Archive of ‘Life‘

It’s Monday, March 1st and the city is silent – a sobering quiet I don’t want any part of. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games are over, and I’m scared to come back down.

These past two weeks, Vancouver, a quiet city at it’s loudest, came to life. Our home became a rallying point for the world, but more importantly, a place for Canadians to wear their colours proud. Parties and spectacle aside, it’s the unshakable sense of community – one that Vancouver has never seen – that I will remember most about the Olympics.

We have shown the nations we are a world-class people. Vancouver may never have the 8-lane highways or the sprawling skyline, but the world will remember us for our kindness, our vigor, and our hospitality.

I’m not petitioning for the Olympic party to continue; we’re all ready for some rest. What I am saying, is that we have a good thing here. We’ve spent a lot of time and money on the games – and so will our generations to follow. Let’s take this momentum, and build our community. Our arts, our culture, our people – it’s abundantly clear we have a lot to celebrate.

So Vancourites – let down your walls, smile and strike up a conversation. We’ve all proven we’re human. Let’s stay that way.

2009 was my best year yet, full of firsts and lots of learning. All areas of my life – especially music, photography, marketing (and my waistline) – saw great changes. Still, with each new year, there’s much to be done. By the end of 2010, I will

• Learn to live in the moment by putting the iPhone down and leaving the camera behind.
• Use goals and the Pomodoro Technique so I can get more done.
• Be kinder because people are all that matter in the end.
• Stop being a perfectionist so I can learn to let go.
• Learn mandarin and travel to China because it’s time I get in touch with my roots.
• Learn to communicate better because connections are everything.
• Read more and practice perfect practice so I can grow.
• Launch Synthios, my online music academy.
• Release my album “Prelude”. (It’s been on hold for years.)
• License my music and photos because it’s about time passion paid off.
• Get Explored on Flickr 25 times because once isn’t enough.
• Sleep a decent amount at a decent hour because these panda eyes aren’t flattering.
• Drop 25 pounds because being round doesn’t help the panda situation.

This list is bound to grow over the next few days, but these are the main items. So – if I’m not sexy by the end of 2010, you all have permission to yell at me.

How about you? What are your resolutions? How do you keep yourself motivated? (I keep copies of my goals in rooms I spend the most time in.)

Four hours. Last night, it took me four hours to piece together a show review – and I HATED it. Stuffy and contrived, I wrote without life. To be honest, I’m a little ashamed to have even sent it, but little is perfect and the world doesn’t wait. Still, time’s never an excuse for sucking.

Mid-review, I came here looking for inspiration, but only found the reason for it’s absence: my brain atrophied. Dead. I’ve only written one post this month. That’s shameful for a marketer.

I used to pride myself in my writing; I won’t claim to greatness, but it was a distinctive voice and I won’t let it go. So, here I am, apologizing to you and to myself for being an empty shell. While I’ll never go Twitter Shitter on you, I promise to speak. There is a lot of music, food, and photography to be shared.

Four hours. That’s just embarrassing.

Upcoming Events

This Saturday, May 23rd, I’ll be covering Track One of the Epson Print Academy. If you’re looking to upgrade your photo skills and meet some of the finest in the industry, make sure to register online and come by.

On Saturday, May 30th, I’ll be spinning trance alongside DJ Transitory, Kidd Zenn, TremL, and Waxkilla in Chilliwack for Industry Nightclub’s 3rd Year Anniversary party. I’ll be running around with the camera while I’m not at the decks, so make sure to catch me on the dance floor and say hello! (I’m on from 11PM-12AM.)

Sorry for the hiatus, folks. The last couple weeks have been crazy, but a hell of a lot of fun. Let’s dive in with Twittervision on.

Friday, March 20th was a good night for electronic dance music. Blake Jarell, Menno de Jong and Gareth Emery rocked the party at Richards on Richards. Geek highlight of the night: Menno closed his set with Lisa Miskovsky’s ‘Still Alive‘; he was also celebrating his birthday.

Sunday, March 22nd was all sorts of photo awesome. Camera guru Mikey Valdes invited me out to a shoot to meet a handful of other super-talented shutterbugs. There was CDJ action and it was awesome. Met someone who looks better in my headphones than I do and I got jealous.

Sunday, March 22nd continues the photo trend with some long-exposure goodness. Not much success, but the company rocked and we got a trance session in at the end.

Tuesday, March 24th brought Pete Tong to town. A very tech-heavy set; I swear the man kept this one song going for over ten minutes. Not a very animated character, but definitely knows how to work that laptop.

Wednesday, March 25th was my first gig ever. Spun top 40 at the Convocation Mall in Simon Fraser University from 11AM-3:30PM for ‘Balding for Dollars’. Kudos to the organizers, volunteers and shaved heads for raising over $5,000 for kids with cancer. Post-event Subway grub brought up some very mature views on life; much respect for the company I was with for they are decades beyond their years.

Wednesday, March 25th was also my first time at Chambar out in Gastown. Mussels were fantastic. Same goes for the service and the ambiance. You know what was the best part though? (Besides the company, naturally.) The fries. Awesome. Now, to get a review together for Yum! Vancouver …

Thursday, March 26th was a nice break from unh-tss unh-tss. DJ Muggs, Rahzel, MC Supernatural, DJ JS1 and DJ QBert came to town to rock the smallest party I have ever seen at Gossip. Came to see QBert, but got blown away by the entire lineup. Much new found respect for hip-hop.

Saturday, March 28th had my heart pounding at 200 beats per minute; I got called in as an alternate trance DJ at Effin’ Party, a rave out in Langley. Rocked a near-empty room from 4-6:30AM, but loved every minute of it. No monitors and bleed from the main room made things tricky, but things pulled through and those who were there enjoyed the show.

Sunday, March 29th was one very long continuation on Saturday. Riding on Red Bull from the night before, I decided to say to hell with sleep and went photowalking instead. Chased sunrise and seagulls, and managed to get a session of Mario 3 in. Met someone who didn’t know who Pikachu was; need to start a Pokemon outreach.

It’s been over a year in the pipe, but the BCIT Marketing reunion’s finally landed at Posh on West Broadway and Burrard.

Posh specializes in sukiyaki, the Japanese form of hotpot. Slices of meat, vegetables, noodles, and tofu are slowly cooked in an iron pot of simmering soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Once everything is cooked, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs.

Me being the class act that I am, I indiscriminately dumped our table’s contents into the pot.  Thankfully, hotpot is a forgiving art, and we still managed a very pleasant (and large) meal.  Posh’s atmosphere was quiet and surprisingly well-lit. The servers were attentive and all very accommodating. The 15% automatic-gratuity charge was well deserved.

For more photos of the night, make sure to check out the Flickr set for all sorts of BCIT Marketing reunion goodness.

P.S.  Thanks Annie, Dave and Mattias for putting this together!

Music is my fire in life. I make it a point to shower twice a day so I can find more excuses to sing. Though photography and marketing hold their place, they will always pale against the passion that is music.

Today, I turn 22. No longer in that ’sweet spot’, from here, I only get older. Time is short. I have to get my hands on as much music as I can right now because I can’t afford to leave this place without sharing the love that was instilled in me.

Electronic music has always been my home, and after a several month hiatus, it’s time for me to go back to my roots. This past month, I watched ATB, Marco V, and Yoji spin and got blown away. In those moments, I was so happy. I want to do that for someone else. I want a pair of tables.

So, as inspired by Susan, here I leave this button:

P.S. If you leave any amount, please let me know who you are in the comments. I’d really like to thank you personally.

Thank you, Nicholas Erho! Though I can’t disclose the amount, let’s just say it was more than the value of your typical album these days. Even though he’s one of the most diligent students I know (thus he must be broke), he was still kind enough to push me forward. I can’t tell you guys how proud I felt. So much love, Nicholas. So much love.