my buddy john brought up a good point recently. as i am working on this album that is targeted towards college students in taiwan, i have to really submerge myself in taiwanese culture in order to churn out stuff that will resonate with my targeted audience. i have to become and understand my audience in order to truly create interesting material that will stick.
most of my friends have lived outside taiwan and speak english relatively fluently. so new principle as of today: only chinese speaking everyday, no english (or at least minimal). and only listening to chinese music (unless referencing for album writing). all of this up until album release.
been partying a bit too much recently, partially because of the chinese new year week, but that’s really an excuse cause i was going out a lot even before that week. not gonna lie… it was super fun, but it’s time to get serious. no more (or at least minimal) alcohol / going out during weekdays and minimal going out on weekends.
i read some interviews with actor shia labeouf recently, one quote stuck out to me. he basically said that he doesn’t go out and party because…
Shia is “very serious” about his career and has made “a calculated effort to stay away from the party scene”, stating, “if the industry takes you lightly because you’re always partying, then they will take your work lightly as well”.
The guy did get pulled over later for a DUI haha, but i think he makes a really good point. it’s really easy to get hooked into the party scene, but as with most interests in my life (except music), partying was simply a (somewhat recurring) phase / period of my life. time to move on to the more important things. to those who are still addicted to partying, think about the BIG picture……..
Jan 21
passionate performance from glen hansard of ‘say it to me now’. fucking killer.
Jan 14
(via travie) crazy video, check it out (features ‘jizz in my pants’ guy from the lonely island)
sat 1/3 left tahoe at about 7am in the morning, got back to san jose around 12pm. went home to unpack. had sandwiches for lunch with phil/brian/justin over at phil’s place. had dinner with broseph at korean restaurant in sunnyvale.
sun 1/4 had dinner with the family at pho’s, ran into some lynbrook folks there.hung out with justin and beryl over at justin’s house, watched some of tropic thunder.
mon 1/5 broseph took off for florida. packed for a while. had dinner with joe/chuck/teresa at 99 chicken in sunnyvale, then hung out and chatted at starbucks for a while.
tues 1/6 had lunch with jamie/wei at taiphoon in palo alto. checked out both jamie and wei’s workplaces. headed over to chuck and teresa’s to hang out and watch some transformers on bluray, crazy! did some packing. went to mark’s after dinner to do some final edits of the music video.
wed 1/7 errands with parents all throughout the day, packed. had lunch with faraaz/chintan/ankit/shiva at indian food restaurant in sunnyvale. great to see everyone again after almost 2 years. had dinner with parents at sweet tomatoes, ran into kailin/deborah/iris there! went to beryl’s place to have a final get-together, watched some movies, played rock band, and drank some lamanog (80 proof alcohol from the jungles of the philippines ;)). finally got to see jenny before taking off! :)