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Co-hosts Koji Steven Sakai and M. Martin Mapoma brought on writer/director/film executive Thomas Lim to talk about his life and the best or worst day of his life. Hint: it involves Cheetahs. We also talked about the Last Dance, basketball, and film.
To follow Thomas, check out his Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lathomaslim/
Episode Clip
Transcript
Voice Over Host 0:02
This is the best or worst podcast. And now here are your hosts Koji Steven Skai and M Martin Mapoma.
Koji Sakai 0:12
Welcome, welcome. Welcome. This is Koji.
M. Martin Mapoma 0:15
And this is Martin.
Koji Sakai 0:16
And this is the best or worst podcast on zoom. So if the volume isn’t, or if the sound isn’t 1,000% awesome, and it’s not as good as my studio, then it is what it is.
M. Martin Mapoma 0:29
Yeah. Because we are still social distancing. What What day are we at now Koji?
Koji Sakai 0:34
Like, million? 1 million?
M. Martin Mapoma 0:36
Yeah. Those kind of details?
Koji Sakai 0:38
Yeah, no, no, but it doesn’t really matter ultimately. Because even when, even when we’re social distancing, like, kids still not gonna be able to summer stuff. So I’m still going to be home and stuck with a home with my kids. So I don’t think things have changed. I don’t think change is going to change all that much. But before I forget, this is episode number 32. And so we’re two and now we can’t i can’t believe we got 3232 episodes already. That’s That’s crazy. But the one of the great things about zoom is that we’re able to bring a bunch of people from faraway lands to us. But in this case, my friend Thomas Lim is not from far away. He’s actually lives like two blocks from my house.
Guest: Thomas Lim 1:15
Right?
Koji Sakai 1:16
All the Way, all the way in South Pasadena with me, but uh, Thomas, welcome.
Guest: Thomas Lim 1:21
Thank you. Thank you, Koji. And thank you for having me. Yeah.
M. Martin Mapoma 1:24
Our pleasure. Our pleasure.
Koji Sakai 1:26
Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself? I mean, what do you do you know?
Guest: Thomas Lim 1:30
Okay, well, I’m, I’m a film person. I hit the LA office for a Hong Kong film company called sun entertainment. Being in LA. I’m originally from Singapore. I’ve been in LA five years, five, five and a half, almost now, cool. But I’ve lived all over the world for the last 20 years. So just trying to find the best place to do what I do and finally, finally got set up here in LA. So
M. Martin Mapoma 1:54
LA, this is the place to be
Guest: Thomas Lim 1:57
yes, the mecca of filmmaking I guess. Yeah.
Koji Sakai 2:01
And also I want to say that I took Thomas to a basketball game at a Lakers game it I’ve taken other producers from from Asia to basketball games who had they they had no idea what was going on. But when I took what I took Thomas he’s talking about players from like the Indiana Pacers like mid, mid late 90s, late 90s. Like, I was like, Oh my God. He knows. He knows basketball now. That made me that made me like you like a million times better man.
Guest: Thomas Lim 2:32
I grew up I grew up idolizing Jordan and the bulls as you get
M. Martin Mapoma 2:38
That’s my team. That’s my wolves. I was there. I was there in Chicago those years and they won.
Guest: Thomas Lim 2:43
Wow. Wow. Did you go to the games, Martin?
M. Martin Mapoma 2:48
I did. I did. I actually worked at Jordans restaurant way back in the day when he was doing that. Yeah. So I got to see him a lot. And yeah, it was. That was kind of surreal.
Guest: Thomas Lim 2:57
It’s nice. Yeah
M. Martin Mapoma 2:58
It was kind of surreal.
Koji Sakai 3:00
Wait, did I hear that you? Uh, you hooked up with Michael Jordan? And I’m sorry.
M. Martin Mapoma 3:07
Yes, I can’t. I can’t I can’t acknowledge that. I’m radio.
Koji Sakai 3:13
Thomas. So you grew up in Malaysia? Tell me about you know, did you do you stay there and when did you leave? Where did you go after that? Tell us a little bit about that.
Guest: Thomas Lim 3:22
Sure. Yeah, I grew up in Singapore. So I was sorry.
Koji Sakai 3:25
Sorry, Singapore, man.
Guest: Thomas Lim 3:29
I was born and I grew up in Singapore, till I was about 21. And then, and I went backpacking for a long time. I went backpacking for six months straight, which was unheard of at the time. And that was, at the time of before the time of smartphones. So I relied on guidebooks like literal guidebooks and digital like film cameras like the 35 minute film cameras in the beginning and then the digital cameras later on. When backpacking for a long time, then I went to London to study theater at a time I was a theater person back in Singapore live. I majored in finance in University of Singapore because Singapore is a financial hub. Yes. And then I went, I went to London to read theater and then I moved to Beijing I’m ethnically Chinese. So I’m trying to Singaporean and moved to Beijing just to become, in my own in my own terms at a time more Chinese to speak better Chinese and, and to start to stop myself off in the in the film in a film or TV industry on a higher platform and a higher and bigger environment. And Singapore was so China, China was at a time for four years. And then I moved to Macau and Hong Kong, I made my first film and subsequently my second film as well as the director. And then that that got released in Japan later on where I moved to, and then I worked there for about four years before I came to LA. Five years ago, five and a half years long journey about 20 years ago.
M. Martin Mapoma 4:54
What are you movies called?
Guest: Thomas Lim 4:55
My first movie is called roulette city. The second movie is called sea of mirrors. I wrote in directed them very low budget. So below budget, I would have been talking about the budget until I make a bigger movie. So very low budget. But it brought me here brought me to where I wanted to come.
M. Martin Mapoma 5:10
That’s very cool.
Koji Sakai 5:11
What’s your favorite play of all the places? I mean, besides Singapore, what’s your favorite place to be?
Guest: Thomas Lim 5:18
Well to live I mean if we don’t talk about like, if we put work aside I mean for work like la has to be it because it is the it is the film capital of the world. But before then, like Japan was a great place to live.
Koji Sakai 5:31
Like, what was your favorite part of Japan?
Guest: Thomas Lim 5:33
I lived in Tokyo, so I enjoy I missed it a lot. To be honest, like I’ve visited a couple of times since I moved off move away from Japan. So I really enjoyed it.
M. Martin Mapoma 5:44
Oh, cool. I really want to go
Koji Sakai 5:47
Yeah, I love I love visiting Japan. I mean, Japan is awesome. There’s a lot of problems with any country right? But I’d love I mean, it’s so safe and clean and the food is so good for a while cuz
M. Martin Mapoma 5:57
You lived there, didn’t you?
Koji Sakai 5:58
I never lived there. It’s I’ve been there ally when I went there for summers and stuff. But uh, it was always tough for me because I looked Japanese. And because I love Japanese I have an American accent when I speak Japanese. So it sounds funny. Back then they weren’t as they’re less cosmopolitan than they are today. You know, it was tough for me. I’m just kind of like ABCs American Born Chinese, right? It’s the same thing. When they go back to China it’s like, a little bit different because they sound a little bit different. They act like they walk a little bit different. I mean, the funniest story for me is I used to, I remember, I walked on the beach once, and I didn’t say anything to anyone. And they, these kids were making fun of me. And I was like, I didn’t even say, you know, I haven’t said anything I haven’t even talked away. Because even the way Americans walk, the way we carry ourselves is very different. Yeah, I remember when I was at school in Japan, though, the last story about me and then I’ll move on. Sorry, is that I was in Japan, and I was in school and all these kids surrounded me. And they started making fun of me because because I was American. But so I thought I was about to Get my butt kicked, right because it’s like Why else would they surround me? So the first thing I did is I threw a punch I knocked this guy out I threw another punch and because other guy out and then they all ran, because in Japan physical confrontation is not what you’re supposed to do. Like they’re just gonna shame me. Right? America where like if you surround me I’m about to get my butt
M. Martin Mapoma 7:21
But you did go to school. That’s why I asked you
Koji Sakai 7:23
No just for like summer like a fourth quarter.
M. Martin Mapoma 7:25
Yes, this is gonna be telling me That’s crazy. Yeah,
Koji Sakai 7:27
so like I just remember being really funny cuz I’d be like, Yeah, I thought I thought they’re gonna hurt like all cuz all my relatives were ashamed of me and stuff, but I was like, I thought they’re gonna fight. You because in America, like if I got around in America, I’m gonna get my butt kicked. Right, like
M. Martin Mapoma 7:45
dropping those kids.
Koji Sakai 7:46
Yeah, cuz you’re not supposed to do that. That’s not Japanese. That’s not a Japanese thing at all. Anyway, sorry. Sorry. Let’s get back to you.
Guest: Thomas Lim 7:55
Koji, it sounds like a long time ago that you were there
Unknown Speaker 7:58
It was like when I was a kid like early 80s. At the Okay,
M. Martin Mapoma 8:03
Like when you were eight, that’s crazy
Koji Sakai 8:05
no cuz when you’re a kids like you’re like you know or now it’s like you walk around there’s like foreigners yeah people but now back then there would be like I would never see any anybody who like I was like pretty much the only different person there every once in a while you’ll see a white people every once while you see other Asian but it was very very like Japanese so when you go to the countryside it’s all Japanese right and that was even that was even worse but in Japan but like now you got to go to Tokyo. It’s like, you have like African you have like, you know you have Koreans you have like you have white people hapa you have all these different groups of people, right? Yeah, yeah. But um, but yeah, so but let’s let’s move on, you know, so like, what what, what what has been most surprising about Los Angeles for you?
Guest: Thomas Lim 8:49
Los Angeles. Hospital. It was like I remember like, the first day when I got Los Angeles the first week actually, so I was staying at a friend’s place and he and his wife were up in Canada. Having that first baby and I had the whole house to myself, I woke up at two or three the afternoon every day because I was jet lagged. Right? And then it was very early in January or very late in December, and the sun went down 530 so I only had like, two hours of sunlight. And it was pretty much dark all the time. But no, that wasn’t what I thought California would be. We are here of the sunshine in California all of a sudden, I’m like, why is California so dark all the time and I’m and I was all alone. And and and when it’s dark in LA, like in Singapore where I’m from, it’s so compact, and it’s so dense even when it’s dark. That’s light somewhere that’s a street lamp. There’s somebody says that and I felt at the time that when he’s dark in LA is like pitch dog and I was I was kind of scared to be honest. So So that was my first impression.
Koji Sakai 9:44
Where were you were part of LA?
Guest: Thomas Lim 9:47
of Eagle Rock
Koji Sakai 9:47
Eagle Rock. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That’s where Martin lives.
M. Martin Mapoma 9:51
Yep,
Guest: Thomas Lim 9:51
yeah. Oh, yeah.
M. Martin Mapoma 9:54
I love it.
Koji Sakai 9:56
Eagle Rock used to not be nice though.
Guest: Thomas Lim 10:00
It’s better.
Koji Sakai 10:01
It’s getting better. Yeah. But they’re still like pockets but it’s still like, back then I remember I’ve like yeah, it’s not it’s not it was kind of sketchy at points but,
Guest: Thomas Lim 10:10
but it wasn’t what I felt coming from coming from from Asia is picked up a lot, even when I was there it’s picked up a lot already.
Koji Sakai 10:18
Oh, yeah. No, I mean, it’s it’s not expect like they’re all expensive homes. I mean, Martin lives in like, a $10 million home over there. Martin, any questions for Thomas?
M. Martin Mapoma 10:35
Uh, so you’ve been you’ve been hearing you said for years now.
Guest: Thomas Lim 10:40
But five years? Yeah, a bit more than five.
M. Martin Mapoma 10:42
Wow. Yeah. You see, are you making your films here now? Are you working on anything right now?
Guest: Thomas Lim 10:47
Well, I have a couple of films in development and Koji’s actually writing one if not two of them, and then they’re all in development right now. And I mean, in a way is good today in development. Because the virus was put in a lot of shoot anyway so we were not shooting anything before COVID hit so we didn’t have to shut down and development on
M. Martin Mapoma 11:08
yeah.
Guest: Thomas Lim 11:09
Yeah so basically we are looking for we we we looked for writers and we found a lot of them in LA because la has a lot of writers LA is the stuff like I say the world in my opinion, everything writers are here.
M. Martin Mapoma 11:24
Are you films gonna be American American or are they more
Guest: Thomas Lim 11:28
couple of them will be at 18 films on my slate actually. So half of them will be English language, Japanese language one Korean language and the rest will be Chinese language. A lot of them will move back to Asia to shoot when is a finished writing and a couple of decades remaining will stay in America to shoot to get produced.
M. Martin Mapoma 11:46
Do you speak Japanese?
Guest: Thomas Lim 11:49
No, not much. Just very basic. I speak Chinese though. Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin and Cantonese.
M. Martin Mapoma 11:55
Both. Oh cool.
Guest: Thomas Lim 11:56
Yeah. Yeah.
M. Martin Mapoma 11:58
That’s cool. Well, I wish you luck with your films. You know, that’s awesome that you’re here now doing it.
Guest: Thomas Lim 12:02
No, thank God it was hard. I mean, like, it’s so hard to break in it, especially, especially that I’m not even American, you know?
M. Martin Mapoma 12:08
Yeah. I’m actor myself. So it’s a, I move to LA to, you know, become an actor. So I know, it’s tough. It’s tough. But I’m from Africa, you know, and, you know, as an African actor here, you know, I might, the issues that I go through are, you know, you’re not, you know, you’re not American enough, you know, you know, you’re not black enough. You know, there’s a different there’s a different light, you know, like Koji was talking about, um, they just know you’re not you know, you’re not you’re not born in Japan. It’s the same thing for me here. It’s just when he when he said that, I was like, wow, this is for me here. Yeah, I want to African Americans here especially as an actor, they just knew instantly that something up with this guy. I can’t tell you how many times that happened.
Koji Sakai 12:51
I mean, that’s like that’s like Kobe, right? That was one of the things about Kobe not getting along with other teammates was that he didn’t grow up like those guys. I mean, grew up in Italy. Yeah, yeah. money he had, like a lot of education. I mean, he just, that was one of the things that that really separated him from from his teammates, I think and I think that that was like, especially the beginning of his career when he’s young. It was he had a hard time really, you know, maybe
M. Martin Mapoma 13:12
It’s all my relating to them.
Guest: Thomas Lim 13:15
That’s right. Yeah.
M. Martin Mapoma 13:16
That’s, that’s, that’s the issue that I’ve had.
Guest: Thomas Lim 13:19
But did you grew up in, in America, Martin?
M. Martin Mapoma 13:21
No, I grew up in Africa. I grew up in Zambia. I moved here when I was I moved here when I was almost 18.
Guest: Thomas Lim 13:28
Okay, yeah. So you grew up somewhere else? Okay.
M. Martin Mapoma 13:31
Yeah. And I still have all my most of my family there. So yeah, this is definitely disconnect in some ways. Yeah.
Guest: Thomas Lim 13:39
Yeah. So that this this part has been always kind of tough for me. Like in in Asia, it is. The the cities that I live in Asia, first of all, it’s more compact and dense and people are more nosy in a fun way. So they always want to know what’s going on with you. So in a way they care about what’s going on with you all the time. They will look out for you But there’s also no privacy because that so I kind of missed it to be honest like here. People don’t ask me enough questions about my private life
M. Martin Mapoma 14:15
girlfriend here I’m being nosy now.
Guest: Thomas Lim 14:18
No so no Yeah, but I did come with my ex wife previously so okay yeah so I didn’t come alone but no
M. Martin Mapoma 14:27
Do you have a kid?
Guest: Thomas Lim 14:27
no no i wish i To be honest I wish I had a kid like during a quarantine time to look after you know like yeah it’d be like quality time spent I think I don’t know
Koji Sakai 14:35
No you don’t
M. Martin Mapoma 14:40
like a running thing on our on our show. I love Koji’s son he’s such a cool kid.
Koji Sakai 14:44
Yeah, it’s a little bit unhealthy I think just kidding. Alright, let’s let’s move on to some more. Let’s Let’s do this. We’re at the time of our show where we decide whether we want to hear from our guests are his best moment or his worst worst moment of his life. What do you what do you think, Martin?
M. Martin Mapoma 15:02
I am going to go for best. I can’t do any worst.
Koji Sakai 15:04
Really? We’ve got two we’ve got two bets in a row. Are you sure you want to do it? We should get another one.
M. Martin Mapoma 15:09
There’s enough fat out there, man. Um, I don’t know. Okay. Yeah.
Koji Sakai 15:14
You want best? Okay, I’m actually really, really curious to hear what? Thomas’s best moment. So Thomas tell us. Tell us what your best moment of your life is.
Guest: Thomas Lim 15:24
So it’s a moment and it’s not a day, right?
Koji Sakai 15:26
It could be it could be what however you want to interpret? It could be moment, it could be dad could be okay.
Guest: Thomas Lim 15:31
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the best the best moment, one of the best moments, I must say there’s so many that. Is it the best? Or is it like one of the best?
Koji Sakai 15:40
Whatever you want?
M. Martin Mapoma 15:43
very profound. I mean, it’s something you can go back to, like instantly and have that same feeling. There’s always something. Yeah, so I’ll have a lot of good moments, but there’s always one. I mean, just, there’s always one or maybe two. They’re just like, wow, you go back and, you know.
Guest: Thomas Lim 15:58
So there are these moments. That, that I feel like like teach me something in life and in the end, and they sort of change or instill in me a certain thought or a way of looking at life, right? So So when when I was a kid, and very few people know this other than maybe my mom, or a few of my like really like kindergarten friends, something I was pretty much I was pretty good at drawing, you know, at using a pencil and drawing, drawing something on a piece of paper, that kind of thing. So when I was a kid, my, my mom used to bring me to the Singapore Zoo, which is considered one of the best zoos in the world, like for drawing competitions. So we draw like I my favorite of the big cats, the lions, the Tigers, because as a little boy, like you live on this kind of thing. So I kept drawing, and I kept winning those Zoo competitions. I call them for five, six years in the row until until when I became a teenager. And I remember this this moment. And the cheetahs, you don’t like the fast running cats. That Cheetah are One of my favorite animals. And as I got older, I learned more about like them these cats from just books right at a time there was no internet. So I was reading books about lions, tigers, I was fascinated by them. And along came the cheetah. And I was like so fascinated that you can run from, you can accelerate from zero to 60 to 100 kilometers per hour. I guess that’s 60 or 70 in three seconds. You know, I was like, wow, like this is amazing. This like, more amazing than a car. So I went to the cheetah enclosure to draw a cheetah. And then I saw baby cheetahs born because the Singapore Zoo is is so great that baby baby animals like little animals are born there all the time. But then when I saw the baby cheetahs, the first thing I thought at that time, although I was like maybe 12 or 13 years old was that these cheetahs will never be a complete cheetah. Because the enclosure is not big enough for them to go from zero to two 60 or 70 miles per hour in three seconds, there’s no way they’re going to do that. Unless there’s an earthquake one day where there’s no, there’s no earthquakes. Unless there’s a natural disaster of some sort that breaks the zoo open and the cheetahs are free running. Otherwise, these baby cheetahs will never know how it would feel how what what they were actually born to do. You know, every every Cheetah has that potential to do that, right? Yeah, then he would never know that. And that, to me, makes me feel like if you are if you’re in the wrong environment, you will never realize your fullest potential. And that was that was a profound moment in my very young life. At a time when I saw the baby cheetahs. They were just barely barely starting to walk, I guess, just walking around the little enclosure. And then I continued to be fascinated by animals even even these days. You know, when I watch animal documentaries, I’m fascinated by by by how animals are built to do what they’re meant to do, right. So as I got older, I saw this animal documentary about cheetahs again, Then there was this Cheetah chasing chasing a wild hare or wall rabbit that ran at I think, I think half his speed. So then I had another moment that made me feel like if you’re chasing the wrong goal so to speak your again because then the cheetah would run only as fast as its prey. because cheetah will never out run it because there’s no point running faster than your pray, right? So there were those were two like when I saw Koji’s email about like, profound moments or best moments those those were two moments that always stayed in me that that animal kingdom taught me that for it’s got to be in the right environment, and then you go to be chasing the right goal in order to realize your fullest potential. So then I thought was like, always stayed with me.
Koji Sakai 19:43
Wow, that’s that’s a really
M. Martin Mapoma 19:47
Whoa.
Koji Sakai 19:48
But before we before I ask you a question about I do want to mention that if you go to the San Diego Wildlife Park, have you ever been there?
Guest: Thomas Lim 19:53
No. But I’ve been the San Diego zoo.
Koji Sakai 19:55
no, the Wildlife Park they actually have like, they have a cheetah enclosure where they could run As fast as they can, because it’s really really long. And there’s there’s no there’s no way you could see a cheetah get to its full potential But anyway, sorry, my thought… was that give a thought or question you wanted about
M. Martin Mapoma 20:13
No, I’m just gonna say that was I was actually gonna mention the same thing because we took Grayson to the, to the, to the San Diego you know, let’s say San Diego Park, that wildlife whatever it’s called, yeah, the Wildlife Park. And because, you know, growing up in Africa is very true Thomas, you know, we used to go to the game parks and the animals are just wild. And I’ll never forget the first time that I came here, um, and went to a zoo, and I saw the lions and then enclosure I was like, wow, he’s like, it’s not the same thing, man. No really isn’t I mean the lions are they they’re another fish but you put you put those lions in the zoo out in the wild and they’re like, What is going on? They have no idea. And so when when it went to the Wildlife Park, you know San Diego my son got to see the cheetah because they have a they have a cheetah. And then they have a opposite Greyhound is a greyhound that runs with like a buddy animal, okay there and they’ll have them, they’ll have chased this thing. And so to give you some context is they’ll put the you’ve been there or no, no, no. So they’ll put this thing on the zip line or something. And they’ll have the Greyhound chase it first and it’s fast. It’s like whoa. And then they’ll have the cheetah do the same thing and I have it on video. This Cheetah just was unbelievable how fast he was. Remember Koji when he started he had skin for like 10 feet stops. We were just like we waited for maybe 40 minutes for the scene to happen and it and the three seconds that it took to watch it was worth it. Anything that fast in my life that wasn’t a car.
Guest: Thomas Lim 20:23
Yeah, it
M. Martin Mapoma 20:52
was so yeah, you know, you talked about the right it’s so true the right environment. It’s a great lesson the right environment will really, you know, bring up the fruits of your labor.
Guest: Thomas Lim 22:05
Yes.
M. Martin Mapoma 22:05
You know, um, yeah, so that’s, that was great.
Guest: Thomas Lim 22:09
Yeah, I remember that back then when I when I was when I saw that during that moment too because cheetahs, animals from Africa so so in the in the Singapore Zoo, they have this African section, but this lions, cheetahs, zebras, zebras are just next to the cheetah enclosure and then when I when I had that moment, I was looking at the zebra as well like just across the little walkway, and like so this this Cheetah is going to grow up the same way as the zebra still. And then they’re not going to be any different and then they’re not they’re not gonna realize that what they were, so to speak born to do, you know, like so I think the right environment and also like chasing the right goal, I would say will bring up the fullest potential and still, life is about self discovery, I guess. Yes.
M. Martin Mapoma 22:52
Yeah.
Koji Sakai 22:53
Do you still draw?
Guest: Thomas Lim 22:56
Not Not too much. Yeah, I sort of dropped that for For many decades now for 20-30 years, Oh, wow. Okay, this time I guess. We I don’t really play basketball anymore. Like I used to play so much when I was a teenager
Koji Sakai 23:10
You’re gonna play once once we get our team back. We’re gonna get a team together so you’re gonna you’ll play on that team so yeah.
Guest: Thomas Lim 23:19
So So itching to play of watching the Last Dance.
M. Martin Mapoma 23:24
I haven’t watched it yet. Have you watched it, Koji?
Koji Sakai 23:26
Of course. Yeah, I’ve been loving it.
Guest: Thomas Lim 23:27
Yeah, he must have.
Koji Sakai 23:28
Yeah, I especially love. Yeah, it’s cool. I was now I’ve never I’ve never been a I was never a huge MJ fan, but I like I like watching it with Laker stuff and the Kobe stuff and I watch it in the lens of the Lakers because as everyone knows, I’m a huge huge Laker fan. And all like everything. Everything is led to the Lakers, so I only watch that show. I mostly watch the ones with coke with the Lakers involved in it. So I like that what is the night two and Kobe year
M. Martin Mapoma 24:00
Yeah, When did Kobe go to the NBA?
Koji Sakai 24:03
98
Guest: Thomas Lim 24:03
97
Koji Sakai 24:04
- but he wasn’t the 98 What was the 97? playoffs? Or I mean, I said 97 All Star 98 All Star.
Guest: Thomas Lim 24:11
He won the slam dunk in 97.
Koji Sakai 24:14
Okay, yeah, that’s right. Nice. That was almost a nice one. Yeah. See, Thomas knows more than I normally have. So. So tell me, you know, when you think of that, when you think of that incident, when you think of the incident of the kind of being at a zoo and stuff, how does it How does it apply to your life now? Like, does it inform your decisions? Do you think about it?
Guest: Thomas Lim 24:35
Well, I think so. I mean, like, there’s still a lot of profound parts that came out of it. And I mean, one of the things I always believe is that, like, life is only hard when it lacks purpose. And meaning,
M. Martin Mapoma 24:47
Oh, that’s so true.
Guest: Thomas Lim 24:48
Right? It’s not so much the circumstances is really more about the purpose and mean, especially the unfortunate people that has to be honest, like we’re like the minority of the people in the world fortunate enough to be able to have the chance to chase our dreams. All right, like people are just struggling to survive elsewhere. So so the cheetah thing made me always wanted to, like go to where go to a higher environment to achieve like to achieve my fullest potential to spread my wings to the fullest. And I would say like, eventually sort of brought me to LA. And also, I mean, since we’re talking about the last dance as well like not to exaggerate at all, like, if I didn’t idolize MJ growing up, I don’t think I’ll be in LA. Because Michael Jordan like sort of showed me like, do you have to overcome the odds? You know, like, no matter how high your eyes are, you can overcome it and you have to be competitive and all that. That’s why I was really against like, Kevin Durant joining the Warriors back then because you cannot join the enemy. Anybody else for longevity of your career for money, whatever it is, you just cannot join someone you couldn’t beat. If MJ joined the pistons or the Celtics back then. Why are you doing? Well I’ll be ruin him it’s almost like having the Joining the Warriors wound up joining the
Koji Sakai 26:04
It’s okay if Giannas comes to LA though. I’m just gonna put that out there. No, I mean, you know what it is it bothered me at first, you know a little bit, that kind of thing. But then what I the way I think about those like Kevin Durant and any of those guys is that they should be able to do whatever they want to do. And they should be able to work wherever they want. And, you know, these owners have no, they don’t care about these players. You know, like, look at look at Isaiah Thomas and Boston, remember he, he played he played when he was injured, he played with his sister got killed, and then he hurt himself and his career was over and they traded him that year. You know, it’s like, come on, man. It’s like no way you got to make as much money as you can and go to the right situation that you know, Kevin Durant needed to go to a Golden State Warriors because he couldn’t win. He’s not a winner. You know?
Guest: Thomas Lim 26:54
I guess I’m thinking you from like a fan a kid fan perspective. The way I looked at basketball in the in the late night yeah, but
Koji Sakai 27:02
but also basketball.
M. Martin Mapoma 27:04
How old are youThomas? How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?
Koji Sakai 27:08
I’m the same as Koji . We were born in the same year, I think.
Yeah. So I mean, the thing about basketball now, though, is if you talk to the kid, most kids are fans of players not of teams anymore. Yeah, yeah. So like, like LeBron James is like your LeBron James fan, if he’s on Miami, or Cleveland or the Lakers, whereas like, back in our day, it was like you’re a Laker fan, or, or, you know, a Boston fan or a Knicks fan or whatever. And that was that was it, but you know, we’re, we’re old breed now. You know, like, for them it’s like, it’s all about empowerment, and you know, and the players but which makes me sad because I’m a super Laker fan. All right, well, we’ve Thomas, is there a place that people could follow you to find out what you’re doing what you’re working on?
Guest: Thomas Lim 27:51
Uh, sure. I mean, I have Instagram and also Facebook like the my my handle is always LA, like lost. Angeles Thomas Lim with an M like Mary, Thomas Lim is my name la Thomas Lim is my handle and across social medium la Thomas Lim.
M. Martin Mapoma 28:08
Okay, so I’ll put a post up for everybody who’s listening to this, or I’ll be I’ll put a I’ll put a link in our notes for some people can follow Thomas and see what you’re working on. And maybe you guys could eventually see the project I’m writing for you guys. That’d be awesome. But so thank you, Thomas.
Thank you very much.
Koji Sakai 28:25
Thank you guys for listening. Please rate review and subscribe to our podcast. Please, please let us know through this. Please let people know about this podcast. Please join us on our social medias. I think it’s best or worst pod on Instagram, Facebook, and we have a Twitter but I never use it so don’t even bother coming to the Twitter page. But um, but please thank you very much and make sure to tell a friend and make sure to write a review those are really really helpful.
M. Martin Mapoma 28:50
So yes, please please, please.
Koji Sakai 28:52
And then if everyone out there could tell why give you know to let one person know about the show. This is a labor of love for Martin and I so this is an opportunity to to make sure the show keeps going for another 32 episodes. I’ll be great. Great. So thank you guys. Thank you, everybody.
Guest: Thomas Lim 29:08
Thanks for having me, guys.
M. Martin Mapoma 29:09
Thank you, Thomas was Pleasure to meet you.
Guest: Thomas Lim 29:11
Yeah, nice meeting you. Thank you. Thanks.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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