That's it

First Place - Total Achievement (Gold Division)

First Place - District Service Initiative Award

First Place - Single Service Award

First Place - Mei Po Wong Overall Service Award (Gold Division)

First Place - Outstanding Interclub Award

Frank Bliss - Kiwanian of the Year

Second Place - Outstanding Non-traditional Scrapbook

Second Place - Outstanding Club Website

Second Place - Outstanding Club Newsletter

Petey - Most Funds Raised for PTP

Moolah - Most Funds Raised for all DFIs 

Second Place - Talent Act

Vijay Suzuki - Third Place Oratory Contest

Growth Enhances Membership Award (Diamond Division)

100% On-time MRFs

Distinguished Kiwanis Family Award

Distinguished MD&E Award

Virginia Liu - Distinguished Club Treasurer

Kathleen Wong - Distinguished Club Secretary

Josh Lomeli - Distinguished Vice President

Joe Lee - Distinguished Vice President

James Lee - Distinguished President

Gail Nipitnorasate - William A. Dunlap Fellowship

Alex Chu - William A. Dunlap Fellowship

James Lee - Carthage Pullman Award

Distinguished Club Award

Golden Gate - Divisional Unity Award

Most Members In Attendance

Most Miles Traveled

Wow. That's it. The year has passed just as quickly as it came. 

I'm still not sure what happened this year. I don't know if the stars were aligned or if magic was in the air but this year has far exceeded my expectations. 

I remember starting my term last March, terrified of how the year was going to go. I had confidence in myself and my board, but I knew there are always factors out of our control. Was anybody going to come? Will our members be dedicated? Will we have the resources to lead a great club? 

Things did not always go smoothly. For me, personally, there were many challenges. I had to learn to communicate and open up. I sacrificed for the club and I came to understand what it meant to "do the right thing". I learned it wasn't always black and white and that sometimes there's more than one right answer. 

Now, at the end of the line, I have no regrets about the path I took. For me, the most rewarding aspect of District Convention was seeing the joy in my board and my members.

I am proud of Darrell for winning single service. I wanted him to win it for the members who selflessly sacrificed so much for the children that may not have always shown their appreciation.

I am proud of Andrea, Mimi, and Vijay. What their awards didn't capture was the true value of their projects. The point of Scrapbook, Newsletter, and Website isn't to be the best. These committees gave members the opportunity to work together toward a common goal. It gave them the chance to bond and feel like they were part of something special, like they were members of a close-knit team. In this sense, they were invaluable to our success. 

I am proud of Monica. Often Kiwanis Family is one of the most underappreciated aspects of Circle K. I hope now the club realizes all that she has done to keep this club feeling like a real family.

I am proud of Joe. Joe has dedicated his life to Circle K and more than anything this year, I wanted to see him be happy. It brings me to tears to see him finally recognized.

I am proud of the rest of the board and every single member. This year is theirs. I am just grateful for having the honor of being a part of it.

Top 10

...And now it's tomorrow and nope, I did not get any real work done (at least none that I have physical proof of). 

I hung out with some high school friends today. It was a refreshing experience because they see me in such a different way than people at Berkeley see me. It's probably because we've known each other since we were 8 and let's just say I went through many awkward/embarrassing/immature phases as a child/adolescent. But alas, here I am at 22, a little more mature, wiser, and probably nerdier than ever.

This brings me to my next point. I spent the end of my mostly-unproductive day creating the material for my President's workshop at District Convention. There's just volumes of advice I could give for Presidents of this coming Circle K year and if I were to cover all the major topics, my workshop would probably be weeks long. To compensate for the limited time I do have, I decided to conclude my workshop with the "Top 10 things I learned as President".

Creating my list, admittedly, was difficult at first. But as soon as I got going, all these pieces of advice started spilling out. Years of experience taught me things (some specific to myself) like "don't forget to show appreciation for others" or "write stuff down as soon as you think of them!" I realized how much I had learned about myself, about working with others, and about making things happen. 

I was reading an article about "how to give constructive criticism" and "how to inspire others" the other day and I realized all the tips that were mentioned in the articles were things that I do naturally. Moreover, I realized these were skills that I did not possess going into college (I was horrible at giving criticism) and that somewhere on my journey to now I had developed these skills through trial and error. For me, that was a pleasant surprise. I guess it's always good to know that you're on the right track. 

I ended my list with #10: "Most of the time, you're not going to know the right answer". I think learning that was probably my biggest step toward becoming a good President. Getting over myself and not having that pressure to make the correct decision all the time helped me discover an ability that's much more important than knowing the right answer: knowing how to find the right answer. 

Of course, I could be wrong.

New things learned

To be perfectly honest, I didn't do much today. All I can blog about are these new things that I learned:

• All of China is currently blocked from YouTube.
• According to AskMen, the #1 gentlemanly gesture is holding the door for a woman. #2 and #3, respectively, are introducing her to people you meet and turning off your phone at the table. 
• Offshore accounts are expensive and often require you to own property in the foreign country. In return you can receive tax benefits or hightened confidentiality about your assets. 
• The Battle Tower in Pokemon Crystal is super difficult to beat.
• According to AskMen, I'm allowed to have a mancrush on Barack Obama. He's a straightshooter, he owns up to his shortcomings, and he stands up for his beliefs like a man.

Tomorrow I'll do some real work.

Financial crisis

So I was watching a dateline special last night about the financial crisis that we're in right now. Much of it was explaining how the problem arised in simple terms, but some of it included very real stories of people involved in it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how the collapse of our economy came to be, here's a quick run down:

• First, lending companies started loaning money to people who couldn't afford the loans they were given. People then used the money to buy houses they couldn't afford.
• Many loans were grouped together, creating investments (bonds) that could be traded on the market. These loans had high rates of return and they were (falsey) rated very safe by rating institutes (like S & P).
• Big companies began buying these bonds in bulk because they seemed to be risk-free, money-making investments.
• Housing prices rose and more and more people started buying houses at prices they couldn't afford by taking out loans they couldn't pay back.
• Eventually, peopled started defaulting on their loans. This meant that lenders weren't getting their money back and all those bonds became worthless.
• People were evicted from their homes, lenders went out of business, and big companies that bought the bonds lost tons of money.
• Executives walked off with big bonuses before their companies toppled to the ground.

Lots of people (important people, like Congress) are now asking, who's to blame? I think when it comes down to it, you have desperate people taking out loans they can't pay back and you have shady lending companies giving them loans they can't handle. 

It was painful to watch interviews with "victims" of the mortgage crisis. They really think that they've been wronged, although in reality they were living off money they didn't have in the first place.  Of course, this is easy to say coming from someone blogging in his comfortable home. But the truth is, America was living in an illusion of wealth for a few years.

Though the crisis is ultimately due to the greed and irresponsibility of big companies, in many ways it was the loaners and lenders that gave them the match to light the fire.

What do you think?

New toys

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to the most badass toy ever:

4 wings that move into "X" formation during battle, a tiny kickstand for use in landing position, 5 characters to choose from, and a tiny lightsaber compartment.

Coolest thing ever!! Thanks, Amy.

And may I also introduce another new toy:

XPS M1330 

2.2 GHz processor

4 Gb RAM

500 Gb hard drive 

I know lots of people probably have this computer but it's just so cool looking. There was only one problem with it:

Floating leg!! It only stands on 3 of the 4 rubber feet and as a result it wobbles when I type. 

I guess this is a minor problem but I feel like if I'm going to be using this computer for the next 3-4 years, this wobbly leg thing would start bothering me until I go crazy. 

I called Dell support and they're sending me another one. I guess for now I must practice patience...

Dell could probably learn from this problem, as it seems to be a recurring issue with these models. On the bright side, there is a solution:

One word: unibody. Unfortunately, I'm still not ready to go to the Apple side. Their hardware is overpriced and I feel like I can be just as productive with Windows. I'm still waiting on that Macbook Wheel to come out before I buy.

Until that happens, though, I'll still be blogging off my Dell.

My birthday

Thank you to everyone who came out to my (pre-) birthday dinner yesterday! It was unexpectedly rowdy, embarrassing, and exciting. We had lots of sushi and sang karaoke. This has definitely been one of my most eventful birthdays since I was in grade school. 

It was followed by a long night of scrapbooking. I woke up at Alex's this morning a little bit dazed. Late to work again.

Working too hard

Have you ever been to an interview where the interviewer asks you, "what's your greatest weakness?" Well, you know what the answer is, right? 

"I work too hard."

Of course. The perfect line that answers the question while still patting yourself on the back. It all seems harmless enough until you realize it might actually be a weakness that you're suffering from. 

Taking zero period physics, picking up unnecessary double majors, doing the required reading, studying 2 more hours for a test you're already prepared for - these are all things I've been guilty of in my time as a student. 

Is working too hard a problem? I think as you get older and busier, it does become a problem. When I'm juggling 4 classes, working on a research project, and doing 20 things at once for Circle K, efficiency becomes a big deal. If I was still clinging on to every last point on every test or taking hard classes "just for fun", I think I would've fell into social isolation long ago. By saving myself a little work, I got to do more of the things that I enjoyed and I probably saved myself from a few white hairs and an early case of Alzheimer's.

Things I wish I was good at

1. Dancing

2. Singing

3. Not falling asleep in class

4. Using Photoshop (spent half an hour yesterday trying to fade an image)

5. Persuasion

6. Getting to know people on a personal level

7. Fixing anything that happens to be broken

8. Chess (everybody has a nerd dream)

9. Writing blogs

Last General Meeting

Today was the very last General Meeting of the 2008-2009 Board. All I can say is that I'm relieved but I miss it already. I don't even know how to imagine my life without Circle K Board. With that said, I'm glad my job isn't done yet =)

As for my members, I really feel for them as if they were my children. I wish each and every one of them could have the chance to do great things. I know how it feels to be turned down and in my dream world, everybody would have a chance to experience what I got to experience on Board. But I guess the stiff competition is what makes us value the opportunity so much more.