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Update: And now I'm the Hong Kong's funniest person as of 2008 :)
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It's hard to explain
Friday, Nov 14, 2008 1:45AM / Members only
You ever understand something but just cannot explain it to someone. It's like you get it but can't explain it. There have been many times in my life that sometimes I want to just scream and tell someone "look, just trust me, it will take too long for me to explain but I know what I'm doing!" but you know that if you said that, chances are it will be taken the wrong way and cause even more problems. I suppose it's a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, do you drive yourself nuts by trying to explain something, or do you take the risk of upsetting someone else?
I guess this is often why I enjoy being alone. In fact, many a times, I'm the happiest when left alone. Oddly, sometimes I need some company to kick-start my creative process because I know when I'm sitting alone, I rarely suddenly come up with something unique or funny. This is also why very often I talk to myself. Sure, a lot of people think talking to yourself is a sign of being crazy, but I beg to differ. I don't involuntarily talk to myself, I choose to do so because it allows me to see things from a 3rd person point of view, it allows me to discuss stuff from brain to heart, from logic to emotion.
The last few days have been extremely high-octane days where every moment has been a vital part to me accomplishing what I aimed to get done during the day. And here I am at 2am, still focused on getting things I set out for today done so let's hope my energy levels are able to sustain what my mental concentration requires of it. So bon voyage to me, let's see where I end up! -
The stress begins
Sunday, Nov 2, 2008 1:26PM / Members only
This is the month of madness. November is going to be a time where I'm going to have to keep all my engines running at top notch and not to mention my time has to be super well managed. I've got things lined up all the way to the end of the month which is going to definitely cause me a lot of stress but also will be worth looking back at when I reach the last few weeks of 2008 :) Woah, what a year I must say!
I'm not going to go into re-capping 2008 just yet, that'll be in a later post so I can include the madness that will be this and next month, however, I will say I have already written out a plan of target goals I want to achieve by the end of this year. Again, not going to list them out here but just worth knowing at least I've got that down.
So where am I and how has life been for me? It's been crazy and now it's become mad. I wonder which is worse? Being crazy or being mad. I mean being crazy just means you're out of your mind or have a very strong passion towards something, whereas mad is when you're out of your mind or have a very strong hate towards something. But then again, you'd say you drive me CRAZY and also say I'm madly in love with her. Which makes me wonder why the hell we even bother trying to understand our own language. I mean, so many times people twist and change the English language that you often have to keep up or just ignore the changes. Calling someone the shit is now a good thing, unless you're saying you got the shit. Then that's a bad thing.
I must admit, these last few days have left me overworked and today I'm feeling a little drained out, especially after having a good 2 weeks of being high-energy and alive and just feeling like conquering the world, today I just want to curl up and be left alone, it's been a wild half month. Kind of like how you'd be like if you were on a caffeine rush and get all that work done but the crash is harsh and leaves you below "normal", at least mentally.
I've been changing a lot of my habits, namely my dietary habits to include a lot more healthier foods because in the end, you really are what you eat. I've been reading a lot about better eating habits, how often you should be eating so you avoid waiting till your body is actualyl hungry before you tend to it. After all, prevention is better than cure, so why wait till you're body's giving you the red alert before you nourish it with what it wants? My fitness has also improved, I've become more strategically organized with it so that I know what I need to do to get to where I want to be. This, in turn, has helped my energy levels. No longer was I feeling exhausted every few hours, I was revved up all the time which is why today's little mental crash is so different because it's been a while since I found it difficult to concentrate. Part of it has to do with the soreness of my legs.... I worked really hard at the gym a few days ago with leg weight lifting and because it'd been a while since I stressed my legs like that, I'm going through the initial few days of sore muscles.. leaving me unable to even play drums and I have difficulty walking smoothly. But give it a few days and I'm back to normal :)
I gave a talk at City University of Hong Kong on Friday about freelancing, it was quite fun, talking to younger people eager to take control of their lives. Of course, you had the group who sat in the corner chatting through my lecture, and the few guys who faked being interested and the couple of people who pretended to be one step ahead of me by going "ohh yea I knew that" with their expression on their face. But nonetheless, I was happy with my performance, I tried to keep it as entertaining as I could because I'm the type of guy who hates boring as presenters, no matter how good your material/lecture, if delivered badly, no one will be interested to devote their attention for that long. In fact, while writing up the slides for that lecture, I got to kind of review everything I had learnt along the steps of freelancing all this time. The books I read, the ideas I got, the principles I picked up. In its own way, it was kind of like a Day 10 Entry :)
So yes, yes, I'm late again for my Day 10 entry, this is getting quite normal now. So much for me being on time and on top of everything. I'm actually kind of falling behind even with my work, which is why I need to kind of pick myself up and start moving and not allow myself to feel "oh, I could use a day's break". Not saying that I don't respect rest, just saying that now's not the time as tempting as it seems. Kind of like saying it'd be great to be able to sip a cup of nice warm chocolate but when you have a deadline, now's not the time for stress-free luxury, if anything I'd feel guiltier if I didn't get my work done. So here comes my point, knowing when to do what. People always say stuff like "Oh he was at the right place at the right time." and this is very often a reason for a lot of people's success, but that doesn't really mean they just got lucky, they had to get themselves to that place at the time the opportunity was happening. Yes, there are times when things just fall into place, but a lot of times, it requires a personal effort for things to happen. Being at the right place at the right time is just a jealous person's excuse to explaining why someone else is more successful than them. In fact, I've found unsuccessful people very successful at coming up with excuses that justify why they are not successful, making it seem only in their destiny that their lives turned out this way. It's a shame when you need to convince yourself it's ok to not reach your goals. Again, don't get me wrong, it is ok to fail in life, just like it is ok to make mistakes, but you shouldn't have to convince yourself about this, the time spent doing this could be used towards trying to figure out why you failed or made the mistake and what the consequences are. Like if you failed in an exam, maybe it was because you studied the wrong chapter, or you were just plain lazy. Accepting that it's ok to fail instead of analyzing what went wrong would mean absolutely no improvement because you'd feel this was normal and as they say don't fix it if it ain't broke.
I suppose this has given me a good kick-start to figuring out why the hell I'm feeling so drowsy today and not in tip top shape like I'd want to be. Well it's almost 2pm, which means yummy lunch time for me, and hopefully the nutrition I'll be getting with that meal will kick start a flow of energy alongside productivity. Have yourself a healthy day :) -
I doubled my funnies :)
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008 10:20PM / Members only
This is a quick post and even though it's like 4 days late (it happened 4 days ago, on Saturday night), I won the English Comedy Competition and became Hong Kong's funniest person (in English) in 2008 :)
So now my trophies stand proudly on my shelf, side by side:- 2007 - Funniest Person in Hong Kong: Chinese
- 2008 - Funniest Person in Hong Kong: English
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Inspired...finally
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 1:39AM / Members only
Yes. I'm back on track. My sleeping cycles have gone back to normal and I'm feeling more inspired than ever! So much has happened in the past 10 days, I don't know where to start.
So I have an early morning tomorrow (Wednesday) but I figured I really ought to stay on track with my blogging, after all, once I fall behind my schedule, I'll keep tumbling like before.
Tonight, I got to enjoy a great, great drum clinic by the magnificent Marco Minnemann and boy oh boy was he mind blowing. I mean, it was crazy enough just watching Mike Mangini yesterday, but Marco just finished me off! As much as deep down inside I'm thinking "man, they're so lucky to be able to play like that", I know there's no luck involved, it's all hard, dedicated effort they've put in over the years. I mean these guys have been playing drums for over 15 years so I'm nowhere close to them with just a bit over 3 years under my belt. The cool thing is, this is exactly the kind of inspiration I needed recently. I've been really busy filming for a documentary I'm hosting for RTHK that I haven't had a chance to sit in front of my kit and just play let alone practice!
Speaking of practicing, I haven't had a chance to rework my set for this Saturday's English Comedy Competition Finals! Yikes! Filming has been non-stop since Sunday and every evening I've had the drum clinics and here I am on the verge of going to bed so there goes any chance to work at my material and refine it even more. For those of you who weren't at the heats, this year's competition is very, very stiff! Everyone's upped their game and this is exactly the way I love it! May the best man/woman win! I really appreciate a good, hard competition because it makes the victory all the more worth it, not to mention even if you lose, you know you lost to some of the top notch people available! :D So in many ways, I've already won. In fact, this reminds me of this time last year when I was just getting into stand up comedy. Before the Chinese competitions, my friend Bun asked me once on the phone "Just tell me this Viv, what will you do if you don't win the competition?" and I responded "You know, the fact that I'm just able to do stand up comedy is a victory for me, it was a dream, now it's a reality, winning the competition is secondary" and in many ways, the same applies this year. I mean, sure, it'd be great if I won, I'd love it and all, but if I don't, so what? I mean, I'm the type of person that grows through both success and failure so both ways I will come out strong so I'm not really worried in that sense. I'd only feel bad if I knew I could have done better. In fact, isn't that what kills most people? Not the feeling of losing, but the feeling of losing when you could have won if you just did your work better?
I've been recently reading some stuff about fitness and it had a whole chapter talking about goal setting. Sure, every book always touches on that topic but this one included some really good points as well as quotes and I'd like to share them with you here.In his book Watermelon Magic, Wally “Famous” Amos wrote:
“Mistakes are natural. Mistakes are how we learn. When we stop making mistakes, we stop learning and growing. But repeating the same mistake over and over is not continuous learning – it’s not paying attention.”Legendary Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi put it best when he said, "The dictionary is the only place success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must all pay for success."
And finally,In developing the martial art of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee worked hard to quantify and formulate a philosophy for self-defense and personal growth. His formula was: 1) Research your own experience, 2) Absorb what is useful, 3) Reject what is useless, and 4) Add what is specifically your own.
I guess when you put all these together, it kind of tells you the same thing, everything requires effort. There is no quick fix nor a short cut. Marco Minnemann never got to where he was from just mucking around, he spent hours and hours working at his technique and refining his musical mind. But effort really isn't enough. Like Bruce Lee says, learning is not mere imitation, just repeating something that already can be done is useless, why would anyone find you to do something they could find someone else to do? It's point #4, adding what is specifically your own that makes me smile. It's this point that differentiates us from anyone else.
“Formulas can only inhibit freedom,” said Lee, “They are externally dictated prescrīptions that only squelch creativity and assure mediocrity. Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge. Learning is a constant process of discovery – a process without end.”
Even in my comedy, I know it when it's my style, that's my goal, to have my own style, my own signature, my own stamp that people can recognize immediately. The same goes with my drumming as well. Of course, don't get me wrong, I personally think imitation is a form of learning, much like how you have to learn the rules before you can expect to break them. With drumming, you got to learn the basic rock patterns before you expect to create your own. Like Bruce Lee said, after researching, you absorb and reject the information, then you personalize it. I do this a lot with my comedy, I observe my surroundings, absorb, perceive and acknowledge it, then let my perspective on it sink in and see what I get out of it. Very often I get nothing. Sometimes, however, I get a great bit and that goes into my arsenal of humor. Heck, sometimes I could be showering and an idea comes into my head and I'm rushing to write it down or I keep repeating it so I don't forget. If there's one thing I really don't like, it's forgetting an idea. Great or not great idea, I hate forgetting it because there's a difference between being great now, or being potentially great. They're both great, just at different times. Just like asking, which is better? Sun rise or sun set? They're both good in their own ways.
So, as usual, my inspiration is limited by the same thing as always -- time. It's Tuesday night and I feel like I've accomplished so much, yet accomplished nothing at the same time because things I wanted to do haven't been done, but things that needed to be done, have. Well on a brighter note, tomorrow I have a quick medical scan, then I can finally sit and catch up on my work. I've got a lot of stuff lined up, so hopefully I'll be in the cranking the widgets mentality and get it all done as fast as possible. And now, I'm off to bed. Have a great night's sleep and happy hump day! :D -
Better late than never - Day 10 + 6 Months + 100th Post
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008 2:50AM / Members only
For all of you who have been keeping track of my blog and wondering why the hell it has been oh-so-long since I last posted, well I've been going through a phase of lack of focus alongside crazy surprises complimented by weeks of constantly new challenges which have left me either mentally exhausted or plain ol' too lazy to blog. I actually felt bad because I missed a 6 Month entry as well as a Day 10 entry not to mention this is my 100th blog entry! 100! Woah I didn't even realize till now to be honest.
Seeing as this is a 6 Month entry, that means I need to evaluate where I was and where I am and since it also is a Day 10 entry, I need to have some wisdom to share with everyone. Oh how much fun that sounds :P
The truth is, my time has been shrinking more and more as I find myself getting deeper and deeper into the things I love. Have you ever noticed how the more advanced you get at something, the more time you have to spend towards just maintaining that level? For example, with my drumming, if I don't practice for say 2 - 3 days, I can see how my playing degrades and I find myself wasting 1 practice session catching up so I get back up to speed. This is a real waste of energy as not only have I missed 2 - 3 days worth of practice time, I've had to pull myself back up to where I was 3 days ago, making it 4 days wasted, not to mention I could have improved today, making it 5 days wasted, which then ends up being a week lost. Wasted time is one of my pet peeves that really frustrates me and ends up discouraging me which then makes me lose my focus, thus wasting more time to get back on track. Yes, it's basically a vicious cycle. The problem is, sometimes I fall into these vicious cycles and just can't pull myself out easily because I've forgotten what it was like when I was in the good cycle and I forget that sense of satisfaction I had when I got my work done or accomplished something :(.
Satisfaction. That's something I really want to dive into and talk about. I live everyday by my motto of "I don't want to wake up tomorrow regretting today". I think this line is really powerful because it forces me to work hard today, but still know that there is a tomorrow. So what I want is to wake up the next day satisfied with where I am and where I was. This is definitely a very, very difficult thing to do because very often I find myself greedy for more. You'll see in many previous entries, I talk about how I'm greedy to live even more. I really am, I always want to do a bit more than I did and this in turn makes me constantly look forward, but then I often forget to appreciate what I've accomplished behind me :(. However, at the same time, deep down inside me, I'm still satisfied with what I've accomplished. It's like I have this mix of emotions where I'm satisfied but not quite all at the same time and I suppose this is where all the frustration comes up which then works against me.
So am I satisfied with what has happened in the last 6 months? To be honest, I am and I'm not. I feel like had I not been bombarded with all these surprises all the time, I'd have been able to better maintain my focus and probably end up accomplishing more. I suppose it's times like these that make me really stop and reflect and realizing that you know what, sometimes things are out of your control and you need to accept the reality of the situation rather than wish it wasn't so. At the same time, it also reminds me that it's good to always have a leeway of space for things to creep up when you least expect it. As I mentioned before, I'm a freelancer, which means that my life is a constant blank canvas waiting to be painted the way I want to paint it. In fact, just today, I was on my way home from watching Cheung Tat Ming's latest Comedic Performance when one of my friends/comedians asked me what time I had to go to work tomorrow and then I told her I was a freelancer and she kept telling me about how lucky I was but how I had to be uber-disciplined to pull it off. It kind of struck a cord in my mind because I realized recently, my discipline has been less than satisfactory.
Discipline. Yes, that's another thing I want to touch upon in this entry. I've realized that my discipline is in sync with the way my environment is. When my environment is a mess, I'm a mess and my discipline falls along with it because I feel like I'm constantly being bombarded because everywhere I look, it seems like something needs to be tended to. I once talked about the art of keeping things simple and to be honest, that's the way I seem to work best. Keep it simple, if I don't need it, I don't need it! And I suggest you think the same way. Almost everything could be useful but is it really useful now? No? Then get rid of it. If I've managed to survive for say the past few months without noticing something, I convince myself that it is unnecessary. The less I have, the less stimulation I have, the less distractions I have and the more I'm able to focus.
Focus. This is a hot topic I always cover in my blog because I'm constantly trying to manage this part of my life because it's like a muscle that I have to keep tamed and trained and continuously improve and make more efficient. I've talked about how I'm an efficiency-aholic and one key aspect of efficiency is to maintain good focus so that the process can be carried out without obstacles such as distractions and unnecessary problems. When I'm in-the-zone, I find I'm really motivated to work, in the sense, I'm not working because I want to get the job done, but instead, I work because I'm enjoying the progress I'm making and it is this progress that is giving me the satisfaction I crave. And in achieving this satisfaction, I remain focused like a donkey who managed to get a bite of the carrot dangling in front of him. I read in many places that it is usually the first 5 minutes of any job that is the hardest, once you get your wheels turning and the work flowing, you just keep working and this is so true for me. I just need to get past that initial inertia of no desire and then I'm all good.
Desire. I always find myself desiring a bit more than I have. Yes, I'm greedy, we all know that. I always wonder what if I had just a bit more? Like a kid wondering what it'd be like if he just had 10 extra minutes on his newest gaming console. I always desire improvements in myself and I often have the ability to map out what needs to be done to achieve those improvements. Of course, mapping it out and actually practicing the plan is a different game. Take my fitness for example, I'm currently in an anabolic phase of my workout routine where I'm bulking up. I try my best to stick to the workout plan as good as I can because I know if I get lazy, my whole plan fails and I'm back to square 1. However, there are times when I just can't help it, like say tomorrow, I normally should be going to the gym because tomorrow is my legs day. However, due to my schedule, I'm unable to do that because I have to be out most of tomorrow and I'm jamming with my band's new guitarist tomorrow night in preparation for jamming on Wednesday with the rest of the band. Not to mention I have to go reset my drum set because it's all a big fat mess. So there goes my gymming out the window. Is it because I lack the desire or this is just reality after all. You can't always get what you want. But I suppose, I'd much rather have a desire for something and not achieve it, than have no desire for anything at all. Woah, imagine life without any sort of drive.
And now a review of where my life is.
And you know what. I'm going to allow myself 12 hours to think about this and finish off this post then.
A week later
Oh man. Did I say 12 hours?! I probably should have said 12 days! I haven't had a chance to sit down and just spend some quality time with my blog for the past week! Sorry about that.
So now my review of everything. The thing is, we're already in October, which kind of makes this a 2008 review so let's start from the beginning. I've found myself, through my stand-up comedy, in a lot of newspapers and press articles. I've been invited to help HK celebrities perform in their promotions, I've been a guest at corporate events where I was treated, literally, like a VIP (still feel weird when people do that). I'm going to be entertaining a lot of Indian people in Hong Kong soon when I perform for the Progressive Diwali Ball this year and I have a lot, and I mean a lot of gigs lined up in front of me :) So my comedy life is really taking off now.
My band, Eve of Sin, got to play our first gig in February 2008 and we're scheduled to play again on 28th Nov 2008 so we're all excited about that! We've been practicing very hard and working out new music as well as improving our skill in general. At least I can say my drumming's gotten much, much better, although I haven't reached my goal I set for myself to hit before the end of 2008... darn. But at least I haven't gone backwards :)
Drumming, well yes, I've been slacking off practicing for the last week just like I slacked off typing up my blog because, seriously, I've been so busy. I mean I'll admit, I've had times when I've found myself literally hanging out at a coffee shop for 2 hours, but that's because I really was mentally exhausted :( I mean I just lost that motivation to work. In fact, to be honest, when I look at my drum set, I just think like "ahh, my body's feeling tired". I know it's a lame excuse I've been giving myself, but I just can't seem to break out of it.
However, fitness wise I've been a good boy. Oddly enough, I think it's just getting out of my room that is the trick I need. When I get out of house, I feel energized and ready to rock, once I hit my room, it's like I don't know where to start. I recently joined Fitness First and now I'll be saving much more time going to the gym, it's like 15 mins walk away from my house which is fantastic, because now it takes me only 30mins to go and come back from the gym! It used to be like 1:20 hours before! :P Almost an hour saved is a big, big deal to me. I think I'm going to stick to weights because I've built up my stabilizing muscles to the point I'm able to control my form properly and am really getting the best bang for my buck it seems. My routine actually has not hit a plateau because of the highly mixed up exercises I use which keeps things really fresh for my muscles :) I love it.
I suppose now is my time to exercise my beloved art if keeping things simple. Instead of me going on and on and on about a topic or talking about how I need to improve life or get more stuff done, I'm going to end this entry here and go practice some drums. Talking the talk is great, but it's walking the walk that counts :)
So have a good day and I'll see you (fingers crossed) in 10 days :) - More entries >
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Charlie Chien
posted on Thursday, Nov 27, 2008 5:11PM [Report]its not weired if you really does drink cool-aid and watch star wars on the weekend lol -
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peacheyposted on Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008 2:48AM [Report]Haha. Just climbed over one row of seats in the coliseum. So we wouldn't have to disturb this rather "large" couple from the comfort of their seats at the end of the row. They were at a rock concert, Madonna!....and they didn't even sway to the music...or clap. Maybe their toes were moving to the beat. lol. Uptight!
A fave comedian is doing a show in SF this Friday. Jim Gaffigan. I like his soft voice, his demeanor, his jokes and his zero use of profanity. Clean language is always a plus. ;P Can't go though; got a visitor from HK coming.
Maybe you can help me out. Where do you think a HK woman in her 30s with knowledge of English wanna visit in the States? Aside from Vegas, I dunno what else might appeal to people overseas. NYC? L.A? -
pokedpenguin19posted on Monday, Nov 3, 2008 2:55PM [Report]right right, so thats why you dont mind! :D but i dont think i really wanna get lost in cali ^^ -
pokedpenguin19posted on Monday, Nov 3, 2008 3:31AM [Report]yeah i know but still! i rather know where im going thats all! =D i dont know, HK is small, so its not that big of a deal, but i mean think of just CALI alone. shoot hahahahaha do NOT wanna get lost xD
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pokedpenguin19posted on Sunday, Nov 2, 2008 5:15PM [Report]LOL thats awesome! hahahaha well thats true since it is an island u cant really go far. but i hate being lost and looking like a complete idiot not knowing where to go and stuffz. i dont like it. >.< i like giving off the impression i know what the heck im doing! =D but yeah i actually got some exercise today! i played basketball with my suitemates! YAY!
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pokedpenguin19posted on Monday, Oct 27, 2008 4:14AM [Report]hehehehe sounds good!!! hahahaha i went on a walk last night. ok early sundaymorning. cuz yah hahahahaha we just wandered around... hopped a couple of fences... lala ^^
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Stats
- I was born and raised in Hong Kong where I learned the quirks of being a foreigner in a group of Chinese people. I was named the "Funniest Chinese Person in Hong Kong" at the 2007 First HK Comedy Fest...
- Occupation: Stand-up Comedian
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 12,101
