Troubles is always going to be a part of our lives.

I hate to sound like a pessimist on a sunday, but in my opinion I think we all live troubled lives of varying degree. Such is the vissicitude of life, that in our daily lives we often go from one problem to the next. Its not that nothing good ever happens in this life, its just that fortunate circumstances requires nothing from us other than the ability to sit back, relax and enjoy the moment. Whereas troubles and problems requires some manner of active participation from us to deal with it. And sometimes, even our best efforts may do nothing to alleviate our troubles.

I think happy people are not necessarily people who has less troubles than the rest of us, but rather happy people are just people who are better at dealing with the problems of their daily lives.

When confronted with trials and tribulations, one can either deal with it in a positive or a negative manner. Its not that through our efforts, every problem can be solved. Sometimes, even the best of our effort can amount to nothing and the only way to deal with it is to move on. I am not one to dwell much on problems that I can’t solve. I know sometimes my friends find it a bit insensitive of me to seem so blaise about their problems. Its not that I am unfeeling or insensitive, but if the problem can’t be solved, I see little point in dwelling on it and feeling sorry for yourself.

I’ve been watching this Discovery Channel series- Man vs Wild. Every week, this guy Bear Grylls is dropped in the middle of some inhospitable place and the whole exercise is for him to find a way to walk out of the place in one piece. At the beginning of every episode, Bear will basically formulate a survival strategy and demonstrate some of the survival techniques one can count of to help him survive.

Its an interesting series, though getting a bit repetitive. Nonetheless one can learn alot watching it- not in terms of survival techniques, rather the mindset one needs to adopt to overcome any sort of obstacle.

Its the same mindset one needs to adopt to deal with the trials and tribulations of life. Most importantly, when faced with some problem the first thing one needs to do is to formulate a plan to get yourself out of the mess. Many times, you see people get into the all too familiar habit of finding someone or something to blame- as if that will do any good. Throughout much of my working life, I’ve also seen the same thing happen in mid production as problems start to poke their head out. And the first thing some people tends to do is to pinpoint the blame- which in my opinion is quite counterproductive. Much better to bunker down, get together to lick the problem first. Assigning blame can come later.

Recently, I came across this thread in one of the local forum. Someone guy was lamenting about the general worthlessness of his poly diploma and how he didn’t learn anything much from the lecturers and how little the poly did in preparing him for life in the digital media industry. No surprise there, since its something that I’ve often talked about on this blog. The digital media education in our national institutes is in serious need of an overhaul. Not that I will probably live to see it happen since there is too much vested interests for any sort of meaningful reform to take place.

Nonetheless, for the graduates, its a little too late in the game to sit down to feel sorry for yourself. Its quite depressing to read through the thread, seeing post after post of depressing negativity. Much of them lamentations about the schools and life in the digital media industry. Its the same negative spiel one gets to hear so often, low pay, no life, yada yada yada.

For anyone who has ever complained about the low pay working in the CG industry, I’ve wondered if they have ever asked themselves if they have ever put in the time and effort to justify a higher salary. How much time did you put in to make yourself a better artist? Lousy artists who complain about their pitiful pay, I’ve seen alot. But good artists will always be able to find something commensurate with their experience and ability. So again low pay in this industry is a problem that one can easily overcome if one were to put their mind into it. One can sit and feel sorry for themselves, or one can do something about it and in the process make himself better.

Just as graduating from school with a digital media diploma is only the beginning of life in the CG industry. Graduating from school not learning anything useful is also not the end. As long as one has the desire, I don’t see it as the end. Being a CG artist was always going to be a lifelong process of self-improvement and self-learning anyway. So even if for the last 3 years, you’ve learning nothing, its still not too late to do something about it. Learning can be as easy as buying a book and going on the net- at least it beats seating around feeling sorry for yourself.

Whether its life, making a movie, a TV series or game, some little storm, trial or tribulation is always lying just across the horizon. Its not life being unfair, its just life being life and as long as you have the will, somehow, someway, you’re going to find a way out.