2012

Question: “If you’re in New York, why is it still ‘Jamaican in China’??? “

Actually, Andrea’s exact comment was:

“Hey, I love the look of your revised blog! More appealing. I understand you’re in the US at present. Are you still keeping the Jamaican in China headline because you’re planning to return there??”

My reply was:
Thanks! I thought about that. I can’t keep changing the blog title for every place I visit. So, whether it’s Laos, Singapore, Czech Republic or Italy, the blog will probably always be “Jamaican in China” for marketing reasons as well. It’s got a nice ring to it, and creates more of a compelling contrast to attract people’s attention. And yes, I definitely plan to go back as soon as possible and resume the adventure!

I’ve since update the title to be “Jamaican in China…and Beyond!”

2012

56 Degrees in the Shade

No, it’s not Jamaica. The average temperature there is 85 F degrees.  It’s not Saipan. The average temperature there is 87 F degrees. And, it’s not Hainan, China or Laos, where tropical climates rule. No, this is New York City in February of 2012!

Yesterday was in the high forties, so I headed to the park to grab some sun and watch the South American guys playing football.

56 degrees in new york

Today is 56 degrees so far (with a high of 59 in the forecast!)! Today, I’m house-sitting for a friend in Long Island, and he’s got a southern exposure in his back yard! You have absolutely no idea how happy I am!

Walt in New York
I hope I can break a sweat!

2012

What is Achievable Freedom? What is Jamaican in China?

What is Achievable Freedom a concept by Walt Goodridge

So, I’m putting all the pieces together to make 2012 a great year! If you’re on my PassionProfit.com subscriber list, you’re receiving one my newsletters. You can sign up to my mailing lists here. The “Achievable Freedom” concept essentially encourages you to create the life you want by acting on five freedoms:

1. The freedom to live on purpose.

2. The freedom to prosper.

3. The freedom to escape.

4. The freedom to love honestly, and

5. The freedom to age less. 

The Jamaican in  China blog you’re reading represents the “freedom to escape” component of the Achievable Freedom message, but also much more. The unexpected juxtaposition of the storyline of a Jamaican in China is a metaphor for the freedom to roam, the freedom to step outside the box of conventional thinking and lifestyle; the freedom to challenge boundaries; the freedom to overturn stereotypes. It’s the tried and true “fish out of water” theme of many successful hollywood movies. However, it’s not all about fun and games. It’s not intended to be just an entertaining read. My goal is to offer inspiration for you to act on any or all of the five freedoms.

So, there’s really no specific point to this little rant, except to say that as we move forward, I hope that you enjoy my adventures, and use them as a source of empowerment to create your own freedom in 2012 and beyond!

p.s. Oh, and by the way, as you know, I’m currently in New York City. However, it’s getting warmer here, and I’ve promised myself that I’ll be going outside more often. In fact, later today I’ll be hanging out with my friend, Ken. Ken was the fellow who introduced me to Saipan all those years ago! So, stay tuned for some Jamaican in New York excitement! 

2012

Dan Shor… not Jamaican, but brilliant nonetheless! Another of my cool friends

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I’ve made a decision to get out of the house more (it’s really not that cold here in New York, relatively speaking). So, yesterday, I hung out in downtown Manhattan with veteran film actor Dan Shor. Yes, THAT Dan Shor of Tron movie fame. So, me and Dan were shooting the breeze in an Indian restaurant, and, um, what’s that? Who me? Casually dropping names in my blog to inflate my own importance and impress you with my circle of friends? Oh, come on! I’d NEVER do a shallow thing like that!

But, just in case you don’t know who Dan Shor is, here’s an excerpt from the wikipedia page on him: 

“Shor’s acting credits include Air Force One, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Tron , Red Rock West, and John Huston’s Wise Blood. Television films and mini-series include Friendly Fire, Elvis and the Colonel and The Blue and the Gray (for which Shor won a People’s Choice Award). He was a series regular on Cagney and Lacey and several other television series as well as numerous guest star appearances including a Ferengi doctor on Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role he would reprise seven years later on Star Trek: Voyager. In 1983, Shor starred in the band Kansas’ music video “Fight Fire With Fire” and made appearances in their “Everybody’s My Friend” video. Stage appearances in Los Angeles and San Diego have garnered Shor eight Drama-Logue and LA Weekly performance awards.”

Now, apparently, there’s a whole parallel universe of Tron movie fanatics and others from his fan club whose love of Dan Shor’s appearance in the role of Ram in the original Tron prompted the producers to reprise his role in the recent 2011 sequel!

Anyway, you might be wondering how we met. Like me, Dan escaped from America a few years ago to live on a tropical island in the Pacific, and, you guessed it: we met while he was on Saipan back in 2006! It’s a small island! He was getting into directing at the time, and I wrote an article on him for the Saipan Tribune, and recently helped him re-issue the dvd for Looking for America, the pilot he produced and directed for a Saipan-based television series he envisioned.

Dan left Saipan and returned to New York shortly after we met, but we’ve kept in touch, and yesterday, finally had a chance to spend a few hours reminiscing about Saipan, China, acting, directing and life abroad and other, um, man stuff!  

He’s doing a lot more diverse types of directing now through his company, Shodavision.


Dan as Ram in the movie Tron

looking for america by dan shor
The DVD, Looking for America, produced by Dan Shor’s Shodavision (also available on Amazon), and also featuring Dan as a Russian bar owner!

ben salas and dan shor saipan
Dan and filmmaker Ben Salas back on Saipan back in the day!

dan shor and walt goodridge new york
Dan Shor in New York, with the Jamaican in China New York for now!

2012

How to start a digital record label (HipHopBusinessPlan.com)

A few people have stumbled upon my hiphopbiz.com website while searching for “How to start a digital record label.” So, for those searching to make 2012 their year to follow their Hip Hop or other music industry passion, I’ll direct you to an essay I wrote entitled “The Record Label of the Future” which is included in The Hip Hop Entrepreneur Record Label Business plan. Hope this proves helpful

Here’s what someone said about the information contained:

“I bought your business plan when I realized I had an interested investor and it made me do something I’d never done before. FLESH OUT ALL THE DETAILS! I haven’t even finished the plan and have gotten the a-ok on the finances! 6 figures! My plan is edgy so I had to alter a couple things but it was a great template. The stats you found fit our objectives exactly! They were up to date and cited with references. As I sit here chunking out the last few details and financial report (and Yes I used that calculator feature at least 20 times today), I’m here to say there is no equal for your business plan. Keep your fingers crossed, its time for me to save hip-hop!” — -Sir (formerly Sir Reigns)

hip hop record label business plan

2012

Where’s your savings, man????

Here’s a question I answered one of my newsletters

———————————————
Section 3: Freedom to Escape: Saving money???
———————————————-

WINSTON THE DEBUNKER IN TAIWAN ASKS: Btw, in your interview, you said that when you first started running your own business, you had no savings to depend on. But if you were a civil engineer with a professional salary for 7 years, wouldn’t you have a huge savings account from such a salary? I don’t get it. I’m able to save money even with a small salary, by simply learning to not waste money, and using budgeting apps from sites such as SoFi.

THE SHORT ANSWER:
Great question. I absolutely believe this is a cultural thing. Living on Saipan, dating girls, speaking with fellows who also had girlfriends/wives, and also when was writing Chicken Feathers & Garlic Skin: Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan, with Chun Yu Wang, I learned of many of the girls who were earning $3.00/hour who had been working on Saipan for years and who had bank account balances of $70,000, $80,000 and more!

At the same time, what I learned when I was involved in network marketing in the US, was that many of the doctors and lawyers and engineers who were striving for success, were in debt up to their ears, paying off car notes and mortgages and living the “American Dream” living from paycheck to paycheck. The situation to even obtain a mortgage or some sort of loan to improve our lives also depends largely on the banks and lending institutions that are supposed to be helpful with it. While most processes can generally be cumbersome, the exasperating part is that taking out a loan can even go to the point of having to contact a credit report lawyer for report falsification cases. The mental burden of drowning in all of this can really become problematic.

That’s why (or, at least one reason why) I’m not impressed by fancy cars, big houses and so-called status. In America, when you see someone “richer” than you, it simply means in most cases, that they’re simply living at a richer level of debt! Most of these people living paycheck to paycheck and living with high amounts of debt to keep up the image of “living the American Dream” won’t even look into helpful aids such as a debt consolidation calculator to see if they’re even able to get out of debt, they keep piling more on.

Donald Trump declared bankruptcy a few years ago. Sears is going out of business. American Airlines is in Chapter 11. The whole financial system and society are founded on consumerism and debt.

Now, being the minimalist I am, I don’t consider myself party to the whole immediate gratification, buy-all-you-can mindset. And I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to Columbia, so I didn’t have any school loans to pay once I graduated. However, I did spend practically every penny in my attempt to grow my business (financing music videos, traveling to music industry conventions, etc.) in an effort to free myself from corporate America.

So, regarding saving money:

1. It’s easier for people to save if they dont’ have a business to bootstrap and finance.

2. When I have it, I tend to give it away to friends/family.

3. I believe the saving esthetic is a cultural thing and is prevalent in other cultures Asian (or specifically, from my experience, Chinese) culture, and of course, in the frugal, simpler societies and lifestyle that my grandmother in Jamaica lived, for example. (Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up that particular talent or gene when I lived with her….:-) )

4. Saving can be made much easier by using a reputable bank or credit union. My friend told me that he was using North Coast Credit Union which made it easier for him to save money because he was able to choose which savings account would work best for him, and he was able to create different accounts for each thing he was saving for. He claims that really helped him with saving because he wasn’t tempted to spend that money if he saw what he was supposed to be saving for.

In other words, saving can be done. It’s just not that easy, especially in a consumerist, debt-leveraged society! However, if you live somewhere like America, saving money is made much easier with the help of banks and saving plans.

To listen to the interview of me that Winston is referring to, visit www.waltgoodridge.com/interviews then find, “KY Show Interview”

2012

Stay strong, my friend

To a dear friend who is experiencing some challenges through the actions of individuals who seem intent on orchestrating her demise:

In the perfect order and balance of this universe, of ours, my friend,  there is absolutely, positively no way that your good deeds, your pure heart, your noble intentions, your generosity, your honesty,  your empathy, and your sincere appreciation of the humanity and value in others can ever be “rewarded” with the success of others who plot your demise.

Every apparent block to your forward progress exists in apparency only because of your forgetting that we live in a friendly, supportive universe, all things work towards your good, and obstructions are deliberately placed in your path to encourage you to stretch and climb ever higher to see above, around and beyond them and make the effort to overcome them in order to assume your rightful, destined place in the unfolding of the divine plan of the planet of which you are an integral player. 

Based on what I know to be true about you, know that you have greater forces at the ready, waiting to lift you past this. Remain above the fray.

Your tormenter is not in your league.

Stay strong.

Your friend, Walt

2012

“It’s like a new genre, sort of like a reality travel guide!”

I’ve sold a lot of books since I began writing in 1992. Several years ago, I computed that I’d sold close to 3/4 of million dollars in books. And while my passion for writing and sharing information has not waned, and while there’s still a thrill about receiving a check in the mail, or that familiar email notification of a sale, the difference is that the sale of the first copy of a new book doesn’t have the same first time feel it once did.

That changed a few days ago when I made my first sale of Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum on the Nook platform! I couldn’t quite put my finger on why it felt a little different. After all, I’d already done a somewhat similar book with Jamaican on Saipan. I’ve also sold Nook (and Kindle) copies of other books. So, why was this sale any different?

Here’s what a friend of mine said about the book: “It’s like a new genre of ‘reality travel guide!” It’s got adventure, danger, mystery, humor and romance just like those fictional stories set in real destinations, except yours is actually real life, with the photos to prove it, AND I can still learn a lot about the country, too!” 

She added that it showed that the purchaser had a more personal interest in me. She suggested that they didn’t necessarily buy it to learn how to start a business, or launch a website, or to learn something for their benefit, but to learn about me, as an individual.

That was really cool! If true, I guess it might explain in part why that first sale felt a little different. I agree that there’s more of me in this book than any previous. I’ve taken more chances and revealed more about who I think I am. However, I’m still not quite sure if that’s the reason, but something about having my blog adventures occupying someone’s Nook e-reader felt a little different.  What’s your opinion? Why would this sale be any different from those before? In any event, it’s reason to celebrate. Break open the sparkling apple cider, and time for lunch, perhaps, at my favorite vegetarian spot here in New York! See you later!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL EBOOK FREE!

2012

Why do I go abroad? To create a world without borders

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Here’s the conclusion of Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum, inspired by GoAbroad.com’s “Why Do I go Abroad?” Contest:
[BEGIN]

Well, that’s my story! And I’m sticking to it! I really had an absolutely, positively, wonderful and life-changing time being Jamaican in China, Singapore and Laos, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

In addition, I hope you got something much more from Jamaican in China than just an entertaining read. I hope it expanded your awareness and consciousness in some small way. Wherever in this world you may call “home,” (even if you already live in China), I hope it gave you a little peek into a reality that you might not have otherwise been aware of. I hope it showed you people, places and possibilities in a way that affects how you see yourself, your world, and your place, role and identity within it. I hope you can see a little bit higher above and a little bit further beyond the misconceptions and fears that often flavor our perception of “others” and those we consider “not like us.” The fact is, we are and have been manipulated to live in such fear.

It seems an unavoidable outcome of this manipulation, and the fractionalized, brainwashed society that we live in as a result, that people are taught to, and thus become inclined to identify and separate themselves according to arbitrary and meaningless national, ethnic, racial and religious lines. We are taught to fear these supposed differences and thus we perceive “others” who are “not like us” as threats to our individual and/or collective identity, control, autonomy and survival. This fear leads to a false sense of elitism, then to bias, prejudice, preferential treatment, discrimination, and attacks of psychological, verbal and even physical nature.

This is all a construct. It is not natural. We are not wired to fear, attack and ostracize others because of these differences. This is all learned behavior. If you don’t believe me, then simply watch young children–before they’ve been brainwashed–playing with each other in harmony if you wish to observe the instinctive, communal, inclusive, welcoming “wiring” that we are born with. Yes, something has been taken from us.

As the Occupy Movement in the states, as well as on-going protests worldwide reveal, people are ready for a change of the existing paradigm of manipulation, fear and the strategy of divide, conquer and exploit. People are agitating for change. They want to take that thing back– that thing that has been taken from our natural wiring. It can be done. It is being done!

The internet and our technological age makes possible the reality of life without borders and other arbitrary lines that separate humanity. The plethora of internet and tv bundles that has become accessible to almost every household in many countries worldwide has led to a sort of informational revolution which can be used to usher mankind towards the right knowledge. It can be used to encourage the sort of boundary-breaking, limitless, expansive and inclusive thought and action that will unite and free us. Jamaican in China is just one of many real-life adventures which offer alternative ways to be, think and act in the pursuit of such freedom.

Now, it may be presumptuous or naive of me to hope and believe that my little nomad adventure, and a relatively obscure book about it all can somehow contribute to the massive paradigm shift in consciousness for which the world yearns, and for which it now seems poised. However, I’ll share with you a thought that caught my eye some time ago. It’s a truth with which I resonate profoundly, and it represents an ideal to which my life (and thus this 6 month chronicle of my life) is a testament.


“To create a just, sustainable world, nothing is more important than being able to think and act across borders. Whether our passion is protecting the biosphere or preventing war, we will succeed only if we have the passion and courage to cross the national, ideological, ethnic, and religious borders of our time.” –Mark Gerzon, author of Leaders without Borders.

These borders are all arbitrary lines. They do not exist in reality. They are all learned and superimposed upon the now fragmented minds and thinking of individuals who should instead be thinking and acting as a global community on a single planet.

In my naiveté, I believe that Jamaican in China has the power to plant the seed of a thought about “others” who are “not like us” that says “Perhaps things are not as I’ve been led to believe. Perhaps these people are not my enemies. How do I know? Well, there’s this Jamaican guy who went all the way to China, and let me tell you what he experienced….!”

And with the single click of button or a tweet of technology, you can use this book to change someone else’s perspective as well. It only takes one.

There’s more of a global ideological shift going on than we may realize. The “social networking” paradigm which has existed for millennia has now been dramatically enhanced by the Internet. It has changed everything. Videos go viral, protests proliferate, movements gain momentum, and individuals are impacted in meaningful ways by a “tweet” or a “like” or a “friend” an upload, or by a single post in a forum often by a single individual on a single gadget, Nook, Kindle or keyboard. Yes, my friend, keystrokes and a click can change the world!

It is from this place of sincere respect for the power of communication in general, enhanced by the potential of the internet in particular, that I travel abroad, write, blog and “share what I know so that others may grow.” I hope you will fulfill my humble request to use my adventure to communicate some new possibilities to at least one other person somewhere else across the arbitrary, imaginary (and slowly dissolving) lines that seek to divide us.

If you are reading this on a Nook, Kindle, iPad or any e-reader, you have the ability in most cases to share this book electronically with others. I encourage you to do so. Feel free! Please share a link or a like or a tweet with someone in your world, and thanks for being part of my adventure!

To share my borderless world, order and download Jamaican in China: GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DIM SUM in Kindle, Nook and pdf ebook formats CLICK HERE

2018 addendum: Also, please visit and subscribe to the Jamaican in China Youtube channel at

https://www.youtube.com/JamaicaninChina

2012

Happy new year from the Jamaican in China! Disaster, anyone?

Okay. You know I’ve been busy converting a few of my books to Kindle and Nook formats. Well, I’ve finally finished all the conversions I’ll do for now, and will next focus on marketing them. Meanwhile, however, I’ll give you an update.

First of all, I’m still in New York city. It’s cold, but not oppressively so, thanks to global warming! In creating the Kindle/Nook edition of Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum, I had a chance to review and reminisce about my entire 2011 trip to China. Those were some good times. I see a return trip in the stars for 2012! So, stay tuned.

So, what’s life like in New York? Well, hmmm. Let’s see. What can I show you that gives the best synopsis of things here in the Big Apple? I know! Check this out. Here’s a sign, a huge sign right off the highway near the apartment I’m currently staying. I think it adequately reflects the mood here.


Nothing like a focus on fear and catastrophe to get the new year rolling off to a good start…. and then off a cliff!

Pursue Passion! Break Free! Cross boundaries! See the world!