Month: October 2010

Happy Halloween

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Nothing in this world is perfect and sometimes things don’t go our way … if you read Dilbert, work can sometimes be the least inspiring place but with my friends at work.  I have to say, it’s a good place to go to on a daily basis 🙂  So from me and my friends from the office:-

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

You know the people you go to work with are cool when you want to see them on the weekends too!!  And thank you, Shu who brought a smile to all of us with his little creation to spread the Halloween cheer 🙂  He probably doesn’t realise this but just by the very way he carries himself, he’s taught me the rest of the world can be dead, we don’t have to be 😉  Thank you, Shu!!

Trick or treat!!

Why We Get Angry

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I get angry quick, very quickly.  At the same time, I cool down fairly quickly.  Actually, that’s all relative, it depends on who you ask, my husband may disagree :p but by and large, in my humble opinion, I don’t stay angry for long.

The thing about me and anger … I don’t like it … I d.o. n.o.t. like being angry.  It makes me irrational and that, I completely do not appreciate. So in the past few years, I’ve been trying to work on my anger but in the past couple of weeks, I’ve learnt that anger is an important emotion.  It is necessary and I should learn not to stop the anger but hone it.

Without it, I’m indifferent and have an immense ability to be ever so slightly delusional.  When I’m that way, I don’t care and when you don’t care, you don’t move either way.  Forward or backward.  You don’t move.  Inertia.

Anger, I’ve come to the slow realisation … it moves you … it may be backward but in my 30something years, I’m hoping to leverage my anger to move me forward.  That’s this week’s life lesson 🙂  While other people are the ones who spark it off, more often it’s over something really small and insignificant, I’m usually angry, not with others but with myself :p  It’s taken me this long to realise that.  When I’m angry, it’s because I’ve allowed someone to disrespect me even if they never intended too, especially when they never intended to.  I get angry because there are things in my control and I didn’t.  When things aren’t in control, you don’t get angry, you get frustrated.  There is a fine line between anger and frustration.  The latter fuels the inertia and right now, I’m pissed off O_0

So it’s to infinity and beyond!!!

Besides it’s the weekend, what’s there to be angry about 🙂

TGIF

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A couple of months back I did a post about Friday Kicks, you should have seen the smile that came across my face when I looked under the desk at yet another long meeting this morning 🙂

This time our kicks gave way to pumps 🙂 Looks like they are enjoying another conversation about what they want to do this weekend!!

When I’m CEO

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Beneath my seemingly unambitious exterior, there are times I lie in my bed and want to take over the world.  Mwahahahahahahahah!!  That super villian world domination ambition happens occasionally 😉 Most nights though, it’s just thoughts of becoming the boss I dream of having.  Here’s a reminder in case I get corrupt with power and turn into one of those I cannot respect:-

  1. Pay people what they’re worth, not what you can get away with. What you lose in expense you gain back several-fold in performance.
  2. Take the time to share your experiences and insights. Labels like mentor and coach are overused. Let’s be specific here. Employees learn from those generous enough to share their experiences and insights. They don’t need a best friend or a shoulder to cry on.
  3. Tell it to employees straight, even when it’s bad news. To me, the single most important thing any boss can do is to man up and tell it to people straight. No BS, no sugarcoating, especially when it’s bad news or corrective feedback.
  4. Manage up … effectively. Good bosses keep management off employee’s backs. Most people don’t get this, but the most important aspect of that is giving management what they need to do their jobs. That’s what keeps management away.
  5. Take the heat and share the praise. It takes courage to take the heat and humility to share the praise. That comes naturally to great bosses; the rest of us have to pick it up as we go.
  6. Delegate responsibility, not tasks. Every boss delegates, but the crappy ones think that means dumping tasks they hate on workers, i.e. s**t rolls downhill. Good bosses delegate responsibility and hold people accountable. That’s fulfilling and fosters professional growth.
  7. Encourage employees to hone their natural abilities and challenge them to overcome their issues. That’s called getting people to perform at their best.
  8. Build team spirit. As we learned before, great groups outperform great individuals. And great leaders build great teams.
  9. Treat employees the way they deserve to be treated. You always hear people say they deserve respect and to be treated as equals. Well, some may not want to hear this, but a) respect must be earned, and b) most workers are not their boss’s equals.
  10. Inspire your people. All the above motivate people, but few bosses have the ability to truly inspire their employees. How? By sharing their passion for the business. By knowing just what to say and do at just the right time to take the edge off or turn a tough situation around. Genuine anecdotes help a lot. So does a good sense of humor.

So to all my friends and love ones, when I become a boss and there’s an inkling that I forgot this list, please please please send this post back to me.

Post MIPCOM

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We’re back in one piece!!  And it’s been back to the grind since we got back to the office :p  So like I always do, some reminiscing is in order.  Though there was hardly any down time, the few moments we managed to catch here and there made this trip memorable.  I must say, traveling with Daryl, Shimin and Li Ling are perks of dreaded work trips 🙂

Other than the Monday, which was gloom gloom gloom, the sun came out for the other days and we managed to enjoy the weather as we walked to and fro the Palais.

Yes, this was the gorgeous gorgeous weather that greeted us from Day 2 onwards and it lasted all the way to the day we left 🙂  Most of the day, we were running from stand to stand within the Palais for meetings.  I did manage to find a 15minute pocket to enjoy my French fruit tart by the beach and was reminded that Cannes is a sweet spot when you can enjoy it.

Unusually, the water was choppy and there was a visible surf in Cannes.  Besides only one other year, I think it was 2004, the Mediterranean sea is always calm.

Back to inside the Palais, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jon Hamm of Mad Man fame were in Cannes for MIPCOM too but for me here’s my favourite celebrity sighting.

That’s B1 from Bananas in Pyjamas!!  B2 was right behind him.  For everyone, there’s going to be a new animated Bananas in Pyjamas in 2011 🙂  I’m not sure if I should admit this but my heart actually skipped a beat when he looked straight at me and waved :p  I wasn’t sure why either.  Bananas in Pyjamas isn’t one of my favourite pre school series but I remember living in Perth, eating my breakfast cereal and watching B1 and B2.  So seeing them in the flesh brought back the warm fuzzy feeling of a carefree varsity lifestyle :p

I can’t quite believe I’ve been working for like 12years now.  Well, 12 years down … errr … hopefully, not much more to go 🙂  Meanwhile, as much as I wasn’t looking forward to yet another work trip to Cannes, it had just enough moments to make it a memorable one.  In case I forget, here’s a reminder of the great solo times I get to reflect and appreciate the moment  I’m in.

Being in a plane affords you a time to think and that’s where I usually do most of mine … when I’m not sleeping anyway.  Yes, some decisions have been made on this trip and let’s see what the rest of 2010 has in store for me.  I have a hunch 2011 is going to be a time for change.  How big, I’m not sure.  I reckon turning 36 seems like a good time for it anyway 🙂

Happy weekend everyone!!

 

10.10.10

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Today is a pretty special day, we’ll have to wait for another century for this to happen.  That’s why there are quite a bit of people getting married today!!  For the Tan household, it’s an even more special day coz it’s my Mummy’s birthday too!!!  Do all these couples know how to pick the right date or what 🙂

Happy Birthday my darling Mummy!!!

I’ve always known I’d be no where without my Mother but I never realised her impact on me as my most important feminine role model till I was an adult.  She grew up with a shorter end of the stick and showed me that whatever challenges life throws at you, you can overcome anything and I do mean A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G.  Of course, she constantly reminds me that without God I’d truly be no where :p  If you ask me though, God gave me my Mummy so that I keep learning from her and better yet, with her love and support overcome all the challenges that life has been and will continue to throw at me 🙂

Talk about being born with the longer end of the stick 😉

2010 MIPCOM Day 1

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I forgot how exhausting these markets were and it’s only Day 1.  Unlike yesterday, which was a GLORIOUS GLORIOUS day, today was gloom gloom gloom.  The blue sky was covered with clouds, clouds and more clouds.

That’s the view from my window when I work up this morning, which made me want to just crawl into bed. I didn’t come close to doing that though :p  I woke up, got ready and went for breakfast …

A breakfast that I thought would be casual and easy with friends but we bumped into some industry partners and it became a working breakfast :p  Then it was off to the booth and the day of meetings started.

By the time dinner came, I was completely knackered.  These back to back meetings running around the aisles of the trade show, having your A game on the whole time can really zap you out.  So as we gather into our favourite pizza place in Cannes, it took me like a whole half hour to unwind from the flurry of the day.

Good food and good company is what makes coming back to Cannes for the 15th time worth it 🙂  Company who is willing to ham it up for the camera makes me even think I can do this again and maybe a 16th time won’t be that bad.

Yes, I’m that tired and my brain isn’t altogether … so like yesterday, I’m going to go to bed as soon as I hit ‘publish’.

Goodnight y’all!!

2010 MIPCOM Day 0

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We are in Cannes.  Since this is my last work trip to Cannes 😉 I’m taking it all in and making a pictorial record of the trip.  It started with the sunrise as we approached Frankfurt.

As usual, I slept most of the flight and didn’t manage to finish even one movie.  I love night flights 🙂  We arrived in Frankfurt and I was cheery from my sweet 7hour sleep.  The normally non-morning people, Daryl and Shimin were sweet enough to entertain me as I snapped away.

The transit in the Frankfurt airport went by rather quick … mostly because we were in a line up to clear immigration and then having to look for our gate.  Pretty straight forward.

Here’s a pic of us before we get on our somewhat adventurous flight to Nice.  Adventurous, why?  Well, I had a window seat, which is my favourite kind.  I get to look out and enjoy the sun rising through the German skies.

Did I mention I love having a camera 🙂  Anyway, so we were there, on our way to Nice and I fell asleep again.  When I woke up, I realise we were descending but it looked nothing like the Nice airport O_o Yes, we had to make a U turn and were landing back into the FRANKFURT airport!!  Something was apparently wrong with the plane?!?!  They were never very specific about the problem, just that something was wrong and we had to go back to Frankfurt!!  So there we were on the tarmac waiting.

Waiting. Just across the plane that was suppose to be a couple of weeks old and the one that will take us to Nice 🙂

No exciting revelation of the problem and about another boring 30minutes, we were herded into the new plane where I promptly fell asleep.  This time even harder than the last time.  When I finally opened my eyes, something like 15minutes away from landing, I was happy to see the familiar sight.  We were arriving into Nice *clap clap*

Once we got our luggage, we realise our transfer was of course, not waiting for us.  Our flight was rerouted back and therefore, late.  So there we were waiting for him to come back to the airport.

More waiting and waiting so you can imagine our glee when we finally got to our apartment.  We were also hungry so we pretty much dumped our stuff and reconvened for lunch but not before bumping into our lovely agent, Laure.  She’s taken care of our accommodation in Cannes for quite a number of years now and when I was last here in April for MIPTV, she was pregnant.  So guess who we met today?

Isn’t she such a cutie?  The little one slept the whole time as we caught up with her Mummy.  Then, finally it was off to lunch 🙂

We were all hungry and happy to report it was a fine meal.  That’s the thing about Cannes is that the food is actually good.  Hang on … it’s only good if you know where to go … which is pretty much like everywhere else :p

Anyway, after lunch it was a lovely stroll to get registered for MIPCOM and the internal meeting with our bosses.

Four sleeps to go before I’m home again and I’m heading off for the first one as soon as I hit ‘Publish’

Happy Monday y’all!!

Self Fulfilling Prophecies

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This will be my last MIPCOM.  This will be my last MIPCOM.  This will be my last MIPCOM.  This will be my last MIPCOM.  This will be my last MIPCOM.  This will be my last MIPCOM.  This will be my last MIPCOM.

Everyone together now.

This will be Carlene’s last MIPCOM.  This will be Carlene’s last MIPCOM.  This will be Carlene’s last MIPCOM.  This will be Carlene’s last MIPCOM.  This will be Carlene’s last MIPCOM.  This will be Carlene’s last MIPCOM.

While there was a small break in 2006 and 2008, I’ve been to Cannes every year since 2001.  In 2003 , I was there 3 times and most other times, twice in a year O_o  I remember feeling a tad like I was missing it back in 2006 and maybe in 2008 … I want to miss it again.

Till next time, I’m off on to a plane headed towards Nice via Frankfurt and since I have my new nifty Canon IXUS130 with me, it will be picture update galore 😉

Meanwhile, here’s some pictures I’ve taken with it.  With my stop motion craze at the moment, I’m definitely in a Playmobil Phase … I need my toys that are all in storage :p

Next stop Frankfurt!!

I’m An Autobot?

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It’s actually been nearly 2 years since I declared I was going to do a stop motion project.  In truth, I’ve tried and wasn’t happy :p

So needless to say when there’s an app on the iPhone to assist in Stop Motion animation, I was on it … tell me there isn’t an app for EVERYTHING?!?!

It isn’t exactly what I saw in my head for my first project, it’s a quick and dirty one … 15minutes to shoot and another 20minutes to put the sounds to it but you get the idea 🙂  I’m all inspired now!!  Ask my friends in the office and they are about ready to tell me to SIT in a corner and play by myself because this is all I can think about for the last few days O_o

Hope your Friday has been as fun as mine 🙂

P/S: Happy Children’s Day!!