By Rolly Ng

Will they get it? It’s in Cantonese. 

My awareness in making good use of resources has been always something I am proud of. I make sure the effort I put into doing things do not go wasted. I spent 5 days reading reviews of different laptops and learning the technology requirements for adobe softwares before purchasing my Mac, so that I can be certain it is a good investment of the cash. Last week, I learnt that this attitude of constantly thinking and measuring can actually hold me back from enjoying what I am doing, making it hard to bring the best out of myself.

On Tuesday, I had a master class on performance poetry. We were welcome to use our native language to perform our poems if it is easer to express ourselves in such manner. I wrote my poem out in Chinese, slightly concerned about whether my message won’t come across, so I put all of my emotions into my performance when spoke Cantonese. I am glad I did it this way, it was well received, and most importantly, I had fun. 

The next day, three briefs was set: 1) make a GIF, 2)  the music brief, which has a longer deadline of 8 days., and 3) design a protest banner.  Having little experience in making music, I was overwhelmed by the number of decisions me and my group mates have to make. I was stressed by the endless possibilities. I worried about the practical problems my group might encounter when we were in the brainstorming stage. It being my first time using Illustrator added to the level of stress as I was uncertain of how long it will take for me to complete the GIF. I ditched the perfectionist Rally and went on with something simple.  At one point in the afternoon, my energy was so low that I found myself tired of talking, I went to a couch and write down a conversation with myself, I tend to do this whenever I feel low or need to get my head clear. Energy is back and I am back in the game. 

For brief (3), each of us had to design a protest banner for a climate change protest happening on Friday. I made three SCAMPs after curating my ideas. I went around the room to ask for feedback and counted the number of votes for each one. Marc asked me which one I would wear if the deigned was printed on a T-shirt, I was torn between two of them. In the end, I decided to go with this, 

which is something I would proudly say when I am with people I feel closet with (and I made it on Vice UK yeahhhhhhh!) . It was scary to show this Rolly to strangers, but it was a pretty cool experience and I am satisfied that I went with that instead of the beach-body-ready Santa idea which has quite a number of votes when I asked for feedback as people find it funny.

All in all, I discovered how good it feels when I had fun. If I did my poem in English just to make sure people understand, the experience wouldn’t be that enjoyable for myself. If I only concentrated on worrying about my inability to use Illustrator and my lack of experience in making music, I would not have had fun. If I decided to go with an idea that other people likes instead of an idea that represents me, it wouldn’t be as fun. I look forward to all the challenges SCA gives me and will enjoy them to the fullest (at least in term 1). I am excited in discovering a new me through all these new experiences.