Rap Directing here I come

I got a pleasant acceptance email while I was away in Thailand (and by the way, I only checked my email three times in two weeks).

I recently applied for a volunteer position at College Summit for the summer workshops, and if you remember, I have been volunteering with CS since the summer of 2003 as a writing coach, and most recently last year as a writing coach coordinator. Both of the positions revolved around helping the students create strong personal statements for their college applications. The position that I recently applied for is kind of like the glue of the CS summer workshops. The rap directors (no affiliation to the musical genre) are the ones who empower the students, but rather than try to paraphrase, here is a sampling from the job description:

Rap Directors are trained youth facilitators who begin as trainees and commit to a three-year intensive professional and personal development training. During the training period, Rap Directors attend trainings and serve at workshops in tandem with another Rap Director. Upon completion of training, certification allows a Rap Director to act as a solo facilitator at College Summit workshops. The Rap Director facilitates group discussions (Rap Sessions) with the students during the four-day workshop. The goal of the sessions is for the students to see possibility in their lives and future through the world of higher education. Rap Directors introduce students to the 4 goals of the workshop and guide them as they work to reach their goals. Rap Directors also serve to remind the students that they are young and entitled to have fun!

I am extremely excited about the opportunity to change more students’ lives and about the three-year facilitation training!!!

Last night in Thailand

Here I am at Bangkok’s most luxurious and prestigious mall, Siam Paragon, doing some last minute shopping and eating before my early morning departure tomorrow.

I am tired!

Back before I left, I had visions of this vacation being relaxing and rejuvenating. While it has been LOTS of fun and really great to get out of the US, it also has been quite taxing on me physically (I haven’t slept in… about 36 hours). Needless to say I am eager to get back to American soil, to talk to American people, to eat American food, and to live my American life.

Key points: I am safe, I’ll be home soon, and I love how leaving the country reminds me of how grateful I am for being blessed with residency in America. More on Thailand when I get back… I have soooo many great pictures and stories!

End of the Year Check-in

Just like I could not believe that half the year was over in July, I cannot believe that 2006 is practically over.

After reviewing my New Years Goals, I present to you the status of each:

1. Do something outdoorsy at least once a month

Yes

2. Go camping in a national park

I’m going to strike out the “national” and put “state.”

3. Run across the Golden Gate Bridge

I did this on December 3!

5. Read at least 10 new books in 2006

I’ve read 8 so far: The Starfish and the Spider, You Inc., Be Your Own Brand, Good to Great, Middlesex, Letters to Montgomery Clift, All Marketers are Liars

6. Meet new people
7. Mend past half-relationships
8. Go on more quality dates with quality people

Yes, yes and yes.

9. Play at least one sport per month

I’ve been pretty good about this by playing tennis with Sal, surfing, snowboarding, and hiking.

11. Find a hobby

Surfing, although my surf buddy Jed is moving back down to SoCal. Sad! I’ll have to adopt a new surf buddy.

12. Love more

I’ve been doing a good job of showing love. 😉

Incomplete:
4. Cuss less

Not cussing is overrated anyway.

10. Finish Part 2 of my book, The Prediction

I’m going to give myself till 2007.

2007 Goals coming up soon.

Star-crossed Lunchers

adj. + noun
1 : Opposed by fate / ill-fated to have lunch
2 : A reference to those who want to have lunch together, but through a series of unfortunate events, do not end up having lunch together, and, thus, fight against (or cross) their fate, which is written in the stars

This must be a common occurrence in the non-profit sector!


Anne: Hey let’s have lunch tomorrow at 12:30.
Rey: Sure!

[Next day]

Rey: I can’t have lunch today. I have a phone conference, and then I have to run an errand.
Anne: That’s the third time we’ve scheduled and unscheduled our lunch! I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
Rey: We must be star-crossed lunchers…

I’m a Californian now!

I was informed that I needed to trade in my Nevada drivers license for a more modern California one. Actually I was supposed to do this 10 days after moving to California, but seeing as it’s been over a year and ten days, I’m a little late.

But I’m FINALLY a real life Californian after taking the written test at the DMV (I only missed 3!). You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting a CA drivers license. I’ve never had one of these, even when I did live in California–for many reasons, one being immigration-related, damn you Homeland Security! Thus, it has always been an object of my desire.

I feel at home now.

Surfing Pacifica again

I love the weekends. Jed, Karla, Bern and I went to Pacifica on Saturday to go surfing–it was Karla’s first time so she wrote this huge epiphany-laden post about it (read it here).

Surfing Pacfica

That’s Karla and Jed walking into the water and up ahead to the right is me. It was great to just be able to get out into nature, even though it was freezing cold and my hands and feet were swollen red after I was done. Somehow being one with the water made it OK. Going to invest in my own wetsuit soon because I’ve been renting this whole time and that’s been racking up quite the surfing bill.

Take me out to the ball game

Got free tickets to the SF Giants baseball game vs. Cincinnati Reds, so Jed and I took a little afternoon trip to AT&T Park to watch the game.

We got there at the 3rd inning because our bus was 45 minutes late, and then we grabbed some delicious ballpark food (I had the chicken tenders and garlic fries, and Jed got a hotdog and coke). The only thing I wanted to do was go to the game, eat, hang out, soak in the environment and then take a couple pictures. So we did that, and then left at the 7th inning and went across the street to Borders to read magazines. What a chill afternoon.