I Started a Business

 

I have felt for a long time that I would like to be more entrepreneurial. I have read a bunch of books on starting a business but I never felt like I had the right idea or the timing didn't seem optimal. When my dream of living in Japan was shattered, I started thinking more seriously about what I wanted to do when I moved back to Canada. It's been fun teaching the last 8ish years but teaching in Canada has never really interested me so last year during the pandemic, I started mapping a return to Canada plan.

I started with what I thought I was good at. (That brainstorming session didn't last long) I like teaching but I don't love giving kids homework or grading their tests. I like being outside. I like making people laugh and I also like to party. Where does that leave me? I also had to consider something with a low startup cost and something I would enjoy doing every day. I began thinking of jobs that I could still be around kids but not have the responsibility of being their full-time teacher. Another thought I had was this:

What do people spend a lot of money on? I came up with their pets and their children. 

Ok, so I'm looking for a job that is similar to teaching, a little more laid back where I can run a business that parents will pay me money for. So I started looking at birthday party businesses in New York and Los Angeles. I felt like those places probably have fun and unique ideas that might not have been brought to Canada yet. I found a lot of princess party businesses, bouncy castles, superhero-themed parties, STEM-related activities, and lots of cooking-based birthday party classes. Those are all fine ideas but they didn't grab my attention until I stumbled upon birthday parties that involved kids playing with bubbles. Everyone loves bubbles. I discovered that kids were being put into bubbles, kids were playing, making, and popping their own bubbles and it seemed like everyone was having a great time. There were a few of these bubble performance birthday businesses and it intrigued me. These parties can be done in parks, in someone's backyard, or even in their homes.  This seemed like a good way of not having to rent out a physical store and being outside is way more enjoyable than being inside; seems better for kids to be able to play around outside and get kid wild. 

After having a solid lead on wanting to bring bubbles to Canada, I searched bubble performers in Ottawa and Toronto. There are a few in Toronto but none in Ottawa; I was onto something. If it worked in other places, why not Ottawa? I reached out to a few people online who already had this job and asked them for advice and to meet me on Zoom. One lady agreed and I asked her many, many questions. After a few meetings and paying her in Amazon gift cards, she referred me to another bubbleologist who has been active in this career for over 40 years. At the end of our first meeting together, I asked him, "Do a lot of people message you and ask you for advice on how to start a bubble business?" His response was, "No, nobody has ever done this." I'm either a genius or an absolute idiot. 

Now that I had met with two people, I had the confidence to think this was a good idea and that I wanted to start my own birthday party business that focused on bubbles. I looked on Amazon for every type of bubble toy, the best solution, and any other supply that could help me make my new business a success. The purchases began in the fall of 2020 and has been going pretty steady since then. Coming home was like Christmas morning will all of these unopened Amazon packages. Since arriving back in Ottawa, I have been experimenting with the best bubble solutions, best toys, outdoor tricks, putting a kid in a bubble, and learning more about the science behind bubbles. 

I have done a few shows in Ottawa by messaging people via Instagram. I have done a couple of outdoor birthday parties and it seems like people have enjoyed it. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I am working on my indoor shows that involve different bubble tricks, bubble arts and crafts, and other bubble-related activities. My goal is to keep doing shows this winter, grow, eventually hire people to help me and build a bubble empire. If you are in Ottawa and need some birthday entertainment, I am your guy. Or if you know anyone that might find this interesting, please let them know. You can follow me on Instagram @bubblebirthdays or check out my website www.bubblebirthdays.com

"This is better than a magician." Random kid at a park.

Life in Ottawa

I’m going to tell you a secret that I shouldn't admit to anyone: I live with my mom,

I love it and I might never leave.

What’s not to love? She makes me dinner, gives me compliments

and is really my #1 fan. I've spent more time with her in the

last two and a half months than the last 10 years combined. 

Has she occasionally folded my laundry? Maybe.

Has she seen that my bedsheets were in the dryer and put new

sheets on before I came home late one night? Possibly. 

Does she criticize me for not having a job or any type of future?

Certainly not!

Yeah, I’m never leaving.

In other news, I love being back in Canada. It’s been a real hoot.

Lots of family time, walks, sleeping in and catching up with friends.

Has everyone’s excitement level of me being back died down?

Indubitably. 

It’s great watching sports live instead of in the middle of the night.

I’m learning how to be a better chef. I’ve made tacos, 7 layer taco dip

and chicken parmesan so far so I’m pleased with my slow but steady

progress. 

Meeting up with friends or family and before saying goodbye I say

“See you next month” instead of “See you next summer”.

It's way better this way.

I haven’t been reading much but now that it’s

November I will get back to turning some pages. 

I play basketball on Mondays with a friend that I met whilst

living in Thailand. Do I get a bit mouthy with some of my

opponents? I’d prefer not to answer that question.

Two months until 2022; how exciting.

I feel good about an Ottawa winter; get some snowboarding in,

shovel some snow, push some kids into snowbanks; it's going

to be terrific.

A few people have asked me if I’m just home for a few months

or if I have any plans to move abroad again in the future.

My answer to that is that I am in Ottawa for good.

Might not be forever but I’m trying to make Ottawa my

home and it’s time to build myself a community. 

I hope you have enjoyed this short update.

I will try and think of an original blog post idea and

post it in the near future. I can’t think of a funny or clever

way to end this blog post.

Sometimes when people order fries, they act like it’s a little adventure.

They’ll be like, “If I get fries, you’ll have a couple, right?

If I get fries for the table, you’ll have — I know you’ll have

fries if I get fries — should we do it? Yeah, let’s be bad!

C’mon, let’s do it, all right, we’re gonna take a plate of fries!”

It’s like a group of couples agreeing to do ecstasy together.

John Mulaney

Top 10 Curb Episodes

I know what you are thinking. Bert, how is life in Canada? How big is your bubble empire? How excited are women when you tell them you live with your mom? Those are answers for a different blog post. For now, I’m giving you my top ten Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes.

 

Curb is basically an X rated Seinfeld. Larry David helped create Seinfeld and he wrote and stars in Curb. It’s a real delight. I’m not trying to persuade you to watch Curb. You should probably be enjoying the rest of the summer outside or spending time with people you love. However, since the new season is coming out soon, I thought I’d share my top 10 from the 100 episodes that have already been released.

 

In no particular order; coming up with a top ten was hard enough. If you haven’t already noticed, I’m not great with words or describing events so instead of me trying to summarize each episode, I will put a link to a part of the episode. It’s better for everyone this way.

Palestinian Chicken. Season 8. Episode 3.

If you were only to watch one episode, I would direct you to watch this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co_BhTxgWys&ab_channel=TheGuysTravel

 

The Seder. Season 5. Episode 7.

This shouldn’t be funny but it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koDNO7W8Rno&ab_channel=saxtopia

 

The Ski Lift. Season 5. Episode 8.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CwHISOKIrY&ab_channel=dragoonslayerzzz

 

The Blind Date. Season 4. Episode 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5am0_pEkQM&ab_channel=BaconTelevision2

 

The Weather Man. Season 4. Episode 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-FX1SaZVgY&ab_channel=CurbYourTube

 

The Car Pool Lane. Season 4. Episode 6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KywseYOdJI8&ab_channel=CantThinkOfACleverName

 

The Survivor. Season 4. Episode 9.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd4b059yNNo&ab_channel=anastaed

 

Kamikaze Bingo. Season 5. Episode 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SSOTm0hEDQ&ab_channel=Kregg17

 

The Ugly Section. Season 10. Episode 7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfVq6bhC84&ab_channel=What%27sSoFunny%3F

 

Season 3 Finale.

 

Honorable mentions:

The flamboyant kid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYVK_OqyUzk&t=100s&ab_channel=scifisy

 

Best of Leon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GzAmLozd6Y&ab_channel=duanew86

 

If these clips didn’t entertain you, I’m not sure what to say. I have no clever way to end this post.

 

“I bring the ruckus to the ladies.”  Leon

Korea Report Card

 

I’ve had a few weeks to be able to get some distance and think clearly about my time in Korea. I moved to Seoul August 2019 so that only gave me a short time to experience what Korea was like without Covid. However, I do think that I got the gist of it and think I’m qualified to write a report card about how I viewed different aspects of life in Korea. I’ve written report cards about Thailand, Poland, Shanghai, and NZ.

https://bertbrandon.blogspot.com/2021/03/shanghai-report-card.html

https://bertbrandon.blogspot.com/2016/07/poland-report-card.html

https://bertbrandon.blogspot.com/2013/10/idid-report-card-for-thailand.html

https://bertbrandon.blogspot.com/2013/10/idid-report-card-for-thailand.html

Food: A-

Korean BBQ is what’s up.

Bibimbap is also great. I had my sashimi guy in a charming little market near my house. School lunches were solid. Kimchi grew on me; I like it spicy. Lots of fruit, seafood and convenience stores. I also feel like there was a bunch of food in Korea that I didn’t love and breakfast was basically zero. More all you can drink brunches and then we can talk about moving this up to an A.

Price: A-

I feel like living in Seoul was reasonable. My school paid for my apartment but even apartments in cooler parts of the city wouldn’t bankrupt you. Taxis aren't too crazy, metro is cheap, I have no idea what a phone plan costs because I went two years without data and a number but it has to be cheaper than in Canada. Drinking is expensive anywhere but trains and flights weren’t too bad and I found it easy to go a few days here and there without spending cash. No friends, girlfriends or travel is a real great way to keep costs low.

Location:

I guess that depends. If you want to explore Asia, it’s an A. If you are from somewhere far away and want to come home occasionally, it would be a C. Being close to North Korea is definitely not a plus but being close to Japan is (sort of). Let’s just give it a B.

Weather: B

Weather in Seoul isn’t that different from Ottawa weather. An Ottawa winter can be a tad more brutal and snowy but overall, the difference isn’t that great. It’s nice that Seoul has 4 seasons and 99% of the time it doesn't have snow. But there are lots of places for snowboarding towards the middle of the country.

 

People:

The fact that I have been giving a grade to people seems horrifying to me. How is someone supposed to grade an entire culture of people? This category has not aged well. I feel like Korean people:

1-Hate Japan

2-Love baseball

3-Have been greatly influence by the presence of America throughout their country

4-Love drinking

5-Are playful

6-Educated

7-Stressed out

8-High rate of suicide

9-Love to go to a coffee shop after a meal

10-Lots of plastic surgery

 

Safety: A+

You probably aren’t going to find too many safer countries than Korea. Great job.

 

Activities: B+

Snowboarding, biking, hiking, kayaking, surfing, fishing, losing a passport in a bamboo forest, dead tombs, palaces, markets, museums, cherry blossoms, jjimjilbang, K-pop, and other activities gives Korea a solid B+ for activities.

 

Transportation: A

Getting around Korea is not an issue. Trains actually run on time compared to Amtrak in America. Flights aren’t crazy expensive and Seoul metro has one of the most advanced metro systems in the world. It’s incredible that Korea can do so well at public transportation and Ottawa can do such a terrible job.

 

Beauty: B+

Lots of mountains and beaches. My one complaint would be that a lot of Korea looks pretty similar. Jeju is an exception but going from one place to another, the changes aren’t that drastic. Furthermore, almost all of the neighborhoods look almost exactly the same. 

Nightlife: A-

Korea is a party. No doubt about that.

Environment: B+

Korea recycles but it’s a system that I still don’t fully understand. There are lots of garbage bins around and there isn’t trash everywhere so let’s say B+.

 

Overall quality of life: B+

I know that some Koreans dislike or even hate living in Korea. There’s a term that basically means Korean hell. Apparently, 75% of Koreans aged 19-34 want to leave Korea.

https://asiatimes.com/2019/12/75-of-young-want-to-escape-south-korean-hell/

Soaring housing prices, high competition in school and for jobs, as well as a growing animosity that young men feel towards women are some of the reasons why younger Koreans would like to move away.

If you want a more in-depth dive into this, watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s4CpxN4Otg&ab_channel=AsianBoss

Also, if you are interested in what life in Asia is like, just watch Asian Boss on YouTube. No need to move there for multiple years like someone we know.

Overall grade: B

(I'm aware that the real score should be B+ but you aren't in charge, ok?)

Korea is fine. It’s just like any place. I liked it for the biking, hiking, safety, and fast internet that enabled me to game far, far more than I should have. I was also a big fan of the heated floors and keypad to lock your front door instead of bringing a key every time you left the house. I didn’t love how far it is from home, the fact that Korean ladies ignored me for two years, the fact that Covid ruined a lot of regular life that made it tougher living there and the total stress that students have because of school. I’m glad I got the chance to live in Korea and I’m almost positive I think Korea is a better spot than Japan.

The crayfish sides with the crab.