So I flew over Santa Monica yesterday in an SR20 plane. It was an awesome experience as I pulled the controls and pushed the throttle which lifted us off the ground to a gradual ascent. I climbed higher and higher white I released on the power. As we headed towards the ocean, I banked right and banked left guiding the plane as I trailed the coast of the beach. Then I flew to the right of the mountains to bring us into the path of the airport landing strip.

Checking the controls

control tower

night sky view from the plane

On Thursday I went to check out an SR20 and talk to some flight instructors regarding pilot lessons. It ended up being busy that day and pretty windy as well so I ended up coming back the following Monday (yesterday) to take my first flight lessons. It was pretty exciting learning the whole process of how easy it is to lift off the ground just by picking up a little speed and getting a little lift in the wings. I learned about taxi-ing, banking, the controls, and how to keep the plane level and all that.

In part I took flying lessons for my own education and also in part to get over my anxiety of turbulence. I fly all the time for various tournaments or events and understanding the plane helps me feel more comfortable with what’s going on behind the pilot seats.

Anyways, that was a highlight of my week.. but I’ve been doing other things as well.

I went to the griffith observatory and got to look at the moon close up with my own eyes (well with the help of a telescope). They also had a bunch of interesting space facts and exhibits inside. I love thinking about space and the universe because it makes us realize that there is more out there and that little insignificant annoyances shouldn’t matter when compared to how vast world/space/universe is. There’s all these interesting things out there that I won’t really go into.. but they touched on things like dark matter, the expansions of the universe, solar systems which make up galaxies and that we once thought our galaxy was immense until we discovered we were merely a galaxy among millions of other galaxies.

I also got more super powers from this meteor.

That was an actual meteor. It was pretty heavy for its size.

Here’s the view from the griffith observatory looking out at LA.

Back on land…. that same day I also test drove an Audi TT because I think they look cool.

and now… to business.

Workwise I spent the past week cleaning up and improving the ecommerce. I added extra layers of security such as SSL security, moved the site to a dedicated IP, added an authorize.net safety seal, cleaned up the logo, modified the CSS so that fonts were easier to read and the footer looked more professional.

I also went to visit my friend marc and richi’s office where they work on online business as well. They had this cool photo booth device that helped me take some awesome product pictures. Here is one of the many pictures I took with my SLR camera.

I also put together some more pictures that I’ve been meaning to get up. You might recognize this guy.. he’s a China National Wushu Champion and World Wushu Champion many times over.

If you know wushu you know who he is. If you don’t you really should. He is Zhao Qingjian – gold medalist in changquan, broadsword, and staff.

I will leave you with this ultimate ZQJ compilation video.

Aakhari Decision

Aakhari Decision released in India is about a hitman that grew up loyal to his boss until one day he is forced to make a decision between a woman that has entered his life and his loyalty as a hitman.

In this movie I had a small role in acting, stunts, and fight choreography. It was my first time having my face go through stunt glass so I had a good time. The movie was filmed in both the US and India.

Here’s an interview that goes into some of the action that I was involved in:

I also had a few lines in the movie which you can see if you fast forward to the 3:00 minute mark.

If you are in India head out to theaters to check out Aakhari Decision. =)

I performed a longfist and straightsword/drunken sword combo for a demo a month or two back for LAFA’s Annual Food Fight benefiting the Los Angeles Food Bank. The event was to raise food for those less privileged.

Here are the videos of our wushu demo portion:

Part 1 has some longfist / changquan performance.

Part 2 has some straight sword and drunken sword.

Had a great time and met some Sword Fight Inc buddies from the History Channel Art of War episode. I am up north in nor cal this week. Last night I randomly found out I am in a Bollywood movie! I’ll fill yall in on that on my next post.

Also.. HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY EVERYONE!

R6 and Ducati 999

Met up with Steve, my kpmg/city national bank co-worker’s husband who rides a Ducati 999 and R1. We went to Azusa for some canyon riding! Woot! Had a blast and learned a lot. Ever since I’ve been traveling and getting my hustle on with filming and martial arts competitions, I’ve really neglected my baby (my R6) and today it was good getting my feet wet with riding the canyons. Hopefully, in a few months I will hit up the track. I’ll also have to save up to get one piece suit and some nice riding boots. I think boots are a must have.

Anyways, today was awesome and I came home exhausted. We rode for about 3-4 hours.. well including my travel time too. I gotta remember to look through my turns, shift my body over the line to the direction I want to turn, put my foot on the pegs and dont worry about the rear break so much, push down on left peg and right handle bar to make a tighter right turn (vice versa for other side), relax my arms, follow a smooth line, speed up through the turn, and accelerate out at the peak of the turn. I know some of this stuff is basic sounding, but it’s good to remind myself.

Afterward we went to a cool cafe for some coffee/food. I had a salad with chicken, apple, and mandarin oranges. Delicious! And since.. we lived to ride another day.. I treated myself to a root beer float! Steve is a fireman so he sees a lot of mortality and so we had a good discussion about perspective on life and death. I also commented that in cultures where your “job” does NOT define you.. and you wake up every day knowing the answer to “what do I wake up for every day?” as opposed to thinking that your being is tied to your job.. you will live a happier and healthier life… because ultimately we retire or no longer can work our jobs.. then those people sort of lose a sense of self and without a purpose we lose a part of our will to live.

Anyways, I think it’s healthy to be put in perspective with our mortality once in a while so I enjoyed that root beer float heartily!

Here’s me saying.. remember to keep the rubber side down! See you next time!

azusa canyon ride day

apathetic heart

Here we go – Apathetic Heart is a song I wrote while I was in Taiwan. I finally had a chance to put it together and record a quick video.  The inspiration behind the song came simply from the fact that my room in Taiwan had no windows so I would never know if it was day or night.. even when it was bright and sunny outside, it was dark and cold inside so it put me in a mood and I thought I would translate that feeling into a song. I was also partially inspired by Kanye West’s song Heartless and I really liked Jay-Z’s Song Cry beat, so I chose to go with the Song Cry instrumental.

Check it! (ps. I am not emo!)

———————–Apathetic Heart Lyrics——————————————-

thinkin back to a day (when i) had a girl id call my own
eager to hear my babe, stay up talkin on the phone
before colors turned gray and my heart faded to stone
i love a lot but i still feel like im alone

it wasnt my intention, to make you a mess and
dry your eyes come close and, we’ll relieve that tension
lot of bad guys and you ask me why,
fuckit, ill let the song cry

reminisce a time when i was so poetic
fast forward the rhyme my heart went apathetic
a simple chick how my heart became sick
this rhymes got me so nostalic

now its so easy, i have so many to please me
touch me, squeeze me, say love me dont leave me
warm body firm embrace, but even while i hold
a numbness in mind thinks my hearts grown cold

had a lot of girls, good girls, hood girls,
rub me in the sweet spot, wanna buy me a rock girls,
every ethnicity i could go down the list,
but in the end, i know im still heartless

sorry women my love has come and gone
except for the one, i’ve written this song
wondering how long, this facade can go on
asking myself if time would right my wrongs

dui bu qi, wo de xin yi jing mi lu
wo bu neng gei ni xin fu, wo de xing yi pian muo hu,
bi jing ni hui muo shu, ye bu hui you bang zhu,
wo bu hui fu chu, baby bu yao zai ku

wo bu yao shang dao ni, wo ye bu yao xiang dao ni,
mei shen me yi, wo zhi chong lai mei you ni
bu guan ni duo xiong, wo de xin hai shi yi pian kong
wo zhi dao ni tong, jiu rang wo liu zai ni de meng

reminisce a time when i was so poetic
please repeat this rhyme if your hearts felt apathetic
like a lock and key, but something wouldn’t click
this rhymes got me so nostalic

(and) it wasnt my intention, to make you a mess and
dry your eyes come close, i guess we’ve learned our lesson
lot of bad guys and you ask me why,
fuckit, ill let the song cry

stapler gun

Hey guys, I’ve still been a little sick. Here is a quick update.

Martial Arts/Stunts
Haven’t been training much because I was sick the past week or so. I’m in a recovering mode and just got the sniffles. Hopefully it will be completely gone by the end of the week.

I helped coach at LA wushu today and I’ve still been staying active training my private lessons. Also got a new student starting next week so we will see how that goes. This sets me in line with my goal of having a max of 3-5 private lessons. I really enjoy teaching, but keeping it one on one – this way I really get to see someone’s skills develop and provide them direct attention and custom training. Meanwhile, it keeps me active without turning martial arts training into a full-time thing that prevents me from focusing on other areas of my life.

Sam called me the past week and mentioned helping her out on a crouching tiger hidden dragon fight set for 8711, but the scene required 2 girls instead of a guy so it fell through. However, I’m sure some other cool opportunities will arise. =)

Film
Finished shooting pick up scenes for Barry Baz (www.barrybaz.com). There’s nothing really on the site yet, so don’t get too excited. However, I am quite excited because it’s been about 6 months since I finished shooting the main stuff with them and they’ve been editing (with the editors from the same studio that edited the Bourne series) and cleaning it up so that it’s a masterpiece. It’s about an Australian that comes to America. He meets me and I am an award winning film maker of sorts.. but I can’t say much more… so let’s just say it’s a comedy and a whole lot more. Should be done within a month. I’ll post more details when it’s done.

Business
Tons going on over here. Continued working on wk mock ups. Created 2 versions that I like right now.. just trying to decide on a layout. Also got the martial arts complete site in progress. The layout is good just need to get the content up there and adjust the color scheme. I filed for the dba and am still waiting on the paper work.

Corporation’s taxes are due March 15, so I started cleaning up my finances. Feels good to really sit down and see everything from a numbers perspective and then watch how it’s grown over the years. I know this is something that I should actually be looking at quite often, but as a start up you worry about a million things and hardly want to deal with the number crunching. Anyways, it’s looking good for 09.. now just to stay on top of things for ’10.

Other
Major thing going on is that the front porch is finally getting remodeled and getting tile put in because the old material was starting to crack from the rain. Should be done by Sunday.

Also started doing a few fun raps/freestyles/covers if you hadn’t noticed on my previous posts.

Casual is Cool has our official youtube page which can be checked out at http://www.youtube.com/user/casualiscoolyo (SUBSCRIBE if you are cool)

This is what happens when you don’t have to go in to an office every day.

This is my first recorded freestyle. In other words I just made up whatever came to mind. I think I can do better, but whatever.. it was fun and random. I was also sick this week so couldn’t go out and work out much. At least I let loose on my musical side.

Work Update
Filed for martial arts complete DBA
Beginning martial arts complete site
Beginning wushukicks backend upgrade
Finished wushukicks frontend redesign mockup
Completed Inside Kung Fu Article
Last Fri went to White Lotus
Taught class over the weekend
Helped Uncle Jeff’s friend move / Had dinner with relatives
Spent 1-2 days this week on the music
Spent 1-2 days sick
Responded to a few customer inquiries / Processed some returns
Had Lunch with director JF and Oliver
Wrote down and organized some thoughts on short film ideas

To Do
Get Jacket prototype back from asia
Prepare Corporate and Personal Taxes
Send out website content and instructions

Youtube has spawned a new generation of online musical artists doing more and more “covers”.

Well at least it seems to me that I’ve been hearing that word more and more.. so u know what?

I made a little “cover”.. go ahead, get lost in it!

Check it! Ungh!

By the way, the song is called “Lost in Love” by NB Ridaz. We are just being random.

Quick mini shout out to Ryan Huang and Cool Silly for inspiring me to make random music videos.