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Update: And now I'm the Hong Kong's funniest person as of 2008 :)
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Sunday, May 13, 2012 10:09PM / Members only
Hello from the mountains. Here I am in the late afternoon of a cloudy Thursday sitting in the wing cooling down after a nice little hike up the hills. I sit in the very same place I used to almost on a daily basis, gathering my thoughts and simply searching for a moment of peace.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived was how the vegetation around has grown and some of the concrete structure has crumbled from erosion and plantation pressure. The place I used to sit no longer has the view of the sky in front because it's covered by trees and greenery. I can't believe how fast everything has grown. Well, fast in terms of my memory, not so fast since it's been a while since I last came here.
(damn, I just killed an ant that was walking around my trackpad...oops?)
So the last 2 weeks have been another roller coaster for me as I saw myself having days where I sat at my computer with that joyful feeling of achieving all the to do's of the day, and also days where I sat at my computer exhausted thanks to a stomach flu. Either I'm getting old or used to this because this roller coaster is starting to feel like the flat road because it doesn't surprise me when it happens. The last few days have also seen me make some big adjustments to my work environment (ok, big as in I will be making big adjustments after the furniture and equipment I've ordered arrive)...
I've also grown a new interest in rap/hip hop music that seem to work very well with my projects. Namely Jay-Z's Public Service Announcement and Wu Tang Clan's C.R.E.A.M. Check it out and imagine you're staring at a design or a bunch of code. Doesn't this make it seem so much more enjoyable?
I have also recently been hit with a case of the SSDD's (Same Shit Different Day) where I really just felt like every moment was me going through the motions rather than being excited for what awaits (which explains why I'm up here in the middle of the day). I've come to realize these emotional issues are best dealt with time and time alone. The best way to beat SSDD is to do the opposite. Logic tells me I could be writing this post from my room, saving me 30 minutes time that could be used to catch up on my reading but heck, if I did that it'd be SSDD again. But at least the walk up here forced me out of my typical (not comfort, just typical routine) zone and hey, it's helping :). Lucky for me I have no gigs lined up for this weekend and thanks to his walk, I'm excited to just do something different on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully that'll charge me up for the week ahead.
Well, the sky's going grey and a few drops of water and coming down. I suppose that's a hint for me to get the hell up and head out. Then again, even if it isn't I really should be moving, I got a gig tonight! :P
Happy 10 days ahead!
PS. I just realized I never published this post (which was meant for like 3 weeks ago.... heh)
Oops.11 views Share 
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Be brave.
Sunday, May 13, 2012 10:07PM / Members only
Things have been hectic for me and I got smacked with the flu recently which had me lying in bed and burning up for 2 days...I never realized how long the day actually is until I was lying in bed all day just sleeping or watching something with half a brain. Someone recently shared the following video clip with me:
I absolutely loved it! What a great viral campaign! And man, after watching that, I sure as hell felt Carlsberg was a cool brand of beer to enjoy! After watching that video, I noticed a similar campaign they did in Hong Kong for Carlsberg:
Interesting idea, I really wonder what I'd do if I were put in that situation. I have a feeling I wouldn't wait until I was that close to make my decision if I were to turn around. But then again, who knows. But I like how it ended with bravery being rewarded.
Recently I've been noticing all the brave people around me. I don't mean brave like people who risk their lives, but brave as in people who are willing to take that leap of faith even when they don't need to. As Craig Ferguson said in his audio book American on Purpose, "between safety and adventure I choose adventure". Interesting where that has gotten him.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how brave I would be, I have to say, it's getting harder and harder for me to take a totally blind leap of faith (maybe they're right, if you want to be really brave, you have to sometimes be really stupid) partly because the older I get the more I have to lose or the more I'm thinking of the long term effects of my decisions rather than short term effects. Perhaps it's because after being human for so many years, I'm seeing long-term-results. Like noticing how my daily light stretches (ok I say daily loosely) have helped make me more flexible.
How things that were told to me many, many years ago, or things I experienced, are having an impact on me in the long term. I still remember burning hours and hours learning about GTD and man, if it wasn't for that, I'd be a dead man now, I'm sure my business would be half of what it is and I'd be overwhelmed and annoyed with myself. I could have settled for a typical way of simple job, clock in clock out and voila, but I went to brave route. Again, brave not as in I could end up dead, but brave as in out of the 2 paths, this was the less inviting and harder one. If I'd been in a steady job for the last 5 - 6 years, I'm pretty sure I'd hate my life. I just know I'm not that type of person, repeat anything too often and I'd get sick of it, that includes being brave. And that brings me to getting older. I suppose when you're older, you've been brave, you've taken risks but eventually those risks as well as their rewards don't attract you anymore. You don't need to feel good because you had the guts to do something. I'm not exactly out of that phase, I still take risks (especially with stand up comedy) but I think it's more calculated than before. With the extra life experience, this has become easier and easier.
So with that in mind, now that I think of it, if I saw a bunch of big guys on the bridge, if I were already walking on the bridge, I'd probably just walk pass them. I mean if they do anything, I suppose I'd just call the police? That's still being....brave right?
And speaking of being brave, I think I'm going to cave in and get back to work. Got a few things to sort out otherwise all the courage in the world isn't going to help me when I hate myself at 2am when I'm still struggling through emails :P
Enjoy the next 10 days!
Oh, I'm going to be going to the PJ Laugh Fest this week in Kuala Lumpur. Excited as hell about it! And to add to that, I'm going to be doing Cantonese there! Woah!!10 views Share
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The Easter Edition
Saturday, Apr 7, 2012 11:49AM / Members only
Well, well, well, it's the Easter weekend and as expected, I've packed myself with a bunch of things I want to achieve in these few days. I guess I get really excited when it comes to such long weekends because I feel like I can finally focus on getting things done rather than dealing with things.
I've decided it's time to upgrade my environment that I work in with more space, I'm planning on changing my monitor stands to monitor arms so my table isn't as cluttered. Luxurious? Yes, but I've started realizing more and more how my environment affects me. Once my table starts getting cluttered, so does my mind and things start to overwhelm me, I get distracted by everything. While I'm working, I will keep thinking about what to do with the papers I have on my desk, whether it's just a notepad (brain will say "I really should put this away") or other items ("Do I need to keep this? Should I scan it? Or file it?"). Heck, even if my computer desktop is cluttered, I start getting distracted.
The most fun part is really thinking about how to upgrade my environment. Do I buy new things? Re-arrange old things? Remove things? It's quite a time and mental-consuming process, but that fresh feeling really does help. I suppose I understand what people have a need to rebrand themselves every now and then. It just brings fresh life to the whole situation. Just like changing your wallpaper on your desktop.
These last 10 days have seen me go from crazy busy, to crazy relaxed. March has been a month of madness but April is actually making sense. These holidays are a blessing and all I can say is, I'm excited (again!). I was actually bored with everything a few days ago (clearly burnout) but now it's like the world has no limits (again! Heh) and I'm ready to rock. The best thing, I never took the traditional route of R&R, I simply powered through everything and listened to my gut. If I really couldn't focus, I'd just accept this reality and deal with it tomorrow. It's a really, really hard thing to do when you know you're basically saying "I have time now, but not the mood so I'll have to make up for this mood tomorrow".. but I suppose it works for me.
So let's see how this excitement goes, I'm anxious as well, but not the fast-heartbeat-nervous-anxious, but more like an impatient-I-want-to-know-how-the-story-ends-because-it's-so-good anxious. Oh well :) Happy Easter! :)21 views Share
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Lessons learned
Sunday, Mar 25, 2012 12:18PM / Members only
Ever have those times when you hit a point you need to stop and wonder how you got yourself into a situation? These last 10 days have been like that for me. A mixture of being busy like mad, getting hit with the flu, and just burning out has made me stop and rethink a lot of "exciting" things and how it's not that "exciting" after all.
I've been tied up with one of my projects (we've all had those doomsday projects that feel like hell and never seem to end) and my whole world has taken a turn for the worse. One thing I've learned about myself is I don't like leaving things half-done. Even with my trusty to do list and workflow system, I've unloaded all my work out of my head, but the idea that there is still work to do, and I could be doing it now and getting it done eats away at me. I suppose it's the need to know I'm making the best use of my time that matters.
But this attitude is the same reason I found myself up at 5am working a few nights and hitting the wall on Friday morning when I woke up feeling like a pile of mud. And I'm not talking about the useful type that can be part of a healthy fertilizer or turned into a sculpture, I'm talking about the type that has its minerals stripped away and is really not strong enough to hold its own weight when dry. My brain couldn't focus, my motivation was at zero and it was at that point the willpower had to kick in. It's like having to go for a jog when you got the runs, you can push yourself to go for it but every now and then you're going to feel an uncomfortable strain that you have to somehow power through.
On a brighter note, March is coming to an end and this month has been quite brutal work-wise for me. I've become better at allocating my time towards projects and trying to balance my schedule, but unforeseen doomsday project management is still something I have to master. I have, however, learned that the only way to recharge a person's motivation and willpower is to do the opposite of exactly what you're trying to be motivated about.
Today's Sunday and I've decided to let myself off for half a day. Baby steps as they say and here I am, enjoying the peace of a Sunday. These next 4 hours are going to be awesome :)32 views Share
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Enchantment
Thursday, Mar 15, 2012 1:00AM / Members only
Well, well, well. Here I am 35,000 feet above the ground again. My laptop started to go crazy again but luckily it's working now.
So I was in Singapore yesterday enjoying a set at Comedy Masala and I was not only blown away by the fact that the house was full with 200+ people on a Tuesday night, but the amount the local comedians have upped their game! It's great coming back here because the audiences are ready to have a great time and I've gotten used to the place. I know the drill and I'm familiar with the whereabouts anyway.
The only thing I really hate about going abroad is loose change. This is one time I wish items cost more (well rounded up more like) and since it takes my brain a bit of time to convert the currency, my "cheapness" doesn't kick in until after I spent the money, which explains why I could spend almost S$3 for a crappy McDonald's Milo McFlurry…ahaha that was a mistake
So it was a great gig last night and I felt more comfortable working the room, now that I've been there a few times and have a better idea of the culture and people. Also, the flight, for some reason, didn't seem that long…I'm basically 1 hour into this 3:30hr flight and well, so far so good.
The last few days have been a real challenge of my willpower because I'm back to the horrible "too-much-work-not-enough-time" state because projects have just collided together. I've also been doing a lot of thinking and planning for the future because I've seriously got to better handle projects so I don't keep finding myself in the over-time slump.
I've been listening to the Audio Book version of Guy Kawasaki's - Enchantment. It's a pretty good book, not as good as The Art of the Start, but still interesting ideas, it applies to everything I do, my comedy, my web design, etc. I would recommend it to anyone who needs to find better ways of convincing people to listen to their ideas (provided you have good ideas). The book convinced my heart to talk to my brain and better figure things out. Basically my emotions had a chat with logic and that's why I'm working at trying to come to an agreement. My emotions want to stop being so aggressive and enjoy life a bit more. Take on a few less projects and just live a bit more. My logic says I need to strike the iron while it's hot, even if it seems to never cool down. I suppose it boils down to a balance. For example, I decided to completely flush my reading list and start over. Things were never going to get read and the list lost its purpose. I hated the idea that I was throwing away articles and information I knew were useful or interesting to me, but I suppose if I was never going to end up reading them anyway, then there's no difference.
March is scheduled to be a jam-packed month for me and I'm hoping April gives me some space to work out more ideas and plans for the journey ahead. The next 10 days are going to prove to be exhausting but hopefully once I get past this bump, it'll be encouraging (it always is!).
So have fun and enjoy the end of the 25% of 2012! We're still here, yay!
(Update: Of course this was posted at a later time :P)29 views Share
Stats
- I was born and raised in Hong Kong where I learned the quirks of being a foreigner in a group of Chinese people...
- Occupation: Stand-up Comedian
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 59,138
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