Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" has had a great influence on me and my life.

I'd like to share a few of his favourite quotes that has helped me, and my interpretation of them.

1. "You have power over your own mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength"

This is a universal truth to all humans. We have power over our own minds. We are what we think. If we think about how stressed we are, we get stressed. If we think about the anger someone has caused us, we get angry. Why do we do this to ourselves? We have no control of events that occur outside of ourselves. If someone tells me during exams "Jason, you need to have at least 7-8 hours of sleep a day to function properly and stay healthy" I will probably say to them "Nah I don't need that much sleep" and boom! 3 hours of sleep a day will be possible ;) I also believe happiness is a choice, so we should all think happy thoughts - it's free!

2. "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth"

Not a day goes past where I don't hear people complaining. We are all guilty of this as well. We have all had arguments in our lives where we want to assert our opinion as the truth, and attack our opponent until we win.

But in a sense there is no truth. Everything is an opinion, or a perspective. 

For example, say there are two people arguing about a simple equation: person A says 1 + 1 = 2, and person B says 1 + 1 = 3. Who is right? Person A is right!?!? However, looking at it from a different angle, we could say that both persons A and B are right. Why? Because, person A's  belief is that they are right. Person B's belief is that they are right. Belief is opinion, opinion is belief. So - we could think that both persons A and B are right :)

If more people live their lives with this view, I believe our community will become a much more harmonious place. When I am faced with a situation where I believe in something and another person believes in something else, I try not to argue with them. I remain open to the possibility that I might be wrong, I say to them that I respect what they believe, and leave it at that.

3. "Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence"

This is my favourite quote of all time. It is basically #yolo + reasonable -  Reasonable #yolo. I feel Marcus Aurelius believed that we can PERFECT ourselves if we live each day as if it was our last, without being over the top and crazy in the descriptive sense ("frenzy"), without lacking in emotion and feeling and being indifferent to ourselves and others ("apathy") and without being fake i.e. lying to ourselves and to others ("pretence"). 

In other words, I believe Marcus Aurelius is saying that to be the best person we can possibly be, we should live everyday as if we were to die that day, but be modest and neutral in our approach to life, show sympathy, love and feelings for ourselves and other people, and ultimately BE OURSELVES and not somebody that we want to be. This is not the same as #yolo, where people tend to do stupid things like drinking too much alcohol and passing out (I am guilty of this)...

Chet Baker - the Prince of Cool

I think everyone in the world has that one musician who they have an inexplicable connection to. For me, it is Chet Baker.

I first came across Chet's music in 2007. I had received a book voucher from school to spend at a bookstore. So I went to Readings bookstore in Hawthorn after school one day to put it to good use.

I bought Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom" and Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". I had a few more bucks to spare, so I went to the music section of the shop. At that time I was heavily into jazz music - Louis Armstrong, Maynard Ferguson, Frank Sinatra and others. I saw Chet's CD, and having seen the name "Chet Baker" somewhere before and willing to listen to something new, I bought it. 

I remember going home in the car with my mum after and listening to my first Chet Baker song. It was "I fall in love too easily".

I knew Chet Baker played the trumpet, but I didn't know he sang. When I was listening to this song, I was certain that the singer was a woman. I fell in love with the song straight away, and when I went home I tried for hours to find out who the singer was. I was impressed with Chet's trumpet playing, but to be honest I was more impressed with the singer's vocals. 

To my huge surprise I found out the voice belonged to none other then the man himself - Chet Baker.

Don't get me wrong - it's not as if I only listen to Chet, or just jazz.  I listen to all kinds of music. Some of my favourite artists and bands include Eminem, The Eagles, Metallica, KPOP (2NE1, 2PM, FT Island etc.), Linkin Park, Far East Movement...but Chet's music is special.

I still can't explain why I feel such a connection with Chet's music. Chet was a romantic, and a lot of his songs are about love. One of my favourite songs by Chet is "My Ideal" where Chet sings: 

~ Will I ever find, the girl in my mind, the one who is my ideal? Maybe she's a dream, and yet she might be, just around the corner waiting for me...will I recognise the light in her eyes, that no other eyes reveal? Or will I pass her by, and never even know that she was my ideal ~

In all of Chet's music, whether it be from his early years or his drug-fueled years, he plays the trumpet and sings with so much heart, so much passion, so much love and so much cool ~

I wonder to myself why it is that I feel so connected to his music. I'm an outgoing, sporty guy who tries to live life to the max ("party hard, study hard"). But I also think of myself as a deep sort of guy - I like to think a lot about who I am and what life is about. I love nature, and can be emotional at times (I think that comes with my Korean genes :P). Chet's music transports me to an out-of-this-world place where I am easily able to focus, delve into my inner thoughts and relax.

Whatever the reason, I thank Chet for his music. I would have loved to watch him play and sing live, but it wasn't meant to be!

I'll finish off this blog with one of my favourite life quotes and my favourite Chet Baker song:

"A good way to go in this life is to find something that you really enjoy doing, and then learn to do it better than anybody" - Chet Baker in Let's Get Lost

Chet Baker Live in Tokyo 1987 - My Funny Valentine:

From Wikipedia: "Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and vocalist. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals (Chet Baker Sings, It Could Happen to You). Jazz historian David Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one." His "well-publicized drug habit" also drove his notoriety and fame; Baker was in and out of jail regularly before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s."

Gifts from the USA!!!

For the past month I lived at home by myself, while my parents and sister were road tripping through the majestic country that is the USA. While they were having the time of their lives visiting famous locations such as Los Angeles, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Niagara Falls, Washington DC and New York City, I was stuck here in boring Melbourne.

My daily life usually comprised of the following: waking up early, feeding my dog and cat, having breakfast, going to uni, working, soccer training, feeding my dog and cat, watering my garden plants, cleaning the house, having dinner, studying, sleeping. 

To be honest, balancing all the house work, university, work, soccer and my social life wasn't very hard. I think I managed well! I didn't destroy or kill anything, got most of my studies done in time, kept the house relatively clean, and went out with mates at least once a week.

The hardest thing I found was feeding myself. The first two weeks consisted of eating rice, tuna, 김치, 김...I eventually got bored of that. So I moved onto eating Weetbix and soy milk for breakfast, plenty of yoghurt and toast, pasta, smoked salmon with rice etc etc. I ate out with friends only 3 times in the entire month, and probably ate meat only 2 or 3 times...somehow I survived, LOL!

Now that my family is back I feel much more free :)

Anyways, moving on to the main topic of my first blog: these are the presents I received from the USA!!!!

New York Red Bulls Adidas MLS Snapback Cap!! My family bought this for me from the LIDS store in Times Square in New York City. I absolutely, fricken love this cap - cool colour combo, it's a snapback, and it's official Red Bulls merchandise (Thierry Henry's team :P)...oh and did I mention it's Adidas??!!

My sister bought me the Adidas f10s from a premium outlet shopping mall in New York. It fits me perfectly, and even though they aren't the f50s they look and feel just as good. I desperately needed boots, as my current boots are snapping and ripping in all sorts of places. Awesome gift man!!!

Then there is my new favourite mug. My mum got that for me from Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. It's a huge mug which the photo doesn't show half as well...there is even an illustration of the man who designed the sculptures inside the mug. It's a sweet mug.

Finally, you can see in the final photo the New York Knicks Away Shirt! It's got Carmelo Anthony's name on the back, and his number - number 7. It's fits me nicely - it's a bit long, but I'm gona rock it anyways :)

I also got the light blue thongs from GAP, and a solid Thre3 watch which you can see in the middle of the photo above.

I got a few clothes as well, but they're in my sister's bag - she is currently on her flight back home and arriving in a few hours...

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed my first blog at least a little bit..I'm going to try and get some more coming your way more often from now on.

Peace out! :)