Jaemin Yi | Travel, Creativity, and the Pursuit of Awesomeness

For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been sneaking behind my girlfriend’s back. I’ve been lying constantly about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. I even got her friends and family in on it.

But last Saturday, she finally found out what we’ve all been up to this entire time…

And she loved it. Like, tears-coming-down-her-face loved it (I don’t usually enjoy making girls cry, but I’ll make exceptions).

If you know Taneen at all (her blog is seriously one of my favorites), then you know she’s the absolute PERFECT target for a Shit [Blank] Says video. This girl is full of such ridiculousness/awesomeness/weirdness, it’s almost too easy!

For a girl who doesn’t give a shit about fancy dinners and expensive gifts, we all knew that this would be the perfect birthday gift. And it totally was.

One thing I didn’t expect though, was how awesome making this video would be for me.

About 6 months ago, I went to Burning Man for the first time. And it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve EVER had. Hands down.

I know, people throw around the word “life changing” a lot. But I shit you not, that’s EXACTLY what it was for me. It truly was a transformative, un-f*cking-believable experience and I know it’ll hold a special place in my life for many years to come.

But honestly, it wasn’t all that long ago when I had NO idea what Burning Man was. I thought it was some drugged out, Woodstock-like concert. Or a raging hippie orgy in the desert.

Either way, I saw it as something that just “wasn’t for me”.

I’m guessing that’s what most of you are thinking right now, huh?

Luckily for me, one day, a client of mine started telling me all about his Burning Man experience. About what it was really like. Beyond the dumb misconceptions and stereotypes.

Two things happened that day: 1) My mind was blown, and 2) I knew I HAD to go and experience it for myself. This was not an option.

And now, a year later and with my own amazing experience under my belt, I think it’s my duty to do the same for you. To tell you about the real Burning Man.

2011 was one hell of a year for me. You might even say it was a banner year (I don’t really know what that means…but it sounds about right).

I connected with loved ones, music, and myself at levels I never even thought were possible. We’re talking BIG life changes, people. I’d go into more detail but I’d probably sound like an incoherent mess of hippie-ness.

One thing’s for sure though: 2011 is definitely a year I’ll look back on fondly for the rest of my life.

And since electronic dance music (and getting into DJing) was a huge part of what made my 2011 special, I thought, why not whip a mix together? A soundtrack for my memories, if you will?

So here it is. My first official mix. 26 songs that each hold special meaning for me. A personal thank you to the moments and people who made this my “banner” year (I should probably google that, huh?).

And for those of you new to this music, consider this a good intro step to some of the biggest and best progressive house songs of 2011. My gift to you.

I try not to buy shit anymore. Oh sure, I still gotta buy things like toothpaste and socks. But for the most part, I don’t buy. I “temporarily own”.

Not only has this made it easier for me to travel and start new hobbies, but it’s also saved me a TON of money.

Huh? “WTF is this”, you ask?

Well, basically, when most people buy something, they see it as THEIRS. They own it. It belongs to them for life. And the money they dropped for it is – *poof* – gone forever.

My perspective is just a slight shift in thinking, but it makes a huge difference:

I see everything I buy as something that I’m just borrowing. It’s not MINE. I won’t have it for life or start associating it with who I am. It’s just mine temporarily. And the money I spent on it, is also, only temporarily gone.

And while I have it, I’ll use the hell out of it. I’ll squeeze every single drop of usefulness out of it that I can.

But the moment it stops being useful, or I outgrow it, or it stops helping me live a happier, more fulfilling life…I’ll flip it on Craigslist to someone who’ll get more out of it than I will.

Like I said, it seems like an insignificant difference. But this mindset towards buying has benefitted my life in a bunch of unexpected, really awesome ways:

I am not a morning person. No way in hell.

Which sucks because doing your mornings right is absolutely CRUCIAL to living an epic life (I’ll explain below).

For those of us setting our own schedules (the self-employed, un-employed, and in-between), handling our mornings can become one of the most epic challenges we’ll ever have to face.

With no office job holding our asses accountable, it’s way too easy for our mornings to take control of us, and not the other way around.

Believe me. Ever since I started freelancing 3 years ago, I’ve been fighting a daily battle against Shitty Morning Syndrome, and more often then not, I’d get my ass beat.

If you’ve been there, you know what it feels like. Waking up feeling completely unmotivated. Hitting “snooze” over and over (and over) again. Lying in bed mindlessly checking e-mail. Staring at the wall, unable to decide what to do first (and already feeling overwhelmed).

And then before you know it, it’s 3pm and you’ve gotten jack shit done. Your eating schedule’s all thrown off. You’re too drained to workout. Your entire day is screwed and you feel guilty and angry at yourself for letting this happen…again.

As someone who wants to do a lot before his short life is over, I hate hate hate these wasted mornings (and the wasted days that would follow).

I got mugged in Colombia. And it was all cause I was trying to get some.

Before you judge, let me back up and explain.

So it was my last night in Colombia. I had spent 31 incident-free days living it up in Medellín (the city made famous by it’s legendary women, Pablo Escobar…and Entourage) but now it was time to say adios.

My buddies Sol and Sean threw me a Despedida (farewell party) and I swear, it was like out of a movie. The whole night, all these characters I had met over the past 4 weeks showed up to send me off.

My salsa dancing teacher. The crazy, tri-lingual Swedish sisters. The Reggaeton producer who became my closest parcero (‘friend’ in Medellín-talk). The backpacking Canadian fiance’s. My Brazillian and Dutch guitar-mates.

Man, it wasn’t until the Despedida that I realized how much I was going to miss Medellín.

The night was a whirlwind of dancing, pizza cooking, and Aguardiente drinking (not necessarily in that order) and before I knew it, it was already 4am and time to bounce.

After a few heartfelt goodbyes, I grabbed a cab with the Colombian girl I’d been dating and we booked it out of there. And this is where I started to make a series of mistakes.