Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Reflection Time!
Going back to that format of numbered topics, because I thought that was pretty cool.
1) Missed Opportunities
I feel the biggest setbacks in life happen because you're not there at the right time/right place. You may be just a few months late, sometimes just few seconds even, and you would miss out on something huge. The simplest example would be how we miss out on overseas jobs because of school/NS, sucks so much but sometimes other things take priority and we can't do much about it.
Recently I bumped into a few bike food delivery riders and I was really keen of getting a job there. Apparently they have only started their company just earlier this year, like January/early Feb. They were looking to hire, so they received applications from everyone. No doubt, it's a really popular job amongst backpackers and international students. And I thought it was 'unique' and I could get the job, I even bought a bike just for it. Recently, they also changed their pay for new riders, and obviously it's not as attractive now. I just missed this because I was tooooo late.
To me, the biggest case of 'missed opportunity' was doing something big with PKSG. I was young back then and had no idea about setting up a business or having a big vision of what I can do in the future. We were the first ones back then, pioneering the art and having the edge in Parkour in Singapore. We did have a performance company set up, but the older guys had different priorities back then, and clearly the younger ones were more passionate, but their passion was only put into training. Which is not a bad thing obviously, because what's more important than training hard? However, if there was an idea back then to be the ones creating a business and making a career opportunity from Parkour - we should be the ones to do it, before the other chapalang companies came in. Then it was toooo late.
I wish I had the knowledge I have now a few years back. Now the newer generation are blessed with the knowledge placed in front of them because the art is being more developed and open now. Time have changed. True enough, people would tell me it's not too late because it's never too late. It'll take me way more effort to clear the corruption and rise above the competition... I'm not even sure if I would be the one doing that right now.
Then again... do I really want to put up with this closed-minded society/government that I kept complaining about when I was back home?
2) Human Conversations
I stayed up to 330am last night for the first time in a long time, but it was well spent because I had proper conversations in my life with a few people. Sometimes I forgot how important and special simple but in-depth conversations can be and how human connections are forgotten. I'm someone who appreciates long written blocks of text and to be honest, I don't quite have that with a lot of people in my life because... I just don't. I am picky with the people I talk to and when a conversation goes longer than it normally is, it's probably because I care enough to share my thoughts with you/want to know more about your side of things. The good things about smartphones and technology and the such is the ability to catch up with old friends halfway across the world, without actually being there physically.
Slightly sidetracking, but still on topic: Australia and Singapore has a distinct difference in conversations, and everyone, no matter how close you guys are/even strangers, will start with the typical 'how are you?'. Singapore, needless to say, wouldn't even bother. Which ISN'T necessarily a bad thing to be honest. Australians obviously LOVE the small talks, talking about things that has no depth. It's nice to be talking to strangers, it's a sign of friendliness. But aren't you wasting you time making useless conversations? I start to wonder if it's actually better to do it the Singapore way - I obviously don't quite care about you, so let's not make lame conversations anyway. Two sides of a coin.
Blogging was (and is, glad that I'm back to doing this again) definitely something I love doing because it forces me to put into words the thoughts in my head - you just learn more when you think critically about life happenings. Conversations helps a lot in that aspect. I believe successful people have the most intense and productive conversations in their daily life... True?
3) Productivity
Most successful people are successful due to their levels of productivity in their daily life (dat segue from topic 2 to 3 tho). I feel what makes me feel most satisfied is when your schedule is preoccupied with stuff to do day in day out. Productivity is truly what makes you feel like you're actually doing something useful in life - it can be making money, doing something you love, improving yourself, anything that creates some kind of progress to your otherwise stagnant, mundane life. Nothing motivates me more than seeing a friend doing so well with their life, getting recognized and paid good money, succeeding in their goals they set themselves up for.
Obviously the move to Melbourne hasn't really helped much in the aspect yet. I'm not making any money, not too much progress, staying pretty stagnant, spending too much money, wasting time that could possibly be put into better use. I, too, admit I have been smoking way too much, to a point where it's obviously detrimental in terms of life productivity and I trying to get a hold of that (trying to just smoke during weekends, have some self-discipline training). And honestly I just spend too much time online not doing anything that amounts to much.
Really can't wait till I get a job and I wouldn't feel too guilty spending time at home, too much chill time is shit. I wanna get back to the hustle life...
4) Life if I didn't pursue film/Parkour
What other routes can there be? I can think of a few:
1) Go on to learn sports training and coaching, sports science, etc. - sports-health related degree. Not only can I coach actual workout classes, parkour/gymnastics classes, and can double as a bone doctor/chiropractor.
2) Get really good at powerlifting and go for competitions. I think squats are a good area I do exceptionally well in, especially in my weight class.
3) It would be a sick job to be a music blogger, posting about songs on the regular like MrSuicideSheep, Majestic Casual, indieshuffle, and all the cool blogs. All you do is listen to songs and post critical stuff about them.
4) Travel blogger/photographer/filmmaker. Paid to travel and make tourism promo videos for a country? I might actually take a stab at this.
Other routes that I wish I could go through although admittedly don't have the skills for:
5) Would have wished I had the eye in arts - I wish I can be a pro graphic designer and design logos from scratch. Start my own/work with a clothes producing company and sell clothes for a living, probably related to Parkour/street culture fashion.
6) Go through culinary school and learn all about food and baking - get employed overseas at a restaurant and make a living from there. (Bangkok)
7) Actually committing to learn dance and get really good at it, to a stage where I can teach schools for a living?
5) Being 23 this year.
23 is kinda the age where you're entering adult life. Any year below 20 is great or even 20 is still kinda considered the last year of your teenage life as 21 is the coming-of-age age, but then you're just entering that. 22 is like yeah just a year past 21, still acceptably young. 23 is when you don't get anymore 'chances' anymore and yeah you probably finished studies and should be finding a full-time job now.
Here I am still trying to travel around the world, train everyday, do whatever the fuck I like without my life's future being planned out. I guess it's slightly different each parts of the world as Singaporeans are technically older as they have to complete 2 years of NS, however it seems like I'm past my golden years where you can still make mistakes and be easily forgiven. Now I am expected to know more just because I borned a few years earlier than my younger counterparts.
I don't feel 23 at all, I know I'm supposedly old enough but I'm not quite there yet. So many goals before I start settling down and care about work... although I guess my time is running out. It feels depressing, almost.
-----
That's prettty much it!