On To Year 2

Year 1 has given me so much, way more than I expected. The networking swag, events, concerts, opportunities, celebrities that I worship.. whatever. The people I've met along with the travels that I've taken have me looking forward to an amazing second year. Instead of doing everything, I think I'm going to try to reduce the quantity and just focus on the quality of my events or teams. In the course of a year, 2 baby pandas were born and I'm looking forward to finally finalizing my LLC to help make this as legit as can be. I'm happy that it's not only me that's moving up but it's also my friends. We are all in this race of life together and it's not right when the people you love can't be there with you. Thank you for the memories. The future will be here tomorrow but until then, I'm just living for today.

Child Hood Heroes

Last year, 2K sports made a great marketing move to use Michael Jordan as their cover athlete. This year they are releasing their latest version in 3 different editions that's more 1992 like with the 3 greatest ballers of all time in my book. Larry, Magic, and Michael. With my shift towards making existing systems better, it's great to be able to see these marketing techniques as they happen because I'm definitely learning how to target my markets with little effort.

Stand the F up

Making Tomorrow Better

This song hits close to home and is part of my recent transition from wanting better but doing better.

Nickelback - If Everyone Cared

Hold on to whatever you find

2011 has given me a little bit of everything. Strengths with pain. Opportunities with threats. And happiness with sadness. There's not much of something without something raining on my parade. Dallas brought happiness and realization of how my life is to the way I dream for it to be. Disappointment comes and goes but hopefully it's gone for good. One thing 2011 hasn't given me yet is sleep. With my mind constantly moving to bigger obstacles, I have my music to keep my vision from being cloudy. I blogged in the past about happy songs, songs that you can never get enough of. They're your best friend on your best and worst days. They're songs that you can associate an era of your life with based on a simple hook or chorus. I'm excited that I found two songs that can do just what I need. They're like 2011's version of Jay Sean's 'Down' and Jason Derulo's 'Whatcha Say' from 2009. These songs are mine to enjoy and for the time being, I'll keep its identity to myself. The more who know, the less significance it will create.

Karma.

I am the owner of my karma.
I Inherit my karma.
I am born of my karma.
I live supported by my karma.

Whatever karma I create,
whether good or bad,
that I will inherit,
and I alone.

Happy Birthday

'Heartbreak Warfare' turned 1 year old this weekend. From the best of times to the worst of times, it's been a great year of blogging. My measurement for change and moving forward in life is looking back at where I was a year ago from the current moment. So far, January 2010 = January 2011 and February 2011 is definitely kicking 2010's ass. Sorry I don't have much else to say at the moment. Just wanted to do a simple birthday shout out.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!  It's pretty cold out there so it's good that we can stay inside and be with our families. I wish I could spend it Nola but the roads are too icy for me to get back home for work.

My favorite chuc so far..."Chuc mung nam moi! Mon Daniel mot nam hanh phuc vui ve! Tinh yeu thanh cong va tinh tu! =)"

And still I see no changes...

January was nothing short of surprising. From the first minute of 2011 to the last hour I spent of this month, my world has been up, down, and metaphorically to hell and back. There’s been joy and disappointment but it doesn’t stop there.  I got my first ticket, my iPhone was stolen in a matter of minutes, and I did not attend a single event that I bought tickets for. Instead of letting go and moving on, I spent the month dwelling on things that directly affected me to things that were bigger than the Beatles. My blogs went down and my tweets went up. Daily tweets would normally begin with complaints about traffic and turn for the worse as the day grew old. Thankfully, I snapped out of the bitterness that I’ve held on to because everything I worked hard for up to this point was on the verge of slipping through my fingers.  I let go of past encounters but found it hard to move on when the past still felt very present.  So much drama went on around me that it was hard to take a breath of fresh air.

With February here and no clouds in my vision, I’m proud that I can speak from my heart for the first time in a while. I would like to apologize to anyone who might be offended by reading this but remember that this is my story from the way I see it and this is the way I want to tell it, even if I’m wrong.

Martin Luther King Day is a national holiday honoring a man who lived his life to the very end fighting for something he believed in.  He taught us to judge someone not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. If he were still living today, his ‘dream’ would be satisfied but not fulfilled. As I talk to friends, attend both temple and church, and observe the community that I belong to, I see that society is far from being the way I hope it to one day be.  The days of black and white may be done and this is only because we’ve added a few other colors to the spectrum. It’s not just race these days, there’s also politics and religion, two things I never ever talked about until today. Today will be the first and only time that I give my perspective on what it’s like to be me. 

I am Vietnamese and Buddhist. A better way to define myself is that I am a minority within my own race. My parents are from the south and southerners (nam) are Buddhists. In my circle of friends and their circle of friends, everyone is predominately bach and Catholic. You would think that being Vietnamese alone is enough but there’s more instilled in our community that there’s a guideline on how Vietnamese do you have to be to actually be taken seriously. Since the 3^rd grade, I’ve been told that I was going to go to hell. Why? Because I don’t believe in God in the Catholic perspective. Buddhists are respected at temple but as we step into church it’s a different story. My Buddhist beliefs are inferior and almost imaginary to believers of Christ. It’s me against the truth. I’m not saying that Catholics are wrong. I’m just saying that to them, everything that doesn’t involve God and Christ is wrong.  I thought this country was founded on freedom of religion. We as Vietnamese should know that very well because our parents found America as a place to find freedom.  I wish it were only that easy. I’ve been to church services in my day and from what I’ve gathered, God will forgive you for anything. From the smallest of sins to something as bad as murder, believing in God will put you on track to Heaven. You sins are washed away and all is forgiven. The only thing that denies a person to getting a ticket to Heaven is not being a believer. That’s fair. But I see the afterlife as a place that we can all reside in. But according to the Bible, a non-believer such as myself will go to hell. Where’s the fairness in sending a Christ believing sinner to Heaven as oppose to sending a drug/alcohol free-hard-workin- charitable- philanthropic –Buddhist like myself to hell? This is something I’ve accepted a long time ago. I can accept the fact that my beliefs are different than most but they are my beliefs and we are entitled to practice whatever we want. 

My next issue is a Buddhist marrying a Catholic. For something that’s so easy to me, it’s so damn hard for others to let pass by. For example, Buddhist girl wants to marry a Catholic guy? She has to convert. Buddhist guy marry a Catholic girl? He has to convert. Why is it that Catholicism > Buddhism to where we have to give up our beliefs and disrespect our own higher being for the sake of yours. Why can’t the person convert to Buddhism? Because it’s not real? Better yet, why can’t everyone just practice their own values. Religion shouldn’t be so political because at the end of the day, we believe what’s in our hearts. Nobody can take that from us whether we are Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Hindu or whatever. A marriage is based on the simple idea that two people love each other and can be there to love and obey till they’re old and gray. Why isn’t that enough?  Parents, if you had to choose, would you rather your child marry a Vietnamese Buddhist or a person of a different race but was Catholic? These are your only two choices and I’m not holding a gun to your head waiting for you to decide.

Sorry for going on like that but you have to understand the frustrations of not being part of the chosen crowd. If you’re not Catholic everything else can only get you so far. Good looks, family background, wealth, education, personality, and even love will never be enough. Only one thing matters and it’s the cross that hangs from your necklace.  

There's a lot left in the world that we need to do to make more sense out of everything. We as a community need to learn to coexist in a way to where there can be more religious harmony between each other. As we take this next step into 2011, I will play my part and not talk about what I've been doing but the things I plan to get done.  If there is no struggle, there can be no progress.

Tupac - Changes 

Kanye.

Kanye West - All of the Lights

Welcome to 2k11

2011: The Year of Opportunities

As soon as the clock struck 12 for a new year, there have been surprises for me. Something emerged from what started to seem as nothing. Moving forward started to resemble walking backwards. Starting the year in my 2nd place role will need some getting used to after all of last year's 1st place finishes. Even with the crap that I'm tired of putting up with I'm happy. Work can't stop it. This cold can't. And not even being ignored an prevent me from being happy.

Last year was my self-proclaimed Year of the Happy. This year is all about the opportunities that I have to be different and make a difference. Just when I was starting to give up on my dream, I got an offer to possibly be a co-founder for a 503C. As one Panda team lays to rest, 3 others will emerge to help keep the brand in conversation. Date Auction will be a networking dream and I'm confident for its success. I finally get to go to Texas in March. It's been long over due and I'm definitely going to do it in style. The only negative thing that I can come up with is that I hit a milestone this year... 25. It's pretty depressing thinking about it.

Stay tuned for more...

30 Day Challenge Series (The rest of them)

My apologies for being behind but with the holidays and all the other things, I haven't been able to keep up. A lot has been going on this holiday season. Looking forward to 2011 and the entries to come. I've taken out the ones that I didn't feel like wasting my time on.

14. Do you have siblings? Talk about them or talk about what it’s like to be an only child.
 Only child syndrome. I put lots of time and effort in the friendships I have. I wish I had a fam bam that people tend to brag about but it's good that I'm surrounded by good people to live vicariously through.

15. Tell us your favorite junk food.
Junk Food Clothing.

16. Favorite Disney princess movie.
Beauty and the Beast. Belle went pretty hard.

17. Your thoughts on ugg boots.
ugg-ly... but they look comfortable. Just not for guys.

18. Do you drink soda more often than milk.
Since I eat out so much, I'd say soda because I get sprites when I'm in Nola. I used to go through a gallon of milk a week though. Since I average roughly a gallon of water a day, I dont really have room for milk anymore.

 21. Your favorite subject to study
Math and Philosophy

22. Do you play a sport?  Tell us about it.
I attempt basketball but I like coaching and analyzing the game better. The best coaches weren't always the best players. But when I did play, I like to consider myself a 3 but would play a 2 more often than I wanted.

23. Your opinions of Lady Gaga
From what I see, she's the Madonna of the 2000's and a great entertainer. April 2011!

24. Tell us about the latest movie you saw in theaters.
Little Fockers. 3rd movie for the Meet the Parents series. Funny. Random. Short. and it had Jessica Alba in it... always a win.

25. Tell us about the last book you read.
Heart of a Buddha (short version) it's just something I keep with me and read from time to time. I enjoy the spiritual cleansing from time to time. It's good for the soul.

26. Name the place you want to visit one day.
Disney in Orlando. Haven't been there in over 15 years and I miss it. Of course there's the Bahamas, Hawaii, and somewhere in East Asia.


28. First celebrity crush
Jennifer Love Hewitt.

30. Post the most recent picture of you