Saturday Morning reflections

The morning after a long day, especially on a Friday night, knowing that the next day is the weekend and we can just do about anything in the world to take us away from the last 5 days of work, late nights and everything.

I find myself drifting in and out of sleep last night, probably cause I am out of home (specifically at a guesthouse somewhere in Penang Island), air-con was cold, mozzies we just being vampires on us through out the night, and I thought that I’ve had purchased a can of spray to rid of them!

It was a struggle, but I managed to get myself off the bed, into a pair of trousers, a flattened out my bed hair, and head down to the concourse for breakfast. Nothing lavished was served just toast (just had bread cause the toaster ain’t working)  and coffee, that would work for now, for me to ease into the new day.

Now that you have just finished reading the first 3 short paragraphs of my morning thus far, for my Saturday Morning reflections,  well… here it goes.

Starting out a new job, new band release of our new single and soon to release EP in April and travelling, has got me thinking a lot about my life. I can say that my personal life has been pretty decent, great family, financially getting along pretty alright, personal life: I am always on repair to work on myself, great bunch of close friends whom I care about, this year, on I want to spend time with those who really matters in my life and equally respect me for who I am. Screw those who don’t they are just a waste of my time.

A couple of things that I want to make things different of my current “work-in-progress” of my 2014. Living life to it’s utmost fullest.

Keeping things real. That’s one thing that I have been doing towards the end of the year onwards. It’s always important that we are realistic about each situation we are in, in making goals or to tackle problems that we face. You will end up in disappointment and let yourself down, or in a work or group situation, you don’t want to be like ” I knew it”, when it’s already too late. Fix it, look at the situation holistic, try predict and interpret every move and things that may go wrong before leaping on to anything, so that when things go well, you know that it was successful and when things go bad, you have already know. Couple of situations like this arised recently, guess in a group it is not easy to decide and work things out, compromise, but well, we can always learn from situations like that in a group. Though I have given pre-warning, well… we will learn next time. Sometimes things may turn out well despite hitting up the problems that you foresee, for everyone it can be improved next time to not let it occur again.

There is only one life, live the most of it. Yes, last year everyone was like ‘YOLO’ for every situation. The world has came to a point where there are so many bad things happening, the economy, poverty, crime rates, natural disasters and etc. Well, hate to say this but yes, we should have some point have a phrase like ‘YOLO’ in our lives to make the best out of life in every situation. Regardless of believes, we would never know but to be assured that there will be another life? Eternal life after death in this world? We can only trust something that gets us going in this life, and for now, live for every moment in everything to make life the best journey that you can get out of it before we move on to other adventures in life. Conquer your life. Do more in life. Live your life.

Be who you wanna be. Being in the places that I have worked in the past and learning from mentors, ex-bosses and working with many different people, that’s the best and great things that I love about my job where I am able to work with various different people. One thing I have learnt that makes the successful where they are and how they got to “I am on top of the world!”. The magic happens here: WORK ON YOUR PASSION. Wherever you are, or at whatever ranking you are at, you are always working towards your passion. It may not happen now, but it will happen if you work towards it. I believe that when one has not reached the ideal state of life you wanna be or work on your passion and be able to sustain out of this, I believe that God has somethings that he wants you to work on, to learn from, to build and strengthen upon, so that when you are ready and at the prime to make your passion happen, you will have the smoothest ride of your life living your dream and passion to the ultimate satisfaction and success, and anything that comes against your way, you will be able to overcome any hurdles coming your way.

I have made this vague for one reason cause I want this to relate to you as much as it has been working for me, I want you guys to know that you are the maker of every situation that you are in, you are in control cause God placed you there for a reason and for you to find the reason for yourself of why God placed you there to find the meaning of every thing in life to make your life of purpose be fulfilled yesterday, today and tomorrow. Because if you didn’t already realise it, this is the one life we have, that we know for sure.

Conquer your life. Do more in life. Live your life.

Stronger in 2013, and beyond. Reflecting back on 2013.

Let me start off by saying Happy New Year to you. Now, for this post I will be reflective on what 2013 has been like for me. It ain’t going to be long, but for those readers, if there are any, here is what my 2013 was for me, and I will sum them up in 3 topical areas of my life.

Health

Most of you guys who follow me on FB and twitter or know me in person, would know that I was on a journey of weight lost. In 2013, it has slowly has been less of running and focus on this, due to my busy schedule with a lot of things that was happening in my life. I have not gave up entirely, but finished off the few marathons that I’ve managed to complete.

To be blunt about it. I have definitely lost interest in running. It has became more of a chore and something that I really disliked doing. I guess it was also cause for the runs that I have committed, I’ve not placed in the time to train and work towards them.

Health is definitely something that I am looking forward to working on, perhaps another alternative. From experience, and my time in 2013, I have not actually been over eating or eating very unhealthily, but cause almost a whole day during the weekday and weekend, I’ve been so busy on other things, that most of the time I would be sitting down working, writing music, and communicating, rather than having the time for a workout. I realize from all this, I become tired and running makes me feel even more lethargic, definitely the same passion and drive is gone from 2012, when I was so gungho to run and results did came in. Alternatives would definitely need to be in place.

Hopefully 2014 will be a year of change and a new perspective for me.

Serving in music for God

You could say that I was living a peaceful life in terms of buying and GASSING (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) for new pedals and music related equipment. Since leaving my previous band, I have been busy recording and working on a couple of shows for the release of my band, Reach For The Skies EP release : Aviaries  for early 2014 and I was happy with the gear I was having, till my style and sound has altered more.

I have always been the ambient filler kind of electric guitarists and using a lot of effects to create the mood of the songs. Over time, I have grown to play cleaner, less saturated and less effects and enjoyed more tone off the guitar and amps. Thus, my existing board of pedals do not cater to some of my current style of playing. I was definitely blessed to have advise from friends and met new people who were able to shed some light into gear.

From swapping in and out of different gears and what I see, gear is something personal and something that one would adjust to custom the wielder’s own sound, there are a lot of marketing involved that hypes up trendy pedals. Yes they are good, but in the end, do not secum to those, you may regret if it does not fit your music. I even find some of the older stuff better too!

I also find myself serving more in Church in the sense, of “more” meaning, really delving into worshipping God. Perhaps through my times of trial through out 2013, this has definitely something that desired to do. To focus on God, to play more meaningfully to the service and congregation, as the worship team’s place is to usher God’s presence and lead in praise and worship. And I find myself lost in His presence at most of this time in 2013, ever in my life, not just through my band, Church, but also in my personal life. I needed the focus and I went through it with God. It was awesome.

Hopefully to even more time spent on serving God with writing and serving in music for God.

Career 

Its been a busy year, rolling from 2012 to 2013, from various challenges that I faced, that kept me busy around the clock in the office till I felt that there has to be more to life than just work. I guess there were various factors coming in, but it got me overwhelmed at one point that life meant more than just work, coming home at a late hour till I only get to see my family on a Sunday night for dinner and the rest of the week, I would come home when the lights were out and the last to leave home for work on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, I love advertising, I carry that passion since college, to work and till today, no regrets and am thankful for every learning experience, up and the downs as they have made me stronger and better. I am definitely doing that at my new work place that I thank God for, and awesome new learning opportunities that I am undertaking, and I pray for more growth.

To more days of joy, happiness, growth, opportunities, Godly decisions and wisdom with friends, family and God in 2014, I pray.

MY STORY | PART 1: THE PERFECT EXAMPLE. THE UGLY TRUTH

Read this post via the url below:

http://bwc.my/bwc-general/my-story-part-1-the-perfect-example-the-ugly-truth/

Azure for Janne releases new single “The Finisher”.

Posted about their previous song ‘Thrones’ in a post before, which I had the privilege to sing in (click here).

My brothers from Azure for Janne, just released a new single “The Finisher” a week ago. They grow better musically all the time, Check out the lyrics video below!

Great guys making great music. Do share this video on FB and twitter!

Dream big and stay gold, reach for the sky.

Azure for Janne’s A Common State of Liberty Coming soon!

For daily updates from the band:

Follow them on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/azureforjanneband

Follow them on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/azureforjanne

RFTS,

Danny

Haruki Marukami “Little at a time”

“You are a beautiful person, Doctor. Clearheaded. Strong. But you seem always to be dragging your heart along the ground. From now on, little by little, you must prepare yourself to face death. If you devote all of your future energy to living, you will not be able to die well. You must begin to shift gears, a little at a time. Living and dying are, in a sense, of equal value.”–Nimit in “Thailand”

– Haruki Murakami