14 November 2014

'Tis the season to be grand prix

Somehow November feels like the warm up month for December. Malls are already playing Christmas carols and everyone is rushing to finish items on their 2014 to do list and squeezing the last dollars out of their remaining budgets. I do admit, this time of year is when I can look back and go "alright, I can slow down guilt-free". But this is also the time when my comedy side starts to go into hyper mode. I'm actually currently in Macau doing my annual Macau Grand Prix work with the press team and each year always fascinate me at how my mind shifts while watching all these top notch cars and drivers zoom around Macau. Like to the point when cars smash, no part of me goes "damn, that's got to hurt.........the bank account". I guess that's the whole mood of this city where you can see lavish lifestyles and also really sad scenes of pawn shop followed by pawn shop.
Anyway, for a change, this time in Macau I'm actually a bit more relaxed than before, I suppose the experience of doing this combined with the fact that I'm not being totally bombarded with projects has struck an awkward balance for me. Awkward because at times I sit staring at my inbox and go "is it working? I haven't received a new email in over an hour!"

So tonight, I need to take it easy, get some dinner then head back to the hotel and sleep. I wake up at 5am and last night I got 3 hours of sleep so I'm totally looking forward to a super early night (psychologically difficult) and waking up refreshed tomorrow.
But first, instead of getting some random food to eat, I'm heading to the other side of Macau to get some local food.. looking forward to hearty meal and a hearty sleep.
Oh my right ankle is 99% back to normal. Not 100% because I need to regain all my strength back...I'm getting there.

02 November 2014

Sprained part 2

So almost 1 month after my sprained ankle, I went from feeling better, to walking normally, to running then foot hurting to ankle swollen again. Not sure if I messed it up again? Or it just hadn't fully recovered.

I'm back in Hong Kong from my trip to the US and let me just say, the comedy scene in Los Angeles is insane! Woah! I'm talking about very strong comics, lots of shows and lots of rejects. What do I mean? There is a very, very wide range of comedy shows, from ones that deserve to be live broadcasted (like the Comedy Store Roast Battle) to ones that should be pretty much shut down (like some of the open mics...) but all in all I see how this scene has been here for so many years. It's definitely very mature and along with maturity comes a very real sense of "either you make it, or you're spat to the sidewalk" mentality where the system has no time for average.

After my experience in the US, I definitely learned a lot as a comedian and I must say, it's kind of shifted my focus in general, making me realize there is a world of comedy where you are constantly forced to be your best or be discharged by the system. Oh and that Target stores are freakin' huge there! OMFG the first time I walked into Target, I was mind-blown (plus I'd been awake for the last 32 hours...). I'd never seen so much space and so many things all under one roof and one checkout section. I was like a kid in a candy store!

So a week later, I was ready to go back to Hong Kong, ready to get back to my life, newly recharged and excited. Of course, the last few days, a twist must happen to the plot and I end up hurting my right ankle again. Upon returning to HK, I am limping again and well a lot of my "wahoo let's do this!" attitude had to be put on hold because it's quite hard to get excited when you're walking a 0.5km/hour.

Today my foot's feeling better and I'm walking 95% normally. I've got a week and a half to go before I head over to Macau for the Macau Grand Prix working at the Press Room and then I head to Manilla, Kuala Lumpur and hopefully Singapore as well for comedy before the end of the year comes along.

2014 has been a crazy year but a very rewarding one, I've grown a lot and also improved on many of my personal goals/records. With all these new experiences still tingling through my mind, I can't wait to see what 2015 has for me as I'm ready to open a new page/chapter and rock it out.

Until then, I'm going to go for a walk.... at a normal pace :)