I've been making videos professionally and for YouTube for almost 3 years. I often get asked questions which is the best vlogging camera to use, or what is the best budget camera, or which camera should I buy to start?
Well here are MY secret budget friendly tips to meet all your camera and equipment needs...
Not to victimize myself or constantly bring up the past but it makes me who I am. You see, since I was a kid I just remember that feeling of helplessness. Growing up in one of the most expensive cities in the world has its serious consequences that you often don't hear about. My parents worked and still work labor intensive jobs while I was constantly surrounded around people who grew up in big homes, parents buying them cars for their birthdays, and not having to worry about if there would be another tomorrow....
Why do I absolutely hate school but love knowledge and education?
You see, being Asian, there's only one path - you go to school or die. I'm only partially joking here.
As technology and innovation occurs at an enormous pace the traditional school system will become obsolete - that's a given. The democracy of knowledge and the power of the internet will make yesterday's degrees a thing of the past. With the exclusion of typical must-have career choices for university degrees and credentials (e.g. doctors, accountants, etc.); school is a big conforming machine and I'll explain why I have such a lopsided hate towards it.
Every Asian Immigrant Parents' Struggle and Their Wishes in a Westernized Society.
Growing up with Asian parents, and being a first generation Asian-Canadian/American/Western - it comes with its fair share of a clashing of conflicts. On one hand you have parents who grew up, not only in a different era, but a different world. A world where you had to worry about surviving - food, shelter, are we going to live another day.
Where in contrast being born in a 'first world' country you have the luxury of being able to do what you want if you work hard enough. So you have traditional mindsets of the stereotypes of being doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, etc in order to make a living - and the reality is some Asian children listen and do whatever it is their parents want and it's essentially reinforced on to the next generation....
It often irks me when people try to talk to me about my childhood or family, strange of me, I know, but it's mainly because it's the root of who I am, and why I am.
Thing is, I grew up poor. There's things I still need to work on (of course) but I'm going to unravel a little about my life and my childhood; to maybe explain why the way that I am. People on YouTube tend to portray a certain persona or character on the screen and the real them is not really shown.
In the words of Kendrick Lamar, when stuff hits the fan, is you still a fan?
Yousef was one of the main reasons why I started up this whole YouTube thing again believe it or not. I didn't do it for the fame, not for money, but to be able to grow an audience that is like-minded and cultivate similar visions that I have on life; everything else is just a by-product. But at the same time, with exposure, comes hate, comes judgement, comes envy, and a myriad of other negative emotions and opinions. You're essentially like a modern day human punching bag.
If you focus too much on the past, it brings out emotions of unforgiveness, anger, and resentment. If you focus too much on the future, you attract emotions of fear and anxiety; a lot of what if questions.
Well what are you supposed to focus on? The now, obviously. If you continually focus on the past and future, it's like a hamster running on a treadmill; one's already happened, and the other has yet to happen. Both in reality, which are out of your own control, are the causes of negative emotion, self-talk and any other ego-stroking emotions.
For the longest time of my early years in life, I was known as the 'quiet kid.' Where in reality, I'd would rather self-label myself as the 'weird kid.' I was knew I had quite the quirky personality but the issue was I never really showed it, or I was too afraid to. Instead, I kept my thoughts to myself and let other people speak for me. Don't get me wrong, I am no where close to that extrovert who can round up a bunch of people in a persuasive argument, but now I can for sure hell try to. There are certain tendencies where my past behaviour of being quiet kick in but for the most part, I think I have come a long way from where I use to be.
Being around people who will bring you down, criticize, judge, without much rationale is toxic. People should want to be around others who support their dreams, and support them in whatever they pursue. This type of mindset should be applied to everything.
You don't want to be that person who gets their heart broken and goes 10 years in their life being single and writing blog entries about how that person was horrible, in contrast, you don't want to be that person who instead of figuring themselves out, finds comfort in being promiscuous.
The limelight, it burns, not everyone can handle it. It comes with the territory of putting yourself out there, but that's a sacrifice I'll take for doing something I genuinely enjoy. You put yourself in the public eye, you lose a sense of privacy, you get judged, hated on, etc. on a daily basis. But we have to remember that it's only your interpretation of negativity that is hindering you from really growing as a person.
