Noted down this quote during a talk at a conference, it really stood out for me. Such a simple statement but a lot of us don’t really believe it. Making a difference in someone’s life doesn’t just mean giving money, we can help by giving encouragement, time, teaching, forgiving and above all, by showing some love. Think about the area you live in, the community around there, the schools you studied as a child – don’t you want to go back, share your story and possibly influence someone to better their lives? Invest a bit of time. I keep seeing tweets from people complaining about giving and not getting anything back. Selfless giving is purely about giving and expecting nothing in return. I’ll end with this quote with a line from my 14 year old cousin: Generosity is the cure to our fragile world filled with greed, ignorance and foolishness.

He’s a genius.

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Imagine my shock when I was sent the image you see above… *spits out drink* it’s not ‘Omlette Du Fromage’!? Funny story actually, I discovered that attempting to retell this episode of Dexter’s Laboratory to anyone who hasn’t seen it, makes you look/sound retarded. Anywho, one of the writers of ‘Pleated-Jeans’ blog put together a compilation of images designed to spark that very reaction (of drink spitting). Some are quite funny, others are a bit dead, but a little bit of trivia never hurt anyone… aside from the ‘omlette du fromage’ fiasco… that hurt a little. There are also references to other childhood shows like The Chipmunks, The Lion king and Arthur.  There are more after the break, check them out!

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I’m back again with another episode of Oprah’s Masterclass series for y’all. I’ve got all of Season 2 on my hard drive, just need to watch and take notes now. Giving myself a few days in between episodes so I can fully digest each person’s story. Her story is beautiful, she already knew her life’s intention at the age of 11 – most of us still don’t know our goals in life! her goal was to simply be happy in life. She grew up in area of Maryland where it was more than important to be perfect but she wanted none of that; a simple life was her dream – get married, raise kids and run a dance school. Her life obviously didn’t go down that route; she looks back at her life and shares much of her wisdom she has learnt from her years in the entertainment industry as well as family life. Hop on after the cut.

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I’ll leave you with a few quotes from the episode. It’s definitely one of my favourites.

On her unexpected Oscar win..

“It is a great thing to get recognized for something that you’ve done but its a moment in time. Living off of those accolades and making that become some total in the part of your importance in life or even your purpose in life, defining who you are…those awards are wonderful but they are never meant to define who you are. I define myself by my ability to give. I define myself by my ability to understand. I define myself by my ethics and by my truth. These are the things that define who I am….”

Staying humble and grounded…

“When you start feeling too big for your britches, I want you to remember how small we are.”

Parenting – learning let go…

”Give your children free reign to grow.  That doesn’t mean that they aren’t watched…it just means that they are honored. You don’t always have to tower over them…” “The beauty of getting older is the surprise of what else you can do to make the world a better place with the wisdom you’ve accrued over those years.”

Love…

“Love is a choice…each and every day.  It’s one you make in how you talk to people, how you treat people and how you walk through the world.  Love is a choice.  Each and Every Day.”

Quite recently, Google opened ‘Google Campus London’, a 7 story complex dedicated to bringing people together by creating general work space as well as offering open plan office space to start-up tech businesses. The venue features event space with a capacity of over 140 guests, 16 meeting rooms, 200 office desks, cafés’, a rooftop terrace and of course a whole building full of creative brains to learn from.  Google Campus proves to be quite useful for newly founded businesses; users can host a range of events from screenings to presentations to parties. Joining the Google community also allows access to a wealth of resources including mentoring, informative seminars and networking events. More after the break.

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Google Campus London

Campus is Europe’s newest co-working space and entrepreneur community. We help great ideas come to life by providing a place people can meet, collaborate and inspire each other. We promote an open culture that values the energy and input of people from all walks of life. Campus is about creating new relationships and providing an environment where you can build your business.

It’s been a while since my last one eh? The quote is from the book I’m currently reading on how quick the marketing/advertising landscape changes due to the digital age. No one cares for who you are or how good you are, if you have an idea/vision, just go do da ting; build a team and make it happen. Playing sitting duck as if you’re entitled the end result isn’t going to get you anywhere. That’s what I’m trying to do right now, letting my imagination and curiosity fuel the next few months. No point looking back and seeing who’s gaining on you, just focus on your purpose and how you’re going to get there. More on the reverse.

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‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent but rather the one most responsive to change.’

That’s why the quote above that I’ve nabbed from my work’s website is so relevant. It’s about not settling, especially when you’re on top of your game (I’m no where near the top, just saying!). Innovate, keep learning, following emerging pattern and disrupt the flow. Going to leave y’all with another quote from the book I’m reading:

‘The idea of training like you’re number two to remain number one’

Have a great 4-day week!

Download high resolution version here.

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While we love to complain and moan about what’s not going well in our lives i.e. I keep moaning that I cannot find a job. It’s good to bare in mind that the more energy we put into self pity the less time we spend trying to do something about our circumstances and incite change. How can I expect to get a job if I have given up looking for one, it’s just not going to happen. If you play your cards right then maybe you’ll have good fortune.

Yin – Going to invade this post, I agree with what DJB is saying, minus the maybe. I honestly believe success is dependent on effort and you create your own luck as it is preparation meeting opportunity. Talent can take you far but what use is talent without passion and perseverance? Get on with life.

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Do I run consistently? Nope. Why? I don’t know, not going to use the ‘I’m always busy’ excuse. If I really wanted to run, I’d wake up at 6 every day to do so, that’s when I normally run. So the British 10k takes place in July and I’ve um only just gone and signed up for it. He who has never done any consistent exercise/sport since leaving school, even then I’d find a excuse to skip P.E. I was that kid who chose to be in the library instead of on the track/field. Not for me, I am Indian after all. We’re not the most ‘sporty’ people in the world, continues on the reverse.

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British 10k – Website | Facebook | Twitter | ENTER NOW

When was the last time you watched an Indian team take part in anything other than cricket? Yes, that’s right. Heck, I’m the brown dude that doesn’t even like that sport.I’ve always wanted to be ‘fit’ but could never conjure up the passion and drive I have for other areas of my life when it comes to looking after my body. Always just dreamt of waking up with a Marvel superhero physique but that never happened :(

Running? Why now? All I need is pair of decent lightweight/running sneakers and the courage to leave the house. I think that’s the hard part, actually getting up and out of your home. I always fail there *10 more minutes of sleep*….which ends up being a hour and boom, it’s time for work. This year is all about discipline for me and that doesn’t just revolve around my work. All aspects of my life. Obedience and discipline people.

Of course my running inspiration comes from those around me who are doing da ting – Candice, Sami, Nathaniel and Tahirah to name a few. Follow them on Twitter and you’ll be running a week or so. Trust.

I haven’t actually talked much about the marathon, feel free to click the links above for more information. I’ve blabbered on too much. Time to go do this 5k run around East Ham. Pray for me.

UPDATE: I wrote the post on the train around 2pm. I managed to do the 5k slowly but surely! Baby steps yo.

Who wants to join me?

Going abroad is meant to be an exciting thing. I remember as a child not being able to sleep the day before going away, I’d irritate the hell out of my mum to the point where she’d threaten me if I didn’t go to bed lol. As you may or may not know I recently took a trip to Portugal for some Y&Y related goodness which you will see soon. This post however is about my personal experience getting to and my stay in Portugal.

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I’m going to start at the beginning. It’s Monday April 16^th and my open to some bad news, my journey to the airport has dramatically changed due to my housemate being unable to take me. I should have know from this that my day wasn’t going to be as straight forward as one would have liked.

Having digested that little slice of bad news I had to get myself together and start packing, yes I hadn’t packed a damn thing at this time. I don’t know what it is but black people like to do things at the last minute. Frantically ironing clothes I’m trying to decide what to bring on this trip, ironing clothes that I know I don’t want to take but ironing them just in case I change my mind. It’s not normal to be running around like a headless chicken at 9 o’clock in the morning, it’s too damn early.

Finally I packed all my ish including toiletries and important accessories such as my camera and laptop. I’ve purposely mentioned toiletries for a reason, a reason you’ll understand in a bit. Anywho moving on, I rush to the airport to get there two hours before my flight (which was at 16:10). Hurray I’m at the airport! Time for celebration, err nope! No celebrations at this point because once I had got to the airport my already somewhat hindered day got even worse. At this point I’d like to take the time to say that Gatwick Airport is the WHACKNESS! It’s check-in time, this was about the only thing that ran smoothly I got my boarding pass and was good to go. It was passing through security where things got me heated to the point I wanted to slap one of the stewards.

I’m really trying to make this story as short as possible as I know reading long ish can get boring but as I’m recalling the events that took place I’m slowly realising I could write a bloody novel. JK Rowling ain’t got shit on me lol. Anyway back to slapping stewards. Trying to go through security was harder than Rihanna’s forehead, and we all know that is tuff!

First I was stopped because it was too packed and they were over loaded with people so were only letting people through when their plane was called. OK no problem, I’ll go and have something to eat I thought to myself. Sat down and myself one of the greatest salad experiences I’ve ever had in Giraffe. Oh did I forget to tell you that at this point my flight had been delayed to 16:35 and the time at this point was 15:15.

I finished my meal and proceeded to swiftly pass through security, Errr nope! There was nothing swift about it. I had to queue up for 15 minutes only to realise that I had left my phones in Giraffe, PEAK! I run back get my phones and return to the security area. I had to queue up again. Then I get to the woman checking everything and she throws all my toiletries exepect my tooth paste away. Erm what are you doing don’t you know that I’m black, how can you just discard my cocabutter like that. What the hell am I going to cream my self with and my deodorant! Don’t you know that I’m going to a hot country, I can’t be smelling like Sherk’s feet next to people I don’t know, I have a reputation to keep. All this is what I said to the woman but I guess empathy must has missed her emotions, evil bitch!

Anywho I get on the plane for the two hour flight, the flight was as stable as an earthquake may I just add. Once in portugal I go in search of cream and deodorant which cost me just over €30, the cream cost €17.99. I had to take a pause and ask the question “what is this cream made of, diamonds?“, I bought the cream and everything and proceeded to get picked up by Peugeot. The kind people at Peugeot took me to my hotel which was heavenly. The rooms, the grounds, the whole complex were simply stunning. I walked into my room and screamed like a little girl for about 5 minutes, it was that nice. All the drama from the airport melted away once I laid my head on the BEST pillow my head has ever touched. I don’t know if I can do this hotel justice with words so i’ll just leave you with some images. If jealousy is an emotion that doesn’t fester as you view these pics then I would serious question your status as a human being :).

Stay tuned for the Peugeot feature coming soon, until next time bitches, signed DJB.

This clip has been around for a minute now but since my eyes only came across it a few days ago I thought i’d share it with y’all. I have a feeling Y&Y homie Von Majik is gonna love this if he hasn’t seen it already. Macro Tempest is a techno-illusionist who combines the art of magic and illusions with the use of technology. In this clip using three iPods like magical props, Marco Tempest spins a clever, surprisingly heartfelt meditation on truth and lies, art and emotion. He captures the audience with his stage presence and apparent ability to manipulate the screen of an iPod. What he displays here is something that I have never seen before but would definitely love to see again, maybe next time in person.

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Probably the most open dope quote to date and as always, this series of posts has been completely relational to my life at the very moment of writing. This post is about relationships and love for your partner. It’s funny when I look back at my relationships, they’re a mixture of good/bad and each relationship I went in with different goals and attractions. In my younger years, it was all about the appearance, one didn’t care for the personality or the ability to conversate. A few years later it was a balance between appearance and personality. Now? It’s a combination of all those factors; finding a woman with a similar purpose to your very own, an understanding of my lifestyle, goals and vision. Her drive and ambition should inspire me to work harder and vice-versa. Nothing more attractive than seeing a woman more passionate about her life and work. Sexy. Weird, right? Love is sacrificial, kind, beautiful and everything you can imagine. I honestly believe love conquers all. Heck, I love love so much that I have it tattooed on my forearm. Remember love is not possessive, demanding, stubborn, or dominating. Think about it.

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