25 September 2012

So I'm 30 today...

Well, well, well, I finally made it to the 3rd decade of my life. It's really weird hitting this date because I clearly remember when I was 23, I kept thinking "oh man, when I'm 30, I want to..." and going on and on....back then I didn't have the crazy habit of writing everything down so I don't remember the details of my ideas, but otherwise, I do remember I had a whole bunch of thoughts for how my life should be when I hit 30.

A couple of days ago I was randomly clicking through videos on youtube and I noticed a video I had watched quite a while ago called. I watched it again and man it pumped me the hell up!

It reminded me of the times when I was young and facing tough situations in my life, where I often doubted myself as a person. The best part about the video is when the coach said my heart, my mind will carry my body when my limbs are too weak (2:08), that gave me goosebumps as it struck a chord with me. I've had so many days I just want to crash, just lay down and throw in the towel for the day. Sure rest is important, but I've always been a firm believer that your mind can push you further than you think you can go. It's all in your head. It's always been how I see things...

Just like the video above. When the kid had his eyes blindfolded, he only knew to keep going. Sure you may argue that that's like hanging a carrot in front of a donkey, but that's what's needed during the execution phase of things.

At 30, I can proudly say things are all coming together. All the things I've learnt from reading, listening, seeing, experiencing and thinking are coming together where I realize in life, it's all about shifting your focus. You have to be your own coach, mentally pushing your body while your body has to at times blindly follow and just keep going.
It is about trusting yourself and your beliefs and knowing that all your effort is worth it. With that in mind, you shift your focus from coach, to player and keep going. At times you have to move into a cheerleader as you encourage yourself at the hard times.

Eventually..when all goes well and everything works out. You can ask yourself this: "Who am I?"

And your answer can proudly be "I am a champion."

Have a lovely day and write down those dreams. Trust me, I'd love to read my thoughts when I was 23 and daydreaming. But heck, I'm loving actually realizing and living those dreams :)

Time to sit back and soak in the lovely day.

13 September 2012

The burn in Malaysia, jotted down with a killer stylus

Hello from Malaysia! I'm here this week doing gigs at 1MicStand and Comedy Kao Kao and even got to do a quick 15 minute guest spot at a new show called Rush Hour (ahah I wore shorts because I wasn't on the show but the organizer told me I could go on and do something for a bit :))

Anyway, its been really nice here meeting and performing with the other local comedians. It's great doing a gig then hanging out afterwards eating and chatting, it's fantastic to see open mic'ers go up there and throw their hearts out hoping for a laugh, burning through new material nervously. Ahah speaking of burning, if you haven't seen it already, go check out The Burn with Jeff Ross. I love a good comedy roast and to have a whole show of it is pure gold!

Speaking of burning, the food here in Malaysia is quite spicy, I mean, I can feel the "burn" inside me...especially the next morning :P But it's good food! It reminds me of the food in Bali and let me just say, food is CHEAP! I mean OMFG! 4 people ate and it came to around 25 Ringgit! WTF?! That's like HK$65! WTF?! 4 people!? Man! I could live like a king here! :P But it's been 2 days here and I do miss my room, mostly because I've been sitting in my hotel room for the last 1 hour working and I can feel the strain of sitting on a bed or at a desk that is too high...I miss my ergonomic furniture (I am so spoilt :P).

I recently discovered the new Samsung Galaxy Note Tab 10.1 has palm rejection if you're using the stylus. That means you can rest your plam on the screen and write freely! This has always been an issue I had when writing notes on the iPad... another issue was all the stylus' for iPad and other devices had a really thick tip. It just didn't feel natural when I would write on it.. until I discovered the Jot Pro. That thing blew my mind! I got the Jot Flip which includes a  pen on the other side and so far I'm absolutely loving it! Combine that with the awesome app Notes+ and you got yourself a killer note-taking combination. I haven't used it much because I'm so busy, but while I've been in the hotel, I've been writing down notes and ideas and so far I'm loving it. I haven't had to use a sheet of paper and pen and all my note-taking needs have been satisfied...

After having done comedy for 5 years now, I've tried a big combination of analog, digital, fusion tools to write my ideas, my bits, and work things out. I've tried so many tools but eventually I found my best creative tool comes down to pen and paper. Or at least enough of a replica that I have total freedom when it comes to spitting out what's on my mind. The brainstorming phase needs complete freedom and zero expectation. The tools I use need to be almost invisible to the process. If I'm using an app and while I'm brain storming, I'm still thinking something like "how do I change the stroke color", it's going to kill my train of thought.
After that's done, comes the more organized method where I write things out in an orderly fashion.
Finally, I try the bit out and if it works, I write it out and record the working-version.

Let's see, maybe in 10 years, this method might change (heck, technology will change).

Well I have an hour before I head out for the gig tonight and well...all I can say is, tonight's the last night in Malaysia so it's time to rock.....it.... out.

Enjoy the next 10 days!