I'm probably not the first person to say it, but racism has got to stop. I realize it's more than just wishing it away - a goal as ambitious as that requires action, and alot of it. And alot of sacrifices have to be made along the way. Unfortunately, not everyone will agree with what I think have to be sacrificed. But first, some first hand, racially based incidences I have encountered while visiting family overseas in Singapore.
One of my earliest memories of racial biases in my family occured circa 1996. I was sitting with my grandmother and aunt, and the topic of conversation was my brother's then girlfriend. My grandmother asked me if there was anyone I was interested in. At the time, it was Kristy Stefanucci, gorgeous girl I had a crush on in grade 5. They noted that it was a non-Chinese name and asked me if she was white, and I said yes. She proceeded to advise me to stay away from white people and that they were "nothing but trouble." Okay to be friends with, but not to get into relationships with. Yes, I understand that divorce rates tend to be higher in North America, but I personally attribute that to women having a less traditional mindset, and the more liberal culture in general. Not because white people are trouble. Especially since interracial relationships are rampant around where I grew up.
A more severe incident occured around 2001. I had lost some American money I kept in my wallet in case I ran out of the local currency and American dollars were gladly accepted at the time. My aunt asked if I had absent-mindedly handed it off to someone which downright enraged me since she was suggesting I was THAT stupid. So I told her she was paranoid and that would never happen. Unfortunately, said aunt took it as an attack on her, which shouldn't happen especially coming from her nephew. Later, she came over to my grandmother's house where I was staying and they both launched an attack on me, saying that since I lived in Canada, my rude behaviour could only be attributed to the negative impact of living in a predominantly white society which was responsible for instilling white values into me. The white friends I chose to hang out with had erased years of my Chinese culture and values.
Yes, I wanted to yell. I wanted to tell them how ignorant they were (ethnic minorities in Vancouver make up just under half of the population in Vancouver). I wanted to point out the "degeneration" (as they would call it) of youth in Asia as well. But yelling and showing more disrespect would only support their point. So I just raised my hands and said "I don't have to take this," and walked out of the room.
A conversation with one of my cousins turned into a heated debate. She told me that she wouldn't stand near a person of east Indian descent if she could help it cause statistically, they were the minority group most likely to pickpocket or rob someone. Another time, we went to Mustafa's, a 24-hour shopping mall ran and patronized mostly by East Indians. When we got home, she said she'd developed a rash and her brother said it was probably we'd be shopping at Mustafa's but yet, I was fine.
I would never consider my immediate family outright racist in values, but there are more discriminatory attitudes than I would like to admit. Living in a diverse community where I am considered the minority, I have been on both ends of racist treatment and no good has come out of either. Incidences like these have solidified my stance against racism - and culture, even - and discrimination of any kind.
In my opinion, even recognizing the skin colour, sex, religion of another is grounds for discrimination. In high school, there were Persian groups, Korean groups, for example. Sure, things were peaceful between the two groups but the fact that there were groups at all ripened the soil for discrimination to spring forth. And guess what, years later, it did. Stories of the groups clashing, gang fights at the school, all in the name of pride.
People will argue that recognizing and having pride in your ethnic background, your sex, your sexuality, etc is a good thing. I beg to differ. What this ends up doing is creating a "us and them" type of thinking. "I am white and proud of it." "I am Asian and proud of it." How hard is it to turn those statements around to say "I am this, therefore I am better than you." Hell, even among a single group of friends, it's not uncommon for one of them, if they are an ethnic minority, or a girl, or gay, to make a point of it. Superficial lines are drawn even within groups of friends. And it is along these lines that a friendship could potentially crumble should a disagreement occur.
I was having a conversation with my brother on Mother's Day, who told me that as a Chinese person, it bothered him that he didn't know much about what it meant to be Chinese. He felt that he should because ethnic identity is a part of who we are. On the other hand, I've spent a lifetime battling assumptions people make about me because of what I look like. Experience has taught me that ethnic identity only speaks for WHAT I am a male of Chinese descent. Who I am is made up of things that are under my control - the choices I make. If I saw a lady getting robbed by a thug, whether I choose to comfort the lady or pursue the thug is determined by the choices I make; in other words, WHO I am. I won't make that choice thinking "As a Chinese male, I would ..."
So to eradicate racism - or limit it at the very least, I suggest forgetting all about pride. This is what I meant by some sacrifices have to be made. Because we are human before we are American, European, African or Asian. An effort as to be made to recognize the humanity in people before we recognize cultural differences and skin colour.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Even slightly better ...
This week, I had planned on calling Charina back to see what she was able to find out from Amanda over at Black Box. I didn't want to call her right away to avoid sounding over-eager, so I decided to wait. Monday, I went out to Sui Sha Ya for all you can eat sushi with Rosemary. After dinner we went to Chapters - she had to return a book, and I had to wait for my bus to take me home, so I checked my schedule.
Sarah had taken me off the schedule. My last day of work at Chapters will be on May 23rd. I'm a little sad, abit nervous about moving on, but I guess we all have to do it sometime. And I'll forever be thankful for the support that the management over at Chapters has given me in my endeavors to start my career.
Oh, I also ran into Shelley who introduced me to her brother. I haven't seen her for a long time. She updated me on some of the people she still keeps in touch with from highschool. Apparently Matt's getting married to Nicole Wright, which is something I'd never have seen coming. I don't know if Shelley was joking, but she didn't look like it. Maybe she was misinformed? Whatever the case, we planned for coffee on Wednesday.
Tuesday I went for lunch with Naubert, Eric and Joseph. We went to Boston Pizza for pasta tuesdays and were supposed to meet at 3:30 but as I had expected, everyone showed up a little late. I organized the meeting just to see how the other character artists were moving on with their job search. Sofar all the environment artists who I associate with have gotten jobs. Character artist wise, nobody has gotten anything so I don't feel so alone in this. Also applied for more jobs at the EA website and notified Gord in hopes that he would get back to me but sofar that hasn't happened.
Wednesday I went to coffee with Shelley. Sat around at Starbucks for about 2 hours and just caught up on old times. She drove me home after, showed her around my house for abit. She hasn't been here since grade 10. It's been almost ten years.
Thusday was the day some magic happened. I phoned Amanda after talking with Charina just the day before, who said it would be a good idea to touch base with her and see what was going on at Black Box for me. I explained to her about the situation with Volt and she recommended to me that I apply with Volt and work the 400 hours they require before EA can hire me. She also said it didn't look likely that Black Box would have an opening for me within the next 400 working hours anyway. But I thought to hold off a little in case Gord could work some magic for me. After all, he managed to get Alan and Cody a position with EA already. But since he hasn't gotten back to me yet, my plan was to go see him in Saturday and talk with him in person. Until Blue Castle called.
Rachel surprised me with a call and told me that a position opened up at Blue Castle calling for a character artist for one of their sports titles. This is a junior character artist position that doesn't require any experience. Rachel said they were just looking for artistic talent and passion, both of which I believe I have, not to make too fine a point of it. We scheduled a phone interview for this Wednesday at 11:30 in the morning. Here's hoping everything will turn out well.
Sarah had taken me off the schedule. My last day of work at Chapters will be on May 23rd. I'm a little sad, abit nervous about moving on, but I guess we all have to do it sometime. And I'll forever be thankful for the support that the management over at Chapters has given me in my endeavors to start my career.
Oh, I also ran into Shelley who introduced me to her brother. I haven't seen her for a long time. She updated me on some of the people she still keeps in touch with from highschool. Apparently Matt's getting married to Nicole Wright, which is something I'd never have seen coming. I don't know if Shelley was joking, but she didn't look like it. Maybe she was misinformed? Whatever the case, we planned for coffee on Wednesday.
Tuesday I went for lunch with Naubert, Eric and Joseph. We went to Boston Pizza for pasta tuesdays and were supposed to meet at 3:30 but as I had expected, everyone showed up a little late. I organized the meeting just to see how the other character artists were moving on with their job search. Sofar all the environment artists who I associate with have gotten jobs. Character artist wise, nobody has gotten anything so I don't feel so alone in this. Also applied for more jobs at the EA website and notified Gord in hopes that he would get back to me but sofar that hasn't happened.
Wednesday I went to coffee with Shelley. Sat around at Starbucks for about 2 hours and just caught up on old times. She drove me home after, showed her around my house for abit. She hasn't been here since grade 10. It's been almost ten years.
Thusday was the day some magic happened. I phoned Amanda after talking with Charina just the day before, who said it would be a good idea to touch base with her and see what was going on at Black Box for me. I explained to her about the situation with Volt and she recommended to me that I apply with Volt and work the 400 hours they require before EA can hire me. She also said it didn't look likely that Black Box would have an opening for me within the next 400 working hours anyway. But I thought to hold off a little in case Gord could work some magic for me. After all, he managed to get Alan and Cody a position with EA already. But since he hasn't gotten back to me yet, my plan was to go see him in Saturday and talk with him in person. Until Blue Castle called.
Rachel surprised me with a call and told me that a position opened up at Blue Castle calling for a character artist for one of their sports titles. This is a junior character artist position that doesn't require any experience. Rachel said they were just looking for artistic talent and passion, both of which I believe I have, not to make too fine a point of it. We scheduled a phone interview for this Wednesday at 11:30 in the morning. Here's hoping everything will turn out well.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Things are looking SLIGHTLY better
I'm getting somewhat of a break. Things could be better, but I'm not complaining.
First and foremost, my visit to EA Black Box. I was invited by one of their talent sourcers who contacted me, saying someone I knew at EA gave her my contact information which was why she was extending the open house invite to me. I thought that was pretty cool but couldn't help wondering who it was exactly that forwarded my information to her. Turns out it was Gord, which is a pretty big surprise. I just thought he didn't think enough of me to seriously help me out. Then Cody goes off and tells me Gord is referring me and him to his EA buddies and all of a sudden I feel like a jackass for not keeping in touch with him since graduation.
I also applied to the User Interface position at EA Black Box. I'm not sure if I'll even land an interview and frankly I'm not surprised if I don't, which was why I asked Gord to help me out. He wrote back saying he'll forward my information and put in a good word for me so we'll see what happens with that. I appreciate the time he's taking to make sure we get jobs - never expected that out of him.
Oh right, the visit to EA Black Box! So after an afternoon spent arguing with Loi over why Final Fantasy VII sucked and why Final Fantasy VIII was cool, haha, I rushed to get ready cause Ian was gonna come get me at 2:45. The open house was downtown and started at 4. So we get down there about half an hour early, went to Blenz while waiting for the event to start and were one of the first people there. EA spares no expense at customizing the floors of the buildings they take up. The elevators had artwork from their various games painted all over them, fancy glowing lights, a view of downtown Vancouver and the seabus harbour. They checked us in, gave us stickers, led us to the lounge where there was FREE gourmet appetizers. Battered shrimp, sashimi on some kind of biscuit, mini scrambled egg-looking things with sour cream, vietnamese springs rolls, and FREE BEER. They had a PS3 in the corner with Rockband hooked up, 2 foosball tables, a pretty lax atmosphere overall.
The first guy who came over to talk to us was some kind of project manager on Need for Speed - everyone there who mingled with us was on the Need for Speed team. He gave me Amanda's card and I gave him mine. Talked to me and Ian abit about the company, his background, what it was like at EA, nice guy over all. Then we met ... her name slips me right now, but she was a producer. A software engineer from the UK, an Asian guy with a nasty cut on his lip - don't remember what he did, another producer, so many faces and names to remember, I'm likely forgetting one or two people as I write this.
Anyway the girl whose name still slips my mind - she took us and 8 other people on a tour around the offices. During the tour i heard someone call my name, turned around and it turned out to be Ken! He's working there as a designer which is pretty surprising but good. I always thought getting a job as a designer was hard. Maybe he just got lucky, who knows. Couldn't really talk much to him because the lady was still giving us a tour and I didn't want to talk over her.
We left at around 7:30, half an hour before the event was over. I met Amanda in person and she was already familiar with me, which was awesome. She told me Gord gave her my demo reel to look over and she would try to find a fit for me. Again, I've heard that before so I'm not expecting much. Upon leaving they invited us to choose what free game we wanted! By the time we got there, the only Xbox360 game left was skate and I already had it so I chose to go with a PC version of an earlier Need for Speed.
Ian drove me home after the event. I was kinda tipsay after two beers, haha (but hey, they were FREE!). After getting home, found out from Shiach that there was going to be a problem with getting EA to hire me if I signed the contract with Volt the next morning. Apparently if I were to sign that contract, EA, as a client of Volt, would not be able to hire be for 6 straight months. Had a discussion with the parents about that, and Shiach via msn at the same time. Dad said it was expected as Volt didn't want EA hiring people through them since Volt was the one doing all the hiring for their company in order to get the QA duties done for their client (EA). So if EA were to take Volt employees, Volt would have to find replacements which would take up more valuable time that could be spent QA testing for EA. I went to bed that night not knowing what to do. My best option was to buy as much time as I could with Volt.
The next morning I woke up earlier than originally planned so I had enough time to go down to AI and discuss with Charina what my options were. She said my situation was a sticky one and agreed that the best option for me would be to buy more time with Volt beore handing in the contract, so I decided that's what I'd do after the orientation later that day.
After heading out of career services, I still had an hour left to kill before I was due at EA headquarters, so decided to kill some time by having a smoke and then walking all the way from AI to EA. And even then I was about 20 minutes early, so I played Bantaumi and Space Invaders for a few minutes while killing time. At about 20 past 11, headed over to the security desk who told me to wait by the couches for Sanaz, who would be my orientation leader that day. The couches were filled with about 20-30 other people waiting for the same orientation. As we were heading into the conference room, I ran into Shan who I haven't seen since she dropped out of our GPW. After talking with her for the entire duration of our orientation, I still have little respect for her work ethic.
The orientation went longer than the hour it was expected to last, and it was spent filling out ALOT of paper work. At the end of the day, I didn't end up handing it in becuase I pulled Sanaz aside and told her about my situation with EA and how there was a chance they might be contacting me. Charina said she was going to contact Amanda Pugh, the sourcer at EA Black Box and see what was going on over there. Meanwhile, Sanaz suggested I wait until it was clearer what was going to happen between me and Black Box before handing in the signed contracts (upon signing the contracts, it would be slightly more difficult for EA to hire me, since I'd be with Volt at that point.) I was surprised with how accomodating Sanaz was but I guess this must happen with them all the time. Another guy was in the same boat as I was. Sanaz told me to take as much time as I needed, up to a month which was pretty generous. So I told her okay and I'll probaby give it 3 weeks maximum to hear back from Black Box. If not, I'll hand in my signed contract to Volt.
That's my situation at this point. I hope something comes out of it. I read my horoscope yesterday and it said good things would happen from Monday to Wednesday. I'm not the superstitious type but I'm hoping the horoscope is right this time for my sake.
First and foremost, my visit to EA Black Box. I was invited by one of their talent sourcers who contacted me, saying someone I knew at EA gave her my contact information which was why she was extending the open house invite to me. I thought that was pretty cool but couldn't help wondering who it was exactly that forwarded my information to her. Turns out it was Gord, which is a pretty big surprise. I just thought he didn't think enough of me to seriously help me out. Then Cody goes off and tells me Gord is referring me and him to his EA buddies and all of a sudden I feel like a jackass for not keeping in touch with him since graduation.
I also applied to the User Interface position at EA Black Box. I'm not sure if I'll even land an interview and frankly I'm not surprised if I don't, which was why I asked Gord to help me out. He wrote back saying he'll forward my information and put in a good word for me so we'll see what happens with that. I appreciate the time he's taking to make sure we get jobs - never expected that out of him.
Oh right, the visit to EA Black Box! So after an afternoon spent arguing with Loi over why Final Fantasy VII sucked and why Final Fantasy VIII was cool, haha, I rushed to get ready cause Ian was gonna come get me at 2:45. The open house was downtown and started at 4. So we get down there about half an hour early, went to Blenz while waiting for the event to start and were one of the first people there. EA spares no expense at customizing the floors of the buildings they take up. The elevators had artwork from their various games painted all over them, fancy glowing lights, a view of downtown Vancouver and the seabus harbour. They checked us in, gave us stickers, led us to the lounge where there was FREE gourmet appetizers. Battered shrimp, sashimi on some kind of biscuit, mini scrambled egg-looking things with sour cream, vietnamese springs rolls, and FREE BEER. They had a PS3 in the corner with Rockband hooked up, 2 foosball tables, a pretty lax atmosphere overall.
The first guy who came over to talk to us was some kind of project manager on Need for Speed - everyone there who mingled with us was on the Need for Speed team. He gave me Amanda's card and I gave him mine. Talked to me and Ian abit about the company, his background, what it was like at EA, nice guy over all. Then we met ... her name slips me right now, but she was a producer. A software engineer from the UK, an Asian guy with a nasty cut on his lip - don't remember what he did, another producer, so many faces and names to remember, I'm likely forgetting one or two people as I write this.
Anyway the girl whose name still slips my mind - she took us and 8 other people on a tour around the offices. During the tour i heard someone call my name, turned around and it turned out to be Ken! He's working there as a designer which is pretty surprising but good. I always thought getting a job as a designer was hard. Maybe he just got lucky, who knows. Couldn't really talk much to him because the lady was still giving us a tour and I didn't want to talk over her.
We left at around 7:30, half an hour before the event was over. I met Amanda in person and she was already familiar with me, which was awesome. She told me Gord gave her my demo reel to look over and she would try to find a fit for me. Again, I've heard that before so I'm not expecting much. Upon leaving they invited us to choose what free game we wanted! By the time we got there, the only Xbox360 game left was skate and I already had it so I chose to go with a PC version of an earlier Need for Speed.
Ian drove me home after the event. I was kinda tipsay after two beers, haha (but hey, they were FREE!). After getting home, found out from Shiach that there was going to be a problem with getting EA to hire me if I signed the contract with Volt the next morning. Apparently if I were to sign that contract, EA, as a client of Volt, would not be able to hire be for 6 straight months. Had a discussion with the parents about that, and Shiach via msn at the same time. Dad said it was expected as Volt didn't want EA hiring people through them since Volt was the one doing all the hiring for their company in order to get the QA duties done for their client (EA). So if EA were to take Volt employees, Volt would have to find replacements which would take up more valuable time that could be spent QA testing for EA. I went to bed that night not knowing what to do. My best option was to buy as much time as I could with Volt.
The next morning I woke up earlier than originally planned so I had enough time to go down to AI and discuss with Charina what my options were. She said my situation was a sticky one and agreed that the best option for me would be to buy more time with Volt beore handing in the contract, so I decided that's what I'd do after the orientation later that day.
After heading out of career services, I still had an hour left to kill before I was due at EA headquarters, so decided to kill some time by having a smoke and then walking all the way from AI to EA. And even then I was about 20 minutes early, so I played Bantaumi and Space Invaders for a few minutes while killing time. At about 20 past 11, headed over to the security desk who told me to wait by the couches for Sanaz, who would be my orientation leader that day. The couches were filled with about 20-30 other people waiting for the same orientation. As we were heading into the conference room, I ran into Shan who I haven't seen since she dropped out of our GPW. After talking with her for the entire duration of our orientation, I still have little respect for her work ethic.
The orientation went longer than the hour it was expected to last, and it was spent filling out ALOT of paper work. At the end of the day, I didn't end up handing it in becuase I pulled Sanaz aside and told her about my situation with EA and how there was a chance they might be contacting me. Charina said she was going to contact Amanda Pugh, the sourcer at EA Black Box and see what was going on over there. Meanwhile, Sanaz suggested I wait until it was clearer what was going to happen between me and Black Box before handing in the signed contracts (upon signing the contracts, it would be slightly more difficult for EA to hire me, since I'd be with Volt at that point.) I was surprised with how accomodating Sanaz was but I guess this must happen with them all the time. Another guy was in the same boat as I was. Sanaz told me to take as much time as I needed, up to a month which was pretty generous. So I told her okay and I'll probaby give it 3 weeks maximum to hear back from Black Box. If not, I'll hand in my signed contract to Volt.
That's my situation at this point. I hope something comes out of it. I read my horoscope yesterday and it said good things would happen from Monday to Wednesday. I'm not the superstitious type but I'm hoping the horoscope is right this time for my sake.
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