A little celebration a little sorrow a perspective renewed

As the Chinese saying goes.
Yi Chang Huan Xi Yi Chang kong.

Normally used to describe a situation whereby you get happy over something followed by an immediate disappointment.

I was somewhat annoyed by the secretive nature, of Chris' description over our new year gathering, and was hoping that it was not for the worse. I finally got some heads up before leaving the house and thank god nothing was wrong. So I finally arrived and saw the surprise! Gabriel Zeng had come back to Singapore and is back for good!nothing less! Our truly first proper reunion in many many years!



Yet prior to that I received some distressing sms's while driving and I can only hope that there is a peaceful solution to it.

My resolution for CNY has been to become the "Nice Guy!" (Jared's thumbs up pose) that I used to be and of course gain back my happiness in more ways than one. The first step is to remove profanities from my vocabulary and find inner peace. Put to the test, it is really easy to simply cut out cussing and swearing verbally, but it takes a lot of meditation to remove it from your mind as well.

Non the less I think it is a good step to self improvement. What's done is done and in the words of a Singaporean, "Sorry no cure" all we can really do is to change ourselves and make things better a step at a time.

My buddy once told me

"I don't believe people can change. I've seen enough shit to believe that."

my reply was

"I believe that it's those who believe that people can change who are truly capable of change and are able to make the effort to do so."

Well if there's no room for improvement than we as humans have truly hit rock bottom haven't we? Nope. So I guess we all can change. :)

JJ

The year of the Black Water Dragon !

Happy Lunar New Year!

This is the year of the Black Water Dragon! (2012) I had a great feast with the guys this afternoon to celebrate this day and we were talking about the good old days with magic cards and the works. And with that, I am inspired to do a work of art with Black water dragon as my theme so stay tuned for that!

Here's a little forcast of the year ahead.

2012 General Summary

Earth Dragon in a Water Year.

As the Water Year is wealth for the Earth Dragon stronger, this is a mixed-blessing wealth year. Will benefit a Strong Earth Dragon more than a weak Earth Dragon.

• Birth Element which will enjoy a favourable/unfavourable year etc.
  • Strong Metal, weak Water, weak Wood
  • weak Metal, Strong Wood, weak Fire
  
  
• Compatible Animal Signs
  this year:-
  • Excellent - Rat, Rooster, Monkey
  • Avoid - Tiger Ox, Dog
  
  
• Good Travel Direction
  this year:-
  • Metal - North-West/West
  • Water - North

And here's my compatibility for the year...


Seems a little harsh... But on the bright side I'm VERY COMPATIBLE WITH RABBIT! and I'm supposed to be a weak wood Ox so thats looking to be good.




Oxen may inspire confidence in everyone they come into contact with, but can also be very demanding. They are generally known for their gentle, patient and hardworking nature although some tend to be eccentric, bigoted, and anger easily.

Romantic partners of the Ox have to put up with their fierce tempers although they speak very little, so keep in mind that they won’t be wasting their time flirting. They are remarkably stubborn, and hate to fail or be opposed, so relationships with Oxen don’t always work out. When Oxen realize that partnerships involve two people and two points of view, satisfying matches are possible.

Well I'm not superstitious by any means, but as always. If it doesn't hurt you, than go ahead and do whats recommended =))

JJ

Harmony and peace

In every conversation there are bound to be opinions.

Men are from mars, women are from venus is a book made famous about such issues. Things like men are always trying to solve the problem. Women are just wanting a listening ear. When men want a listening ear, women just can't stop talking. This yes and no game is all part of life. Yet the crux to communication is not just a simple acknowledgement of "I agree, I disagree".

The way I see it is a matter of understanding. You may not have to agree to someone's statement in order to understand it.

For instance,

Bob "I like subject A."
Jimmy "I dislike it very much!" Then Jimmy tries to convince Bob that there is something else better in the world.

Alas that forms the fundamentals of a debate, or in a worse case, dispute.

Some take an alternative route such as silence. To which the noiser feller would go "YES! I won!" but is that really the case? As much as how the kids use to say "Silence means consent!"(and by kids I swear I probably first heard these words come out from my unworldly childish teachers of the past) you and I know that silence doesn't mean anything at all! Much less consent.

Silence then becomes a double edged sword whereby it can give a wrong impression but at the same time it may save the day. More often than not. Less is more. And that is often the killer point in solving any disputes.

Here's my opinion. At the end of the day, silence is fine. However a lack of understanding is not. If Jimmy really hates subject A, that is his opinion and he does not have to force it down Bob's throat. Fair enough he can voice his opinions to let Bob know how nasty things can be, but one man's meat is another man's poison. And if this man chooses to be extreme about it, that is also his choice and there's no point arguing about it (unless its going to cost him his life) and trying to make him feel any less positive or negative.

At the end of the day, people disagree all the time. Even if you don't agree, the most important thing to note is that you should still try to understand the other party. By understanding I'm not saying that you have to share similar opinions, or even fully know the reasons for that person's choice; but rather, take a side step and understand the emotions of the person and why he felt that way.

With that, one may come to learn another facet of another's life and choices.

Some of these choices are like works of art. Sometimes you just add that extra stroke or chose that particular piece simply because you felt like it. THERE IS NO REASON. And even that is a good reason (unless overplayed)

And if you truly love somebody, than you should also learn to understand why he/she isn't able to understand you as well.

And the cycle continues

JJ

VIRAL Videos

I think I'm saying this too often
"every once in awhile you get to see...." this awesome XYZ

I'm Elmo and I know it!



Elmo! undoubtedly Sesame streets greatest mascot! hahah. Truly with the popularisation of facebook and the ease of access to video editing and the internet, such awesomeness becomes dime a dozen.

Which is why I'm working my arse off to develop a digital media diploma course with CSM academy international, and who knows one of my students may create the next big thing...

Oh I'm not supposed to talk about the course yet? Opps hahaha

Regards
JJ

Shocked

I still can't believe it ended. I've been feeling uneasy... So uneasy that I started feeling depressed. And now that I say it. It is over. I've ran it through my mind, but never thought it'd be possible. I really did want to spend the rest of my life with you, and everyone knew. My only aim was to make enough to satisfy your every need. And then I'd pop those final words, those words that are not meant to be. Is it over? Has it ended? My soul is so crushed I cannot see. For all my future was planned around you, suddenly I know not what to do. I've made the biggest mistake of my life many years ago of letting go of the best I've ever had. Then my heart bled a bit and I never found anyone else that came close. But through fate and storms we forged our bonds and sooner than later my wounds had healed. Yet I was foolish enough not once not twice and now I think I truly deserve this capital punishment. What's mended is now a bigger wound but non thats greater than that which I tore from your side. I now have my head bowed low, not wanting to repeat my first crushing mistake of giving up on my dream, but not worthy to seek forgiveness. This is the 2nd time I see my future lost. The 2nd time it's my mistake. My tears try to drown me but I'm just too fat that I'll float. Good night

JJ

3D Paintings and art

Every now and then you stumble across a genius who takes what he(she) knows and brings it to another level.

"Goldfish Salvation" Riusuke Fukahori 深堀隆介



Watching this video, I am reminded on how we as artists are constantly being under appreciated. The level of hard work that we put into our products are honed and trained through years of perseverance.

A good friend of mine once commented that my work was easy money and I got extremely offended. He failed to read the mood of course and stuck to his point that my work was easy and that my money came easily. I cut the conversation and never went back on it since.

Good friend or not I have come to realise that the term "enlightened one" given to the artists of the past still stand today.

Artistry in life is the ability to appreciate. Be it your surroundings or your ideas, and making a statement out of it.

We cannot expect everyone to understand us. But as much as we appreciate our surroundings, we should appreciate comments and admiration with humility as well. It is through that can we grow in skill and spirit.

JJ

Talent pooling and fund pulling

To start off I was looking at my "lessons learnt 2012" and I realised how lame and spammish this made my blog look. My real intentions of this blog (apart from bitching) was to post inspired content for my self viewing.

HENCE 2012's lessons learnt project shall be shifted to

http://jerompy.tumblr.com/

For those who actually have read any of my lessons learnt, I realise that maybe alot of it doesnt make sense.. or perhaps they are very DUH.

But the point of this exercise is to spot all the idiosyncrasies that I have actually observed and each lesson has a story behind it. Call it a dairy if you will, just that I am unable to release the stories (yet) cuz they are too current to the times and often too sensitive and sarcastic hahahaha....

Well while i'm at it I might as well post about this wonderful site that I just discovered today

http://www.kickstarter.com

It's freaking GENIUS!

You basically come up with an idea, post it to the world and pray that they love it as much as you do. And if it works out! success! A free work of art/life that can be shared with the world.

As an Artist we always fall into the age of problem of

MONEY not equals to ART (passion)

Vice Versa.

Fair enough that if you had a large amount of money to begin with and are well connected enough to find those special patrons to support you and your starving family. But I believe that at some point, many of us will cross that very ridiculously thin line of stability versus love.

Other than artists, and I speak very broadly in that sense (includes dancers actors etc), perhaps our next closet mutually empathetic friends will be proffesional athletes. But that's beside the point.

I'm really happy and proud to see websites like Kickstarter. It makes me feel like there is love in the community. Crudely put, its a system that brings in lay people into supporting other lay people (with brilliant ideas) a chance to materialise their dreams! And such is the power of the internet!

Feel the love people

JJ