Category: Work Life

Racing to sleep

Do you ever feel like you’re racing against the clock to get to bed?

Those are my usual Monday nights. After I get back from chorus rehearsal at about 10 to 10:30 pm, I get home, have dinner of some sort, while simultaneously checking my email. Sometimes I chat with people online, sometimes I chat with friends on the phone. And while I am doing that I am preparing my wardrobe, my lunch, and my gym bag for the next day. Usually I want to get all of this done so I can be in bed by 12 pm at the latest so that I can wake up at 7am to drive to the gym in the morning.

Does this happen every time? No, sometimes I just am too tired to even bother eating anything. Other times I don’t wake up in the morning.

I just thought that it was incredibly funny that all through my youth I would try to stay up as late as possible, and now I just can’t wait to get into my bed to sleep the night away. When did life become so busy that I can’t sit down, relax, have a cup of hot chocolate, and write a blog post before I go to bed?

Well to that I say, not tonight. (As I sit here, writing, contemplating and sipping on a cup of hot chocolate).

A Life of Service

Ever since my car accident in 2002, my life’s goal has been pretty clear: to serve and better the lives of children and youth.

This has been kind of hard to explain to other people when they ask me, “Why? Why don’t you just work in the private sector now, make lots of money, and then donate that money to some charity?”

How can you explain your passion? If I were as passionate about singing opera or coding software programs, would I need to explain myself over and over again for those?

I just read an article in Time magazine that helps to explain my drive to serve children and youth, and my hopeful vision to be able to do this on a wider scale in the near future.

Here’s an excerpt and link to the article:

As the Constitutional Convention of 1787 came to a close, after three and a half months of deliberation, a lady asked Dr. Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic,” replied the Doctor, “if you can keep it.”
— ANECDOTE FROM THE RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787, ED., MAX FARRAND, VOL. 3, APPENDIX A, 1911

A republic, if you can keep it. The founders were not at all optimistic about the future of the Republic. There had been only a handful of other republics in all of human history, and most were small and far away. The founders’ pessimism, though, came not from history but from their knowledge of human nature. A republic, to survive, needed not only the consent of the governed but also their active participation. It was not a machine that would go of itself; free societies do not stay free without the involvement of their citizens.

Today the two central acts of democratic citizenship are voting and paying taxes. That’s basically it. The last time we demanded anything else from people was when the draft ended in 1973. And yes, there are libertarians who believe that government asks too much of us — and that the principal right in a democracy is the right to be left alone — but most everyone else bemoans the fact that only about half of us vote and don’t do much more than send in our returns on April 15. The truth is, even the archetype of the model citizen is mostly a myth. Except for times of war and the colonial days, we haven’t been all that energetic about keeping the Republic.

When Americans look around right now, they see a public-school system with 38% of fourth graders unable to read at a basic level; they see the cost of health insurance escalating as 47 million people go uninsured; they see a government that responded ineptly to a hurricane in New Orleans; and they see a war whose ends they do not completely value or understand.

But there is something else we are seeing in the land. Polls show that while confidence in our democracy and our government is near an all-time low, volunteerism and civic participation since the ’70s are near all-time highs. Political scientists are perplexed about this. If confidence is so low, why would people bother volunteering? The explanation is pretty simple. People, especially young people, think the government and the public sphere are broken, but they feel they can personally make a difference through community service. After 9/11, Americans were hungry to be asked to do something, to make some kind of sacrifice, and what they mostly remember is being asked to go shopping. The reason private volunteerism is so high is precisely that confidence in our public institutions is so low. People see volunteering not as a form of public service but as an antidote for it.

That is not a recipe for keeping a republic.

Read more here.

Saturn is moving into Virgo


Apparently Saturn is moving into Virgo for the next couple of years. According to Alex, my resident astrologer/spiritual advisor, this means that people in general will be more nitpicky about things in their lives.

The following quotes were taken from www.astrologicallyspeaking.com:

Saturn is the planet of concentrated effort—no short cuts—and he will now be spending time in the practical earth sign of Virgo. Virgo excels at performing tasks until these become acquired skills and loves hard work. Virgo is also analytical, discerning and excels at organization, taking care of details and looking after others. Virgo is the sign we associate with service, the harvest and interestingly Vedic astrologers call Saturn the servant.

This is my sign and what Saturn moving into Virgo means for me:

Capricorn Dec. 21-Jan. 19Your ruling planet known for its ability to structure, assign responsibility and doing things properly is moving into discerning, analytical and organized Virgo for the next couple of years beginning in September. The area for you is foreign travel, learning and distant places as well as in-laws, publishing and legal matters. This could see you moving to a distance, signing up for classes and naturally acquiring a new relative or few. What is it you desire in your life that would allow you to broaden your horizons. This is a wonderful time to choose changes with discernment of course.

It seems like some changes are in store for the next couple of years…

Ultimate Nerdfest: Maker Faire!

Francis, King and Chickens
[Photo taken at the Flickr / Yahoo exhibit]

I don’t remember how I found about the Maker Faire, but for some reason it had been on my calendar for weeks, maybe even months, to go to the twice yearly fair–they hold one in San Mateo and another in Texas.

Coincidentally, my brother was in town visiting our relatives in Tracy, so I asked him to come with me because it definitely is something that would be right up his alley.

Essentially the Maker Faire is a convention or gathering of sorts for readers of Make Magazine, which is basically a do-it-yourself tech magazine for uber-geeks, nerds and dorks.

Just how dorky these readers and enthusiasts are, I did not know until I really saw them in the flesh. I mean I consider myself to be a pretty nerdy guy–I love technology, read tech magazines and blogs, and adore gadgets to the point of personifying them and giving them names (i.e. Shaquanda my, now, 2-year old Treo 650… don’t even ask me what her full name it). But if you think I’m nerdy, you haven’t KNOWN nerds, until you watch a crowd of people go gaga over a manmade lightning exhibit (the Tesla coils were so cool!) or watch a similar crowd cheer and jeer at battling wedge robots (wow… I cannot even describe to you the nerd-itude that was).

Anyway, all-in-all it was a great day spent with my brother. We walked around to a lot of different exhibits and saw a lot of new and old and remixed technology.

Francis at Maker Faire

Rey next to a homemade whale
That’s a homemade whale!

Rey inside the homemade whale
That’s me INSIDE the homemade whale!

Francis at the Crucible fire exhibit
See the fire on the top right corner?

Battling robots... so nerdy!
The final nerdy straw…

Excel. Cry. Dance.

BUILD’s tagline is “Excel. Lead. Succeed.” but tonight it was more like “Excel. Cry. Dance.

Today was BUILD’s End of the Year Celebration. We first took the freshmen on an all-day field trip to see two colleges: San Jose State and Menlo College (from 9 am to 4:30 pm).

And then in the evening, all of the BUILD students gathered at the brand new East Palo Alto YMCA for a dance. My Incubator students were also going to have an Incubator Closing Ceremony in conjunction to this dance. This was the “second annual” Closing Ceremony, meaning that last year, the event was my little brainchild, and this year, I tried to make the students take ownership of the event so that others would follow suit. I organized our leadership team to take responsibility for some of the logistics: decorations, marketing, gifts, and MC-ing the event. It worked beautifully. Our two co-MC’s for the evening did such a wonderful job, our student speakers made people cry, and the awards hopefully motivated the students to do better. I can’t really sum up how I feel about what happened tonight, but I will say that I am relieved, satisfied and happy. Tonight when the students and mentors were thanking each other in our closing circle and when our students were giving their speeches, it really rejuvenated me and reminded me why I am doing the work that I am doing.

Recently I have been getting so tired and frustrated and being so extremely tired all of the time. April and May have been outrageously busy months because of the traveling (San Diego, Las Vegas, Boston, DC, Tracy, etc.), my relatives from the Philippines visiting for a month and a half, and just a lot more work to be done in BUILD. Over the past few weeks I kind of resigned myself to being really tired and bleh, and have been waiting for this month to be over. But I realize that I just needed a pick-me-up, a reminder, a hug and some validation for what I am doing. And in some senses, maybe I subconsciously planned this end of the year celebration so I could get that, so that other staff could get it, mentors could get it, and, of course, students could get it.

Well, I hope everyone got it because if they didn’t get it after tonight’s event, I do not know what else to do with them.

The most rewarding and taxing BUILD night

Tonight I facilitated a session with all of my juniors where they each (and all) shared their personal stories. They had been working on their personal stories as precursors to their personal statements for college applications. I kind of did not know what to expect from the evening, but I knew that I wanted it to be empowering–for them to see their strengths in each other, the beautiful and unique stories they each have, and the courageous support system that surrounds them.

Tonight was also the culmination of “The Bridge,” which is a program that I co-created to help bridge the priceless business lessons that they were learning with much-needed applications into their personal lives as well as the rigorous college application process. The 11-week “Bridge” ended tonight with each junior subsequently opening up and sharing their authentic and unique stories.

Some were tragic. Some were funny. And others were insightful and artistically written. They all grabbed my heart.

Each word spoke of courage, resilience, and strength, no matter if the story was about the trials of crossing the Rio Grande, the wonders of finding your own voice, or the dread of fearing abuse or discrimination.

Each progressive word tugged on my heartstrings, beckoning my eyes to let go of the well of tears that my eyelids had dammed. Each volunteering story showed me the depth and the strength of the students that I have been working with for the past two years. Tonight I feel like I did two years of work in less than two hours.

At the end of the night, one of my historically unruly students chose to speak and acknowledge her fellow students, unrehearsed. She had, in the past, been one of the most difficult students to try to crack and understand, but tonight she experienced some sort of growth, and maturely acknowledged her fellow students and thereby validated the entire 11-week process and all of the literal blood, sweat, and tears I had put into it to make it happen.

But alas, this is not about me. It’s about them. We all have our stories–our own unique, authentic, and beautiful stories. Sometimes I wish adults had to apply to more things JUST SO they would have to write another personal statement. The process is so reflective and healing at the same time. I hope this process will help to heal some of my students’ wounds. From the looks of it tonight, they will all help each other heal from their wounds. Lord knows they’re helping to heal mine.

Busy next few weeks

I am going to be having a crazy next few weeks with all sorts of traveling. Wish me luck as I try not to go insane while living out of a suitcase.

April 6-8 – Las Vegas for family Easter weekend
April 9-13 – San Diego for BUILD college tour
April 27-29 – Washington DC for College Summit core staff retreat
April 30 – Concert at Davies Symphony Hall
May 1-4 – Boston for Merrill Lynch’s Growing Up CEO (I’m chaperoning for 4 BUILD students)
May 12 – BUILD’s 8th Annual Business Plan Competition

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!!!