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“Happiness is real when shared”, he wrote. I can’t wait to deliver on the ambitions I’ve been chasing. When that celebration happens, I’ll call up all you who wondered why I wasn’t at the party.

No, I won’t be a source of offbeat news. This blog post is about finding your bliss.

Please watch this Chinese farmer grow robots for a living to see what I mean.

Look at that man.

And notice that

• He found something he really enjoys doing
• He is damn good at it
• He gets a chance to do it very often
• When he has an idea, he can instantly leap into the creation process…
• He doesn’t give a nut (or bolt) about what other people think

I admire this man. I really do.

Aside from the fact he is also willing to burn his house (and his marriage) in pursuit of his passion, lets imagine if….

• He gets paid boat loads of money to do what he loves.
• His passion also provides something of immense value to the world

Now that’s a sweet deal.

And that’s where I’m headed! (or at least where I intent to head)

In the meantime, I get distracted.

I was building wax sculptures all morning, Friday. Not quite as cool as ghetto robots, but I’ll show you some pictures real soon…

Playing this game once a week might make you go crazy, I’m not sure, I don’t play it that often. But I allow myself this pleasure once in a while, and I’d like to think it helps me grow as a person. Curious?

Here are the rules to the game

• Choose someone you either admire, or someone totally strange to you
• Immerse yourself in blog posts/ articles/ books they wrote/ related to them
• Observe and note down new ideas, mental notes, and thoughts worth sharing.
• Blog about it (might as well share the learning with others)

I have been sub-consciously doing this for a while now, minus the blogging bit. It usually starts with reading one thing cool about one person, then craving for more… My past victims include

Jeff Bezos

Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, I admire him because it’s a mean feat to transform yourself from startup cowboy all the way to big name CEO of a solid dot-com definer.

Henry Ford

A thinker way ahead of his time.

Not that I was born in the 40′s but you know what I mean.

I used to just get lost in reading whatever I could find online about them. Pity I didn’t take down notes I can share.

So really, today is the first time I’m going through the process, and blogging about it.

And for you to see how I play this game…

Going Behind The Brain Of… Tim Ferriss

The man behind “The 4 Hour Workweek”, a book which really jives with me and how I want to lead my life.

Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve been reading articles about him, as well as his book. But for this game, I’ve spent the last 4 hours consuming all his blog posts.

Here are some notes I taken down…

From Tim Ferriss’s blog

Achievement VS Appreciation

If we define “achievement” as obtaining things we desire (whether raises, relationships, cars, pets, or otherwise) that have the potential to give us pleasure, let’s define “appreciation” as our ability to get pleasure out of those things. To focus on the former to the exclusion of the latter is like valuing cooking over eating.

Time without attention is worthless, so value attention over time.

Most people spend more time planning their weekends than their relationships. Don’t make that mistake. You are the average of the 5 or so people you associate with most.

My own notes…

1. I have have learnt the hard way (through being one of those kids who must ACE every subject in uni) that time management is BS. What I needed to manage was my energy, attention, and awareness. It’s good to know Tim Ferriss preaches the same.
2. I noticed I rarely allow myself to be too content with what I have. My impatience and hunger for chaos has always driven me to do crazy things, sooner. I like it this way. But in light of not turning into a mean, greedy, crazy dude, I will learn to include more ”appreciation” and “gratitude” into my daily experience for a healthier equation.
3. I’m glad my experiments in being selective with who I spend my time with has paid off. Life is even more fun given my new social cliques. But this is only the beginning. I’ve always found myself the happiest when surrounded by the right people – and I’m going to take it to the next level in 2008 with my new, yet-to-be-revealed projects… ;)

Future victims of “Going Behind The Brain Of…”

• Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator
• Einstein – the forgotten Ninja Turtle I think you know this guy?
• Who else should I go behind the brains of? I want to an “unusual suspect” – I want to pick someone very different from me…

Now that I’ve revealed my game to you – you are forced to

• Tell me who you would  ”Go Behind The Brains Of…”
• And leave a comment here if you decide to blog about it!

The general style is not really new but many pieces there are timeless.

When was the last time that happened?

For me, it was 2 hours ago.

Been attending (and organising) quite a few gigs over the past year, and until tonight, I admit I was almost getting used to the live music scene here.

So what was different about tonight?

The bands I’ve heard before… The venue (Laundrybar) was the same. I didn’t drink or sniff anything funny.

While I can’t put my finger on it, I safely to point to some aspects of the live band experience tonight:

• The emotions the musicians on stage are emitting through their music, I felt them. And I responded. The crowd responded. With bobbing heads, stomping feet and clapping hands. Random shouts and nods of approval, all that…
• Music Genre I used to be so in love with post rock (now i’m kinda looking for something else), nevertheless tonight’s gig had local post-rockin’ cult faves like Furniture and Citizens of Ice Cream at full blast… brings me back to the good ol’ days, reminding me that post-rock still rocks.
• My hair was in place. After surviving an unexpected ugly haircut I’m glad I’m finally holding my head up high. This may not have much to do with the live band experience, but it is worth noting.

Never been to ProjectBazooka @ Laundry (or any Malaysian gig)? Meet me there. Who knows… it might just remind you how to feel alive.