfriend of almost 20 years, aka Sui Poh! & my first taste of Broadway, New York!!!





6. Aug: My first ever dance gig, with awesome dancers Kerry-Ann & Megan.

7. Aug: My first time acting for TV, as an extra in Small Mission Enterprise, NTV7. That episode was only aired on 27th Dec. Awkward seeing myself on TV, perhaps I will stick to live theatre... hehehe.

8. Sept: Wrote and composed my first ever musical together with hubby. And our piece won big time!!

9. Oct: My first ever (hopefully not the last) musical with Dama Orchestra, Empress Wu the Musical!! Such an awesome bunch of people to work with.

10. Nov: Work for a non-profit organisation, StART... an art school for underprivileged children. Working for a good cause is truly and amazing experience.

11. Dec: Everworld, The Musical! The most epic production I have ever done for Christmas... with a memorable journey of lots of learnings along the way.





I thank God for all the doors He has opened for me this year, I thank God for providing for me through my broke-ness of this sabbatical and thank Him even more so, for the people He has brought to my life: my hubby, my family, old friends, new friends, journey-mates and everyone that was part of this amazing journey of 2012!!!

See you in 2013!!!! Happy New Year!!!!

Passion and Purpose

As we are approaching the finale of the Everworld journey, I am beginning to feel the post-production syndrome... a tad early but that sad feeling of love-and-lost has begun. Tears well up in my eyes just thinking about 26th Dec when it's all over. :-(...

I reflect back on all the productions I have ever been in. ALWAYS without fail, I get that post-production syndrome, missing the people, missing the journey, missing the entire emotional attachment to the production.  Were any of the productions perfect? The people, the process, the resources, the everything... was any of it so perfectly flawless that we miss being in that perfect team, perfect job, perfect atmosphere?

Nope! Far from it. There are always things that you love and things that frustrates you to the bone in every single journey. Every single journey has its ups and downs. Yet we do it again & again & love it!

What makes a theatre production different from a corporate project? Why then don't we miss our corporate projects, processes and colleagues so much that we get all emotional and tearry-eyed when a project ends? They are all projects right? They involve living breathing human beings, right? They all involve a journey right?

There are probably more but I have zoomed down to just 2 distinctive differences:

One - Purpose

In corporate, the people involved in each project have their own goals. They are using the project as a stepping stone to reach those goals. Very rarely does a person's own goals matches the organization's fancy schmancy vision.

In a theatre production, everyone just wants to put on a good show. 1 lousy actor or 1 lousy sound engineer can ruin the entire show causing bad ticket sales, bad reviews, oh the humiliation! So, people help each other to ensure they achieve their "selfish" goals of putting on a good show.

Two - Passion

In corporate, some of the people are doing it in exchange for something (money, status, sense of stability, etc). Of course there are some who are truly passionate about the cause or the work but the majority are there because they are exchanging their time and efforts for something. They more miserable they feel about their job, the more they feel "entitled" to more rewards. It's about the rewards, not the work or the cause itself.

In theatre, there is no money, no fame, nothing else to gain but to put on a show. You don't get billboards in your name or appear on a silver screen. You do theatre because, well... you love doing theatre. The doing itself IS the reward.

But of course in all cases there are an exception or two but the team's vibe is driven by the majority.

I'm just using theatre because I am a theatre-pratitioner but I am sure there are other examples out there with that common passion and purpose such as working for an NGO or professional sports or an orchestra or so forth. But wouldn't it be wonderful to find a company with a bunch of people with that common passion and purpose?? Where people love what they do or love the cause behind it.  I'm still looking... Let's see how it goes. :-)