Men wanted for hazardous journey.  Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant journey, safe return doubtful.  Honour and recognition in case of success.

 

The people I've met in the last two years were really interesting. Instead of going the school and college route, they all refused to grow up and did whatever-the-heck they wanted. DJs, photographers, decorators, designers, artists, musicians, boat captains, jiu-jitsu fighters and coaches, surfers, boxers, bloggers, chefs, divers, writers, tattoo artists, and more. Everything in their life revolved around the things they love. 

They made me wonder about how my life would've turned out if I had focussed more on my passions when I was younger, instead of following the school-college-conventional-work route. Maybe I should've continued cooking up a storm when I was a teenager and also found a way to race cars on a track. Maybe I should've kept playing the saxophone. In the last few years maybe I should have made videos about my travel adventures, and spent more time on photography. As they say, money follows passion, not the other way around.

I don't want to trade the life I've lived, but all this reflection made me think about how I'd like to raise my kids when I eventually have them. I don't think I'll push them towards college like my parents did to me. I'd ask them to follow whatever it is they feel like doing at the moment. Whatever it is, resolve to be amazing at it and pursue it at all costs. Wanna be an artist painter? Sure go nuts! Wanna become a pro surfer? Sure, if you don't mind working at McDonalds in the meantime. Wanna be a fashion designer? Totally, I'll help you find help! Wanna be a race car driver? Rad, I wanna manage your team! Screw what my mom says right? :P

Isn't that what we all want in the end? For happiness, passion, needs, work, calling, desire -to all align. What would you say to your kid? For your current choice of work, how did you resolve doing something you love versus doing something you know how to do?

And so it was on my desktop for a year, and so it was done. Staring at it everyday in  my office was enough to egg me to pursue all of my adventures last year. I'm not sure where or how this simple graphic was started but I'm glad I found it back then. The last time I did I: quit the rat race, quit my job, bought a plane ticket, lived on a beach, and found my girl. Each day I was happier and more excited than I ever thought possible.

I think it's time for me to stare at it everyday again. This time with different goals though: starting a company, spend more time with loved ones, travel endlessly, surf more, and train bjj to my heart's content. 

Cheers to you, and the relentless pursuit of your dreams.

Antandroy from Band-Originale on Vimeo.

Augh! I love Band-Original's work. Everytime I see their films I get so hyped up to travel, go on adventures, and film it all. So so def.

I'd love to have both companies as clients. Hey guys call me! We'll do big tings maan.

 

Note to self: Stop going out to buy new shit in the name of minimalist travel and weight savings. You don’t need to go out and buy a $300 backpack some blogger reviewed, just use the old bag you already have. It’s just a bag to carry your clothes and laptop.

You don’t need to buy a MacBook Air just because your two years old 13” Dell is 1-2 pounds heavier. If it suits your purpose just run it to the ground and buy a new one when the time comes. It’s gonna get banged up anyways.

You don’t need to buy ExOfficio undies, or SmartWool socks, or Icebreaker t-shirts. Your usual clothes will do just fine and are way more stylish than the ill-designed “travel clothes” you covet. They will take longer to hang dry but you’ll be fine.

No matter how fancy your new travel clothes are they will eventually break down from daily washing in the sink. When it’s time to throw away your clothes would you rather throw away your old shirt or your $80 Icebreakers? Only to be replaced by a $2 shirt you bought in an Asian market.

You definitely don’t need to buy new electronics to share (brag about) “the moment” with your friends on Facebook, because you’ll be too busy having fun meeting New Real Friends.

Trust me on this, I’ve been there. 

 

In November 2010 I joined my first BJJ competition.  It was the 2010 Indonesian Submission Championships in Jakarta.  It was a good looking event with roughly 100 fighters; some of which originated from other countries (Greece, Singapore, Brazil, USA, Poland, France).  Competitors were separated by weight classes; there were no belt or age divisions.

It was an interesting experience for me as I don’t usually take part in sports competitions.  Something about it turns me into a nervous over compensating trash talking idiot :)  Surprisingly I was able to calm my nerves and relax.  When I got nervous I ran around the venue or did some light rolling to get the energy out; which were great ways of staying warmed up.  Another thing that helped my nerves was that I didn’t put any pressure on myself to win.  I was mainly there for the experience. 

It pains me to watch it but here is the footage of my match (warning: boring :P).  I think the match was 8.5 minutes long.  I lost in overtime when my opponent mounted me and I couldn’t escape within three seconds.  It pains me not because I lost but because of the obvious mistakes I can see in hindsight. 

Things I’m actively working on to correct:

• Finishing the arm-in guillotine.  My technique was horrible, I was flat on my back and I was sending all my energy into his armpit instead of his trachea –WRONG! 
• Staying on top no matter what.  I shouldn’t have jumped guard on that retarded guillotine attempt.  I should have just sprawled him to the ground and tried another submission that I was more familiar with.  In all positions I should be more aggressive about staying on top.  Fighting from the bottom sucks, eff dat yo.
• Defending from bottom side control.  Work in progress for months now and still improving.  I want to be nearly impossible to submit in this position.
• Escaping side control.  I have a weeeak bridge and shrimp.  I’m focussing on correcting this every roll.  I’m doing isolation drills with full resistance to get the escape strategies and techniques down.  I’d prefer to get back on top instead of getting full guard.  I’m going to focus on this for the next three to six months!

Competing was a fun experience that I’d like to repeat.  For now it’s back to the mat to drill drill drill.  Thanks to my teammates & coach, gf & dad for their support :) 

I didn't realize how much I missed city life. Everything just works and order keeps things running smooth. And people don't pee in flower pots in malls.

Cool excerpt I saw in a documentary movie about Renzo Gracie.  The speech was made by Theodore Roosevelt and sounded really cool when Renzo was reading it.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Full speech is here