After undergoing four rough days from a flu, I was happy to get back to work even though my energy was still low. While drafting a document at Starbucks in Pearl City, Oahu, Hawaii, I overheard this song “Make It Better” by Hazel English in their speakers as I was ordering my beverage. I like the catchy beat and mellow tune.
The following are the lyrics:
I want to be seen
Yet I want to be invisible
I want everything
Yet I want nothing at all
All of these thoughts I have
Negate each other
I keep trying to understand
How to make it better
But I can’t make it better
I am confident
Yet I always seem to doubt myself
I am intelligent
Yet I know nothing at all
All of these thoughts I have
Negate each other
I keep trying to understand
How to make it better
But I can’t make it better
I want to be seen
Yet I want to be invisible
I want everything
Yet I want nothing at all
All of these thoughts I have
Negate each other
I keep trying to understand
How to make it better
But I can’t make it better
All of these thoughts I have
Negate each other
I keep trying to understand
How to make it better
But I can’t make it better
My dream is to take you by the hand and dance with you on stage in front of tens of thousands of people as my friend DJ G-Spot and I play a set. This fun song “Recess” by Golden Coast would be one of the songs in my set. I’m not sure who you’ll be but I got a target date of 2017 or 2018!
Picture of the high technology and special effects stage at the 16th Annual Love Festival Hawaii on 9/27/2014.
Here’s a song for you to dance into the new year called “Physical” by St. Lucia. This band produces that feel good music that I love, which reminds me of the songs of my childhood in the 1980s, and it has that electronic sound in what we now call EDM or Electronic Dance Music, an area I’ve been involved in through my friend DJ G-Spot, my friend since college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. To have that 80s and EDM sound is awesome! Hmm, I have some ideas as I’m writing this entry.
For those of you still preparing for 2017, enjoy and make the most of your last day of 2016! For the rest of you, Happy New Year! I have a very good feeling that we can do great things in 2017!
I wish you a wonderful journey, the good and bad, as you progress on your work towards your dreams and visions. Below is a song I dedicate to you, “Visions” by Jaytech ft. Judah, remixed by Sedi.
Such a moving song and nice video. “I Would Do anything For Love” written by Jim Steinman and sang by Meatloaf with Lorraine Crosby. Michael Bay directed the music video.
Romantic lyrics:
Woman:
Will you make me some magic with your own two hands?
Can you build an emerald city with these grains of sand?
Can you give me something I can take home?
Man:
I can do that!
You don’t know, you don’t know, know.
Your eyes glow in the dark, they glow.
You got friends all around, around.
It’s just you and me, you and me are going down.
Baby if you follow me home, I’ll follow you forever.
If you’re not going out in the cold, I’ll wait for better weather.
If you’re tired of walking alone, I’ll walk with you and watch the sky.
No matter where you are, no matter where you are, I wanna hear your footsteps in the night.
Spending time with my mom, dad, sister Mia and brother-in-law Mike, niece Elyse and Sophie, sister Lara and her fiancee Ross, family dog Stretch, and all my relatives.
The time I spent with my late grandparents Tadao and Ellen Sakai and Maurice Toshio and Bessie Karamatsu.
Loving love.
Hanging out with my friends.
Writing down my goals.
Networking with positive and ambitious people.
Drafting my plans and strategies for my goals.
Writing fiction. I still need to get a novel published.
Watching movies. I wish I could produce movies. Maybe someday.
Building new companies by sharing ideas and skills with other entrepreneurs.
Playing law and politics for creative business ventures.
Listening to music and producing music events.
Traveling to different places around the world.
Tasting great food.
Exercising, especially running outdoors while listening to EDM as I strategize on my goals.
I’m so lucky to have you in my life. Here’s a song that reflects how I feel in my heart: “Thankful” by Feki.
My sisters are princesses. My nieces are now princesses. They rule the world. Since I was young, I’ve wanted to save everyone from evil. I keep coming up with ideas and mix them with other ideas – some good and some bad. Then I pursue them until I live my imagination. But every now and then, my fantasy comes crashing down. Like a child, I create another dream and do it all over again.
With my nieces Sophie and Elyse on the early morning of March 7, 2016, just before flying from San Francisco, California to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
My niece Elyse with Princess Belle of Beauty and the Beast at Disney World on March 8, 2016.
My sister Mia, Elyse, and Sophie with Princess Anna of Frozen at Disney World on March 10, 2016.
My niece Sophie in her Princess Snow White dress and younger sister Lara at the hotel in Disney World on March 10, 2016.
My sister Lara holding my niece Sophie at Disney World on March 10, 2016.
My niece Elyse and I in the dining hall of Princess Belle and the Beast at Disney World on March 11, 2016.
A fun song fitting for this journal entry called “Crushin’ My Fairytale” by Celeste Buckingham.
“500 Days of Summer” is one of my all-time favorite movies. I like it because it’s so real, filled with all of life’s strengths and weaknesses. As much as we want our heart to act, sometimes it won’t, no matter how hard we try. On the opposite side, sometimes we fall in love, but the other person just can’t feel the same no matter how much that person cares for you. In the end, it hurts so much between the two of you. This movie is based on an experience that the screenwriter went through. The song “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap really hits you in the right emotional spot and matches the movie.
Multiple projects and issues are jumping around in my head while calls and messages keep coming in. So much so that I made an error the other day on one of my tasks. Studies have shown that multi-tasking reduces our performance. It’s much better to focus on one task at a time to maximize our output and results.
With all the different projects and goals that I have to accomplish, I think my mind is going as fast as this song “Alone” by Marshmello.
This song “Ka Pilina” churns my heart. It’s a romantic Hawaiian song about a woman attended by native Hawaiian birds that are singing beautifully. The song is accentuated when danced by hula dancer(s).
When I hear this song, my imagination is as follows:
I move through the forest and hear the elepaio chirping. As midnight approaches, the ‘apapane sings with his beautiful voice. At dawn, I listen to the song of the ‘i’iwi polena. Now approaches the woman attended by the birds. Our eyes meet and we smile. Our love and intimacy.
My heart is with you. At times, dark clouds follow us – the loss of our loved ones; shattered images of romance; and attacks by negativity. Yet through it all, we keep progressing forward with our efforts, hour by hour towards what we envision. I dedicate this song to you called “Higher” from one of my favorite bands, The Naked And Famous.
I wanna scream at the top of my lungs.
I wanna do what has never been done.
I wanna light the spark.
The beats in a million hearts.
I wanna dance with my boys & my girls.
Dance like we’re gonna take over the world.
All in the name of love.
I wanna get me some.
One night is all it takes.
We’ve become wrong to make it right.
One night to save the day.
We’ll show them all.
Power and money will attract the good and the bad. The bad get worse with their desire for it, and they get even worse when they get it. People are only around them because they have to. However, when the bad get taken down, without power and money, they lose their identity, and no one wants to be near them anymore because there’s no reason to be.
With or without power and money, the good stay the same. Power and money don’t define them. Its love and compassion that attract people around them.
To all of you getting yelled at in your careers, attacked by greed, judged by your success, and laughed at for your failures, stay positive with your love and compassion. We all love you and are cheering you on.
Anytime, you’re feeling down because of negativity, play the song below “Hype” by Calvin Harris and Dizzee Rascal because there will always be a hype around you, and we all need that special gift that only you can bring to this world!
Note: This type of concert would be fun in Hawaii!
Lyrics of “Hype” by Calvin Harris and Dizzee Rascal:
Top of the roster
Real deal, you can see it in my posture
I feel like Leo with a Oscar
The price just changed, no sour, it’ll cost ya
And I’m not an imposter
My style don’t borrow or foster
My enemies will not prosper
Seems like every time they take a shot they hit the crossbar
And I move like Neymar
Them boys ain’t even on my radar
I do my own stunts, no saviour
That’s why I gotta stunt so major
They say I go mad for the paper
I think I need a shrink and a tailor
But I do not think about failure
I’m a star, I should get my own trailer
Hype!
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
I’m a bad boy and I do what I like
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
[Beat break]
Hype
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
I’m a bad boy and I do what I like
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
[Beat break]
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
I’m so legit
I do not slip, I just stick to the script
Fully equipped, there is no stopping me
I do not quit, I do not cip
Ready for action, I’ve gotta be physically fit
Sit-ups and burpees and dips
Gettin’ a grip and it’s making me physically sick
Somehow I still get a kick
Hype
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
I’m a bad boy and I do what I like
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
[Beat break]
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
Hype
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
I’m a bad boy and I do what I like
Every time I’m around there’s a hype
Touchdown and the crowd get’s hyped
Straight gassed, got the whole place hype
Of all the sectors to be involved with, people ask me why I’m involved with the music events sector. After soccer, I acted in theatre and a few TV commercials, so the arts has always been in my heart. It’s where creativity floats at a high. That’s why I enjoy writing fiction. Like many of you, music is a part of our soul. It has a way of lifting us up. During college, while I was Vice President of the student government of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a member of the University of Hawaii American Marketing Association, a member of the University of Hawaii Pre-Law Society, a member of Sigma Lambda, a member of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board, a member of the Young Democrats of Hawaii, a member of the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce, staff for politicians, volunteer for political candidates, and working in Flightline at Duty Free Shoppers Hawaii, my friend Gregory Dehnert, otherwise known as G or DJ G-Spot was bringing me to his music events and dance parties – now known as EDM, one of the biggest genres in the music industry. In 2014, G brought me into the the industry where I handled the logistics, government affairs, agreements, and media affairs. Now I understand the entire operations. For this, I will always be grateful.
I really like this band, The Naked and Famous. I’m feeling the lyrics.
They’ll get through.
They’ll get you.
In the place that you feel it the most.
When you’re cornered.
When it’s forming.
In the place that you wish was a ghost.
For many of us, dreams and goals make life exciting. I enjoy coming up with ideas, expanding my skill-sets, and building relationships. However, sometimes in the midst of our hustle to do well in our lives, we forget the importance of having gratitude for what we have now and accomplished thus far. We get too fixated on what we want and get frustrated when all our efforts are not taking us there. We all love success, but with every dream and goal we pursue, there will be challenges and even failure. Some statistics say 8 out of 10 businesses started will fail. Many have pursued the path to become a U.S. Senator or President of the United States and have fallen short. Others have attempted to reach the highest levels in their field of work but have failed to attain that level. Failure is only failure if we don’t appreciate what we currently have and what we have gained. Shoot to be number one in the world, but number 50 is still pretty darn good. We can make peace with our mind knowing that we did our best, and won’t have the pain of wondering “What if I had given my idea a shot?” Through failure, we gain knowledge in areas we may have not been familiar with; build new relationships; and even come up with more ideas to pursue. With failure, we change and evolve, often leading us to worlds we’ve never experienced. When we embrace failure as part of success, we can keep moving higher to a level where we can keep failing until we succeed, and keep succeeding until we fail.
We live in a take, take world. When our energy is drained to the point where our health begins to fade, it’s time to pause to review our life and then make the changes necessary to recover.
To combat this, we have to focus on those who fill us with positive energy and who truly care for who we are. We also need to work on what we’re passionate about and provide value that helps others. Somehow, when we do this, good things come back to us.
Today April 23, 2016, I finished my 15th draft of my Writing Project #1, a fictional story that I created back when I couldn’t sleep on October 11 to 12, 2006. In the story, the young male protagonist Ken whose health is ailing meets a girl named Kaylee in his dreams who suffers from memory loss, regret, and deep sorrow. As his relationship develops with her, he realizes that his strange dreams are much deeper than ordinary dreams. While in the dream world, he discovers a powerful secret about energy that can not only help Kaylee with her memory loss and sorrow, but save his life and bring balance between good and evil. However, by helping Kaylee attain happiness, Ken realizes that he would lose her forever.
The love between Kaylee and Ken will empower us to play a role in making our universe more positive. I dedicate “Us” by Kaskade & CID to all of you.
After 32 days of non-stop work on a development project in Kona, Hawaii and an EB-5 Regional Center based in Hawaii, I’m typing my 15th draft of my first novel that I started in October 2006 that currently consists of nearly 80,000 words, a love story between a young male protagonist and a dead girl that brings forward our fears of being alone, not finding true love in our lifetime, losing the battle against negative people, and dying without resolving the pain resulting from heartbreak and broken families. This weekend, I’m also going to continue working on my novel based in Iraq during the U.S. occupation – a love story that is sure to draw controversy because it is surrounded by violence, something you may either understand or disagree with, depending on where you stand on certain political issues. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that love can guide us through anger, death, and our darkest moments. I began writing my second story in May 2013 and it has just under 44,973 words.
The song “Unconditionally” by Katy Perry describes the emotional depth that the characters in my novels have with with each other despite their flaws and all the craziness around them. Even if the world is burning around them and their fate seems doomed, you yearn for their love to succeed. This music video has a ballroom scene. Likewise, my first story has a climax chapter with a ballroom scene. Such a powerful song.
Today, I just listened to the song below “Graduate” by Handsome Ghost and I immediately liked it. The song connects to my stories because the characters in my novels have enormous obstacles that’s preventing them from being together.
“Swept Away” by Christoper Cross is one of my all-time favorite love songs ever, so much so that I wrote it into my first novel. Every time I listen to it, it brings out this warm feeling in my chest, and when I’m alone or writing a love story, it bring so much emotions out of me.
“Seeing for the First Time” by Britt Nicole is another song that represents the love that the characters in my novels have for one another.
With innovation, hard work, relationship-building, and a relentless pursuit of success, comes a higher level of jealousy, envy, and scrutiny. It doesn’t matter how good our intentions are. We are often told that we knew what we were getting into. The message is clear: If we wanted to avoid such negativity, we should’ve settled with an average life. But that message goes against everything that our parents and teachers taught us – that we can go as far as we want to go.
I believe that we should continue to pursue our dreams and develop friendships that last a lifetime. We must keep working hard to create products and services through our ideas. If others want to judge us by extraordinary standards, then we just have to live super extraordinary lives.
Though I’m no longer serving in the public sector, I will do my best to help Hawaii and America’s economy through the companies that I’m a partner of. In the spirit of the music events business that I’m involved with, here is an uplifting song “We Don’t Stop” by Kaskade that encourages us to keep doing the best we can in our pursuit of happiness.
At times, our greatest enemy is ourselves. Our negative thoughts push aside our positive ones, which in turn, affects our actions and everything around us. We get hard on ourselves for our failures when there was so much that we gained from taking that journey. We dwell on the past and what we don’t have, when the future is so bright with endless possibilities. We mourn the dead even though they never did leave us. Meanwhile, there are so many people who love us, and many more who are cheering us on to make our next move. So why stay still and let the darkness consume us? We have to make our move, and then another, and then many, many more. The future is relying on what we do now. To maximize what’s ahead of us, we need to be alive in the here and now. By practicing gratitude and compassion, we can transcend past our fears and into the light of happiness.
Below is a song called “Spirits” by the Strumbellas that reflect my feelings in my journal entry above.
I’ll write millions of words until my story is no longer mine, as I wish it will touch your heart and somehow give you hope, if not in this world, then in the next.
When we fall in love, we present the best of ourselves. In time, our faults are revealed. Sometimes, these faults cause a separation. However, if we have an open heart, we will always see the good in those we loved, and even remain friends with them. Every so often, when we close our eyes and go back in time, the good times play back, and we can’t help but miss them.
The song “City of Dreams” by Dirty South & Alesso featuring Ruben Haze below represents the feelings I wrote in this post. When you watch it, you can appreciate the hard work that EDM DJs/Producers put into their songs and that’s why my business partners and I enjoy showcasing them at our events.
Put on your best headsets. This is “Shots” by Imagine Dragons. Girls have gone in and out of my life, and as for my career, well I’ve had my ups and downs. We go through challenges but keep striving as hard as we can for the world that we’ve imagined until our time is up.
With my nieces Sophie and Elyse on the early morning of March 7, 2016, just before flying from San Francisco, California to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
My niece Elyse with Princess Belle of Beauty and the Beast at Disney World on March 8, 2016.
My sister Mia, Elyse, and Sophie with Princess Anna of Frozen at Disney World on March 10, 2016.
My niece Sophie in her Princess Snow White dress and younger sister Lara at the hotel in Disney World on March 10, 2016.
My sister Lara holding my niece Sophie at Disney World on March 10, 2016.
My niece Elyse and I in the dining hall of Princess Belle and the Beast at Disney World on March 11, 2016.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 