TAF Real World – Week #15 of 51

If you’ve ever been to NYC, you’ll notice that the people there walk fast! Here’s Godwin repping the Easy Coast with a whirlwind tour of TAFGlobal for WEEK 15 (or 36 more weeks ’til TAF!)

Microphone testing 1, 2, 3! In the place to be. My name is Godwin Chen and I will be writing for you today, but first and foremost I will tell you how to make ONE MILLION MEMORIES. So simple, you will be like “Wow, I don’t believe!” Well, actually, I can’t believe it’s already been 5 fast years since my first year at TAF. As I look back I’m amazed by all the wonderful people that I’ve met as a result of a single decision to travel to Manchester, Indiana. I remember coming back home after the first year and getting hit with the tafBlues HAAARD, but I don’t really experience that anymore because now I’m living TAF year-round here in New York. Shout out to the tafNYC crew! The network of TAFers throughout the US is amazing. Every time someone from out of town comes to visit, all these old friends come out of the woodwork for sightseeing and meals. Here we were last month at Hill Country when Anna was in town!

Whenever I travel to other cities I always have friends to crash with. Last time I visited Howard and Jason in DC, guess who we met? Comedian Charlene Yi! In case you don’t already know, Howard moved “down unda” to the land of kangaroos and Crocodile Dundee, so now we’re
international! If you haven’t read his blog yet you should definitely check it out. His decision to pack up his life and reach for his dreams is really inspiring. Check it out here.

Another thing I love is being to keep in touch with campers, even if we’re far away. Two years ago, my small group didn’t have enough campers for our family group pairings. Boryan looked super cool with his flowy hair so I asked if I could be his big sib, here we are playing tank and
driver.

His directions were immaculate! But the best part is that we keep in touch to this day, it really warms my heart. Guess how we keep in touch! OH YEAH…

Well TAFers, I really don’t know what else to say. I know it’s not that easy to see your friends from far away, especially when you’re living under the same roof as your parents, but years later in college and beyond you’ll realize that while you were having fun at TAF, you were also
building a foundation for years to come. One day you might find yourself climbing a peak in Costa Rica or having a deep conversation with a friend in Penn Station, all thanks to this great organization called the Taiwanese American Foundation.

Spot the TAFers hiking in Nevada! Mwa, love you all.

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Oh hey! Thanks to all who have contributed to this weekly LOL blog so far. We’ve gotten lots of positive feedback, and you are making TAF history! There are a few empty slots left. If you’re hesitating to post, we would love to hear about how loving out loud is making a difference in your life. Don’t be shy! Please sign up HERE and encourage your friends to participate.
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TAF Real World – Week #14 of 51

So while I’m not entirely sure that I’m actually posting in week #14, here goes my entry anyway.

When Amy Liao proposed this idea back during the week of TAF, I immediately loved it. It’s a great way to keep fresh content on the blog, people coming back regularly, and keeps up the TAF message year-round. I specifically picked this week because it coincides with the biggest event in my life so far: my wedding.

TAF is easily one of the most identifiable and influential periods of my life that has definitively helped to shape who I am. While the lessons and messages learned start to lump together after several years (I only really remember 2 distinct years of speakers. My first one in 98 where I first learned about languages of love, and Sunjay Nath in 2001 talking about Roots and Wings), the friends that I’ve made at TAF and hanging out with TAFers have been a permanent fixture.

All of that came together during my wedding to make an already incredibly special day for me and my now wife, more so, because we were able to share it with our closest family and friends. The support and love we felt from everyone, especially the TAFers, was energizing and overwhelming. Throughout the night of celebration, there were plenty of reminders of old memories, going back to the start of our friendships, to enjoying moment at hand.

But as much as it gave us joy to have our friends celebrating us and our wedding, Jenny and I got just as much, if not more, joy in bringing everyone together to have a great time. The sights of seeing people toasting, dancing, Cat rapping, playing dancing games, and taking crazy photobooth pictures totally affirmed the feelings and relationships that we have with our friends and family.

Thankfully, life will start to get back to normal in preparation for the honeymoon, and we can stop and take a breath. But we’re still basking in the tafLove of the day, 7 days later. Thank you, everyone! Thank you, TAF!

-Kevin Yau

Thanks, Joanna, for taking a cellphone picture and sending from the event! More pictures to come soon, if not already on facebook! 🙂


TAF Real World – Week #13 of 51

In case you’re all wondering, TAFLabs is not paying anyone to write these beautiful testimonials. Here’s Steph for WEEK 13 (or 38 weeks ’til TAF!) with a JH flashback and how TAF impacts her real world.

It’s currently 4:37 AM. And maybe it’s not the best idea to be writing my blog post in my current state of caffeine-induced delirium, but here it goes.

Here’s more context: I’m going on what feels like the hundredth hour of working on a proposal for my thesis that is worth 100 percent of my grade for the next two quarters. There is a giant pile of dirty laundry in the corner with a plate with remains from dinner perched precariously on top. The only clean surface in my whole room is the one I am currently sitting on and I can’t remember the last time I actually left my room. Needless to say, I’ve become a bit of a hermit over the past few days.

I just got to the point where I couldn’t read another word about legal claims and wanted to watch something short that would make me feel better. So of course, I turned to my facebook minifeed. Oddly enough, the JH staff video popped up and as I watched it, I thought back to my first year at TAF and the first JH swing choir I was in.

Back in 2001, my mom would always call me the “caboose of a train” because I never spoke and I always did whatever anyone told me to do. I was terrified of getting up in front of people and speaking. In fact, right before TAF that year, my parents made me attend a theater camp to try to make me open up. I only had to say one word in the end-of-camp show, but even that made me so nervous I threw up beforehand. So you can imagine how terrified I was when I found out I would be front and center for JH swing choir. I dreaded going up on that stage and dancing in front of everyone.

But those first few days gave me an experience I had never felt at other summer camps I’d gone to. Between the hip shong scavenger hunt where we all had to pretend to pick each other’s noses and finally getting the experience of having the older siblings I had always wanted (shout-outs to Tim Kuo and Jessica Fu), I gained feelings of comfort and inclusion that I had never felt before. The night of the Tea House brought these feelings to a whole new level. But rather than talk about that as my current 21-year-old self, I’ll let my 11-year-old self take it from here:
(taken from my diary) “Today we had a dance at TAF. I don’t know how to dance so I stayed in my room. But Annie (my counselor) came because she realized I wasn’t at the dance.

She asked if I was ok and asked if I wanted go dance with her. Annie’s super cool so I wanted to go but I’d never gone to a dance before so it was scary. But she pulled me to the dance floor to dance to Britney Spears and it was so much fun! And after we danced she gave me a hug and said she’d always be there to talk if I needed to talk. I didn’t know what to say to that. My parents haven’t said anything like that to me before. I don’t think I’ve ever even hugged my parents. So why does Annie care? Why does everyone at TAF seem to care? Do I finally actually belong somewhere?”

As an 11 year-old, that night made me realize the effect TAF had on me. It’s the same effect that drew me back to be a counselor after a 5-year hiatus. That was the night I first felt the TAF connection that I feel up to this day when I randomly meet up with TAFers on random trips, from Illinois to New York to Taiwan. Being part of that community gave me confidence in who I was and confidence to be more open. After TAF was over, I started trying out for roles in school plays, started opening up to my friends more, and started being more involved in extracurricular activities because I finally felt like I could. Every year I went back to TAF, I gained more confidence and a greater sense of who I was and that drove me to come back year after year.

By the end of that first week at TAF, everything that week came together and made me feel like all my fears were completely unjustified. I ended up going on stage with my hair in full mullet glory (apparently I thought it was a good look for me) and performing on stage as I had never done before. For once before I went on stage, I was excited. I didn’t feel like I had to throw up, I just felt like I was about to have a lot of fun.

I’ll turn back to my 11-year-old self to conclude:
(taken from a diary entry from the last day of TAF) “All the counselors told us they loved us today. I thought love was gross until now. It’s always been about boys and girls kissing to me. But now I know there’s different love. TAF love isn’t gross. I like TAF love. Everyone keeps saying it lasts forever. I hope it really does last forever.”
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Almost music

After TAF week (some of us during TAF week), I’m not sure what hurts more – my throat from the shouting or my ears from the screaming. Or my abs from laughing so hard.


TAF Real World – Week #12 of 51

TAFers are so smart! Here’s Ryan. He gets an A+ in English for writing this sonnet. Note the 10-syllable lines and abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme! He also gets an A+ in math because he corrected our weekly countdown (we have been counting TAF week, which is incorrect). Well, here’s to WEEK 12!

With pending college apps, it’s hard to find time to do anything else. But out of remembrance of my first year of TAF and the hard TAF blues that followed, I wrote this sonnet to recognize a time in my life when someone showed me “Love Out Loud”.

As I walked down the empty, open walk;
the rain was drops of tears I could not cry.
I felt forgotten, but I feared to talk.
I swallowed sorrow, looking to the sky.

From which an angel came to show the way;
he whispered words that fed my appetite,
“Do not let your week end like this, today”.
I realized, then, I lost the point in sight.

TAF is a time that is defined by love;
the cameras only hope to capture this;
and if you look up to the stars above,
the rain drops change to never ending bliss.

So all you campers wishing on a star,
Remember, next year isn’t very far.

-Ryan Yang

P.S. 39 weeks to go guys =]

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TAF Real World – Week #11 of 51

Mic check. Check. Check out Veronica representin JH with some LOL floetry this WEEK #11 of TAF Real World (or 41 weeks ’til TAF!):

We live our lives everyday.
How we do so though,
is our choice.

You can make today the greatest day of your life.

Everyone has problems.
No doubt about that.
So why not make someone else’s life easier?
Show them that they aren’t alone,
that you care,
that nothing is unsolvable.
Be the best friend to them that you’ve always wanted or have.
Your problems might not be solved,
but you will feel happier.

I took the time and got to know someone better.
One of my goals was to look at everything as an opportunity.
I didn’t realize until later that I took a very great one.
It reiterated the fact that,
I should look at everything as an opportunity,
before I miss something I could’ve taken.
I would’ve never known that they could be so caring.
It was best decision I could ever make.

I took a leap of faith,
Trusted.
What did I receive in return?
Nothing.
I felt betrayed.
I had forgotten that people change.
It’s inevitable.
It was all I could think about.
I wondered how they could just do that to me.
Don’t dwell on something for too long.
It takes up your energy and fills up your time,
and in the end…
nothing has changed.
I decided to give them a second chance,
and I guess they really were sorry.

Remember:
You are never alone.
You are loved.

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TAF Real World – Week #10 of 51

This blog definitely makes the TAF countdown go so much faster! Here’s Andrea for WEEK 10 (or 42 weeks until TAF!) If you notice, she also invented a new TAFword. That’s TAFmarketing at it’s finest!

Hey there, TAFtastics! I’m Andrea, and for those of you campers who don’t know me, I’m an oldie compared to all of you. Being an oldie, summer time actually means something else besides an absurdly awesome week in Manchester, Indiana for this little thing called TAF. Summer season = wedding season.

Now if you’re lucky, you’ll have the good fortune of witnessing your friends find someone they love and celebrate in the company of family and friends. I’ve been lucky enough to have gone to a few weddings this year — and I have to admit, I can’t help but think of how beautiful it all is. Weddings and all the friends, fun, and festivities — are the ultimate expression of loving out loud.

For the lucky couple, it’s a celebration of something that can be so hard to find — to be loved, appreciated, and respected by another for everything they are, everything they’re not, and everything that they’re becoming. An open declaration that each person wants to be with the other and share life’s experiences through thick and thin, as they grow as individuals and as a couple.

For the friends and family, it’s a a celebration of loving and supporting the two individuals throughout their life’s steps, and especially onto the next as they start a new life together. It’s being a loving, caring friend throughout the years, and appreciating how people change, evolve, and become stronger and better people with each step.

While weddings are certainly something unique on it’s own, I can’t help but think that it’s just so perfectly TAFtastic too. TAF teaches us to communicate openly, with love and respect for everything that the other person is and everything that they’re becoming. It teaches us to listen, learn, and understand where someone is coming from, and why they might see things in a different light than you do that isn’t necessarily wrong. It teaches us to celebrate and appreciate the way people have grown, changed, and become more impactful and compassionate leaders with each year. TAF teaches us to love each other out loud, and at a wedding — that’s exactly what makes it so beautiful. (Color me crazy, but it’s almost like an affirmation on steroids.)

But okay, enough with the gush! I’ll admit it’s even better when it’s a TAF wedding, and you’re surrounded by great friends in a dance party sesh to Bizarre Love Triangle. Besides a serious game of WOOSHA or Chubby Bunny, is there anything that could make you happier?? 🙂

Special shout-out and congratulations to Margaret & Eric for their beautiful wedding this summer + the fantastic friends that I got to surround myself with as a part of it.

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TAF Real World – Week #9 of 51

Hi! Steven ran all around the world (did you all know he likes running?) gathering some of the most moving LOL stories for WEEK 9 (or 43 WEEKS ’til TAF)! Here is his report:

Disclaimer: I realize the term “LOLing” suffers from grammatically incorrect “ing”
placement. Please understand that “LingOL” looks terrible.

Less than three months ago, TAF 2010 filled campers with so much love that Flavor Flav bought a summerhouse in Manchester, Indiana. Today, TAFers are working, schooling, and doing whatever they do in real life. Without our unlimited access to soft serve ice cream, some of us may be feeling less inclined to Love Out Loud.

On any given day, TAFers will have to do things they don’t want to do. Whether it’s struggling through homework, working late, or waking up before the sun—life’s chores tend to pile up and make us grumpy. I know this because it happens to me all the time. Sometimes when things aren’t going my way, I’ll push back LOLing to sleep, watch TV, or whine about how unfair the world is. After all, why should I feel motivated to show love when the world doesn’t reciprocate? But then sometimes my flawed logic occurs to me: The world is full of people LOLing at any given moment, on any given day.

And I think about that for a second.

If you ever catch “the world isn’t fair-itis,” I highly suggest trying this. You’ll remember your teachers dedicate their lives to your future. And that at one point your parents changed your diapers. And TAFers with real-life jobs are taking time out of their busy schedules to update this totally LOLing blog.

Even total strangers are exerting effort for the well-being of other strangers—just because they can. Beside all the wars, crime, and suffering, there’s a whole lot of love. Maybe you have to turn your head or check the 20th page of the newspaper to see it, but it’s there. I’ll even provide you a shortcut. Here are 5 examples of regular people doing some serious LOLing (with links to original stories that are way better than my summaries):

Dick Hoyt has pushed his disabled son, Rick, 85 times through 1032 races, including 238 triathlons and 68 marathons. Father and son teamed up more than 30 years for a five-mile race. Rick mentioned to his dad that while running, he didn’t feel disabled anymore. The rest is history.

Dick shows that sometimes, LOLing takes some effort. But usually it pays off. Besides fostering an incredible bond (Rick referred to Dick as “dad of the century”), the father’s love also ultimately saved his life. When doctors treated Dick for a mild heart attack, they noted he probably would have died 15 years ago—if he hadn’t been in such great shape.

And Dick’s fatherly LOLing hasn’t wavered through all these years. He plans to keep pushing his son until he’s 70 years old.

What would you do with a billion dollars? For most of us, this hypothetical will never become a reality. But a few hardworking/lucky/all of the above people actually deal with this question every day. So what do you do when you have too much money to spend? Fly everywhere? Hire a personal chef? Eat sushi off of steak? Well, yeah. But why not also donate half your fortune to charity?

That’s what 40 American billionaires pledged to do. Michael Bloomberg, George Lucas, and Bill Gates, who have all worked their butts off all their lives, are handing the majority of their wealth to people and organizations who need it more. This movement is an example of LOLing to the max. Even rich people, who are set for life, still take the time to love.

Recently, you might have heard about some people burning Qurans on 9/11, which is one of the most extreme examples of HOLing I can remember. When things like this happen, I get very discouraged and watch way more Food Network than I should. My thought process looks something like this: In a world full of hate, why would I put forth the effort to LOL?

I can learn a thing or two from the women pictured above. Susan Retick and Patti Quigly are widows. Their husbands were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But rather than spitting fire at the second largest religious group in the world, these LOLful women spearheaded an effort to help Afghan widows back on their feet. Retick and Quigly prove that often times LOLing is aided by empathy.

Oh yeah! And their story was made into a documentary.

Attention Juniors!

Mr. Dompierre’s sixth grade class won a TV station contest. The prize: a pizza party. But hold on! Mrs. Dompierre offered her hungry students an option to donate their pizza to the Salvation Army. And the class voted to be charitable!

Mrs. D’s sixth graders remind me of some other kids I know. All through TAF ’10, I witnessed Juniors selflessly loving others—with LOL acts ranging from carrying trays to hugging sibs. As long our world’s youngins keep this up, the future looks pretty bright.

LOLing doesn’t always have to be from people to people. Just visit Taiwan in late March. Officials close down a major highway so millions of purple milkweed butterflies can cross as part of their seasonal migration. The National Freeway Bureau (NFB) even installs ultra-violet lights and protective nets to guide the Milkweed in its journey—all adding up to about $30,000.

All right, so that butterfly looks really cool. What if it was hideous? What if its wingspan equaled your handspan? Imagine if the purple milkweed smelled like garbage. Would the Taiwanese government still put forth the resources to aid its flight? Would motor-scooter drivers still patiently deal with increased traffic congestion? I believe they would. According to Lee Thay-Ming, of the NFB: “Human beings need to coexist with the other species, even if they are tiny butterflies.”

So, there you have it. Regular people. Serious LOLing. I hope these stories inspire you all as much to love as they did me. See you at TAF ’11!

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TAF Real World – Week #8 of 51

Wowee! It’s already WEEK 8 (only 44 WEEKS ’til TAF)! Thanks, Kevin Lee, for sharing your inspiring personal thoughts and applications on LOVING OUT LOUD:

LOL. Love Out Loud.

Love.

It’s really hard for me to define love, to put it in words, but I think love –and this isn’t an exclusive rule—is, at a very fundamental level, founded upon memory. We know we love someone or something when we think about the good things that happened to us in our past. I know I love her because I’m just so happy and relaxed when I see her smile, or how everything around me just disappears when I look into her eyes. You know just how safe and warm it feel when you’re in one of his hugs, and that nothing else matters when he talks. The smell of mother’s cooking, the laughter when your best friend cracks a joke, the games you play with your brother. You know love because you remember what it feels to love and be loved.

For example; I remember the exact moment when I realized that TAF was like a second home, that I truly loved TAF. It was the Tuesday night of TAF’09; my first year as a TAFer, and my first year as a counselor. The PD’s had decided to show Minority Report because it addressed issues regarding Ethics and Values, and it just so happened that my co-counselor, Jessica Shen, and I had watched the movie before and knew it pretty well without having to re-watch it. Instead, we both decided it was a good time to write our campers’ their daily letters.

Now Minority Report is not your typical happy, cheerful Disney movie; it has some pretty freaky moments and it just so happened that the movie time coincided with a pretty brutal thunderstorm. The combination of Tom Cruise and the crack of thunder was scary enough to send six of the JH girls out to the Upper Union balcony with Jessica and me. We busted open the biggest bag of Skittles and the eight of us just hung out, messed around, and wrote. Now I love writing; I try to write every day, but to this day; those letters were by far the most fun I’ve ever had writing. Someway, somehow, Jessica and I decided that it was a good idea to co-write the letters together, I would write two, three lines, pass it on to her for her to read, she would write and then pass it back to me. We kept poking fun at each other, making fun of the campers and ourselves, we connected not only ourselves, but with Kevin, Willy, Tiffany, Ellery, Dorothy, Ada and Reggie.

To be honest, it’s a pretty plain moment; and there’s only one reason I why I truly remember it so vividly, but today I can confidently say that Jessica Shen is one of my closest friends; I can trust her with anything and everything, and I turn to her whenever I need to and she’s always there. If she hasn’t heard from me in a span of 30 days, she should fear for the worst. I truly love Jessica, and I will always remember that one small moment we had together.

But my most vivid memory occurred when I was seven years old. It was autumn and my brother and I were talking in this play room/study adjacent to our living room. The living room doesn’t have a door that closes on the study, instead it’s just an open arch and in that study, we have ceiling to floor sliding doors that lead out to the backyard, which had this big Oak tree filled with yellow leaves. The wind was really strong that day, so it blew a sea of yellow over the entire backyard; our pool was blanketed with yellow and the sky behind everything was covered; it was really, really beautiful.

My brother and I started talking, and apparently our mother – she was watching TV in the living room – overheard and decided to turn off the TV. That’s all I really remember because from then on, I just started watching the leaves, and instead of listening to her, I listened to the whispers of the wind through the leaves. I didn’t need to listen to her, because deep down I had already known that my father had been gone for 3 years. Telling a four and three year old that their father had passed is pretty hard for a lot of reasons; but telling a seven and six year old isn’t much easier.

Honestly, I don’t remember too much about my father. I remember playing with him and my brother on these stairways right at the lobby of this restaurant in Asia, and sitting next to him on Autopia; but that’s it. I don’t even know if I could point him out in a group of 20 people; and if I did, it certainly would take longer than the average son. It doesn’t matter though, because I remember, and I will always love him.

I’ll close with this: I think TAFers are amazing. We have the strength and heart to do so much, and we’re so dedicated to everything we love, but I sometimes think we forget to show our love to our parents, and they sometimes forget to reciprocate. A lot of it happens to deal with memory; there are so many memories we have with our parents and kids that we never take to reflect just how special they are until it’s too late. I know TAF is ending when parents come, because that’s when I begin to see the struggles. The struggles in communication, the hardship on balancing cultural differences, and pain of false futility in parents and their children… but I also see the love, the heart, the caring that’s hidden, squealing quietly behind the lion’s roar of love that was shown that week.

To be fair, I’ve never said “I love you” to either of my parents neither, to my mother who’s done such a good job raising me and my brother by herself the last 16 years of my life, to my father before I could put love to words. I haven’t until today. I love my parents and I would be nowhere without them.

After this week, there’s only 40 or so weeks left before TAF, and it’s also just another week in the year; it’s not Father’s Day, it’s not Mother’s Day. It’s just another day; which is why it’s perfect to just go out and hug your parents, to tell them that you love them, to spend time with them. It’s perfect because it’s just another memory, and hopefully it’s one you’ll never forget it.

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TAF Real World – Week #7 of 51

Oh hey! Shawn shares his infinite playlist and composed a couple creative writing pieces, loudly sending YOU some love from STL during WEEK 7 (or 45 WEEKS ’til TAF!):

So this one day I was walking around North Manchester, Indiana, and all of a sudden, I see Katy Perry! And I’m all like, “OMGGGGGGGGGGG, I’M SO IN LOVE!!!!” But I didn’t want to scare her off because she was all like hot, and then I was all cold. Unsure of myself, I took a chance and didn’t ever look back. As I walked up to get her autograph, it was like I was living in a teenage dream. As she signed her autograph, she was all like “I kissed a TAFer and I liked it”. And I said, “Ehhh, hanky panky isn’t allowed at TAF”. So then she got angry, and kept repeating, “California girls, we’re unforgettable”. So I was like “Pshhh, forget you, STL all the way”. So as I walked further and further away I swear I heard “California girls” change to tik tok. Strange.

A short while later, I walk up to this club and ask the bouncer, “Hey you wanna have a slumber party in my basement?” and he’s like, “Sure!!!!!!” and then he lets me in to the club with all my favorite brands and then I’m all like blowing my speakers up that night, and brushing my teeth with a bottle of TAF, cuz when I leave for the Tea House informal dance, I don’t normally get back till past curfew. At the dance, there was this new TAFer, so I introduced myself and all I could hear her say was, “Blah blah blah”. I told her we were better together and that I was hers.

We became TC’s, and I was feeling like the world’s greatest who was forever young, but I was caught in a bad romance =. She was all like, “Wooahhh oh woahhh oh woahhhhhh oh woahhh oh ohhhhhhhhhh”. And I was like, “Dudette… just dance (forever), it’ll be ok”. But then she cried out “Alejandro, Alejandro… don’t call my name”. And I was like TAKEN ABACK because my name isn’t Alejandro. At this point, I felt like I just got to Hollywood from Nashville… but then a Britney Spears and/or Jay-Z song was playing and then these random butterflies flew out the club. Towards the end of the dance, we all had our hands up in the air.

My TC of an hour or so and I were on a battlefield of love. Baby cupid had definitely sent some arrows from above when I suggested we begin an uphill battle. We started hiking up the stairs towards the upper union, when I reminded her, “It isn’t always about what’s on the other side, it’s the climb”. As we continued the long trek up the stairs, she asked me if I remembered all of the times we had, but I had no idea what she was talking about, so she dumped me =[. And she was like, “Bye, Fernando, I love the way you lie”. So at that time I felt shot right through with a bolt of blue, like a smurf crying, “You belong with me”. I lost my TC of an hour, so I was like living in misery :'(, and there was absolutely no one who could comfort me….except the un1smurfs, TAF, TAFers, and TAFL♥ve.

-The End-

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You know you’re Taiwanese when…
– You’ve worn all and only TAF or TaiwaneseAmerican.org shirts to school
– Almost everyone in your class knows you’re Taiwanese and NOT Chinese
– More people know your middle name (Formosa) than your real name (undisclosed)
– You only know TAIWANESE
– All of your college apps, and even school papers are about TAF
– The first thing your parents ask you is if you’ve eaten enough
– You bust out in Taiwanese during a French (or any other language) speaking exercise
– Your car is a tan Toyota Camry (sorry Nissan Altima and Honda Accord)
– You play the violin and/or the piano
– You and/or your parents have trouble keeping an inside voice while on the phone
– “Chinese Taipei” or “Republic of China” makes you crazy
– You enjoy eating tapioca balls
– You know who Leehom and Machi didi are
– Your pictures have at least one person showing a peace sign
– You exclaim “Aiya”
– Your AP BIO class nominates you for homecoming court
– All your friends know YOU GO TO TAF

TAFLOVE ♥,
Shawn

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We want to hear/see/read/experience your thoughts on LOVING OUT LOUD! Whether it’s how you showed love to someone, or how someone loved on you, or maybe even both!

We need a few more volunteers to post, so please LOL and sign up here!

Encourage your friends to sign up. Feel free to buddy up and post together.

Instructions are listed on the spreadsheet. We’ll even send you an email a week in advance to remind you. 🙂
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