We're near the end!!!!
Of the year that is! This is one of my most favorite times of the year when my mind starts saying "time to get stuff done and wrap it up" which is great because the last thing I want to do is have things from 2010 linger on into 2011... this includes bad habits ;)
The first thing I have to confess is that this entry is 1 entry late! Yes, when things finally calmed down and I was going through my list of to do's I noticed a minor blog entry was in the list and at that stressed out moment, I made the executive decision to scrap it to make way for my other to do's that seemed to never, ever end...
The good news is that I'm back on track with my work and things have finally calmed down. And when things calm down I get back on the horse and work on my own stuff, that means I've been having great writing sessions for comedy, some awesome workouts, drumming practice sessions and of course work is back to lasting normal human hours so I can wind down daily at midnight. But how long will this last you ask? Heck how do I know?! :P
Anyway, for all of you who are digging into audio books like I am now, I finished Bob Newhart's I shouldn't even be doing this. May I just say, this guy is hilarious! Holy crap! I was listening to some of his bits and I was giggling as I walked with my headphones plugged in my ears.. the odd thing is when I just re-thought his bits or used my own voice to say them, it just lacked that perfect timing that he has. He has a bit called Abraham Lincoln where he imagines what if back in those days Mr. Lincoln had a PR company that helped take care of his image and refine all his speeches to match his personal brand? Ahaha, and another bit about how a building guard tries to explain to his manager that he really had no way of stopping King Kong from climbing the building :P Gold I tell you, gold!
I've also been watching a lot of stand up comedy recently and if you haven't seen Bill Burr's stuff, you have to check it out, I was watching Bill Burr's Let it Go DVD and I was dying, his stuff was awesome! So raw, so real and just so funny! He has this bit about how old men always look like they're scared and goes about to explain the evolution of this face, it's brilliant the way he delivers it.
The cool thing is this has totally inspired me to work on my comedy even more. And another thing is I re-organized my little window-facing desk and also adjusted the lighting. I realized that I can't focus much if I'm looking out the window and see day time. I feel really trapped. But at night, when my desk is lit up and the outside only has a few dots of lights, it's brilliant, my mind just flows. I really wish we had more open mics here in Hong Kong, I have bits I want to try out now but can't because I'm usually busy on Tuesday nights. I'm working with the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association and running Cantonese comedy workshops in hopes to get more people interested in stand up comedy. So far, it's still the initial process and you can see everyone is still very raw and punchlines are weak, but ahh well, hopefully over time things will improve :)
My projects are coming along nicely, now that I'm able to manage my time better, I'm able to focus on my work and get it done one step at a time. So far, I'm on target to completing everything by the end of this year. Unless of course I take on anything new in mid-December (usually a rare case since most everyone gets in the holiday mindset). Speaking of work though, I've found that I work better at 35 minute intervals instead of the previous 25minutes. Very often when the alarm hits 25, I feel like I can go on for a bit more, but when it hits 35 minutes now, it feels just right and time for a break. I tried 40 minutes but I could feel the extra 5 minutes would require an extra 5 minutes of rest after that. The thing is, this totally turns my usual routine of work/rest on its head because now I have to either wake up earlier or wake up later to fit everything in well. For example, I like practicing drums before lunch, but if I follow my 35 minutes interval, I either have to cut short my drumming practice or cut out one 35 minute work session...hmmm
Well in a few days' time I'll probably do a full-year review, just to see how much I accomplished this year. It's still really strange to think 1 year ago I hadn't done any mixed martial arts announcement things, never thought I'd be able to do my one-man show in English, wasn't anywhere close to what I can drum today and last but not least, was still barely mobile since I had busted my right knee.... woah.
The first thing I have to confess is that this entry is 1 entry late! Yes, when things finally calmed down and I was going through my list of to do's I noticed a minor blog entry was in the list and at that stressed out moment, I made the executive decision to scrap it to make way for my other to do's that seemed to never, ever end...
The good news is that I'm back on track with my work and things have finally calmed down. And when things calm down I get back on the horse and work on my own stuff, that means I've been having great writing sessions for comedy, some awesome workouts, drumming practice sessions and of course work is back to lasting normal human hours so I can wind down daily at midnight. But how long will this last you ask? Heck how do I know?! :P
Anyway, for all of you who are digging into audio books like I am now, I finished Bob Newhart's I shouldn't even be doing this. May I just say, this guy is hilarious! Holy crap! I was listening to some of his bits and I was giggling as I walked with my headphones plugged in my ears.. the odd thing is when I just re-thought his bits or used my own voice to say them, it just lacked that perfect timing that he has. He has a bit called Abraham Lincoln where he imagines what if back in those days Mr. Lincoln had a PR company that helped take care of his image and refine all his speeches to match his personal brand? Ahaha, and another bit about how a building guard tries to explain to his manager that he really had no way of stopping King Kong from climbing the building :P Gold I tell you, gold!
I've also been watching a lot of stand up comedy recently and if you haven't seen Bill Burr's stuff, you have to check it out, I was watching Bill Burr's Let it Go DVD and I was dying, his stuff was awesome! So raw, so real and just so funny! He has this bit about how old men always look like they're scared and goes about to explain the evolution of this face, it's brilliant the way he delivers it.
The cool thing is this has totally inspired me to work on my comedy even more. And another thing is I re-organized my little window-facing desk and also adjusted the lighting. I realized that I can't focus much if I'm looking out the window and see day time. I feel really trapped. But at night, when my desk is lit up and the outside only has a few dots of lights, it's brilliant, my mind just flows. I really wish we had more open mics here in Hong Kong, I have bits I want to try out now but can't because I'm usually busy on Tuesday nights. I'm working with the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association and running Cantonese comedy workshops in hopes to get more people interested in stand up comedy. So far, it's still the initial process and you can see everyone is still very raw and punchlines are weak, but ahh well, hopefully over time things will improve :)
My projects are coming along nicely, now that I'm able to manage my time better, I'm able to focus on my work and get it done one step at a time. So far, I'm on target to completing everything by the end of this year. Unless of course I take on anything new in mid-December (usually a rare case since most everyone gets in the holiday mindset). Speaking of work though, I've found that I work better at 35 minute intervals instead of the previous 25minutes. Very often when the alarm hits 25, I feel like I can go on for a bit more, but when it hits 35 minutes now, it feels just right and time for a break. I tried 40 minutes but I could feel the extra 5 minutes would require an extra 5 minutes of rest after that. The thing is, this totally turns my usual routine of work/rest on its head because now I have to either wake up earlier or wake up later to fit everything in well. For example, I like practicing drums before lunch, but if I follow my 35 minutes interval, I either have to cut short my drumming practice or cut out one 35 minute work session...hmmm
Well in a few days' time I'll probably do a full-year review, just to see how much I accomplished this year. It's still really strange to think 1 year ago I hadn't done any mixed martial arts announcement things, never thought I'd be able to do my one-man show in English, wasn't anywhere close to what I can drum today and last but not least, was still barely mobile since I had busted my right knee.... woah.
Labels: day 10
posted by Vivek Mahbubani at
12:03 PM
0 Comments
