#047: Do you know what time it is? STORY TIME! A few days ago, I embarked on a cheeky adventure to Busan for Busan NFT 2021. Busan is a beautiful place, highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t gone already. It was an awesome trip! Here are just some reflections on the trip and my experiences. I also talk about imposter syndrome, overcoming one’s insecurity by providing value, and just being a good person to spend time with. Interesting and relevant: How to Get a Job in Crypto - The Easy Way - "At the end of the day, people want to work with their friends.” Really applies to any industry. Support the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#046: Sang Don Park is a talented beatboxer comedian who I met years ago while doing standup comedy. He spent a big chunk of his childhood in America before moving back to Korea. Here’s Part 1 if you missed it!In this part 2, we talk about... How Sang found out his mother wasn't his biological mother His father having the talk with him in 2019 to meet with his mentally unstable biological mother for the first time What interacting with his mother was like Many of us have skeletons in our families’ closets. You’re not alone, if you think you have a f’ed up family situation. How we process this new dramatic information about our past and our family dysfunction/drama How having compassion and understanding for our parents helps us become better people You have to try to do what makes you happy! “If you don’t like something… then you shouldn’t do it.” Words of a gawd m8. Sang Don Park | Why Clubbing Sucks@thesangshowSupport the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#045: Sang Don Park is a talented beatboxer comedian who I met years ago while doing standup comedy. He spent a big chunk of his childhood in America before moving back to Korea.  We talk about… Self-dev message of the day: Sang brought up that he recently quit coffee: If you’re addicted to caffeine like I am, I’d encourage anybody to do research into it and consider giving up daily or regular coffee consumption to improve your quality of sleep and lower stress. He grew up in Florida and Chicago and he got teased by other kids as is typical for many Asian-Americans. How a lot of these experiences gave us thicker skin and how as adults we can laugh about them! The reverse culture of moving back to Korea and what it was like adjusting to Korean society This happens a lot to people who can’t get a visa. My family may have just as easily not gotten our visas which allowed us a path to naturalization. How he’s felt lost at times in his journey as being American or Korean How we come to acceptance with our identities How our adversities made us better, HARDer people The challenges of doing standup comedy in Korean The challenges of fitting into Korea as a Korean-American! Sang Don Park | Why Clubbing SucksSupport the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#044: This is Part 2 of a great conversation we had with Cheska! If you haven’t checked out Part 1, here it is: #041 | Embracing Your Identity with Cheeky Cheska.In this part 2, we talk about... writing empowering-ass women’s stories, real stories of successful women overcoming their own insecurities and struggles the challenges for the modern woman to find what “the right way” when it comes to life, career, and dating with the modern complexity and choice the potential power of marketing with human story of struggle to promote a luxury brand how overcoming one’s life struggle adds so much more meaning to having nice things - money doesn’t mean anything if you can’t appreciate it what it means to be “high class” or to aspire for greater things how media/advertising affects our body image and the challenge of living in a society obsessed with the superficial struggling with our body image issues to this day as adults, male and female beauty is important; loving yourself is more important wanting nice things is fine, it’s better if you want to earn them yourself “Keep asking those questions that make you uncomfortable. It’s okay to be confused. You have to be confused in order to find the answer. Keep asking. Keep digging. Keep inquiring. And you surround yourself with the people who love you. In the end, you will find the answer." “Who am I?” Even if you can’t find the answer... asking the question itself, the process, is what gives you a direction. It enables you to get to where you want to be. Follow Her Story below ;)@blikecheska@_chescafeHer StorySupport the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#043: Happy Hangeul Proclamation Day everyone! This is yet another episode where I talk about a holiday and then segue into ranting and raving about whatever I want. It’s also perhaps one of the most important episodes dealing with the central theme of this podcast about overcoming my Asian diaspora identity crisis. This time, I talk about the “world’s most scientific alphabet,” the Korean alphabet, Korean day, and then generally my whole life journey with reading and writing Korean script. I’ll talk about my journey and experience with the written and spoken language as a whole, how I learned Hangeul, and how I use it in day to day life, and what it means to me. Of course, I'll digress in my own stream-of-consciousness way, so please bear with me. I encourage anybody of Korean descent to learn it if they don’t already. I found learning it to be crucial in my journey of dealing with my identity struggle. 해피 한글 데이 에브리바디! Support the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#042: October 3 is Korea’s National Foundation Day, Gaecheonjeol (개천절; 開天節). It celebrates the founding of the Korean people! Gaecheon means “Opening of Heaven.” It actually commemorates 2 dates: October 3 2457 BCE and October 3 2333 BCE. On October 3 2457 BCE, Hwanung 환웅, a son of a god of heaven came HARD upon the Earth like a GAWD, mate. That’s gaecheon, the opening of Heaven. Later, Hwanung had sex with a woman who used to be a bear (we’ll get to that later) and had a son, named Dangun Wanggeom, or Dangun. On October 3, 2333 BCE, Dangun founded the first Korean state of Gojoseon, meaning Old Joseon. We’ll talk about Korea’s Creation Myth and Dangun, the legendary founder and GAWD-king of Korea’s first kingdom, Gojoseon. Is Korea really 5000 years old? Do Korean people come from ALIENS? Who gives af? Why should we give af or any f’s at all? As with my previous episodes on heritage/culture… the short answer is you don’t have to give af. You’re an individual with your own volition and destiny. It’s your own choice to care about your heritage or not. The long answer? Tune in and hear me ramble on and on! Support the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#041: Cheska is a young global professional killing it everywhere she goes! Born in Seoul, Korea, raised in New Zealand (climbing trees, chasing sheep), to later settling, working in New York, she is a living embodiment of multi-culture. At first glance, her journey is awe-inspiring. From Duke University to global finance firm Morgan Stanley, winning awards in Miss World Korea 2015, then paving her own path to manage Korea's largest music festival projects, she is now a Global Creative Director, talk show host covering some of the most relevant topics of our life, interviewing vast number of CEO/entrepreneurs, celebrities, artists, and also the general public. However, what Cheska really wants to share with all of us are the real stories, the struggles and the successes, that built the foundation for who she is today and will become. In this part 1, we talk about how we’ve learned to fully embrace our identity based on our cultural diversity as individuals growing up comparing ourselves to others of different appearances / pedigrees how our unique experience gives us perspective and ability to connect with people on different levels how fortunate we are to be on our journeys of self-discovery in order to inspire the next generation to do even better Improving is a continuous process, you have to keep going. It doesn’t mean you’re not changing. no matter how hard you try, you may never truly “fit in” (like me trying to be more Korean. I tried!) that’s okay, cause we are all unique individuals we can only know things in hindsight the things that lead us to be who we are today it seems hard at the time, like maybe now, but looking back you’ll most likely be better off The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle! trying to reconcile our form and racial identity with the pure consciousness that we are @Cheska’s Insta@ChescafeHer StorySupport the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#040: A Happy Chuseok You-Suck to all y’all, Koreans and expats! I’ll give some brief background on this Korean autumn harvest holiday for the ignorant infidels so that we can all reflect upon its meaning (and how much you suck, ohohoho)!Holidays including this one can be a wonderful time spent with loved ones for some or a depressing lonely time for others. This Cheeky Chuseok Special episode is for both groups of people!Chuseok is about family. It’s about honoring those who came before us for a bountiful harvest. I wish you all a bountiful harvest in life. Listen all the way to the end for my cheeky Chuseok prayer blessing. Support the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#039: The idea of “heritage” deserves its own podcast! Heritage can be defined as cultural traditions, architecture, buildings, language that a people collectively share. Specifically, what is your individual racial/cultural/family history? Where do you come from? Let’s contextualize these things in a way that positively impacts the way we live our lives. What does your heritage mean to you? Are you a direct descendant of a great king? From royalty or aristocracy? Or from peasantry? Were your ancestors poor farmers? Were they conquered slaves? Were they warriors? Were they criminals? Were they gangsters? Are you proud of your family or ethnicity? Are you ashamed? Or indifferent? Do you ever think about these things? What lessons or values can we distill from our past? How can we interpret these things to provide meaning for our day to day lives and for future generations? These are open-ended questions, with perhaps no right answer, but I’d love to share my thoughts with you as well as hear what you have to think. Support the show (http://maimtime.com/support)

#038: This is part 2 continuing our conversation with Danny Cho, LA born-and-raised Korean American who quit his six-figure consultancy job to pursue comedy. He hosts the Noonchi Podcast with Bobby Choy. He does standup comedy IN KOREAN and has been fostering the Korean standup comedy scene for years now. He’s the ONLY Korean-American comedian whose doing comedy in Korea, in Korean.Check out Part 1 here!In this Part 2, we get in RAW, DEEP, and HARDDD about his comedy career path. How he got into comedy full-time in 2007 leaving his consultancy job In 2017, he went to live in Korea and do gigs in Asia, in places like Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam, Saipan In 2019, he started teaching standup comedy to Koreans in Korean! How he felt about his consultancy job - this guy was a professional in finance and he left it! Choosing one’s passion over some other professional career path Dealing with regrets and self-doubt in pursuing one’s passion without being able to provide for one’s parents Did he mess his life up??? The struggle of the children of immigrants who wants to pursue their dreams over a financially stable career path at odds with their parents’ expectations COMEDY IS TOUGH. It takes YEARS of consistent practice and work for anyone to build a 1-hour special. Anything worthwhile endeavor/passion/dream demands you put a lot of time in If you have a profitable career path and you want to switch to something else, do the Ken Jeong route. Don’t quit your current work until you get a big break. “The smart thing to do is give up your successful job when you have something lined up." For your identity crisis: “I don’t know what to tell you...Voice it out, but suck it up. Don’t be a ****ing victim.” "Nobody knows what the right answer is..If you’re lost, we all kind of are… make sure you have a good circle around.” "NOBODY HAS THEIR S**T TOGETHER." Follow Danny: @dannychocomedyDanny Cho's YouTube  The Noonchi PodcastFunny in Korea | Danny Cho | TEDxKDISchoolSupport the show (http://maimtime.com/support)