You know you are getting old when you try to make the number of your age seem cool.... like "the Dirty Thirties" or "Thirties the new twenties." Of course I'm a culprit of using all of these slogans but deep down inside, I'm happy getting older. So long as my body and brain don't feel old, the dates can pass by as fast as they want. I keep telling myself, "just keep learning, keep understanding, find ways to make it work, keep fit, and never stop loving humanity." Let others complex the situation so long as I can see where the foundation, root, and premise came from.
Take out the noise and just hear the sound.

JLM, Pricey and I are having our grand birthday celebrations on May 11th, Therapy Lounge located at 203 Richmond St. W @ 10:30 -- Cover is free under Wes.
250 of our closest friends will be there... so you better come!

Life Again -

Where once I were drowning
I can now breathe...
When all that was bleak
I can now see...
When the only thing I could hear
Was the cold concrete,
Now its near over
And I can stand on my feet.
It's a cancer run through you
When you don't know the end.
Troubles will break
As my new life mends.

We all have to go through the most difficult times, with luck and compassion... Family and friends... Drive and belief... I hope life can love me again.

END. Time to live!

(Artwork f/ Andrew Shek - Designer @ HoC)

Life and I live a twisted affair. I'm notorious for saying, "I L-L-Love Life," but I'm equally guilty of commenting on how "I H-H-Hate Life" when things don't go according to the master plan... Of course, I'm always exaggerating the later statement and the truth is, the more you love life, the more complex it can become. Maybe to really love life and come to an understanding, you have to engage yourself to full commitment of experiences both terrible and inconvenient to say, "I L-L-Love Life" and really appreciate it.

Found this in a good read:

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time . We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

- George Carlin

Starting a new year always feels like spring for me... its a fresh start and all that was old and stale dissolves away, eclipsed by will and determination. The excitement of beginning something, the start of believing that "this year is MY year," the sense that things are changing for the better. Its like living in my condo totally forgetting I've got a balcony, opening the door and feeling a rush of fresh air cape the room. I step out side and realize how big the world is and how small my issues/strife truly are. It's funny how the New Year can feel like opening your front door and realizing there is so much more then the issues that I have made big in my life. Issues/problems/troubles... I'll leave you at the door thank you. Right now I'm ready to enjoy living life, rather then worrying about it.

Thanks to the New Year and hope you enjoy opening your door.

(pic's from the count down with JLM's friends - You cats are wicked! AND WE LOVE THE iMAC CAMERA)

Puke

If you had to look at all the world’s art once in your life, you could probably come up with one word that describes a good portion of them: Despair.
For so many different reasons, a moment of despair gives artists great clarity in describing moments without words for even the greatest nouns and adjectives cannot suite art’s patronage.
Despair doesn’t necessarily describe unflavourable situations or sequences of events; it can be used to describe the greatest love or claming colour of flowers being puked out of a goddess like women.
I also think despair brings around the final will to change. That’s what a lot of art means to me when I look at specifics and then truck out to the overall work itself: Despair on the verge of change. It’s such a poignant feeling this way.

This photographic art called Puke is (ironically) from a good friend named Art. His photos are layered with hidden agenda’s and seeming ulterior motives. It’s never simple to understand and yet always simply photographed.

Check out more of his work at: www.arturczyzyk.com

Dove - Evolution Commercial

I love women... Love everything about them. Love how they smell, laugh, dance... Love how they smile, tease, and play head games. I'm glad I'm out of the dating game but it's always fun to watch a girl in action, choosing one of my friends as a formidable opponent, seducing him for another drink.
Through it all, women have created this external force to look like a hottie and men have complemented this movement by eating up every drip of eye-candy pleasure they can get.
To all my girlfriends... YOU'RE ALL SUPER HOTTIES, inside and out!

Gone

With my GF gone to pursue her dreams on Broadway, I’ve got some time on my hands. I figure I’d better be constructive and try to work different parts of my brain so I thought back about all the things I wanted to do and one of them was to write a song. I guess now’s the time better then any. Don’t know if it makes a whole lot of sense and doesn’t have a repeating chorus like most songs but it’s music to me and I get to write about the one thing that comes most natural to me: JLM.

If I could sing or play a chord, I’d play this for you. This is ONE CHEEZY MOFO though so I actually probably wouldn’t… Maybe I’ll make it into a hip hop track or house anthem =)

Miss ya’ babes... now go kick some ass!
--
While You’re Gone

If it’s all the same with you, I’ll be right here
Clinching all my dreams, wishing you were near
Cause’ it’s how it began, eight years past then
Holding you with a kiss as we first held hands

So I pretend I’m a cloud, imagine I’m facing down
Suddenly the space between us is small, and it’s not bad at all
And while I don’t when… when I’ll see you again
I’ll let faith decide, giving my soul and my time

Chorus
I’ve got dreams and you do to
You love me and I love you
Where we stand, I know I am
Baby, I’ll always want to be your man

I helped you pack, your shoes and clothes
Gave you a kiss and couldn’t let go
Tried to keep strong as you drove away
Hoping I said all the things I wanted to say
---

At home I’ve got a bunch of lines on a page
They don’t mean much—just lines on some paper
But each day when I think just how long
All lines make sense and turned to this song

Every night I go to this place
Where the sky is blue and it never rains.
In my mind the sun still shines,
Dream you beside me and you say your mine.

Chorus
Remember how we danced the whole night through
You picked a star and I tried to kiss you
Remember it like yesterday
Still feel the same, day after day

I’ll wait for you when the night comes down
Writing the same song until the sun comes around
Dreams that I have of cloud and mist
Touch of your skin and kiss your lips
---

I’ll have these days back, come reality
All moments exist and you come back to me.
I wish you luck, your destiny clear
When you move through life, my spirit is here.

Whether you’re here or over there, it all the same to me
I can love you anywhere, this I’ll always believe
Distances hold no meanings, time can stand still
What our love has gone through, love has stronger will

W.L

The Longest-Losing Streak

I’ve been had.
I’ve been taken.
Conned and cheated.
I’ve been deceived,
Been used.
I’ve been lied to and dealt with.
I’ve been beaten,
Been caught.
Been burnt,
Been broken.
I’ve been just about any place no one wants to be.

But I’ll always stand up,
Keep fighting.
I’ll never stop believing,
Stop trying.
I won’t quit,
Won’t fear
Won’t lie down or
Die.
I’ll never leave,
Never stop pursuing.
I’ll always keep dreaming,
Keep imagining.
I'll never lose faith
And always have my spirit.
I can just about be any place I want to be
-Wes Lui


I’ve had the longest losing streak in the world; I’ve lost all my life. It may be even fair to say that life has dealt me blows that would make anyone want to give up. The sun doesn’t shine on many parts of my life right now, leaving it dry and tasteless.

But for one reason or another, I hit that one perfect golf swing that drops the ball 2 feet from the cup or score that deaked out goal in a beer league hockey game that gives me the slightest sliver of hope… not much, just enough to tough it out.
It’s the thought of the how and the when that keeps me fighting. Thoughts like how I will change today to be a better person… I remind myself each morning as the cold shower beads off my face trying to make me feel new.
It’s the when I will see JLM again that triggers the slightest momentum for me to think, “I can do this.”

I may have lost a lot and will in deed lose a lot more battles but I can’t help but believe one day I’ll win, its only a matter of when – and for me the when is always soon… and while the soon maybe tomorrow or twenty years from now – I have to believe that soon is better then never.

I may have been just about any place that no one wants to be… but I know my spirit and my soul is in the right place and that trumps any losing streak.

"Sometimes I think life is just around the corner, waiting for me to use it... So why am I standing here. Life can be spend standing but it feels so much better when your moving. Change your perspective, change your mind." -- Is it bad that I always talk to myself?

This usually gets my ass in gear. Never stop using your imagination and eventually it will help you create a better place. Can't lose forever.

Keaira on Vimeo
Chinese parents generally want three things before they croak:
1) Successful children that grow up to be either a doctor, lawyer, engineer (Computer preferred) or businessman - Don't know where art fits in.
2) Want their offspring to take care of them when they get grey and old,
3) And all have an internal clock that says, “hey, give me some grandkids.”
I think achieving two of the three is attainable in my lifetime but if I ever get all three… I'd be the Michael Jordan of asian persuasion in my parents eyes.

My sister is definitely one up on me. With the newest addition of Keaira Lui, my parents can rest easy that one of us is on the ball. More importantly, she has temporarily deflected the “when are you going to get married?” and “your grandma wants to be another great grandma…” I guess Special K has already begun helpin’ her one (and only) uncle… Although every Chinese male you meet is always called uncle for some reason or another.


My parents are grandparents and my niece is a half Caucasian half Chinese Mormon baby… What’d I miss? Somewhere between trying to find matching socks in the laundry to figuring our what the hell coriander is at the grocery store… all this stuff happened. It’s ironic living life constantly thinking about things you want to do or become but never pondering about what is changing around you.

We all know how fast time can fly by so it’s important to catch even a glimpse of the most insignificant moments cause’ in the end, every moment adds up to a lifetime of something… So I guess I better make that lifetime a good one.

Keaira: Welcome to the world!

Following a dream almost always results in leaving someone you love behind. The parents who wished they could have their baby girl back for just one more day, the bonds of friendship stretching to its full elasticity, or the love that had to stay back. Pursing a dream can be heartbreaking and yet sometimes it is the only way we know we are alive. My dad once told me when there is pain that is when you know you are working hard. Sometimes without bitterness do you really know what honey tastes like. I’ve always reminded myself in order to truly enjoy being rich; you have to understand what it’s like to be poor… Too bad I experienced the latter much longer then the predecessor. Luckily I am never short of dreams… Neither is my broad…

Knowing how dreams can consume and still chasing a few of my own, I’m proud to be a part of your life JLM. And while I’m that guy that had to stay back the wind will always feel beneath me when I think of you… never moving me from place to place: I’ll always be here.

Baby, good luck on Broadway and kick ass in New York!

(Ricardo is currently the Head of Story on Horton Hears A Who @ Blue Sky Studios – Robots and Ice Age 1&2)

Talent & The Passion I Never Had

Throughout my career(s) in… well, in trying to find a career. I’ve been lucky to work with highly exceptional people. It’s almost been divine intervention to land in the presence of talented friends, co-workers, business executives, entrepreneurs, and even boss’. Now I know anyone can treat any benign situation as extraordinary so long as they treat it as fate. And indeed, I continually imagine my life as a journeyed universe where fate is my stars scattered throughout, making my space bright and gleaming.

But the people that cross my path truly live up to the high standards set in their respected fields. I have friends and co-workers, including JLM, that move emotion and strike the human condition with every performance or artistic rendition. I’ve personally worked with business executives and entrepreneurs that have created publicly traded companies; or started with a single dream and now have employees that can buy homes and live a valuable career. And I’ve had great leaders to be my mentor forging me with spirit and experience.

In truth, I've searched hard for a natural talent and failed more times then necessary; it just wasn’t in my stars I guess. But it's friends like Ricardo, who is probably the most gifted in his field out of all my blessed friends that I feel fate is on my side. I’ve had a bad habit of leaving when the going starts to get good but not this time. House of Cool is one of those stars where a galaxy is born; and just like that, gravity is holding me in place.

I guess that’s the passion I never had… Maybe that’s where talent begins... Now if fate could just help put food on the table. =)

Kristen & Krystal on Vimeo

Kristen & Krystal

These two munchkins are my cuz's kids. They've meant a lot to me in understanding the meaning of family and the coming of the next generation. Grandparents talk about generations like I talk about remembering what happened last summer; only I speak in gaps of a few months when they speak in periods of a few decades. More and more I value the importance of remembering where our family came from and how to teach the next generation of rugrats this same value. It's funny how your parents and grandparents are always right when you think they couldn't be more wrong.

I wish I could spend more time with the both of you and your family... Soon I hope.

The next generation is quickly growing up... Soon it'll be us taking our little tikes to Canada's Wonderland, CNE and fishing trips... WEIRD!

Oh, Congrats to my sista' who had her "next generation" kid... I'll write about that one soon.

Vacation with the Hardy's! on Vimeo

So Lucky...
I've been lucky to have more good days then bad... And while those bad days have seem crippling and never ending, one good day pops up and a smile is just enough to remind me that I am so lucky. Lucky to have friends that care and all of us do what we can to make each other feel... Free again. Free from those bad days and smile ear to ear on the good ones.

Thanks Matty, Melissa and little Bella! JLM & I luv' ya' guys!

EIGHT?
Some days are worth more waking up for then others. Take today. Eight years… that’s right, YEARS… ago I was able to wear down my girlfriend into submission to finally ask me out… we’ve been dating ever since. Today is always worth waking up for; to know we still try to win each other’s heart and make efforts to do special things.
There truly are some people in this world that you cannot live without.

JLM,

I don’t know where these past eight years have gone but I know where I still want to be: With You. It seems at times that everything in our lives is so far out of reach; the agony of possessing enormous dreams and aspirations I guess. But when I really think about what’s meaningful and complete, I know it’s in the curves of our palms when we hold hands caused by habit. We just fit. And for me, that’s all it takes to want to get up in the morning; to treat my problems like temperate rain knowing the sun will always shine through and the dark clouds never last forever.

Maybe we’ll never get to be the person who we dream we would be but being with you will always make me a better man

Love you baby…. And that’s the best dream of all.

Happy Anniversary!

If you're reading this... thanks to BJC and Melly H in helping me in my master plan

Hearing Impaired...

Everyday I walk to work and almost everyday I have my headsets on listening to music or an audio book… I am not alone. As I breeze by people, nearly touching shoulder to shoulder in the morning urban concrete grid, I realize that I don’t hear them… and they don’t hear me but all of us are moving to a rhythm of some sorts. I imagine some use music to help gather their thoughts, for relaxation, to learn something new, to psyche them up for the crappy day ahead of them, or just to pass the time from A to B. Whatever the case, it is somehow better then hearing what is actually happening in the real world. The mixed sounds of horns beeping, the TTC grinding its metal wheels against needing to be repaired rails, to the dissolving voices of people as you walk by each restaurant and patio; the realness of the everyday grind is being fluffed out for something better between our ears.

There’s no real point to this except a couple of months ago I glanced straight up on the clearest of all days and noticed how wonderful the sky really is; how it resembles the vast imagination we all have inside. And today I wonder if I am drowning out how the worlds sounds as it is changing; or am I becoming part of the change? Will we all no longer hear each other as we walk by one another?

I hope not. I hope I always remember to look up at the big endless sky and listen when people want to be heard when it matters most to them.

Frick' I'm cheese... better next one.

Nothing moments…

Some of the best moments in life come from seemingly nothing situations. Take last night, while I was a sleep (probably dreaming about snipin’ Hitler – read previous blog entry), my girl wanders in late – wait, I mean she drunkingly stumbles in late and plots herself upon my slumbered body. I drowsily open one eye followed by “LM?” – I have found an even shorter abbreviation to “JLM” – “Baby, I Love You.” With that, I am instantly flushed with memories of how or why THIS all began. Everything becomes so clear and I know in my life I have done something right.
For me, it’s the nothing moments when your farting around with your GF, play fighting and laughing so hard you both have to stop and catch your next breath joyfully hoping your appendix stop rattling inside. And then it’s that moment after laughing and the panted breathing when you disappear in the bulbs of her eyes and say in reflex, “Baby, I Love You.” It’s how I know everything in my life is all right.

To the girl that has a million and one worries… don’t stress, it’s all nothing.

What are you trying to tell me?

I’ve always believed dreams to be symbolic metaphors for hidden innuendos for conscious life meanings. A lot of the time I dream that I’m commanding a covert team in WWII. We dig well underneath the war happenings above and work seamlessly, knowing each task at hand. It always ends with my team surrounding Hitler’s bunker with guns aimed at him as he eats his morning breakfast (Sucka' never knew what hit him). Through my sight, I shoot… I never see the finish though… I seem to drift somewhere else in random thoughts.

In reality, I take this as a metaphor meaning what ever it is I do, I want to be working in a precision-like group where our goals are one in the same. We can rely on each other, trusting each person will complete their tasks. It also means, I never want to fail my team and while the battle is on the surface, I’m always trying to find another avenue to hit the target.
This is, of course, pure speculation of a dream.

My most memorable dream was when I was nineteen. Like all charged up hoping to be sexually active teenage boys, I dreamt about an angel of a girl. One of those girls that you would walk ten miles over glass just to look at her once; someone who charms all your thoughts and ruins your daily or lack-there-of daily work.
In my gaze, I spoke one single sentence to her in my dream. I remember waking up and shaking my dad at 3:00 am asking him to translate it in Chinese (I’m a banana, yellow on the outside, white on the inside; never got a hold of the whole Chinese spelling thing). Three days later (it took three days to find another Chinese person to translate; didn’t trust my droggy old man spelling the right characters), I tattooed that single sentence to my arm.

I promised myself that I wouldn't say this sentence to anyone but my wife on my wedding night. Even after 7 years of going out with the most incredible girl, I still have not told her. I imagine she will be the one I tell… I just hope it still holds the same intensity as it did nearly 10 years ago. How time flies and you can still keep a promise to yourself. The power of the mind and a single dream are extraordinarily never ordinary.

Get Shorty
When I was knee high (literally), growing up I was utterly terrified of being short. After carefully reviewing my ancestry and numerous other Chinese families on our seemingly traditional dim sum Sunday afternoon lunches, I figured out early that I better drink a lot of milk and eat a crap load of grade A Canadian beef. I’m surprised I never got Mad Cow with my belly so full of Betsy (why are they always named Betsy?). I even went to the extent of hangin’ upside down from the monkey bars by my feet trying to stretch every bone, muscle and flesh on my body… This was in grade 4.

It’s funny how we go through life with subtle self-conscious mind-games about who we are vs. who we want to be. I’ve had the same self-awareness with friends. In every stage of life, I’ve tried to understand people, listened to them, try to make sense with them; all the while, I think my ulterior motive was to one day confide in them myself as a friend. Maybe I have fears of growing old and watching TV alone with no place to go or being “that guy” that hangs out in the corner of the bar that everyone says hi to but no one can remember my name. I think sometimes we all feel like this… alone with no one to talk to.

Last Friday, however, at JLM and my B-day party, I was cured of all my self-conscious nuances about not having enough friends in my life. With such heartening peeps throughout the night, I felt friendship and love that I believe only couples feel on their wedding night. I’ve enjoyed the night away with friends before but not with soooo many different friends that have contributed to my walk/run in life in one place. Rich in friends beats rich with money any day of the week.
Each one of us goes through levels of hardships no one thinks anyone could understand but having love from others can make any hardship a small puddle.
So thank God for not being short… both in height and in friends.
You guys are beautiful!

Everyone has sex in September...

I know a lot of people with May birthdays, which means it must be a "busy" time in September. It has always been my prerogative to make sure, just as September gets "busy," that on your birthday it is a mandatory "free get busy day." This same notion goes with your partner. When it is her/his birthday, they also receive a "free get busy day." So in the most rudimentary math, you know that you will get "busy" at least twice a year not including special holidays like anniversary's, her best friends wedding, or Christmas (sometimes). Ladies, guys really do think like this…

Now having a shared birthday poses some tricky handy work on the guy’s part. So to maximize my get "busy" period this year, I suggested that we have two separate birthday parties and NOT on our birthdays but on the weekend. This way, I'm guaranteed to have "busy" times at least 3 times this week which would be almost like the "good ol' days." - She's gonna kill me when she reads this...

So my point in this story, all our friends are cordially invited to MY B-Day Party on Friday, May 12th and HER B-Day party on Sunday, May 14th; both at the same place (Therapy Lounge). Please feel free to come and smile for me in the mornings on my birthday and my two Birthday Parties.

"I'm Hungry" - You must be an artist

A House of Cool Character Designer, Robin (Tiger Jeet), created this drawing for one of our original content Feature Film concepts entitled, The Dreaming. I've notice many visitors to our website (www.coolhouse.ca) that comment on our artist’s works. Most comments are from other artist which is a great complement of its own.
In life, I have been fortunate to have my personal world coloured by successful and staving (sometimes successfully starving) artists from all creeds. With my girlfriend performing all her life, I’ve cultured my soul with some great stage performances. Even luckier, I have become friends with her “artsy” performers. There is something about knowing the people performing on stage personally that makes the show so much alive. I'm often more entertained by the audiences emotions than I am with the performance itself; The transition of the people no longer becoming an audience but rather immersed in the story is a wonder to witness. Just like knowing the artist that produced the image above, the connection I have with them makes their singing, dancing or drawing the sweetest tasting watermelon. With all the uncertain situations that can come in life, the escape that comes with art patients the skin and drowns out the time.
Art is the reason why we have senses like sight and hearing. Its the best communication wand we have to let people into our worlds and have them feel the changes happening inside.