Excellence is a Habit

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ~ Aristotle

Daniel Wu and I spent more than one hour at Starbucks Cafe' this afternoon, talking about producing the DVD of New Year Concert of early Chinese Jazz songs, including the contents, the delivery, the opening, the closing, and the acknowledgement. I was eager to produce a quality DVD both entertaining and educational with some storytelling of the old Shanghai in addition to the live performance of 18 singers.

Daniel Wu was invited to film our New Year Concert at the Cardinal Tien Hospital Wednesday morning. After the concert, he refused to produce any DVD because he was short of time at first. But he called me yesterday afternoon and we talked about the concert, he decided to work with me. He must have been moved by my enthusiasm and determination to make a good concert and a good concert DVD.

Arranging and filming a concert is one thing, making a concert DVD afterwards is another. Both of them are challenging and demanding. Before the New Year Concert, I rewrote the concert program for God knows how many times. Now I think of the concert DVD day and night to make it a piece of video art work for family and friends, and for myself.

Yes, I'm enthusiastic about the popular Jazz period in Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century. I read many books about the international residents in colonial Shanghai between the 20's and 40's, written by Americans, Jews, and Chinese. I'm always mesmerized by the vitality and diversity of the city--Paris in the Orient.

Daniel sent me several files of old photos of Shanghai in the 19th and 20th centuries late in the evening. I'm grateful to him for providing me with more ideas to produce a quality concert DVD and I have better plans for New Year concerts in the years to come.

One more thing, Daniel and I exchange emails in English, it's nice we can communicate with the same language and we can see things from similar perspectives. It looks like I might be able to charter an English speaking Toastmasters Club in Hsin-tien if I know more people like Daniel, from a stranger to a friend and/or a Toastmaster!