Let me take you on a journey through my recent inspiration: none other than the musical legend himself, Bob Marley. I recently went to go watch the Bob Marley: One Love movie in theatres with my mom. We wanted to go watch the movie as she would play me Bob Marley’s music when I was growing up, playing a big influence in both of our lives. Therefore, we thought it would be a great mother-daughter bonding moment. Boy when I tell you that movie, much like every movie I watch in theatres left me flabbergasted after watching it through. There’s just something about the atmosphere of movie theatres and the message in movies that get me so emotional. The big screen, the people all watching in unison, the sheer concentration because there’s no subtitles — all of of these actions taking place come together to create the ultimate sensory environment of the movie theatre.

I walked out of the movie theatre that night an even bigger Bob Marley fan, re visiting all of his most famous hits and adding them to my playlists. Of course I always enjoyed his music, but all of the sounds hit differently after knowing what the man went through, his story, and how he used music as his “weapon” during the violence in Jamaica at the time. The man did not care about how many albums he sold, he just wanted to make music for the people, and he FELT every single ounce of music in his bones — which made me SUPER inspired to be original, be creative and be true to myself. 

In fact, I was so inspired by Bob Marley that I spent a little over $200 in order to get a figure of him. To explain how this all went down, I work at a blind box store — a blind box is essentially a figure inside a box, but you don’t know what you’re going to get until you open it. In this specific series of blind box, there were 12 characters I could get, one being a Bob Marley inspired one, which was obviously my target. I was searching up hacks online, and boy was I desperate. I even got my boss to help me search on the “Little Red Book” which is a Chinese Pinterest/Instagram-like social media platform which often contains tips and tricks on how to find certain characters in blind box series based on their weight and how “full” the box feels. I felt confident in using these tips as blind box collectors take this hobby seriously and would never lie to the public. Boy was I wrong…

I followed the tips to a TEA and I opened blind box after blind box, only to not get Bob Marley. However, I did not want to give up, as Bob Marley never gave up, and kept making music no matter what certain people of his country had to say about him. I was under the Bob Marley spell and HAD to get this figure, no matter what. Think about it this way, I would have the figure as a memoir, and it would always remind me of the time I enjoyed watching the Bob Marley movie with my mom and to never give up on my dreams. 

Eventually, after 10 boxes, I GOT HIM and I do not regret a thing.