ho chie's blog: 02.2006

Everyday, I am Taiwanese American.
And especially today,
I remember 228.

Too stretched with work, projects, and meetings. Too sick to smile or be nice. Too busy to even see Audris who was visiting town. Now I'm just too bummed...

The sunshine is beautiful today. And here I am sitting indoors.

Party at my place. March 4th.
Dave and Tiffany are also in town.
If you are too, come on by...

Evite:
Celebrating the Taiwanese American Community

ITASA Midwest. How cool. Check it out.

At the conference this past weekend, I commented to Patrice on how completely absorbed she seemed to be during all the speaker sessions and asked her what she planned to do with all the notes she was intently taking. Today I got an email from her:

Anyway, I wanted to thank you again for taking the time out of your schedule this weekend to come and share your wisdom :) I really enjoyed hearing about your experiences at the U of I and it gave me such encouragement to see how much we have progressed as a community. I compiled some of the "quotable quotations" during the conference and sent it to the coordinators- this is where all those notes came in handy!

"An alum's biggest joy is to look back and see there's a new generation to step up." -Jimmy Lee

"If you don't take it upon yourself to do it, then who will?" -Ho Chie Tsai, referring to the need for us to be proactive and seek out opportunities

"If you're coasting, you can only go downhill." -Christie Kennett

"We can help people in big and small ways, so make every moment count." -Anna Hui

"Cherish your time here and also leave footprints for others." -keynote address by Ho Chie Tsai and Anna Hui

It's amazing how you can spot people who are bound to succeed with whatever they do in their lives. Patrice is definitely on that track. I'm more than impressed...

Back under the warm sunshine of California... I love you!

Sunrise over the U of I campus. It's deceivingly cold.

Lunch with TAFers.

With Tina and Jon, in his awesome apartment.

Champaign and campus from up high.

I'm in Champaign-Urbana as a speaker for the Unseen/Unheard Conference.

With co-president Anna, fellow speaker Margaret, and retired adviser Yuki.

With Jon, and fellow speaker Candice, aka "Sophia's friends."

The 2006 APAC conference staff.

Coordinators Tina, Julie, & Bowen, with the conference speakers.

I found some TAFers! Erin & Michelle.

The Asian American Cultural Center we all dreamed of during the 90's.

Late night at Perkins, with Tina & her mom, some "superstars,"
fellow speakers, and spoken word poet Beau Sia.

Late night dessert with Lan & Lisa.

Oh. Did I mention I'm sleeping at the airport tonight? I need sympathy.

Flight to Illinois cancelled due to weather conditions. Now I remember why I don't appreciate winter and snow.

You're beautiful, it's true...

Tonight, I extracted a booger-covered battery out of a crying kid's nose. It's as lovely of an experience as it sounds.

Part 2: Andy, Lester, Gloria, HoChie, & Nancy.

Yea, I'm quite certain my natural state tends toward the vegetative care-free side. In a past life, I was probably a native on some pacific island chillin' on a beautiful white-sand beach and drinking coconut juice straight from the source... Life needs to be that simple all the time.

I've met some cool new people lately. It's quite refreshing.

Today's warm sunshine is helping me understand how earth's little creatures feel when they wake up out of hibernation. I just want to go romp around in a lovely green grassy field...

That makes it a second night in the past few weeks that I've broken the record for number of patients seen during a six hour shift at work... Sounds all good and exciting at first, but really it all comes down to more paperwork for me to do late into the night and into the wee hours of morning...