Notes of a Desolate Libra

I love it when we in the same industry share the same woes….

My dear friend Alejandro nails it again with this little comic strip. See the vertical note on the right side. I mentioned it to him in passing and I can’t believe he’s turned my rant into such a cute little strip.

Anyway… for all of you out there who are going the freelance route… it’s ok if no one (especially the parents) understands you/what you’re doing. As long as you are enjoying yourself and doing what you really want to do… it’s all worth it!

On a different note… this blog has been in hiatus. Hopefully in the near future I will find the time and energy to resurrect it. There’s certainly been some craziness in my life. But hey, that’s LIVING!

Hope everyone had a good new year!

Musings, Translations Comics, Mox

Readers beware, it’s time for another rant and rave about how wonderful Libras are! Maybe.

I think it’s interesting how many people feel that guys and girls cannot be friends. There are only two sexes on this planet, and we can’t be friends? Isn’t that kind of wasteful?

The other day, on facebook, I saw a friend re-post his friend’s note about how in every man’s life there is a woman that he can never be with but the two can share many parts of their lives as well as be best friends, even with the other has found a partner. They will support each other to the end, without asking to be anything more than a friend. Easily said, but I sense ruefulness between the lines. The speaker WISHED he/she could be something more to the other person.

Friends? Lovers? Enemies?

I have also been told that if a guy wants to be friends with you, it’s generally only because he’s interested in you. Even if it doesn’t start that way, they always develop interest in you. And when they lose interest, then the relationship ends. Thus, men and women cannot JUST be friends. They always want something extra, something more from the other person.

But being a hard core Libra, I have the need to treat all equally and fairly, male or female. In that case, why can’t I be friends with both male and female? Gender aside, we’re all just human, no? Don’t we always SAY that we WANT to be treated equally? Well, I know, being a hypocrite is human nature, but let’s not blame too much on nature and throw our hands in the air.

I always joke about how I exist to disprove this theory that guys and girls can’t be friends, because my number of guy and girl friends are about equal. This doesn’t mean that during the time of the friendship, the two couldn’t have felt something romantic for each other, but you get pass it and then discover the other person for just a good “mind” or “person” and not reduced to a “male” or “female.” Though I admit, maybe it’s easier for some types of personalities.

True, Mars and Venus couldn’t get along. But that’s because they were Greek Gods (in their Roman names) and they were married – major case for drama. It doesn’t always have to be that way. Yes, we are man or woman, but that’s does not define who we are, at least not if you don’t want it to. Similarly, it shouldn’t be the defining factor of what gender the other person is. There must be some sort of attraction for people to want to be friends, perhaps I am naive, but I still believe that we can respect and love others just for who they are, and not what we want from them.

Musings Gender Wars, Greek Mythology, Libra

As I have known since childhood, expectations set the tone for most things in life. As an Asian (yes, the stereotypical studious nerd kind), I’ve always had a secret complaint: How is it that someone can have good grades all her life and then get yelled at or punished for getting a slightly lower grade, while someone else can have all bad grades all her life and then get praised and adored for getting a slightly higher grade?

Well, this article in the Economist brought up that once you see a person a certain way, it’s difficult to change it. It’s also what people call the “first impression is hard to shake.” This works both ways. You can first see a person as good and then it’s hard to convince you that he’s bad… or you first see a person as bad and it’s hard to convince you otherwise. It’s extremely unfair, but it’s so very true. We’ve all been and we continue to be guilty of this.

I'm not that Innocent.

There’s no way to avoid it. Humans like to categorize things, as early as Aristotle and probably far beyond human records. It helps us cope with the complexities of life. The problem is that once we have established our opinion, we are extremely reluctant to overturn it, because that represents going back on our own egos and judgment. Big issue.

But this reluctance is what brings us to misunderstandings and false expectations. Humans are actually extremely versatile, but being versatile also means having a lack of security, so generally we choose stability over change. Once we have confined ourselves in a certain train of thought, we drop everything else. That is not to say we should divide our attention into a million tiny bits. There is a very simple thing that we can think about:

We are free humans (at least those that I know). This gives us the privilege to judge and choose. If we limit ourselves, then we have taken away our own choices.

For example, because I have always been a good student, I was expected to take (and so I “chose”) a suitable career path, let’s say a lawyer, and then work towards becoming a high power partner, though I really only like to make yummy desserts  and being buried in a stack of paperwork bores me to tears. Because I was smart, I was expected to… so I don’t even think of myself as being able to choose….

Another aspect of this is that once we have seen something in a certain light, we don’t like to change our perspective of it, which in effect rejects the notion that humans can change. Well, yes, they can, some more some less, and everyone at their own pace. If/when we change, other options come forth to greet us.

If you can see through all the levels of expectations, then you see that… some of us do not choose, some of us do chose, but there was always a choice.

Musings Economist, psychology

When you are about to do something crazy or brilliant… or both, you may hear little nagging voices in your head telling you how insane you are and how you’re making all these mistakes. Well, as my wonderful Issan told me once: It’s All Mind Poop

Here’s the wisdom I got from my zen master. Our minds are made up of all sorts of craziness: the past, our upbringing, our friends and family, our environment, our video games (!?)… etc. You have absolutely  no control over what you are thinking. But when you realize that you have absolutely no control over it, you then have absolute control over it. Really, do you want to be drenched in mind poop all the time? The Fool is the happiest when he is neither here nor there, but on the way.

Just remember: you have to let go of the bad as well as the good.

It's all in the mind.

Musings Zen

I have always been obsessed with voices. That’s why I say that I love all music, as long as it’s good music. I especially like live music, although those usually come pretty expensive. However, as with food and travel, I think experiences are priceless and if you are able to spend some money to gain them, then you should definitely go for it.

Last year I went to quite a few concerts -
1) Eason – 2/26
2) Hins – 8/27
3) MUCC – 12/15
4) Jay – 12/21

Food for the Soul!

I’m sure my friends are no stranger to my Jay Chou obsession. I ended up crying at Jay’s concert, but all of the above concerts were 100% worth watching. There’s just no word for that warm fuzzy exploding feeling in my chest that I get whenever I’m listening to live music. It’s as if a different me comes alive within me. It’s a sort of exciting, thankfulness, and just contentment that come with knowing that I am standing in front of people who love their arts as much as I love mine, and they are able to share it with other people, which is what I’m trying to do. I appreciate anyone with the passion to drive themselves forward on a “road less traveled,” but are especially thankful that they exist to show us that it is possible to attain your dreams.

To me, music is the source, capsule, and storyteller of life. Appreciating music is like appreciating life itself, because we identify with the lives that music tells with its unique language. This isn’t an ode to music, but I think just something that all music lovers know but don’t always express. I always remind myself that it is for this reason that I became a radio host, it is for this reason that I translate lyrics, and it’s for this reason that I still shell out those dollars to go see concerts. I hope you will do the same.

Aside from singers and music, voices themselves trigger something in my heart. It’s as if a voice can physically touch me and make me tremble, joyous, sad, angry… in love. That explains the obsession I have had with Seiyuus (voice actors) since young. If I close my eyes, I can visualize an entire world just by a person’s voice. Perhaps that’s why I love(d) being a radio host. My voice is nothing special, but I know that through my voice, or my words, I can bring comfort to many many people.  Such is the amazing thing that is the human voice.

Musings 2008, Concerts, Eason Chan, Hins Cheung, Jay Chou 周杰倫, MUCC, Music, Seiyuu, Voice Actors