The Daily Dose: Where’s Wally ?
I’m pretty sure most have played this game. I used to love it. Finding Wally was my life at one point. I used to have this Italian friend and he had tonnes of the books. So between playing Italia ’90 on SEGA, we’d go-a-searching for Wally. Ah yes, the good times.
Fast forward 10yrs….
In recent days I stumbled upon such a book…and excitedly decided to rekindle that awesome part of my youth. And here’s how it went down.
Monday 10am or so…I find old dusty “Where’s Wally” book. Proceed to flip thru pages with glee and drool profusely from the mouth, nose and eyes. (please dont ask how or why)
30mins later…..I find my first Wally…feeling awesome…its just like the old days, only my Italian friend is married and the only games I have on SEGA now are Tekken, MK1 and Shinobi
45mins later….I find another Wally…still feeling awesome…could do with some company, because a high-5 would be awesome right about now…nevertheless I move on to try and find my third Wally of the day..
20mins later…I find the sneaky bugger and in record time too….(this is where it all goes horribly wrong)
See I get a call from my Dad requesting that I get up off my lazy rapper ass and get down to the office to do some grown-up shit instead of staying at home pretending to write hits. (Yes of course, none of these were his exact words but the tone in his voice told me he was thinking it.)
So I put the book away and get in my car.
Whilst preparing to tackle whatever real world, grown up task my pops has lined up for me….I like to get my head in the game so to speak. I try to remove myself from child-like thinking and start to view things in a more mature light.
It usually works well, but this time I couldn’t stop thinking about Wally. Sure it was fun finding the book and finding him, but now all I wanted to know was why the fuck this fool was hiding in the first place ?
And why if he’s gonna be hiding does he have to wear stripes !!!
Who pays for the tickets to all these places he goes to ?
Must he always smile like such a goof ?
Is Wally gay ?
Where was Wally born and do his family ever miss him ?
Does Wally own a phone someone can reach him on if need be ?
What does Wally look for in life, while we spend precious time look for him ?
Then it hit me. Fuck thinking like an adult, thinking like child is sooooo much better. You question more of the world around you. And while you may not always come up with the answer, you almost always come up with even more awesome questions.
I swear to Zeus the kids are the ones to watch, they have this life thing figured out. So from Wally I’ve learnt two things:
1. Go out there and get lost every now and again…fuck who’s looking for you.
2. Stripes are a NO !
So now I’m off to apply the very wisdom I just vomited out here. I’ve got my favourite traveling pants fresh out the freezer, a jar of freshly plucked Skittles and a coupon that says if I get lost in Peru long enough I’m entitled to a tall refreshing glass of Pisco Sour.
Peace, Love & papaya juice if ya nasty…
Tehn
P.S. im not really going anywhere I’m just planning. #SueMe
The Daily Dose: Who’s Who ?
So its no secret AT ALL, that I’m a social media junkie. I love being online, I love meeting people I don’t know and catching up with people I do know. Like, I’m ALL ABOUT IT. With that said though, I doubt I’d be online if I weren’t Tehn Diamond. I’m in a way kinda private as a person, and just don’t know what value I’d truly be adding to the internets as just ME.
But thats just how I feel.
Essentially I’m on here tryna build a brand, get my name and my music out there and all that mess. But when it really boils down to it, I’m on here selling ME. Cos’ as it turns out nobody just buys the music anymore, they buy into the person behind the music. Which in my opinion makes perfect sense.
In an age of transparency and high-speed information exchanges going on….who in the fuck has time to pause and pay attention to “the fake” ?
I for one don’t and wouldn’t expect any of you to either.
That bit of reasoning is the very reason I blog the way I do or tweet the way I do or update my facebook statuses the way I do…..its not always pleasant and beautiful….sometimes its crude and rude and ugly….then other times its inspiring and motivating….why though ?
Well, because I’m a human being. And being human, at the end of the day is a full experience…that encompasses so many different emotions on a day to day basis. In my mind, to sit there and just dish out just straight “positive vibes” for the sake of appeasing you or making you feel like “ooh Tehn is so deep and so positive” is just ridiculous and petty deception.
I’d rather just give you the real. I enjoy expressing how I ACTUALLY feel online and not something manufactured, processed or painstakingly thought out. I have my core beliefs, and those don’t change, but like anyone else I lose sight of them from time to time. Its allowed.
Don’t you understand that what makes this whole experience so awesome, is that sometimes its very very far from awesome. Its those dark moments that make the light that much brighter.
All I’m saying there’s no crime in embracing every part of ur humanity, the good, the bad & the ugly….its all beautiful really.
Peace,Love & just being who it is you is…
Tehn Diamond
The Daily Dose: The Last of the Last Ones
“The last of the last ones.”
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Last week I started on a journey to find and create more balance in my life, starting with my daily productivity routines. That went great. And it all continues again today.
However, this week I’m continuing on my journey, only today is the day I quit smoking.
I can’t stand the addiction, it makes me feel like a weak person and a fool. Cos for fuck’s sake, I know the shit is poisonous and I know its not good for my voice at all.
So I’m thinking to myself, I can’t be someone who claims to care about his career or just life in general if I can continously keep pumping the very poison that could end both my career and life eventually.
Its just ridiculous and makes no sense, so I don’t want it anymore, I wanna be free. I’ve tried so many times and failed, well I don’t feel like failing this test anymore…its time to move on and grow strong.
Wish me luck.
Its a new day 
Peace,Love & less poison…
Tehn Diamond
The Daily Dose: The Libra Life
…yes, a life of balance. Thats what all this productivity talk is about this week. Its been a while since I took a fine comb thru the activities of my life and the state of my mind & focus. I looked inside and found that while I may have all the ambition in the world and hopefully some of the talent to back it…I’m still not moving forward at the pace I feel my ambition and talent are worth.
Naturally, this raised some questions in myself, the most obvious of which being…Why ? Why, when I’ve focused so hard on my career has it not started to show signs of actually being something I can make for life ?
And thats when it hit me, right there in the question, I may be chasing this beautiful dream by way of music…but at the end of the day, what I’m really tryna do is make a life for myself and those closest to me.
The thing about life though, is that its not made up of just a career…or just love…or just religion…what I’m saying is, life ain’t just a one pursuit race. There’s so many hats to wear, so many lanes to drive in and so much to achieve on so many levels in a range of aspects.
True, focus is important, but a balanced focus is even better. We don’t just come into this world and play one role. Take for example myself, I’m not just a musician, I’m a son, I’m a brother, I’m a friend, I’m a soul, I’m a dreamer, I’m a businessman and one day I hope to be a husband and a father.
Each of these roles come with different responsibilities, first to myself but then to others as well. So thats all I’m tryna do with this week, I’m tryna strike a balance an milk it. As a result, my days so far have been more full, but full of necessary things…some of which I don’t want to do but most of them I love doing.
And this is what being a Student of the Game of life is all about. Learning yourself, learning the world and how to live in it to the fullest.
Peace, Love & prosperity….
Tehn Diamond
The Audio’s Visuals: Nicki Minaj’s “Your Love”
I honestly have no idea, how I even feel about this song. I just know that I like looking at Nicki. In fact just for integrity’s sake I’m gonna listen to it with the volume up…just this once…just for you. LOL
Nah but Ms. Minaj is nice with it, really loving what she’s bringing to the table…especially as a Female MC…such a rare breed these days.
But I’ve always got Ms. Jean Grae…WHAT UP ?!
Quote of the Day from Arnold H. Glasgow
“Success is simple. Do what’s right. The right way, at the right time”
The Daily Dose: Rise & Grind
- Important things, are morning things -
Them five words right there are single-handedly helping to turn my days around. Thats my thing though, constantly tryna come up with the right mix of time and space to make the most of the moments I live.
Needless to say the first step is ACTUALLY waking up and getting productive, early and often. The whole point is to try develop some sorta routine and structure…and eventually a habit of early productivity. Apparently, it takes roughly 30 days to develop a habit, so thats the first target.
So now my days end at 9pm and start at 3am.
Mind you the real test of this little “Rise & Grind” theory is gonna be the weekends. They tend to follow a structure all of their own, but weekends is when the almighty discipline kicks in. So I guess I’ll just keep you posted on the progress. We should know plenty by Sunday.
But like I said on Monday, I’m just out here trine make each day AMAZING. And for me that means stacking up solid “wins” that move the dream forward. And its dope, cos’ just thinking that way throughout the day keeps my eyes and mind wide open for further opportunities.
What kinda systems or routines have you set up in your life to make your days Nothing Short Of Amazing(#NSOA) ?
Tehn
The Audio’s Visuals: J. Cole’s “Simba”
J. Cole – Simba (Directed by BBGUN) from bbgun on Vimeo.
True, this ain’t a new visual or a new audio, but its one of my favourites from one of the most exciting new artists in the game. I figured I’d post this one up, because when it first came out not a whole lotta people even kew J. Cole was. Now with the release of the first single off his debut album “Who Dat” a few more heads are starting to take notice.
In my eyes, dude is winning right now, his album is gonna be one of so many dope ass albums coming out this year.
If you haven’t caught his “Who Dat?” video please check it out here. Its directed by the same team that did “Simba” – BBGUN, these dudes are just killing the music video game right now. And I’m loving it.
The Daily Dose: Haters vs. Enemies
Yep, there’s a difference. I strongly believe that our haters deserve nothing but love as stated in my “Tehn Commandments” you gotta “Love Thy Hater”. Our enemies on the other hand deserve our respect.
Why ?
Well the thing about a hater, at least in my eyes, is that while it may feel like they’re tryna hold you back at the end of the day they’re still standing still. They may remark on whatever brand of awesome or amazing you’re currently building in your life, and just always have negative non-helpful shit to say about it. What you gotta understand though, is that their attention towards you comes from jealousy and showing very little attention to their own pursuit of awesome or amazing. At the end of the day, they have no ambition but to see you fall in most cases.
Needless to say, they are to be pitied, as in literally felt sorry for….hence why they deserve our love. So that one day they might find their own brand of awesome or amazing to be.
Whereas on the other hand, a true enemy challenges us and sometimes even inspire us to greater heights. For the simple fact, that while your enemy may wish for you to fail, thats not what drives them. What gets them up and going is their own desire to be something of value themselves. You just happen to be in their way, because unlike the hater they’re actually tryna get somewhere as opposed to standing their “hating”.
Some of the world’s greatest heroes and purveyors of all things awesome and amazing would never have reached the dizzying heights they had without a good enemy to strive against. And for the sake of my argument, lets take enemy to mean the same as rival, because essentially thats what I’m talking about.
The US vs. The Soviet Union in the race to space….
Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird in the race to NBA greatness….
Michael Jackson vs. Prince in the race to creative domination….
Jay-Z vs. Nas in the race for King of New York….
In all these instances an enemy (rival) was key in the ultimate greatness of the victor. Cos’ at the end of the day if u call yourself winning and all u do is go head-to-head with haters, you’re really just losing and hating on yourself. So know your enemy, and know that they’re there to push you, keep them close and on their toes.
But always and I mean ALWAYS…..LOVE THY HATER !
Peace,Love & Hate
Tehn Diamond
The Daily Dose: Monday
Up until like 10 hours ago I didn’t even know that there were any variations of the word “Kaleidoscope”….5 mins after that and like 20 google searches later…it turns out there arent any. Oh well. I did find out however that the origin of the word are from the early 19th C. from the Greek “kalos” which means beautiful and “eidos” which means form.
That was Sunday night, now its Monday and one look at my tweetdeck timeline tells me that there’s not too much beauty in the form of Monday, at least not through the eyes that inform the minds of most people I know. So to let you know I feel your pain…here’s an excerpt from my track Weekend Come…
It’s Monday,
Money to make, people to meet
Definately the worst of the weak.
Did that help ? Nah ? Yea I didn’t think it would.
It ain’t too hard to tell, most of us can’t stand Mondays.Clearly I’m no different. But not because I gotta get up early and hit a 9 to 5, but because i’m one of those people who has to start things on the first day of the week. That shit fails me so often.
So for me Monday is another shot at an amazing week, I don’t think I’ve really had a fully amazing week all month. But today, the pursuit of amazing begins once again.
In my mind if I can accomplish at least five things with the potential to make amazing happen, every single day of any given week then THATS an amazing week. The weekend doesn’t count cos’ them few days know how to sort themselves out.
So fuck it, here we go again. Get up, get out and get at it again….until the Weekend Come !!
And instead of worry too much about the “M-word” just focus on the focus at hand, wateva that may be in your world. Me ? I’ll be chasing butterflies.
Peace, Love & amazing….
Tehn
