25 May 2014

1 hour

So I write this in my little room in MGM Macau as I have an hour before it's time to get ready for tonight's comedy show here. I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done but I've come to realize, this 1 hour is quite sacred. For this 1 hour, I can confidently say nothing is going to interrupt me because there is no way for people to contact me and the only sound in this room is me, my keyboard and the TV.
Oh by the way, it's been ages since I've watched TV and I have to say, I can totally see how people can drown in TV all day, with all these 437490274028 channels to choose from.

I'm finding it harder and harder to find moments like these to enjoy (mostly because it's freaking hot now that Summer is coming down). So this, I say enjoy your Sunday. Tomorrow's Monday and it's time to kick this week's ass!!!!

12 May 2014

Kung Fu | Art | Life

Well if you haven't yet done this and are in Hong Kong, go check out the Bruce Lee: Kung Fu, Art, Life exhibition. I recently went to check it out and I must say it was very fascinating reading hand-written notes by Bruce Lee. Love letters and sketches of ideas right in front of my eyes. It's interesting to see the way someone thinks through their notes and behavior.

I especially loved how most of the exhibition portrayed Bruce Lee as a simple man with a very focused objective. Growing up as a naughty kid, having problems with school only to find his interest in Cha Cha and Martial Arts (which made me wonder how many people saw Bruce Lee dance and go "look at that guy, look at how girly he is!", only to realize that girly guy could totally kick their ass!).

It's interesting as I have started noticing more and more people around me who are successful turn out to be semi-rejects or problem-cases when they were growing up. Their inability to fit in properly or stay within boundaries always caused grief for the people around them until they finally found a direction they liked and suddenly the inability to sit still transforms into this insane discipline. I've noticed that with myself. I mean I still have so many moments where I'm like a kid, acting stupid and childish, but when something I like is put in front of me, it's getting done big time!

Now this of course works both ways, so when I see a bowl of killer chocolate ice cream, the pain I had to go through in a previous workout suddenly vanishes and all I can think of is this bowl of ice cream is getting done big time! Ahah.

Also, for those of you who know me, you know that I'm not very much into real-life soap operas and politics mostly because I feel it's a waste of my time and energy but for some reason I've always had this strong need to literally walk away from such problems. Like it wasn't that I didn't want to face it or was afraid to deal with it, I just had this crazy need to ignore it. I always felt it was my weakness until I saw this:



When I read this, it finally made sense. I'd always wonders why it wasn't a matter of me seeing the situation, dealing with it and forgiving the wrongdoing, but literally I didn't even want to give it a second of my energy. Now it make sense. I see the issue, my brain automatically says "it's not worth even acknowledging, you're better off using your brainpower for other stuff" and voila.
Finally it makes sense.

Or maybe I'm ignoring the fact that I'm too busy to take revenge? Oh the soap opera twist occurs!

Anyway, just a thought I wanted to share and it's been 10 days so I figured, why not. And heck, if you feel that this was a waste of time, and you're smart about it, go ahead and ignore everything I just said :)

01 May 2014

On the fringe of comedy

OMFG. So much has happened since the last entry, I don't even know where to start!
First things first, let me just say that Asia is becoming one very, very funny place. I recently returned from Singapore where I attended and performed at the Singapore Comedy Fringe Festival. The trip was awesome (putting aside from the fact that I had an Asthma attack one night, ahahah, oh Ventolin puff, how I owe you my life, even though I haven't touched you for, what, 8 years?!). I got to catch Asia's top comedians including (But not limited to) Papa CJ, Jinx, Nitin Mirwani, G.B. Labrador, Jason Leong, Kavin Jayaram, the Indian laugh riot, and of course the killer Butch Bradley and Paul Ogata. Still can't believe they were performing on the same show....poof! 2 of my top favorite comedians whom I've caught live.

Also, for a change, I got to explore Singapore and even finally went to Universal Studios to walk around. The Transformers ride is pretty awesome but otherwise, it's a nice trip but expensive (at like SGD74!?).
Of course, for a few days I was living the comedian's dream, waking up late, hanging out with comics, waiting to do the shows, then hanging out some more. We all got to talk to each other and what I learned is that every region around Asia has a different style. I mean, I was the only representative of Hong Kong (although Nadim Rai, a fellow HK comedian showed up for a short 5 min. set) and I have to say, each region is strong in their own point. India comedians are crazy good writers, Malaysian guys have got the culture down with a mix if Malay, Singaporean, Chinese, Indian, Caucasian jokes. Philippines is my good buddy GB Labrador with his comedian's comedian style of humor. The ladies did a great job with Sharul Channa totally being herself on stage. I can't believe only a few years ago I was in Singapore performing with her and we talked outside the show about keeping things clean on stage. Well she's managed to keep it clean and be very, very edgy at the same time. Like she's a harmless woman with a bite!

Alright, enough comedy talk. Another piece of good news -- I am finally done with my Fitness First gym membership. After 2 months of mad commuting just for a work out, I finally can start using PURE gym in soho. Sure the price is like 3 times what I used to pay but after 2 months of wasting almost 1+ hr traveling to the gym, I'm done. I'm so done with taking buses, etc. I even gave working out in the parks a shot but it's just not the same. Not to mention I do enjoy a whole bunch of toys in the gym (like sandbags, etc.)

Lastly, May 2014 has begun, that is like a soft-launch of the year's half-way mark. Oh and it also means I'm going to have to start doing my damn taxes soon. Oh man do I hate that stuff, but lucky me, my daily accounting makes it an easy job when I have to put the numbers together. But still, it's freaking annoying nonetheless.

Well, today is also labor day which is technically a public holiday but you know me, these days are reserved for my own work (which is still work!). I'm going to be meeting the youtube-famous Carlos to film some stuff in the afternoon. Not really sure what, but it should be fun. He was kind enough to accept our invitation to our last comedy show so hey, this may be the beginning of foreigners speaking Cantonese in HK ;) Otherwise, it'd just be 2 foreigners speaking cantonese...with no audience heh.

Alright, and now for some snacks then zzz. Got 3 projects to finish before Friday hits!