March 24, 2006

• …in early…

  I’m in early at work again, and I don’t foresee getting to go home early even though it’s Friday. I didn’t even leave the office until about 6:30 last night because we had to deal with a client who’ll be transferring to China in the next couple of weeks and so I had to translate for my firm and the company over in Hanzhou. It was a bit rough though considering my Mandarin is comparable to that of a 5 year old, but at least I got it done. I definitely need to brush up on my Mandarin though, I momentary lapses into either Teochiu or Cantonese when I couldn’t think of a word in Mandarin, haha. Geez, I need to just go live abroad in like Taiwan or Shanghai for a year or so, I think it would do me good to be back in Asia again. Anyhow, back to the work thing, so there’s always lots to do and never really enough time to get it all done. Welcome to the real world? Yeah, I guess I’ve arrived…

  I don’t think I’ve posted pics of my new worksite yet, so for your enjoyment, here it is. My wonderful little cube…

  
  zhi shi wo de mingzi (I think that’s right, but my pinyin sucks now, haha)

  
  my cube when I first started

  
  my cube after only a week!

  So yeah, my cube is a lot messier and full now, but I like it. I still need to put up some pictures and what not, but I just haven’t had the time between this job and doing my films. Speaking of which, apparently they’ll be using it to show to banks and what not to persuade them to create more lending options for low-income and affordable housing, so now I have to mass produce it and have it all ready by next week–fun huh? Geez, I need a production crew and assistants! Any takers? My next documentary project is already in the works. I’ll be working on philanthropic and foundational giving. This one is going to be a biggie though and they’re planning to screen it to policy-makers and what not, so I’ll definitely have to make sure I allocate a sufficient amount of time for that project. We’ll see how it all goes though. I’m just a little concerned about time right now because LSAT’s and Cambodia are coming up.

  Oh yeah, so I’m going to Cambodia this summer. I’ve been selected to be part of a human rights delegation to go there and work with the locals and help them understand that they have rights and how they can get the help they need. I won’t necessarily be preaching democratic values over there, but I will be pushing for them to understand that they need to separate themselves from corruption and realize that they’ve put our people through hell and back already and enough is enough. I don’t care if they’d like to continue with their facade of a democracy, as long as it doesn’t come at the cost of innocent lives. Anyhow, I’m really excited, but scared at the same time. I haven’t been back to Cambodia since we left it almost two decades ago as refugees. I’ve been trying to psychologically and emotionally prepare myself for this trip, but I’m slowly realizing that such a task is essentially impossible. No matter how hard I try, I don’t think I’ll ever really be prepared to take in all that we had to endure while we were there. This trip is going to be amazing though and I can’t wait to be back in Asia! I need to start saving up now though, darn flights to Cambodia are uber expensive. Unfortunately, the whole program and flight are self-funded, so I’ll have to find a way to raise funds for all of this. I need to raise about $5000 by July, so if any of you would like to donate to my cause, you can send payment to my paypal account at just2tyght@yahoo.com. Alternatively, I’ll also be selling a cd of world music through the non-profit I’m working with, where half of the proceeds from my individual sales will go towards off-setting my program fees. You can purchase it here! Just make sure to include my name in the memo part of your payment. Thanks!

  Ok, I’ll update more later!

  • 12:07 pm
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