Acting

Acting class is still going strong. Having asked for some new material, my teacher pointed me in the direction of some plays written for American-Asians. Playwrights such as David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda have contributed to plays that address the issues migrants face in belonging to this country.

Frankly I never knew that these types of plays existed! And it is refreshing to read scripts that I can relate to, at least on some superficial level. My previous attempt at a monologue had me as some "Southern gentleman", out of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie".

Of course, we still have some shockers, Hangover being the current movie that I can think of. Unfortunately, Asians are now being typecast not in their mannerisms but more so in their job line. Great example would be that nerdy analysis guy in "CSI", the nerdy Princeton Korean guy in "Harold and Kumar".

It's also great to see that there have been more non-stereotypical roles for Asians in cinemas these days. John Cho seems to be doing well, acting as all sorts of roles (yes, I am a fan, did you know he's 37?), from space cadet to some cop.

I still have an aim to get in a play here, but given the sheer talent of the people around me, it's going to take a lot longer to achieve the goal. Still, it's good to use that part of the brain, and once in a while we all want to be someone else for a change!

Perhaps the best indicator that we are on even ground is when people don't write about these issues any more. It's just, "he's a good actor".

Achievements

Reading the book "Against the Gods" (thanks Baba!), it details the history of risk, and how society moved from thinking of the future as pure uncertainty to one where it can be (sometimes) quantified.

The book describes the many people that contributed to risk assessment, from philosophers who thought about probabilities in life to mathematicians that provided the theorems on calculating the utility and expectancy of events.

What was more remarkable was the amount of achievements that these people had acquired by such young ages. Fibonacci wrote his book Liber Abaci when he was 27. Edmond Halley was a member of the English Royal Society by the time he was 22. Daniel Bernoulli was Professor for Mathematics by the time he was 24.

I don't know if it's because the life span of people in those days were shorter, but people seemed to be awesome early. Of course, history would have a bias to people of note, so we only read about famous people who would have been the top 1% of their society.

We are definitely getting to an age where I can see some of my friends really powering ahead in their pursuits / professions, and it's fantastic to see that. It just makes me think that I need to do more with my life. What's my contribution? What can I do that will make an impact?

I could be approaching this the wrong way. Perhaps the better question should be "what strengths do I have so that whatever I do has the greatest impact?"

Of course, as I write this, having come off a massive night in town, perhaps the focus is in the wrong place at the moment!

I Feel Used.

I've heard about it here and there, but never experienced it myself until last night.
Random girl comes up and dances up close. She's fairly cute, I'm a willing partner.

I suggest to go have drinks at the bar, she obliges.
One mixed drink, one shot, of course paid for by me, as I asked her to go to the bar. Conversation flows fairly easily, I learned that she's doing dentistry.

Back to the dance floor, a bit more dancing, then it's "I gotta take this call, will be back". Never comes back.

Warning signs for the future:
1. The fact that she wanted to down a mix drink. Who does that??
2. The "let's get back on the dance floor" call quite soon after the drinks were finished
3. The (possibly fake, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt) phone call to move away from the dance area

Let that be a lesson for all you single guys out there! Still, the dancing was pretty good :)

New York - Jun and Vegas

Catching up on pictures.

New York - Jun 09



Good to get some flower shots in again!

Las Vegas - Jul 09



Go the hungies!

Belated Birthday Review

I did a search on "birthday" on my site to see what goodies came up. Quality posts!

Obviously things have changed a lot since last year, let's look at some "age-changing" factors:

Things making me feel older:
- Heavier drinking has made my liver older.
- General fitness has declined. However, having just gotten a bike (fixed gear!) I'll be looking to turn this one around
- More responsibility at work, more engagement with global teams, talking to more senior staff
- Living by myself.
- Thinking about my next step in life, and working out the future

Things making me feel younger:
- A somewhat more "lax" attitude to responsibility, or rather, saying "yes" to more things.
- Having no savings (due to moving costs, lease break fees, excessive holidaying) has made my bank account younger.
- Getting told at dance parties "I thought you were mid-20s!". Must be the dance moves.
- Getting booked in LA by Korean cougars.

So overall I'm about square! That sounds about right. Perhaps the Asian gene of looking "ageless" applies not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well.

A quote from last year's post still applies:

I've heard that men are in their prime during their 30's, as they have got their shit together and are really making a decent contribution to themselves and to society at large. Perhaps this birthday milestone is just a sign along the road that I am traveling, an acknowledgment that things are now coming together and that I am finally starting to be a wise man.

New York Summer

Summer finally hit this weekend with some glorious weather. It was great just to walk around, soak up the rays and enjoy New York. Things on the hit it list:

- Play some pickup basketball
- Go to Hamptons, need to get on the party list of a friend who has a timeshare of a condo there
- Go to upstate New York, apparently there is some apple picking thing to do.
- Kayak on the Hudson river
- Check out another Jones Beach concert
- Play some beach volleyball at Long Island city
- More public theatre shows. If I can score a Shakespeare in the Park ticket, I would definitely go
- Back on the exercise routine, surely there are enough days left in summer to get ripped and then still have time to show it off :)

Other activities that have occurred / already booked in:
- Watched Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. I am impressed at the energy of that guy (given he is late forties?), as well as the number of hit songs that he has written. One thing was that when he did sing those songs together, it was noticeable that they all have a very similar beat and style. Highlight was some of the classic Boyz to Men songs
- Seeing Bei and Reenie in consecutive weeks. Always fantastic to have friends come and visit, I once again marvel at how easily we can travel globally. See you guys in November and thanks Reenie for the present!
- Seeing some relos come from Kingston in Canada for the weekend.
- Late night funky Jazz at Blue Note. Makes me wish I could play a saxophone, or any musical instrument, for that matter.
- I cooked! Steamed fish and choi sum! And amazingly, no one got sick!

I've taken to saying "yes" to pretty much anything, and it's been good fun. One thing that I have refused to do is to start any form of long distance running. That, to me, is just no fun, plain and simple!

Sydney, Singapore and Hong Kong

Photos are up.

Sydney

Ben & Syl's Wedding

Singas & HK

La-La Land

I think weekend trips are brutal, leaving Friday, taking the red-eye back on Monday and straight back to work.

That being said, Los Angeles was great fun. It had all the makings of a good trip:

1. Key events ie NBA finals game 2 (go Lakers in OT!)
   
2. Stoopid photo opportunities at every turn
   
3. Travelling companion willing to go out, hitting random Korean clubs. Perhaps 2 people attempting to share one bottle of vodka was a bit too ambitious.
   

I think LA is too much car travelling. The pavements are empty, everything feels far away, it's not something I'm used to. Of course, if I did live there I would get some awesome car to cruise around in! It has this ecclectic mix of architecture, from spanish to modern to old school chateaus. This actually makes the neigbourhoods such as Beverly Hills quite fun to drive around.

Definitely need locals or friends of locals that can tell you where to go out at night, but that "close at 2pm, no more alcohol" rule is ridiculous. Remember, unlike New York, start early!

Would I live there? Nah, not my thing. Good to visit though.

Asia Trip

I believe that going to Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong) is like going to an alternate universe where clubs are easy to get in, sleep is an option, and work is something people do on the side of living it up.

I didn't think that my body could handle four days where:
- 2 nights I had 4 hours sleep
- 1 night I had 1 hour sleep
- 1 night I had no sleep as I got home at 6am, packed and went to the airport to go to Hong Kong (thanks for having me at your place Anton!)

Not surprisingly, I slept 14 of the 15 hours on the plane, and then another 12 hours when I got back home. I read somewhere that you can make up for lost sleep if it is done within the week of when the lack of sleep occurred :)

It was great fun. Both more livable than I had previously thought (maybe I'm easily influenced) and offering more than just the standard party / shop / eat combo. I was surprised to hear of hiking trails around Hong Kong, and we went out on a boat cruise to Clearwater Bay, which was a very relaxing experience.

Of course, the best part was catching up with friends, both local and overseas visitors, as well as my family there. My grandma (my mom's mom) is as sprightly as ever. Best conversation of the trip:

Me: "So you have to tell mom that I've been good here in Hong Kong" (this was after my grandma sees me coming home at 10am)
Grandma: "You know that I can't lie!"
My Aunty: "Well, you could say that Kev was good during the times that you were awake."

Indeed!

Sydney

The fact that I have a ton more work meetings in Sydney could mean two things:
1. People like meetings in Sydney and talk through collaboratively
2. I am a real nigel in New York.

It's great to be back, and having two weeks means, for both work and play, there is a bit more time to enjoy it. I have again sampled the goods of the fish market (so fresh!) and visited the old haunts of Privilege (so cheap!). Family is good, friends are good, work is good. Everything is just...good.

And perhaps that is why I'm not so keen on coming back here quite yet. It feels like settling and I'm not ready to settle. I feel like doing challenging things, to get out there amongst it, to have stories to tell my kids. Whether that is in New York or not, that probably depends on the job. But New York seems a good place to start.

The time constraint of my stay there had previously not felt as tight as it does now. It's time to hit it.