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- Apparently, I am Hong Kong's funniest person as of 2007. Yummy :D
Update: And now I'm the Hong Kong's funniest person as of 2008 :)
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Logs, logs, logs, logs and more logs
2009-02-04 12:13PM / 會員可以看
I've come to realize I'm the type of guy hat loves to keep logs of everything I do. I keep records of my comedic performances on video tapes, I log my drum practice sessions, my fitness workouts, even what I eat every day! Heck, I'm (b)logging right now!
The other day, I was at the gym, lifting weights when one of my fellow iron pumpers came up to me (he's seen me there and always smiles and occasionally has a small chat with me) and told me to stop logging everything down (I carry a notepad and pen with me to keep track of how much weight I lifted compared to my last session, so I don't get lazy) and told me to just lift as much as I could and I'd get stronger. It made me think, was this overkill? I mean to keep track of things to this point, does it take the fun out of the whole deal? When I log down everything I eat, do I forget to enjoy what I eat because I'm so busy worrying about the nutritional content of what I'm eating?!
Honestly, it took me less than a second to realize, no, I love logging what I do. This way, I have a starting point from where to keep progressing. Not to mention it gives me more motivation to try harder because I've got written proof of where I was and where I am now. I mean, if I re-read posts in my blog that are like almost 2 years old, I'd even read about how I felt after having arguments with people, I'd remember those memories of struggling with my 1st comedic act, heck, I even have a post where I was so excited that I did 20 minutes of comedy in Cantonese! Now I can do a 1 hour show! :D Hell, my fitness log keeps me in check every time I'm at the gym because if I'm not getting better, I know something's wrong. Then I can go back to my food log and check if I've been eating right and perhaps it'll explain why my energy levels were lower than usual. Come to think of it, I feel like an Area 51 experiment but without the scientists around me, but instead, inside me.
I do admit, sometimes when you have logs of everything, you have a tough time maintaining these logs. It takes me time to actually stop, write down my drum speeds and progress and compare them to previous practice sessions. Time I could have been using to enjoy the sunshine or reading a book instead. Speaking of reading books, it's been so darn long since I actually read a book. It's crazy. I used to read my books on buses and trains but now I've almost always cut out taking the bus anywhere because I've come to realize it takes me just as much time to walk to the closest train station as it would if I waited for a bus, took the bus, then took the train. Not to mention I get that little walk and save some money! Win, win I tell you! :D Especially now that it's still a bit cool, I'm not all drenched in my sweat from walking around, so I might as well make the most of it while it lasts. I'll miss this when summer comes.
And when I'm on the train, I usually have my music playing and I'm just giving my brain the massage it deserve with some nice music. Ok, nice is a relative term I must admit. Last night I was out with a friend for dinner and we were talking about our musical preferences. As many people know, I love metal. And when talking about it, it made me realize (and I've probably said this before) that metal is one type of music you can't fake enjoying to be cool. Unlike, say, hip hop or jazz, it's not that easy on the ears so if you don't like it, after a while, it's going to show. Don't get me wrong, I listen to jazz and hip hop too, but given a choice, it's usually metal first :) Recently, my workouts have been always fueled with Lamb of God's album Sacrament or a collection of my favorite Chimaira songs. It's gotten to the point that I have a psychological switch when these songs come on. Like I'd be walking on the road and when one of the songs, such as Lamb of God's Again we Rise or Redneck comes on, my mind will suddenly have images of the gym and weight plates. I've recently even been learning the drums to that song and it's a lot of fun, not too hard to play, but does require some focus because of the fills.
Speaking of drumming, so here we are in February and I had a new year's resolution of constantly working on my drumming skills from month to month. So here's the breakdown for those of you (read me):- Blast Beat #1 fastest stable speed: 150bpm
- Stable double bass pedal for 1 minute: 155bpm
- Song learned: Lamb of God - Redneck
- Song perfected: Chimaira - Power Trip
- Song in progress: Lamb of God - Now You've Got Something to Die For
- Blast Beat #1 fastest stable speed: 150bpm
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The pre-CNY edition
2009-01-25 1:46PM / 會員可以看
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!!
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2009 for the win!
2009-01-12 12:55AM / 會員可以看
Hello and happy new year! How is everyone doing so far? I hope these last few days have been an awesome start for you! It sure has been a hectic bun worthy beginning to 2009 for me. I had an awesome (2nd) one man show on the 9th, the crowd was just perfect, people wanted to be part of the show and thank Goodness I didn't end up being a jerk to anyone :)
But boy this weekend just zoomed by me! I mean omfg it's almost Monday morning. Woah what?! I have some filming tomorrow in the morning at like 10am so this won't be a long post simply because, well if I type now, I'll regret it later. But to keep with my goal of staying up with my GTD list, I must finish my lovely Day 10 entry before I hit the sack.
Ahh, doesn't sleep sound so good when you know you don't have much of it, but at the same time, on days you sleep in, don't you sometimes wake up regretting it because you burnt up half your day? Recently, my sleeping pattern has gotten screwed over and I'm back to my like 5/6am sleeping and it sucks! However, hopefully this week of crazy filming will force me to fix that and so by the next Day 10 entry, I should be back on track and rising before the sun goes down :P Actually, how many people enjoy staying up late nights? I must say, there was a time I really loved them, because I could focus, it forced me to do my work and nothing else since nothing else was open, however, it also meant that I'd wake up and rush to get everything done before everyone else called it a day.. and should I find myself out at night with my friends, I'd feel guilty because I really should be working at that time.
But ah things have been off to a really good start so far and I'm looking forward to a really kick-ass rest of the year. Last year, on New Year's night I went up hiking on my own in the super duper cold weather and well, I was talking to myself during the journey. Call me crazy or whatever, I love it :) I bet everyone talks to themselves all the time :P I say it's actually healthy. But yea, going back to that, I talked to myself and kind of tried to envision what 2008 would be like and to be honest, a lot of things I wanted to achieve I didnt, but there were a load of things I never dreamed about and they happened so in many ways, my 2008 was better than I hoped for, so for 2009, I'm excited and so far things are working out. Don't get me wrong, it;s only been like 2 weeks and I've already had a day of frustration where I felt like I didn't have time for myself and my own stuff. I mean, this is a common situation for me it seems since I'm always whipped up with all the things I'm involved in, but it's good to stop and go "RAH!" every now and then make the best of the situation. I guess if there's one thing I've learnt so far it's that it's not about how many plans you follow and how many goals you achieve, it's about maximizing the moment more than anything else. I mean, as long as I know I tried my best, even if none of the things I planned to do today were realized, I know it wasn't due to my laziness, it was a choice I made and well, I still have tomorrow to achieve them :) And you know what, this way of thinking sure as hell is un-stressing me out a lot more... anyhoo, it's bed time so have a good night and see you in 10 days! :D
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2009 - Let's get this party started!
2009-01-01 10:27PM / 會員可以看
Alright! We're 1 day into the new year and so far so good. I just stayed home and enjoyed an "early" night to pass 2008 into 2009 because I had a packed schedule for 1 Jan 2009 and now it's 10:28pm and all I can say is, one day into this year and so far so good :).
So how has it been treating you so far? I have to admit, there were a heck of a lot of "things to get done before 2009" I had written out in the middle of December 2008 that I never managed to get done so now I've moved this "things to get done before2009Chinese New Year" so that leaves me approximately 3 weeks to sort it all out.
In my last entry, I talked about my plan to achieve all my drumming goals and you know what? It's working!! I'm so excited. I was practicing some drums tonight and since it's beats day (ie. play cover song), I was working on Chimaira's Power Trip and the last time I played it, I managed to clock the song properly at 152bpm, today I hit 165 bpm! And even just barely managed 170bpm! That is playing everything correctly, not cheating anywhere! The song's actually approximately 183bpm, so I still got a bit to go but hey, my goal of improving my feet by 4 bpm a month has already been achieved! So as long as in Feb 2009, I'm clocking 169bpm or more on my double pedals, I'm right on track. I better be able to perfect this song by the end of this month.
As for my blast beating, I've got it stabilized at 135bpm and working on 140bpm.
Yes, I shall stop talking about drums from here on :)
I've been sitting at my computer all evening catching up on work and going through all my files and basically been doing a lot of digital house-keeping. I must say, everything is good, though there's a lot more I still need to do, like changing the way I partition my hard drives. I'm a memory freak so I have like 4 hard drives plugged into my system and so far, none of them have gone bad (they better not!) but I have to re-organize everything which is going to be a real pain!
Also, for all of you who are wondering "why is Vivek always whining about being busy? What the heck is he always doing anyway?" Well let me tell you my friend, I was at RTHK this morning, on New Year's Day, doing a live radio show at 10:30am and I will be recording another show tomorrow in the afternoon, then comes Saturday and I have some late night filming for a friend of mine, followed by Sunday which sees me at a Press Conference for a big comedy show we're doing in Feb 2009, and on Sunday night, at 7:30pm, the documentary I'm hosting, Hong Kong Stories is airing and the 1st episode has me, an Indian, as a case study :) So remember to tune in to ATV World (Hong Kong viewers only, sorry), at 7:30pm and enjoy! :D My 2nd one-man show is on the 9th of Jan 2009 so there's that awaiting me, alongside some corporate gigs I got lined up, so voila, here's just a glimpse of the craziness that is my daily life.
But on a brighter note, I have to say, no complaints so far regarding 2009 and that means I'm off to a good start. It's almost 11pm, and let me just say, I'm looking forward to an early night tonight and finally get down to clearing out all the things I have on my to do list. I wish everyone the best things in 2009 and hope you achieve everything you set out to achieve! If not, just enjoy the ride and be happy :)
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The Year End/New Year Edition
2008-12-22 2:33PM / 會員可以看
And we're back. Another wonderful Day 10 entry and this marks the beginning of my new year's resolution. Yes, I know it's still not yet 2009, but I usually start mine approximately 10 days before the new year so I can work out any bumps along the road. I find that if I say I want to start on 1 Jan and once I find a problem, I feel like it's a big dent in my resolution and it crashes into my confidence and just makes the whole thing seem like a mess.
So how are you and what are your resolutions? But before we go into that, how many of your previous years' resolutions did you manage to accomplish? This is always a sensitive topic. Well I'll admit, there are a tonne of things I didn't manage to accomplish, for example, it's been over 2 years since I told myself I really want/need to master the use of Adobe Illustrator and till today, I'm not confident in using it like I am with say Adobe Photoshop. However, I have to admit, putting this next to all the things I did accomplish makes it seem like a very minor set back. For one, where I am as of today has completely surpassed where I aimed to be, at least with my comedy and my band as well as my self-confidence. I've said this over and over again, success breeds success and the more you succeed, the more you believe you can succeed and in doing so you succeed more. And it goes the same way, failure breeds failure. The more you screw up, the more you will screw up. Think about it, the more you feel depressed about say, your body composition, the more you're going to avoid the gym and hit that tub of yummy ice cream and end up hating yourself even more.
For those of you following my blog, you'll realize that I'm one to believe in invest now, reap tomorrow. A prime example is my drumming. Had I not picked up those drum sticks and invested in an electronic drum set 3 years ago, I'd still be dreaming about playing drums today. I will never, ever forget the days I used to stare into the mirror and air drum thinking it was the coolest thing since slice bread but feeling hopeless as I knew I couldn't drum so who was I really kidding? But then again, no one was born with the ability to drum or do a lot of things for that matter, it's something you just have to start now and keep working at it. Then you have those excuses of oh but I'm too old to start. It's like that with any musical instrument. I started playing drums at 23, that's a pretty darn late age to start seeing as every other 23 year old drummer I knew put my skills to shame. However, with disciplined practice all the time, I've managed to grow fast in the last 3 years. At least I'm proud of my drumming abilities for a 3 year old player. Another great example is someone who doesn't know how to ride a bicycle. It's a shame if you're my age and you can't ride a bicycle. Imagine needing training wheels when you're old enough to shave yourself? How embarrassing is that?! But to be honest, embarrassment is really all in your head. Sure, it's easier said than done, but it really is. Take for example a guy who has to dress up for work, say in a clown suit. Is he embarrassed to be in that suit? Perhaps on the first few days, after that it just becomes normal. I try my best to keep reminding myself of that idea. Especially when I'm at the gym working out during the time the trainers are. Just keep reminding myself that at one point, these trainers were as weak as me :) I'll get there. Oh and keeping a log really, really helps. Like I have a training log that reminds me what weight I was pushing in my last work out and that definitely puts a smile to my face when I see myself pumping a tad bit more today than I did last time.
So what are my new year's resolutions? Well this year I'm going to try to take it as seriously as I can. Not just putting down points "Learn illustrator". After reading countless books on achievements and goal setting, I've come to realize, goal setting is a bit more than just setting a goal. You need to work out the full strategy of achieving that goal to make it happen. Like, how many times have you said "lose weight" and just sat there staring at the goal and doing nothing about it? :\ Also, I've come to really appreciate the idea that there is a different mindset for different things. For example, you have to get into a different mindset when planning stuff out versus when you're actually doing those things. For example, when I sit and think about how to do something, I'm writing it all out based on the ideas I have and what should work in theory. Of course, we all know, rarely do things happen as planned and that's why we need this guide to help us stay on track so that we don't need to worry about that part of the issue. When things don't work smoothly, we know what our next step is and so we find new ways to getting towards that next step we already defined in our think it out phase.
I'll give you one break down I've created to accomplishing my new year's resolution. I've always had the dream of being Hong Kong's best metal drummer. Sure this sounds quite far fetched, after all, I've only been in this for 3 years but so what? It's not how long, it's how well you adapt. I've seen people work out all their lives and still never get that six-pack they aimed at achieving when they first got their gym membership. Reason? They didn't do their research properly and ended up just going in circles. They'd work out great but not eat properly, or else they'd work out badly and starve themselves. So here's the break down.
What makes a good metal drummer?
Well playing drums for metal music is basically about speed and power. A lot of it is about creating that adrenaline rush and feel like an engine roaring. To achieve that you need to really hit people with the lower end of the sound spectrum. In other words, it's about the bass drum constantly fire. This means I need to have lightning fast feet while playing. The normal goal for metal is to have 200 beats per minute, right now I can hit 160 and on really good days 165 beats at most.
So now I know I need to increase my bass drumming speed by 40bpm in a year's time. That might seem scary at first, but if you break it down, it's really (40/12 months) approximately 4 bpm per month only. I think that's achievable.
So now I have my first goal:
Increase bass drum speed by 4bpm per month
Wonderful. What else? Well it's about blast beats. They really bring out the brutal sound of drums gone wild. What are blast beats you ask? Well here ya go:
Crazy eh? Yep. So now the next thing I need to do is learn my blast beats. How can I go about doing that? Well there's the various books I can buy, the DVD's I can purchase or simply falling in love with the power of YouTube and all the free lessons you get on it. I'm going with YouTube. Lovely.
Learn 1 type of blast beat per month
Now I've also got to have crazy speed fills to help my musicality. I've found one of my weaknesses in drumming are fills. A lot of my fills I create are groovy. Not as in cool, but like bouncy. I really like playing drums that make people want to bounce (hip hop drumming is fun!) but I need that intensity sometimes, like a car engine roaring, not bouncing, so I have to work on my single stroke rolls. Single stroke rolls?
Saw the ending? See how the seemingly boring beats suddenly became so brutal all because it was done super, duper fast?! Ive got 2 chapters in one of my drum books teaching all about drum fills and incorporating hands and feet together, exactly like you see in the video. So I guess that's where I'll have to go.
Learn 1 drum fill a week
Do a recap of all 4 drum fills learned in the month and apply them to various drums/songs
Lastly, I need to learn to be musical with my drumming as well. With speed and power doesn't come musicality. I could be the fastest drummer ever but no one wants to hear noise, they want to hear music. This requires my studying different music and learning from the masters. Seeing as I want to develop my metal musicality, I need to work on cover songs in my genre. One of my favorite drummers is Chris Adler of Lamb of God. I like his taste in drumming as well as his goatie. Yes. I wish I could grow a goatie like that. So the best thing for me is to try to follow him and learn what he does best. Playing drums
Play 1 Lamb of God cover song per month
Now here comes an issue, since Lamb of God songs are so darn complex and fast, how the hell am I supposed to be able to hear out exactly what he's doing? Well here comes the awesome-ness that is Lamb of God, they've come out with a Producer Edition of their latest CD which includes separate tracks of all their instruments. In other words, I can hear the drums and only the drums for each track. Accompany this with my search for drum tabs and voila, I can train my ear as well! Fantastic!
Hopefully by following the above, I'll reach my goal by the end of 2009 :)
And there you have it, one example of how I make my resolutions and my hopes of it being the way of my achieving them too :)
I could go on and on and on but seeing as I've just spent the last hour thinking/typing this out, I'll stop there.
So you've got 10 days to go and I strongly suggest you start your planning and begin within the next 5 days so you still have 5 days to take care of any teething problems with your resolutions. Good lucky and Merry Christmas! :)
