Tuesday, October 22, 2013

JHXXVI – Fresh Start, New Year


“Cut, it’s a wrap!”

Like many good things, my 25th year has come to an end. No big bangs or fireworks but many lessons learned from a challenging year which allowed me to explore my life as an entrepreneur, redefine my personal values, and lay the framework for some important “personal infrastructure projects” which I hope will pay off in the near future.

Looking ahead it’s hard to say what the new year has in store but if I learned anything from my 25th year, it’s that you have to put your best foot forward every day and plant all seeds of opportunity. The combination of these two actions will lead to the creation of a stronger and more prosperous future.  

In celebration of this milestone, I’ve created a personal curation project using Tagboard to capture the last few moments of my 25th year. I also drew up a list of personal improvements I hope to achieve in the coming year (listed below for reference).
To another year, *Cheers*


26th Year - Personal Improvement Opportunities 
  • Make regular investments in my personal fitness
  • Reconnect and maintain connections within my network
  • Hit a little harder when it comes to point of view (POV)
  • Recover quicker from “life blows”
  • Push myself beyond my normal comfort zone
  • Take action more frequently and ask myself “what’s the worst that could happen”
  • Think more strategically about new opportunities and alliances
  • Manage and respect my own time
  • Step out of the weeds and look up at the bigger picture
  • Don’t be afraid to take the lead occasionally   
  • Own good work and learn quickly from missteps
  • Strive to be the first to nod, smile, compliment, and forgive
  • Draft faster, revise with care, and hit publish more frequently
  • Exhibit a high level of emotional control



"Realign your life perspective frequently and often to avoid catastrophic derailments."

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Year in Review, XXVI On the Horizon


The start of fall is here and so is my personal end of year (EOY). A lot has changed since I turned 25 but overall it’s been a good. I learned a lot, made new friends, and invested heavily in a number of “personal infrastructure” projects. I’m using this post to pause and reflect on my 25th year. Check back next week for an EOY post focused on ambitions and goals for my 26th year. Stay tuned, cheers!

Year-In Review

[Photo courtesy of davejansen1964]

Sunday, October 6, 2013

“Seoul, Our Movie” Video Contest



Attention aspiring filmmakers, the city of Seoul is looking for help making a movie. The film titled, “Seoul, Our Movie” (currently in production) is focused on capturing the diverse experiences and feelings related to Seoul. When complete the city hopes the film will help introduce Seoul to new global citizens and increase people’s love for Seoul.

The initiative was launched by the city of Seoul in August and is being led by PARKing CHANce – a Korean film making studio owned by Park Chan-wook who recently debuted his film Stoker in Hollywood and Park Chan-kyong a prominent Korean artist.

Interested filmmakers can participate in this global film project by recording and uploading short clips (no more than 5 minutes) to the “Seoul, Our Movie” YouTube channel. The clips should relate to one of the film’s three themes - working in Seoul, made in Seoul, and Seoul (full explanation of each listed below in the theme section). The portrayal of aspects of Seoul can be both tangible and intangible. Genre of clips can vary but project organizers will not accept parody style clips.

Top clips will be added to the overall film being produced by PARKing CHANce and the best filmmakers will be rewarded with prizes. A few of the prizes include a free trip to Seoul, new Kia, laptops, and many other fun prizes. Best of luck to all participants; happy shooting!

How to Participate
1) Visit and subscribe to the “Seoul, Our Movie” YouTube Channel
2) Choose one of the three themes and create a video based on the selected theme
3) Upload your video to the “Seoul, Our Movie” YouTube Channel before November 9, 2013 at 11:50 PM (KST)

Note:  Publish your video by adding a comment with a link to your video on YouTube

Themes 

1) Working in Seoul: Show a typical day of a working Seoulite
2) Made in Seoul: Make use of a Korean made smartphone and explain its impact on your life
3) Seoul: Show any experience or feeling relating to Seoul

Contest Overview 
Once the submission process of the contest ends on November 9th at 11:59 PM (KST), PARKing CHANce will select appropriate clips to incorporate into the overall film and add professional edits where needed. Entries will be judged on creativity, originality of expression, and number of views and likes on YouTube.

After all of these quantitative and qualitative aspects are measured, the best clips will be selected by PARKing CHANce. Top filmmakers will be entered for a chance to win cool prizes including a free trip to Seoul, new Kia, laptops, and many other fun prizes.

Submission Period
  •  8/20/2013 – 11/9/2013 at 11:59pm (KST)
Contest Specifics
  • Open to all global citizens who love Seoul;  no restrictions
  • All video formats able to upload to YouTube are accepted 
  • All videos must include “Seoul” in their titles
  • Videos must be under 5 minutes
  • Acceptable Genres: Documentaries,  fiction films, films of reenacted events, self-filmed movies, films created from still photos, etc. ALL PARODY FILMS WILL BE REJECTED
Contest Website: www.seoulourmovie.com/en/overview/overview.asp
Contest YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/seoulourmovie
Related Article in WSJ : http://on.wsj.com/1e2J1Dn
Related Article in Blouin Art: http://bit.ly/GHjk05

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Show Me What’s Packin’…If You Know What I Mean

Guest post by Fadzrul Jamaluddin



Do you like travelling but always dread having to figure out what to bring along with you on your travels? Well, I do!

Growing up my mom never bothered to tell me what to put in my bags whenever I pack to either travel or go back to boarding school. She felt like I wouldn’t have listened to her anyway and we’d end up arguing over something as silly as packing a luggage. So, I had to learn on my own on how to pack a luggage…and I suck at it.


I always had something I’d forget to bring along with me, which resulted in my parents having to drop by the boarding school on a weekend to ‘deliver’ me those things. I became spoiled. I packed haphazardly thinking “ah well… there’s always the weekend if I ever forget anything”. 

Such bad habit continued on. When I was packing to go to Seattle for the first time I thought, “Well, I have shit-tons of scholarship money. I‘ll just buy in Seattle the things I need that I forget to bring along with me from Malaysia”. This habit is still here.

For our vacation to Cabo last year, I packed some toiletries and some beachwear. This girl can’t go anywhere sunny without a full supply of toner and moisturizer and a nice pair of cargo shorts. The rest of the luggage was pretty much packed by a magical elf – my fiancĂ©. It’s so wrong, I know. But really, I hate packing. I will tell Josh “don’t fold, roll the shirts to avoid creases”, “make sure we have enough underwear” and “bring dress shoes in case we decide to go somewhere fancy” but somehow I won’t just do them myself. Lazy? Maybe. 


When travelling abroad, the most important things to have with you are:-


  • Medium of payment i.e. cash, credit cards, traveller’s checks.
  • Travelling documents
  • Smartphone
  • Mini travel kit that includes a Band-aid, a Swiss knife, lip balm, lotion, a pack of Kleenex and a pen. (Believe me on this)


  • Women usually stuff all of these in their handbags. Well what if you’re not a woman or not travelling with one? Well, seriously…get a man bag. It’ll save your life. Not kidding. Too insecure with your image and sexuality? Get a manly looking man-bag or if you eat tempeh-burger and shop at the local co-op, you can use your biodegradable-made-from-used-tampons-oh-save-the-poor-earth reusable shopping bag.

    No matter where you travel as long as that plane is landing in an airport and not on some open unattended land I strongly suggest for you to wear shorts or sweatpants. It never really gets THAT cold in the plane. A flight from Kuala Lumpur to Seattle usually has about 18 hours of flying time. That means 18 hours in one seat where if you were lucky you’d have serenity instead of rude inconsiderate passengers around you. You really should be comfy no matter how short the flight is, so wear something comfy which I guess for me is a pair of shorts, a V-neck and my super comfy ergonomically designed sandals. This also helps you go through security faster. No belt, no socks, no jacket, all your gadgets and important stuff should be in your magic bag – super quick security check. 


    Once you land, you can always change into more appropriate clothes at the airport. If it’s a long layover and you don’t have access to your clothes then you’re dumb, because you really should have put some clothes in your carry-on instead of putting them all in the check-in luggage. I personally would rather not lug around a carry-on around airports. So I would just buy new clothes if lets say I have a 24-hour layover in Seoul when it’s snowing outside. 


    Ultimately, it’s not 1935. If you need something and you don’t have it with you, go buy it. Don’t fuss too much when packing for travelling, especially over small stuff like peanuts and condoms. Happy travelling!


    [Photo courtesy of Shoot First, Eat Later]