Switching off the light of 2009

And here we are. A couple of days away from the end of 2009. What a lovely year it has been, I'm looking through my calendar and just seeing all the appointments I had already blows me away. I mean, did you know that 2009 was the first time I ever went to the US? And to top things off I went twice! Once on my own with my manager, the other sponsored by the US Consulate!

2009 was also the year I went to Singapore and performed comedy there, went to Shanghai for some business, given lectures at universities and secondary schools about how I coped with being a local foreigner, the same year I screwed up my knee by dislocating my knee cap and also hit the lowest body fat % I've ever reached in my life. It's also been the year where I met many new and interesting people as well as the year I realized that when I look back at some of my older blog entries, I understand the importance of the process of success.

There was a video I made on 23 April 2007 (see this entry) in which it was pouring with rain and I hiked my way up the Morning Trail near home. I remember constantly mumbling to myself "greatness awaits" as I tried my very best to psych some self confidence back into myself. Till today that day lingers in my memory because it truly was a low point in my life. Things didn't seem to be working out at all for me and I just felt lost as a person, with no direction nor hope. The only thing I had was myself and that was the turning point of my life. In a couple of years look where I've gotten to!

This year has also been the year I've learned to realize that life is much more than what meets the eye. I'm not talking about God or anything like that, but things like the human touch, how body language can make or break a person, how just smiling can affect a person's day and how the environment you surround yourself in can energize you or tear you apart. For a long time I used to wake up and feel mentally bored with my work environment. It just didn't have that vibe I was looking for. I'd flip through tonnes of interior design books at bookstores and libraries and get inspired by other people's offices, yet once I got into my room it felt dead. I tried re-organizing my stuff, playing with placement and adjusting everything but somehow it just felt dead. I used to spend a long time at different stores and wonder why it was that somehow anything in a particular store just felt so cool while perhaps the same item in another store felt so bland. I started subscribing to a lot of photography websites before it finally hit me. Lighting. It's all about lighting. Great photography must be assisted with great lighting, great restaurants don't just server nice food, they serve nice atmospheres. Why is it that everytime you see photos of geniuses at work they only have a table lamp and surround themselves in darkness? It's about lighting and how it can help you focus.

Much like how make up is nothing more than creating the illusion of perfection, lighting helps me create the illusion that I'm in a different room. If I can't see something, it seems like it doesn't exist. So what I did was re-think the way I lit my room up. For a long time I used to have a flat white light shining over my desk which would basically move my focus to this area while keeping the rest of the room dark. That worked great, it got my mind into work-mode, however, the light made my desk very... flat. Lit up, but flat. While working, I'd be focused but uninspired... which caused me to rethink how I wanted to work on the lighting while I was at my desk. So check it out while it's boring and flat.

Booorrriinnngg! Sure things are organized but do you feel creative sitting here?
So after some adjustments, this is what I look at while working:

For those of you wondering what that purple light at the back is, it's the uber lovely Philips Living Colors LED lamp. When I added it to my room, it totally blew my mind at how it has got me inspired.. alongside the lively lava lamp, I finally don't feel like I'm alone and rotting to die in my room anymore, it feelsl like I'm in a hip lounge and I've got the company of bouncing goo in my lamp :)

I also adjusted my bedside reading area so now it has a lamp from Leitmotiv and my plant. This is what it really is:
This is what it is like with the lights off and just the lamp on:
Yummy eh? Would you want to sit there and read for a bit? I know I would, and I've been doing so before sleeping. A great way to end my day.

Which really brings me to what I want to say, the one thing I learnt from this whole experience is that it's not so much just about shifting your focus, it's creating the environment to suit what you're trying to accomplish. I've always been a big stresser about satisfying your 5 senses and I'm currently doing so with these lights, my scented candle, great lounge beats, a comfortable Microsoft ergonomic keyboard and comfy Logitech mouse and my Aeron chair. I've given up the idea of having tasty snacks nearby because I honestly don't have the need to snack while working, just my trusted bottle of water will suffice.

The 6th sense that no one can identify, in my opinion is that overall feeling when you've touched upon all 5 senses. Right now, I feel at ease. I'm in no way stress free because I still have a pile of to do's to take care of, but I think I've finally reached a point where I don't feel like I need to keep making adjustments to get comfortable...I'm finally working in harmony where the only stressful factor is work and that should be how it is really.

So this is why I say I'm ready to switch off the lights of 2009 and step into the dark world of 2010 and enjoy it as my path gets illuminated by my surroundings. I've already got a lot lined up for the coming year and I've got a bunch of personal goals to achieve. I'm fairly confident this is the year where these dreams of mine are going to be realized. I've built and worked with enough systems to keep my personal growth on track. All these logs I use to keep track of everything has finally paid off allowing me to better understand my life and accordingly make adjustments to better suit it.

And now, I can begin starting up all the things I've planned for 2010, so I'm one step ahead of my expectations... and so should you! Enjoy the last few days of 2009 and I wish you all the success, laughter and happiness that is in store for 2010. Write down how you feel today and compare it after 365 days. You'll be amazed at how far you've gotten from this moment. I know I have :)

The end of a chapter

Finally, I have finally satisfied one of my curiosities enough to move on to another. I have read enough books on fitness to proudly say I know enough about this topic to achieve my goals. Now just a matter of executing the knowledge and realizing my dreams. I've read tonnes of books and each book has its own point of view as well as new information to either completely throw me off my path or renew my faith in believing in what I'm doing.

So this begs the new question, which other curiosity do I satisfy? Much like what I read in my fitness books, at the end of the day, we get fit to survive and this leads me to functionality. I know it's always cool to get all buffed up and ripped, but at the end of the day, having huge arms does nothing but intimidate people and potential threats. From a usability point of view, they're quite useless unless you're trying to be a paper weight :P I have nothing against buff dudes, heck I admit I'm working on adding mass too but I guess at the end of the day, you got to do stuff for he bigger picture.

So, seeing as how I've progressed so much in both my fitness knowledge and physical being, it would lead me to pursue my drumming life and work on improving that. In fact, today while I was practicing drums, I realized I'd been spending far too much time on isolation exercises and my ability to just play the drums had gone down. So I decided it's time I got back to playing the drums and just followed the musical exercises in my books and kept at it. I'll do more research about the best way to advance my drumming later, because if my drumming never improved any more, I'd still be able to live.

What I won't be able to live without is my web design skills. I've recently been looking at improving my skills and got introduced BluePrintCSS. When I took the time to understand this framework, it took me back to a while ago when I used to read book after book about the best ways to make HTML websites and boy has that come in handy. All the neat little tips and tricks have helped not only save me time, but made me a living. All those cool frameworks I used to dab and learn about, stuff like jQuery used to make me all hot and excited because of all the cool things I could do with it! And then it all stopped, I got so caught up in the actual work, I got a bit out of touch with the new tide of the web. The funny thing is, I can still do my job, just there are better ways of achieving the same/better thing. Kind of like saying you can still get your message across via snail mail, but email just makes it soooooooooo much faster/better/easier.

This begs the 1st question of any quest: Where do I start?
Well, to be honest, I don't know. I'm ready to run back all the way to the basics, but that's not what I'm worried about, it's the source of this knowledge/refresher that I need to be certain about. I am a big fan of Friend of Ed (heck I'm a moderator on their forums, that's how much I love them) but I've been so out of touch I don't even know where to start with their books! But fear not for the web I have....the web! Yes, the mighty Internet to the rescue! I guess with any project of mine, it all begins with research. So here we go, for the next 10 days, my quest will be to find the best first step to re-invent myself as a new media designer/developer. Oh and a kick-ass drummer and comedian and you know the rest :P.

Oh and I've recently started on the book 4 hour work week. Long live audio-books! I'm only in the beginning and well so far I'm still not 100% sure what the book is going to be about but I do know that a lot of people are raving about it, so let's see what's the big fuss :P If anything, at least it'll make those mundane trips on the train a bit more productive. Sigh, I love and hate productivity. It's like a drug to me. Kind of like that addicted feeling you get when you work out and suddenly stop? Oddly recently I've managed to mentally avoid that weird feeling because I've finally convinced myself the importance of rest from exercise and I have results to prove its usefulness! Now if only I could convince myself of the importance of some "do whatever" time :\... oh well maybe this book'll be the magic pill!

The end of near

And here we are, the mighty month of June, hinting the arrival of the mid-way point of 2009. It's fascinating how these "dates" act as some sort of miracle turning point for a lot of people. Like new years suddenly empowers thousands to change their ways, all in a day. I admit, I'm one of them, but I often use it as an excuse to make changes. Kind of like I tell myself "alright man, it's a new year, a new mind-set and a new level of success" rather than "ok ok I'm going to do this starting 1 Jan!" the thing is, and if you read my previous posts near the new years' time, I often like to do a new years test run of all my resolutions for a few weeks to work out the kinks of everything before I really go with the "ok starting 1st Jan, I want to..." chant.

Speaking of chanting and repetitions, I've been continuously doing a lot of research about fitness and healthy eating and it feels good to get to a point a lot of the books seem to be repeating themselves. That means I've fully got the concept behind a lot of this. Of course, there's still a lot to learn, but the point is, I can now confidently plan out my meals, my workouts, etc. knowing exactly why I have to do everything. I mean, I've been studying factors such as how fast/slow you should lift a weight as well as let it down. In fact, after knowing all this, a lot of things make sense. I can even feel differences in my body and it no longer is "oh I feel sore", but it's a different type of sore. It's like I've better understood the different types/levels of soreness through understanding the reason behind this soreness. Like now, I'm in a phase of "slow tempo lifting" where I'm working my slow-twitch fibers and this often depletes the glycogen stored in your muscles much more, requiring your body to refuel with more glycogen, thus filling up your muscles more and making them bigger. I wake up feeling sore because I feel like my muscles are empty. After a hearty breakfast, I'm back to normal. The funny thing is, I realize now the benefits of this workout and to be honest, from a strength point of view, this isn't the best choice because I'm neglecting my fast-twitch fibers and eventually I'll be weaker than before. Partly because I'm lifting lighter weights and doing it slower. As they say, lift slow and become slow. But aren't your muscles getting bigger? Yes, that's true, but they're getting less efficient, in other words, my mind-muscle connection isn't being trained. Tell me to punch a guy, and I'll probably not be too forceful. It's a funny reality we live in.

I've found the best way I can improve is to understanding why I improve. Much like how I spent time learning about muscle-memory, I've seen my drumming skills improve a lot ever since I conciously understood why I was practicing a certain way. Sure I wish I had more than 30mins to an hour a day (at most) to practice, but it's still good enough. Oddly, drumming is all about the mind-muscle connection so training my muscles to get bigger helps my drumming in almost no way if you ask me, however, it does help boost my self-confidence, which in turn will boost my on-stage image/vibe and thus probably help my drumming in the end. However, it still comes down to plain ol' practicing in this field.

For comedy, this is yet another thing, body language, voice, tone, expression, etc. all combined! I'm hoping to do a one-man English show this year and it'll probably be at the end of August. I'm not sure if I can make it by then, but that's the goal for now. I've got 10 days to confirm this with myself and get to it. I've been constantly gathering ideas and stuff but haven't had a chance to refine any of them, but it's alright, an idea-gathering phase is very important in itself anyway. So I'll let you know what's going on there in my next post.

And this brings me to my point of being in the middle of 2009. I can see where I was on 1 Jan and where I am on 2 June. It's a good progress, kind of like this year has been a time for me to answer all my "why is it like this" questions, and hopefully the rest of 2009 will be for me to fulfill the "do it like this" part. :) So here's to another 10 days of achievements and successes to everyone :) Enjoy!

Digging up the roots

So here I am in the middle of the night. Technically a day late for my Day 10 entry, but at the same time, I count my days from the time I rise to the time I retire. So I'm still on time :).

Recently, I've been going back to my roots and foundations and exploring whether or not I need to re-evaluate everything so I can further progress. I've noticed this necessity in my drumming, especially after I watched Benny Greb's The Language of Drumming. It's been a while and I'm still working on my single-strokes, pretty much the first thing any newbie drummer will learn to do. After all that research about muscle memory, I've been paying a lot of attention to the finer details of every movement I make. It's a tough test of patience but it does pay off. I can't wait to move into double-stroke territory.

My ankle has also healed pretty much 100% and I'm glad to say this has been the fastest recovery ever. Partly because I took care of it and followed the RICE guide although I skipped the ICE part but used one of those Japanese muscle pads (like Tiger Balm) and boy oh boy did that help! Also, I've been taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements so I'm guessing that contributed to the healing process pretty well, after all, it's good for joints and well, I hurt my joint. So with a healed ankle, I could finally work on my feet at the drums and I realized my feet progress is around 50% that of my hands. Like my hands can increase at around 40bpm each session, but my feet go at 20bpm/session. It also takes much more mental energy and concentration for me to keep my feet focused and disciplined so I can hit the mark of my metronome on the dot. For all of you drummers out there, I use the Boss DR-90 Metronome which has an in-built accuracy tester and I've kept it at the hardest. I mean, if I'm going to be practicing, I might as well do it right and perfectly. Like they say, perfect practice makes perfect. Not just practice.

Let's hope in the next 10 days, I can move on from single strokes and start with double-strokes!

Another thing I've been re-visiting is my comedy. I've been going back through some of my old bits and refining them. It's a very, very time-consuming process but the outcomes is worth it. One of my famous bits used to be good and now it's nice and tight. It's a great feeling when you know you've created an A+ bit that a lot of people remember you for. It's one of those signature bits :). I'm planning on going through all my other bits and watching my tapes, re-writing the wordings and making them tight, tight, tight! I'm talking machine-gun punchlines! Also, my goal for 2009 was to have a one-man show in English, which means I need a good 1-hour set. Right now I'm at a solid 15 minutes or a pretty alright 20 minutes if you include B-grade material. I recently got to watch Paul Ogata, who in my opinion has completely blown me away time after time and is the 1st live stand-up comedian I got to watch and ever since that has been a target I'm trying to achieve. It's great seeing him on stage and being able to speak to him off stage. He's a humble guy and as much as you ask him for advise, it comes down to one thing -- writing. And he's so right. I could read all the fitness magazines or listen to every drummer alive, but until I hit the gym or practice my drums, I'll get nowhere.

He said comedy is like a muscle you have to keep training and boy is that true. People don't get rusty for no reason, just like your body gets out of shape so does your mind. That's why I'm trying to go back to my beginnings and work from there again. The good thing is, having been there and done that before, I know what to expect and what to avoid, so it makes the process of progressing so much faster. It's like being fit once, and getting out of shape, oddly your body has a (different) kind of muscle memory that remembers the fitness level you were at before, and you can easily get back to that with a bit of training. It reminds me of my return from New York. I had put on a good 4lbs and oddly enough in a week's time I shed 70% of that new weight! Woah! I suppose it's like riding a bike, you might kind of need to warm up after not having ridden one for a long time, but it's a much faster process that it was when you first started learning.

I've also gone back to enjoying Buddha Bar music. No Phantom of the Opera for me for now. I've also been reading a lot of books on mind-mapping, hoping to find some awesome trick to improve them but in the end it seems I just have to go and map what's on my mind. I had made one on a large sheet of paper, but the speed of my thinking is much faster than the speed I can write at, I can at least type almost as fast as my thinking so that helps. I'm evaluating iMindMap to see if it fits what I'm looking for. I've found a lot of other mind-mapping software both open source and commercial but all of them looked too technical and seemed very creatively limiting. Tony Buzan talked about how we keep using our left-side of the brain and don't stimulate our right side enough because we often lack colors, images, sounds, etc. so I'm trying to make sure my right side gets strong too by incorporating all these into my mind maps. I've realized one limiting factor is my inability to properly draw what I see/think in my head. I've tried but it just doesn't work. I had talked about this being something I'm going to work at every night but I've come to realize leaving something to do at night is not a good decision because usually near bed time, I'm quite burnt out or exhausted mentally and being told to learn something that doesn't require just passive reading or watching is really not attractive at all and by this time my level of discipline has dropped too due to my low energy levels.

On a reading note, I'm currently ploughing through Beyond Brawn and so far the initial chapters are full of stuff I consider nonsense. Not saying the author is not good at delivering his message, I mean it's still I already know and it's basic motivation repeated in different words. I'm planning on following this book with Weight-Training Technique because I'm starting to get into much heavier weights and before I injur myself, it's best I make sure my technique is perfect. This is also the phase my imbalances will start getting exagerated, like my stronger/bigger right arm is more noticable now and so it's time I upped the level and really killed myself at the gym. The last time I had a leg day, I came out totally trashed, in a good way. Not "oh my goodness, I'm so tired I want to die" but "oohh, I can feel my legs are exhausted after a good, hard workout". I felt good. Which is often how I feel like at night after a long hard day of work, work, work and achieving!

So far going to the foundations has been helpful for me and may be good for you, maybe you should spend a few hours and re-evaluate the steps you took and make sure they were perfected before you progress even further. Heck, no one wants to climb back down a hill because they realized they left something at the bottom, right? At least not when you're near the top.

The pre-CNY edition

Time really flies and even a month can zoom by when you really want it to crawl across the road that is your life. Here I am, one day away from Chinese New Year, only to realize these last few weeks has been ridiculously busy for me. I wish I got a dollar for every time I started a post like this.

So the last 10, well 12 days, seeing as I'm late for my entry sure have been wild! I had one of the best crowds at the comedy club and managed to squeeze in a bi-lingual show (always refreshingly fun) and boy did the laughter sound like lions roaring! They were such a fun crowd to perform for because you could see people were genuinely enjoying themselves, no golf claps at any point!

I've also managed to realize that setting goals are great, achieving goals are even greater, but accepting that you could not attain a goal because it was out of your realistic reach (for now) bring a real level of inner peace. The funny thing is, I've had so many occasions when my plans for the day have failed that it no longer bothers me as much (it still does) as before. Kind of like how even if I know I have a big stressful thing to deal with tomorrow, I can still properly let go of everything today and enjoy it. Even though tomorrow's Chinese New Year, I have to film with RTHK for the show I'm hosting called Hong Kong Stories. It does suck, I must admit, because every year, Chinese New Year is the one time I can honestly rest. I mean this is when I can tell myself it's really me time. But this year, after filming, I'll be catching up on all my emails and projects I still have to go through. It's horrible that I'm so behind on my own personal projects as well as web projects I have on hand. I really don't like to keep people on hold let alone myself.

On a brighter note, like I said, at least I've learnt to deal with failure much better than before so it doesn't bring me down as much as it used to. I accept it, move on and plan my next day better so I can achieve a little bit more than the day before.

So we're nearing the end of the month and a few things I had set out as monthly goals. One of them is my drumming. A key goal I had was to improve my double-bass speed and so far so good, I'm hitting 170+ bpm and even managed to squeeze in 190 on a good day! :P Going to the gym and working out those legs like a madman really does help! Not to mention I've adjusted my diet a lot to help promote a healthier lifestyle for me. Although I'm saying this 5 minutes away from eating Cheesecake. Why cheesecake? Well it's my grandmother's 83rd birthday today and she absolutely loves cheesecake so that's why. Oh and this is me after I had a sudden insane craving for chocolate chip cookies last night just before bed. Yes, a healthier lifestyle in italics. No but seriously, I'm eating better which in turn helps me out everywhere because boy do I need the energy to keep up with everything that's going on!

I should have a small, tiny cameo role in the new movie All's Well End's Well 2009 so hopefully I'll get to check it out some time soon this week. Ahah, really don't know what to expect seeing as the filming they did of me was really, really, really short but who knows :P People have told me they saw my name in the credits so I should be somewhere in the movie. But nonetheless, it was an eye opening experience, especially since that was my first proper "filming" I had ever done. Boy was I nervous.

Speaking of being nervous, do you ever get worried when you try a new hair dresser? I do. I hate cutting my hair because I always feel awkward when I do because it's like you're literally tied down to a chair and forced to create small talk. And if you don't, it's like you're worried the barber will not do a good job because you're just any other guy. Well such was my case yesterday. I just wanted to cut my hair a bit because it was getting too wild for me (curley hair does that after a while) and figured to save time, I'd just go to a close by salon and well, it sure was awesome price-wise, everything else though, was dreadful. From the moment the guy was shampooing my hair, you could kind of sense he was only doing it for the pay. I mean, I don't blame him for feeling that way, but it kind of sucks because I mean, had they dont a better job, chances are they could charge a slightly higher price and still keep their customers. If you ask me, a good shampoo at a hair salon makes a big difference, it's like getting a good massage. The room could look like shit, but a good massage makes a biiiiiiiiig difference. So there I was, all wet in the hair, and I waited for the random barber and he came over, started snipping away. I thought to myself "hold on, don't you want to ask me what I want?!" at that point I realized it was too late. I was getting a hair cut not a hair style. Before I knew it, he was done. I told him "Could you cut the top a bit please?" after all, it was the top that was going wild the most, and so he did, he washed my hair, blew dry (...or it is blow dryed?) and well I sat there thinking "really? You're honestly happy with this cut?" not to myself, but to the barber. I mean, it felt a bit lopsided to me but by that point I just wanted to get out and get on with my life.

So check this out, I have to pay, thinking I have just enough money for the cut, and bam! I was slapped with a "oh we charge $30 more for today because it's just before Chinese New Year". Ouch. A bad hair cut, $30 more and I didn't have enough cash with me. And they only accepted cash. So now I had to run across the street and get some money from an ATM. The best thing though, no ATM. So the next best thing is the supermarket, so there I was, lining up, just to get money. Boy did that feeling suck. So here I am, typing this with a head of hair I'm not very happy with. I've learnt my lesson. You get what you pay for. Sure the hair stylist I normally go to is pretty damn pricey, it's like 5 times more expensive! But to be honest, it's worth it. Kind of makes me think of my web design skills. I do admit I charge a tad bit more, but the heart I put into my work, I'd say it's worth it.

I mean, I get why people would go back to this hair salon, because they're used to these hair cuts, but for me, I think of it this way, while I still have head on my hair, it's a worthy investment to hold it proudly. Yes, I'm a dude. I haven't forgotten that, but it doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be proud of one part of the hair that covers my body. Right?

So the big Day 10 words of widsom are: You get what you pay for. Unless you're an idiot and get ripped off. And on that note, Happy Chinese New Year!! Let the lai see floooooowwww!!

Carpe Diem

Seize the day! That's what I'm determined to do! As expected, I woke up to a beautiful day just like the 1st of January last year! I'm ready to take a tonne of photos of everywhere then hit the gym as planned!

So just to keep you updated, I did go for a walk to the peak and you know what? I loved it! It was dead quiet and all I could hear was the squeaking of the trees and bushes. I walked in pitch black (yay to my LED light ring!) and it was spooooooky!! Woah!! It kept me alive! Not to mention it was freeeezing cold up there with the wind blowing at you at unearthly temperatures! I loved every bit of it! I filmed my whole journey down so this time next year I can see what I was doing a year ago and what I was thinking. Brrrrr!! My hands are still cold but last night they were frozen stiff... literally! I got to Lugard Road and there's a choice between the longer (more scenic) and shorter route. I decided since I was there, I might as well go the longer way! OMFG! The view!!! Breath-taking!! Every few steps I took I had to pause and just soak in Hong Kong's night view! I've been there during the day but at night! Woah! Halfway through, some dogs started barking, I got so freaked out because I was worried they were stray dogs and may come find me... because one time I went jogging late at night from my home to Wanchai and on my way there were some dogs that started chasing me (I was running, not a good move in front of dogs) so I had to play it safe and keep it down. After a while the barking stopped and I kept going and dropping my jaw every now and then at the view.

I was so inspired and pumped last night you won't believe it! I got to the peak and then walked down Old Peak Road and eventually met up with a friend for a bit in Lan Kwai Fong.... got me some snacks and finally headed home. Lovely.

I'm a happy man, I really, really am. I was talking to my friend last night and I was just psyched about what was ahead for me this year. I'm ready to face all the downs that I'm going to be thrown into because I know I have the ability to climb back up, it's just a matter of time, focus and determination!

I woke up today to a nice clean room and a set routine of what I need to do in the mornings. Started it off with my breathing exercises and brushed my teeth. Guess what, today's also a Day10 entry!! Wooohoo! Way to start the new year! So anyways, lovely, lovely Day 10 entry.

I can finally calm down with my entries now although I've started getting used to waking up and typing my moods and thoughts after a good night's rest. I've got a lot ahead of me today (as usual) but for a change, I'm not worried or overwhelmed. I know everything I want to do takes time, but that's one thing, for once, I have on my side. After working so hard in the last few weeks sorting myself and my life out, I've got things set up for myself :) Now is the time to execute. So let me just say, as a Day 10 entry, the wisdom I have to share with everyone is that you can learn, plan, prepare for the rest of your life, but it comes time to finally execute and that's what counts. Just like a performance, no one cares how long you've practiced but if you screw up in your performance, you're just as good as the other guy who screwed up because he didn't practice at all. Let loose and have faith in yourself. Tension does nothing but come in the way. This has affected my photography. I used to be so technical with my photos, trying to figure out how I'd get that perfect picture technically, but now I just let loose and play, I take snap shots without thinking twice, and just play around. I move my lamps randomly till I find a perfect spot and then snap away! Even today, when I go out later on to take photos, I'm not going to sit and try to focus on the rule of thirds, or determine what my shutter speed and aperture should be, I'm just going to snap, and snap randomly, at different settings with no care as to what I want. The key is for me to let loose because I know I can get a good picture, I know the potential is there, it's just a matter of me not stopping myself by over-thinking and -worrying in a technical aspect.

So carpe diem everyone! I've got the day ahead of me and so do you! Face the future head on and say it with me!! "Bring it!!!!!!!"

Update at 11:05pm:
The day is still being seized :) I've currently been at my lovely computer burning through some outstanding projects I have so that all my clients who go back to work tomorrow in the morning can have their stuff ready for them to tackle through first thing in the morning. Speaking of my computer, for all of you curious as to what my set up is like, here you are. Enjoy! Back to work for me now!


Update at 11:57pm:
I had to update this post before the day ends because I wanted to add one final item that I thought was worthy of a Day 10 entry. I'm reading Photography Foundations for Art and Design, Third Edition: A Practical Guide to Creative Photography and I came across something very cool, I had one of those moments where I just stopped and absorbed what it said. I wanted to share it with everyone here so here yo go:
Page 9, The Process of Self-Expression
Why do we take photographs? Do we take them for other people to admire our skill? Do we take them as a record, document or as a trophy? Do we create them to advertise to our friends that we are having a beautiful, successful, enviable life, or do we create them for ourselves, a process of expressing how we feel to be alive in our world.

I create images because the act of looking helps me to slow down and actually look at the life I am living. It gets me 'out of my head' and into the world -- it helps me to connect and appreciate what is around me, and this act helps me to express myself. Art is about expressing yourself. It doesn't really matter if no one 'gets it' so long as it was a meaningful exercise to you. Buddhist monks make 'Mandala' paintings by pouring sand slowly and carefully to create intricate designs. They work on the art for days and then tip it into the sea when they are finished. The art is often about the process rather than the outcome. When someone appreciates your art it is indeed rewarding. Someone else understands us -- someone else 'gets it' too.

Wow, that really made me think. I mean, it's really encouraging if you think like that because it makes you loosen up even more and create freely because you're doing so at your own will rather than to impress someone else. It kind of goes against all art schools where your projects are graded, but this, in my opinion, is the path to success in terms of creativity. It made me think "Doesn't this just mean that if you do a crap job, you can say it's not created for others but for yourself?" Well the thing is, you can fool the world, but you can't fool yourself. Deep down inside, you'll know if you're happy with what you created. I mean, I can tell you, the photos I took of my drum set before were awesome in my eyes. When I showed it to my photographer friend, he was less than impressed. Oddly, I didn't feel upset because first of all I never said I was a kick-ass photographer, and the point is, I remember how I felt when I first saw the photograph so no matter what, I appreciated the image a lot and that's all that matters. As the book I quoted says, if someone else 'gets it', that's an extra bonus of a reward, but otherwise, if I get it, I got what I wanted. Good night :)

Be more creative in 5 steps

I've been thinking and after a lot of reading and researching and trial and error-ing, I finally gathered a set of tools that will help you become more creative. So here they are:

Connect the dots... differently
Creativity is all about connecting two things that weren't connected before. It's not necessarily about coming up with something brand spanking new, but it's simply using something that exists in a new and different way. For example, if you have 3 cups all filled with different levels of soup and a spoon, chances are you will most probably use the spoon to scoop out the soup. Instead, you could have used the spoon to tap on the cups and you've got yourself a musical instrument!
So the next time you have an object in hand, look at it differently, throw away its normal use and think of it another way. Some other ways that spoon could have been used:

• By lifting it up, one may realize it could be used as a paper weight.
• Many kids use it as mini swords
• Bar tenders use the back of the spoon to pour alcohol on so the drink flows lightly into the glass under it. I've seen many use this when making a B-52 shot.
• What about shining a light and using the spoon as an extension of your hand for shadow puppets?

Think backwards
Instead of thinking of what the spoon can be, think of what is cannot be! A spoon can never be a fork... or can it (this is where the idea comes about)? Perhaps hold the spoon the other way round (your hand holding the round end that you would normally scoop soup with) and you may be able to poke objects.
What else can the spoon not be? Perhaps it can never be a chainsaw... or can it? Maybe one end of the spoon can have a jagged edge so you can use the spoon as a knife. Some of you may be wondering, wouldn't that cut your hand easily while holding it? Yes, yes it would, but it's an idea we can work off of. Perhaps the spoon can become like a pair of scissors on the end you normally hold it.

Change one thing about it
Stop and list out all the attributes you can think of about the object and change one attribute at a time to see what happens. For a spoon, the list of attributes would include:

• Round/oval shape at one end
• one long, straight handle
  
• Made of metal or plastic

Now let's change one attribute. Let's say we change the round/oval shape and replace it with a rectangle. Now you can scrape that cream off the edge of the ice cream cup. What if we made the long straight handle into a long but L-shaped handle? I hope you see what I'm trying to get at, the ideas will keep flowing!

Ignore it
Yes, this is my favorite step. Incubate the idea by ignoring it.
Basically, allow your subconscious to have a play with it by putting it aside. During this time, you may decide to go out and go for a swim or play a game of tennis. Wait a second, tennis! Maybe the spoon can be like the racket and have holes in it so it acts like a strainer as well! The good thing about putting aside your creative process is that you open up your mind to other realms of possible connections as well as give your subconscious a crack at it :) It's never been a better time to get lazy!

Be stupid
The last step I take is to be completely idiotic about the whole process. This is where I let out the monkeys in the dungeon that is my brain (FYI, http://www.monkeydungeon.net actually goes to my portfolio ;p). Basically this is where you just run wild with the above four points. You give yourself, say, half an hour of nothing but free and stupid thinking.
Connect the dots... differently. You start connecting the spoon to, say, a web camera and suddenly you have the idea of being able to film via a spoon. Maybe something parents will find cute to do for their one year old or that art student will use in his/her next avant-garde video assignment.
Think backwards. So maybe you film yourself eating with a spoon and then play the video backwards or even upside down.
Change one thing about it. What if the spoon had eyes? It could direct you towards your food while your eyes may be focused on the newspaper during breakfast?
Ignore it. Maybe you can pretend your spoon is trying to tell you something and you don't want to listen, so you start shouting "la la la la la la !" at it. From that, you may get the idea of a spoon that has music playing out of it? What if the spoon would make a remark depending on how hot or cold it gets. For example, when you use it to scoop ice cream it goes "wow, iceeey!" and when you scoop hot soup, it shouts "Ouch! Hot! Hot!".. a novelty item right there.

So from now on, just go nuts. No more "Oh, I'm not the creative type" talk. Keep these five steps in mind and you're good to go!

Achieving the undefined goal

Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we're going, but we will know we want to be there.

-- Bruce Mau, "An Incompletel Manifesto for Growth"

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

-- Albert Einstein

Sometimes its good to just take the path with no goal in sight.

When was the last time you deliberately tried to achieve something you had no clue about? It kind of goes against the idea of setting a goal since very often you're told that one of the keys to good goal-setting is having a clearly defined target. With that clearly defined target, you then think about how to connect from where you are to where you want to be. Think of it as an equation. You have where you currently are and you have where you want to be. The unknown is how to get there, right?

What if we played around with the variables a bit? Let's say we know where we currently are and say we know the path to take, but we don't know the outcome. At this point you may be wondering if I'm suggesting that you just take a random path or something and the answer is yes. Imagine you took a random bus and decided to get off where ever the bus ended its route. You're basically going with the process with no goal in mind. You're bound to see something new and realize something you never noticed before. For example, the bus may take a different road you never considered or you may stumble upon some place you didn't even know existed! Voila! Instead of being bored of the same ol' same ol', you've discovered a freshness that you never would have if you had first thought of "Where do I want to go?" (again, asking yourself that only limits yourself to places that you already know about).

Taking Einstein's lovely quote as an example "Imagination is more important than knowledge". Knowledge is really what we know now while imagination is what we don't know or may only know later. And to imagine means we explore areas freely without necessarily expecting to achieve something. This way of thinking can be applied to any scenario, be it trying to design a new logo for a company or simply trying to come up with a new business strategy. Any lateral thinking book such as Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius or Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step (Perennial Library) will say that the best and freshest ideas come when you try to connect to objects that are completely unrelated. They'll also tell you that you need to play around with your thinking techniques and one such method is to play around with the variables involved in your process. Algebra is finally useful!

So as of today, give it a shot. It's only the beginning of the week so there are a lot of opportunities to go with the path and see where it leads you. For all you know, you'll come across a better path to the same goal you've been achieving all this time. If you're playing an instrument, try a random style of music for a week and see what happens. If you're a designer, turn you logo upside down and work from there. If you work in an office, wear slippers while sitting at your desk and see if that makes a difference. If you're driving, listen to a different radio station. The key is to do something where you're not sure why you're doing it or what you're going to get out of it.

Oh, I just had to point this out. Do draw the line between achieving the undefined goal and achieving the stupid goal. Telling yourself to juggle knives to see what happens isn't exactly a wise idea. Juggling plastic knives on the other hand...

Every 10 days, every 6 months

That's my goal.

I start with one of my idols, Thomas Edison's self-made goal for life:

He promised that he would turn out a minor invention every ten days and a big invention every six months.

So in the same way, this is my goal for this blog. To write an entry of some significance every 10 days, and have an entry that perhaps mixes everything I've learnt and explored in the past 6 months.

If you've read this far, that means you're prepared to hear me talk about my dreams and other crap and so I shall do exactly that. This blog is basically my new (yes, like many people, I've tried blogging and writing journals a few times and eventually never followed through and gave us) and final blog I plan on using. I'm not saying this like someone would say "Oh, she's the one for me." after their first date. I've dated many journals and blogs and well this time, as Anthony Robbins suggested in one of his seminars (or tapes, I don't remember :P), you sometimes need to get pressured otherwise you'll never be able to force yourself to move forward. So I'm announcing this to the currently zero audience I have, but one day when the community builds up, this will be a funny post to re-read :).

So what will I talk about on my blog? Well, my current interests which as of this moment include the following:

• Drumming
• Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash (currently it's on version 8)
• Getting things done (GTD)
• Personal productivity
• Creativity
• Design
• General life (every blog must touch on this topic :P)
  

Currently I'm reading a book called Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius by Michael Mikalko which is blowing my mind with great theories and techniques behind creativity and I look forward to sharing them with you along with whatever great things I achieve with them.

So for the umpteenth time, good luck to me and my blog!

P.S. A note to self, right now, I'm using blogger's ready-made templates after a few failed attempts to properly use my own template. I realized I was wasting a lot of time waiting for myself to create that perfect look for my blog while ideas were clogging up my notebooks (my beautiful Moleskine Planner :)) and I was slowly getting more and more discouraged to even create the blog at all.