All the taiko you need: 43 songs + 1 performed by 12 teams over two weekends

The Taikonauts thank every taiko team for being awesome

After two weeks of running around and fumbling with my phone’s camera function, battery life limitations, memory card space, and lack of HD capabilities, I present to you two playlists of some amazing taiko performances that all happened in the course of two weeks.

How to save the world on a regular basis by sending out at least one e-mail a week

In recognition of Amnesty International’s 50th birthday today, I thought it would be a good idea to show everyone how saving the world doesn’t mean having to be the President of the United States, the United Nations Secretary General, or Aung Saan Suu Kyi, but an ordinary individual who wants to make a difference. By wanting to make a difference and actually going out there, you already have the power. When you have power and don’t use it, it is wasted and a waste of the potential you have to make change with it. As the maxim goes, “The only way for evil to succeed is for good men to stand by idly and do nothing”.

So you’ve just discovered you’re a Third Culture Kid

The following is an article I contributed to my.tckid.com on 14 December 2009. Here it is, republished for your enjoyment and to allow more people to read (and hopefully appreciate it).

Being the “other” and being “like”

In a recent Mother Jones article <http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/birtherism-otherism-romney-gingrich-2012>, the new anti-Obama rhetoric targets his “otherness” now that the birther argument is dead. Quote from this article: that Obama’s “worldview is dramatically different than any president, Republican or Democrat, we’ve had… He grew up more as a globalist than an American. To deny American exceptionalism is in essence to deny the heart and soul of this nation.”

Borrowed Identities: My Life as a Third Culture Kid and an Accidental Asian-American

I’m constantly asking myself where my identity as a Third Culture Kid ends and status as an Asian-American begins. Compared to most Asian-Americans who have the privilege of a distinct identity, I don’t really seen myself as Asian-American, but rather Asian and American from my time moving between Hong Kong, Manila, and the U.S., which as a result, also made me a Third Culture Kid due to movement between cultures.