Migrating from posterous to tumblr: thirstythong.tumblr.com

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On the bench, after running a basketball game

Me: Hey, congratulations on your new baby girl.

Friend: Thanks man.

Me: What's her name?

Friend: Kaitlin

Me: Shit, that's a really great name man.

Friend: Thanks man.

Other friend: What would you have said if her name sucked?

Me: (Pause)

Other friend: What if her name was...Sailor Moon?

Me: (Pause) Oh...aiite.

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New desk lamp: 250k

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I was at an old favorite bar of mine in Hanoi last week. 

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Good writers are demonstrably clear thinkers. That’s why one should always seek and retain good writers for their team, organization, company.

The same could be said about good verbal communicators. I venture to state good is what is qualified by the ever so charming term “charisma.”

This will not be a holistic breakdown of what makes a verbal communicator good. This will be a review of the omissions I will make from my verbal communication moving forward in my quest to become a great verbal communicator.

We live in an age of excess. Period. Excess, not in the sole sense of decadence (the richer getting richest) - Excess, also in the sense of poverty (the poorer getting dead). Excess in the sense of information access, excess in the sense of options (and lack thereof). Excess in the sense of language.

To paraphrase Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, just because you are saying a lot, doesn’t necessarily mean you are having a good conversation.

I am working to eliminate the following usage (when incorrect/unnecessary) from my verbal communication:

1. Like

Not everything is alike. “Like” is not a comma, ellipsis or period.

2. Literally

Literal is not equal. Literal is literal.

3. You Know?

If my idea is clear enough, I should not have to preface or suffix my idea with a “you know” attached. My listener will reply with a verbal cue or affirmation that they do in fact understand, that they “know.” Arguably, “you know” is a demonstration of the weakness of my idea.

4. Arguably

Not everything is arguable. As Michael expresses, “Michael Jordan” is the greatest basketball player of all time: this idea can be argued and backed up with statistical evidence. When it is arguable, it is arguable.

Political correctness (PC) is detrimental to solid ideas that can improve the world, whether it be in terms of personal relations to those dear to us, or within the organizations we mold with our hands and minds.

Arguably, you, like literally are not getting me, you know. Perhaps, like, I'll let Taylor Mali say it best, okay?

Dare to be bold, dare to be confident, dare to know and state with absolute conviction - what is right, what is just, what is truth.

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It's been 5 years since my last Macbook (when the Intel chip wasn't even Duo). Ironically enough, the Macbook from 2006 hovers around the same price point as this year's Air - but of course, this year's Air technically dominates the Macbook form 2006.

(Note: The 256GB model is the only model out of the new 4 where you can do this upgrade)

I am doing this out of future proofing more in the sense of for any future projects I feel to pursue (namely Graphics & Design, short films). One can say, I am future-project-proofing.

The idea of future proofing these Airs may seem odd to the uber-Mac user, considering that these Macs are built to be replaced (lack of user-replacer battery, 4GB RAM standard maximum) - what I plan on doing is to daily practice keeping my workflow as minimal as possible (1 application at a time) and getting my battery replaced by Apple at the end of my 3-year Applecare term.

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I have always been a fan of Kanye West and it is not because of his Shutter Shades...actually the Shutter Shades IS a sub-reason why I like him...the reason I like him is because his success has been molded by himself from day one.*

(*Even when he has seemingly lost control - 808's and Heartbreaks - he stayed course as it fit his initial design - more on that later - his grand identity that wasn't pigeon-held to a micro design.)

Kanye West is successful because he has great ideas, had a great plan and most importantly, executed in a timely manner. When people say he is one of the best rappers of all time, it will be because of these things and not because he is the best performer (because he isn't), has the best flow (because he doesn't), or authors the ill-est rhymes (because he hasn't).

::On Ideas::
-Songs-
He has concepts, and hence, has shapes, for each and every song. He assembles his shapes accordingly to make one ultimate shape that results as his album. Some songs don't fit onto the current album in the pipeline, so he'll save it for later.

-Identity-
He chose to depict himself as a "bear" for good reason. Eminem can put himself on an album cover because anyone can (and have, and will) identify with being a Caucasian man - it's more normal to subconsciously be regarded as "white" / "white-washed" - as being normal (and "successful"). As an African American man, it has been and will always be harder (and speaking as a matter of fact, Obama will never change this) to put out an African American face and have anyone identify with it.

As (perhaps, subconscious) strategy, Kanye West decided to present himself as a bear because:
1. Everyone loves bears, hence everyone should love him, and everyone has the right to (girls, guys, gays, animal lovers, Bloods, Crips, Metrosexuals with business cards made of pure ivory, Portlanders, tech geeks with Macbook Airs, Harujuku Girls, Fuzzies, babies, Eskimos)
2. He doesn't have to deal with the race politics initially, and that first impression is important
(2a. Sure, they will glance at his name: "Kanye" - but they will see and remember the Bear)
3. Remained one step ahead of his time by presenting himself as an avatar, as we now have that luxury in the digital age - related to item 2.
4. Demonstrates that he isn't your typical (rap) artist/musician, hence, has given himself automatic artistic license to do whatever he pleases (Through the Wire, Jesus Walks, Stronger, more importantly, 808's and Heartbreaks). He has given himself license to be crazy, and as a result, will not be persecuted for it or any ideas he wishes to explore.

I'll say it: donning that bear suit for his freshman "College Dropout" album was the single most important decision Kanye West ever made for himself and his future.

::On Planning::
Like every successful person, Kanye West developed a plan for his entire career, in terms of how he wanted to shape his identity (see the Bear passage) through his songs and album concepts:

College Dropout
then
Late Registration
then
Graduation

Good Ass Job was supposed to be the next album, but as we know, his mother passed away unexpectedly, causing his career to evolve into 808's and Heartbreaks (depends how forgiving one is), and then My Beautiful, Dark Twisted Fantasy.

(Related tangent: My Beautiful, Dark Twisted Fantasy was supposed to be his Good Ass Job (his last album I suspect as that rounds his initial theme design of going from "school" to "work"). Like the better HBO series, if 5 seasons will tell the story of that universe, keep it at 5 seasons (Six Feet Under, The Wire). And arguably, one can say, Michael Jordan's biggest flaw in terms of his legacy, is playing for the Washington Wizards after he retired [again]. We'll see if Kanye commits a Jordan in terms of ruining his own legacy).

If you want to be successful, be like Kanye West.

Begin before you begin.

Design yourself before you release yourself to the world.

Make a plan keeping in mind who you truly are, how you want the world to see and remember you, and most importantly, execute sooner than later.

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The role of a successful director/CEO is to evangelize the self perceptions of team members within the team.

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You ask the normal Joe-Schmoe who has seen a Spoken Word performance and usually, they'll politely put the topic to sleep, like putting a handkerchief cloth soaked in chloroform over your inquisitive mouth and cradling your listless body of an emerging opinion to rest.

It is unfortunate too, because that 5%, which makes Spoken Word so powerful, turning spectators into believers, truly is, some kind of wonderful.

I'll put it this way: I've never seen a rap performance that has stuck with me. I've seen/heard a few spoken word performances that have stuck with me (Damn near any live performance of Denizen Kane or Beau Sia, when he was more Spoken Word and less Acoustic, or anything Suicide Kings or Mike McGee or Taylor Mali's "What Teachers Make" or Rives "Sign Language" piece or Bao Phi's "Reverse Racist" or Mush/Jose/Josh when they were emerging on the scene or anything Proletariat Bronze or Ishle Yi Park's "Signs of God" or Adriel Luis "Police Brutality" piece).

95% of Spoken Word is bad because it is accessible to anyone and everyone, which is a good and bad thing. It's good because, poetry has consequentially become, as my man Jose once stated, as ubiquitous as skateboarding (and personally, I would rather have practiced communicators around me, than people skating around me [makes me feel old]).

Just because you do something, doesn't mean you do it well. I believe practice and discipline can make anyone go from good to great in whatever profession/hobby one wishes to pursue. Hence, I think anyone can become a great spoken word poet!

The problem with Spoken Word is every organization or group that incorporates the component into their programs is they don't hire/consult someone who is an authority in this very specific craft. Sure, admirers of the art have the right spirit, but ultimately, lack the skill-set, experience and instinct to facilitate "good" Spoken Word creation.

To put this into relatable terms, think of the Literary Arts in terms of the Culinary Arts. Both are artistic expressions ultimately to be consumed, to nourish the beings of others. These arts are constructed of folks who command many different branches respectively - Literary arts have say essayists, short story writers, novelists - Culinary arts have Grillmasters Bartenders, Chefs.

Think of Spoken Word artists like pastry chefs. You want a seasoned member who has had experience in the field, in creation, in managing, in editing, in taste-testing, in experimentation. If you are an organization looking to bake respectable Spoken Word into your programs, you want someone who knows how to bake, not someone who has heated up a loaf of bread or has home-made garlic bread.

Yes, Spoken Word is like food - when it is delicious, it will leave you wanting more. When it is horrible, not only will it leave a bad taste in your mouth, it will have you bad-mouthing it like wicked gospel.

Spoken Word exists because of ideas. The difference between "Good" Spoken Word and "Bad" Spoken Word lies in the congruence of the ideas and the Spoken Word format itself. Hear me out.

All the literary arts are like factory manufacturing machines or processing chips and ideas are the products you want to sell, spread to the outside world, the size to your choosing. In order to successfully produce this product, you have to put this un-formed product, this idea, through one of these machines, to yield a presentable, consumable product.

Some ideas can actually be processed through many different machines. Some ideas can only be processed through one machine.

Let's ground this idea. The book "Fast Food Nation" was a bestseller - its movie incarnation, not as much. Kanye West's song, "Heard 'Em Say," is an awesome song, that yielded many great music video incarnations, as Mr. West felt the previous video still wasn't a good enough product for his idea.

Now, Harry Potter became popular as a book series, then even more successful as a film series, but would it ever work as poems, or albums of songs? Grand Theft Auto is one of the most successful video game series of all time, but would it ever have taken off if it started off as novels?

Speaking from experience, when Spoken Word artists create, we're scrounging into our own personal depths to unbury ideas worth nurturing. A reason why I decided to part ways with the scene was because I just didn't feel I had any more stories to tell, rather, the stories I did have to tell just wouldn't work in the Spoken Word format. Perhaps, some stories would work as a couple of haikus, drunken reminisce, some would have made nice, modest short films I could have shared with my friends. Ultimately, I ran out of stories I felt could fit in the Spoken Word format. For me, when one runs out of personal stories to share within Spoken Word and yet, one tries to stay within the format, nothing but the in-authentic, the incongruous, can come of it. And if you were to ask me what I consider "bad" Spoken Word, I would call it over-reaching, imbalanced, not coming from the heart and spirit.

That's why I think one cannot constantly create without recline. There has to be an ebb and flow. A balance. A reflection, then force. The pause, before a turn. To kiss, and then, to be kissed.

That's why you can say, I am where I am now. Living, taking the world in. After 6 years or authoring nothing I could share, I can now say, I am at a place and time, where I am ready to kiss.

Ideas have their time. Ideas have their place. Ideas have their formats.

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"I'm bored."
"Life is so boring."
"I'm bored, just want to die."

As a matter of fact, bored people are boring.

I don't state this as a judgment on people's personal character. Hence, I state this as a call to action.

If you want company, go out and make it.

If you want excitement, go out and create it.

If you want money, go out and get it, and save it too.

If you want pizza, go out and get it, or get it delivered, but you gotta make that phone call.

In other words, no one in the world can give you life. You have to give yourself, and those around you, life.

Bored people are boring.

Excited people are exciting.

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I think vices are fine to indulge in as long as they come with instructions and the conditions + risks for the consumer to consider before decision.

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89 vo thi sau, f6, q3
@ the bottom of pham ngoc thach street
100k per piece

Process:
Just tell them: "em/chau muon mai ao/quan 'body'"

They will measure you, be specific where you want to be

They will give you a receipt and you will both agree on the day to get it back, and you pay the deposit (at least 50%).

Call them the day of to ensure it is done, so you don't waste time on transport.

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I was talking to my friend, Cam, about Synchronicity, while we were driving home one night.

His definition is, you know, I can't remember it and I actually feel that I would do his words injustice if I were to describe it.

What I can do is to tell you of my moments of synchronicity which I have experienced lately.

a. I was listening to music on my iPad and was thinking of a Raphael Saadiq song. About 5 seconds later, it starts playing.

b. I was reloading my metallic cigarette case and had the exact amount of cigarettes to refill it exactly.

c. I dropped something and caught it as a reflex.

d. Basketball sequences on the court where everything flows together: perfect passes are made, imperfect passes are adjusted to and caught, shots are banked off but a teammate is there to rebound it at the right angle, to throw it back in, you and your teammate aligned to where he can swing the ball around for an unguarded cut. The beauty of these flows is they aren't informed by pre-determined coach plays, they are informed by having played with each other for so long and in that, being able to take on and adjust to any assortment of players in the entropy that is street ball.

In writing those down, synchronicity refers to being on the same wavelength with everything around you, being present in the moment to where everything falls into place.

Peter Parker has Spider-Sense.

The rest of us have synchronicity.

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In observance of my toenails and fingernails getting rather gnarly, I hip-hopped out of bed this morning in search of toenail and fingernail clippers.

My local 24/24 did not carry them unfortunately, although I do believe select ones, perhaps in the locations with more foot traffic, carry them.

These babies have the clunk, the build quality, the near-matte finish of Macbook Pros. I am not an expert on materials, but my gut is telling me these nail clippers are made of aluminum.

Good design, when it comes to functionality, just works. You don't have to think about how to use it, you don't have to struggle to use it, you just use it, it works and you get your task done. That is good design.

These nail clippers and eyebrow scissors (I use it as a nose hair trimmer) are well designed.

Prices: Small nail clippers: 27.000 VND
Eyebrow scissors: 48.000 VND
I left the big nail clipper package at home but the price is somewhere in between the two, but of course. 54C XVNT (Xo Viet Nghe Tinh), P.19, Q. Binh Thanh, HCMC
www.ballinippers.com.vn

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Ishle

I believe in god, now, I reason that's why I've been listening to Cody Chesnutt and why I am writing you now.

Work is Love.

I've had utmost respect for your work, when it first came out. I was particularly drawn to the piece "Work Is Love" - actually, I am unsure if this is the title of it. Essentially, it was about that phrase "Work Is Love" - what sticks with me the most are the stanzas/passages about Philippe Petit, in his walk between the towers.

Allow me to double-back, although I had utmost respect for your work, I didn't fully understand the breadth of it at the time, I was distracted, my eyes and ears wandered. This is the reason I am asking if I can get a digital copy of that book specifically, so I can read it now, to serve where I am at and where I need to go.

I could have easily checked on Google if your personal artist website is still up, to purchase the book from there, but I didn't want to go through the backdoor of buying it without you knowing I bought it. I want to say, thank you for creating that work as it serves my formation of my definition of God.

Real talk.

I actually have your Work Is Love CD, but hear me out on why I like the printed word versus the audio version of a book.

With audiobooks, there is a certain level of disengagement, passive consumption, purely entertainment in that you are not involved with it. There's no call and response like a Jazz concert.

I like to read others words in my own voice. To engage with the words, as the words come into me like improv notes from a trumpet, I speak them in my mind, most importantly, I sing them back out with my heart, like gospel, with what it is I am good at, as those are things I love to do, for my friends, for my family, to make their lives as smooth as possible, in any way I can, on any given day.

Being in Ho Chi Minh City, it may be difficult to obtain a physical copy of it, so if you have a digital version of it, say in an e-mail, or a PDF, or an e-book, if you can, send it to me, I would sincerely appreciate it and of course, will Paypal you for it.

Thank you Ishle. Much love to your fiance and your child. Hope all is healthy and balanced.

Work is Love.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Thong Tran

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AMENDMENT: After some experimentation, add a squeeze of lime with each and every cup, it works to balance out the sweetness of the Rasberry + 7-Up combination. A quarter of a lime should do the trick. So, in the case of 100 cups, obtain 25 limes.

A departing friend is having a farewell party for approximately 50 expected guests. Last night, I had one of the best mixers I've had in a while (Absolut Rasberry Vodka + 7-Up).

Rasberry Vodka + 7-Up Mixer:
60% ice
2 parts 7-Up (66%)
1 part Absolut Rasberry Vodka (33%)
1% air to let that baby breathe (u need some space from the lip of the cup to begin the sipping, but of course)

For the fun of it, I drafted a plan so that her party-goers could enjoy the wonder that is this mixer plus beer, but of course.

Feel free to use this as a alcohol budget for any future parties you may have.

> Budget: $200 (~4.500.00 VND)
> Alcohol Menu: Beer and Rasberry Vodka/7-Up mixers (aka "Tammies")
> > Estimates through some research and experience, but haven't checked the actual market price as of today so take the prices with a grain of salt.
> > CALCULATIONS:
> Beer components:
> Saigon Do (Red) (recommended)
> -Price of 1 bottle of Saigon Do: 8.000 VND (.40 cents)
> -Price of 100 bottles of Saigon Do: 800.000 VND ($40)
> WILL SERVE: 200 cups of beer (as 1 bottle of Saigon Do is 2 drinks)
> > Rasberry Vodka/7-Up mixers (aka "Tammies") components:
> -Absolut Rasberry Vodka
> -Price of 1 bottle of Absolut Rasberry Vodka: 500.000 VND ($25)
> -Price of 5 bottles of Absolut Rasberry Vodka: 2.500.000 VND ($125)
> 7-Up
> Price of 1 can of 7-Up: 10.000 VND (.50 cents)
> -Price of 50 cans of 7-Up: 500.000 VND ($25)
> WILL SERVE: 100 cups of Tammies
> > The estimation is 10 cans of 7-Up for every 1 bottle of Absolut Rasberry Vodka
> > Total cups of beer + Tammies to serve: 300 cups of alcohol
> > You will also need to buy:
> 100 Cups (buy something a bit sturdy, so names can be written on them, so people can reuse them) + ice = $10
> > TOTAL ALCOHOL: $40 (beer) + 150 (Tammies) + 10 (cups/ice) = $200
> > BUDGET MET? Yes.
> > WHERE TO BUY:
> Recommended place to buy Saigon Do: local market vendor, that can deliver it in bulk
> Recommended place to buy 7-Up: local market vendor, that can deliver it in bulk OR local Citi-Mart (or any other Supermarket - if you order more than 200.000 VND in merchandise, they can deliver it to your place within the hour, you have to ask them at the counter)
> Recommended place to buy Rasberry Vodka: Annam Gourmet (you should be able to negotiate a delivery since you'll be spending over 2 million VND in product)
> Recommended place to buy cups: local market vendor, that can deliver it in bulk
> > The most problematic thing I foresee is having to buy the Rasberry Vodka from different sources as I don't see one single vendor stocking multiple bottles of Rasberry Vodka.
> > Your concern may be some people don't drink: that's fine as that is what the 7-Up is for - if you are concerned about this, you can exceed the budget and buy Coca-Cola, up to your discretion.
> > Let me know if you have any questions.

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We are on a path.

Considering fate, perhaps, the cold you caught on Friday night was meant to be. Perhaps we have to re-imagine the notion of "oh no, I'm sick, my weekend is ruined."

Perhaps, we consider it an opportunity to cozy up with a book that develops a business idea we have been entertaining, your RSS/Twitter feed that let's you know about an e-commerce special you need to capitalize on before midnight (oh, the money you'll save), hang out with grandma who will more likely than not, impart her wisdom on you which will be more wise and valuable than anything you may have picked up in your school years.

On that train of thought, what if you never caught that cold and you decided to go out on that Friday night? You are crossing the street and while you are checking your phone for the text message your friend just sent you about where to meet for drinks, you are hit by a car.

To wash the morbid taste out of your mouth, all in all, to quote Katy Perry:
"Maybe the reason why all the doors are closed / So you could open one that leads to the perfect road"

Every moment we live in our lives, whether we get up on our feet, or lay in bed, is an opportunity.

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1. Because Google Wave Couldn’t (Exist)

Good design is apparent. There is no need to explain the function of a well-designed product or service.You look at it and you know what to do with it.

Google+ exists because Google Wave couldn’t.

Google Wave couldn’t exist because it was a poorly designed product/service. We know it was poorly designed because it’s Developer’s (preview) introduction video was 1.5 hours long. To put that into perspective, the Mac OSX Lion preview was essentially 1/3 of what was a 2 hour WWDC 2011 keynote speech (granted it was 10 key features of Lion, still, a developer preview [or any type of preview for that matter] should stick to its self-definition: a preview).

Even the more consumer-friendly 2-minute Google Wave promotional video is mired in an arguably speedy-conceptually-esoteric framework.

2. Because Facebook Exists

The reason why we know Google+ is designed well is because, when we look at it, we know what to do with it. We know what to do with it because it practically mirrors Facebook, which we are all pre-disposed to. This is a case where we know who the chicken is, and who the egg is.

No Facebook, no Google+

Yay competition!

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