What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been!

"Sometimes, the light's all shining on me.

Other times, I can barely see.

Lately, it occurs to me: what a long, strange trip it's been."

~The Grateful Dead, "Truckin"

All things that begin, end... but a new day comes after every sunset.
During the night, I reflect.  I renew.  When the dawn arrives, I begin anew.

On this night, 2010 flashes before my eyes in bits and pieces.  I'm going to capture as many of them as I can and partially mashup my UBBT journals in the process.  My membership with Team 7 began in April of 2009, so I have well over 20 months' worth of journals, and 160+ written entries to choose from, plus a couple dozen videos!  The resulting pastiche will highlight my journey and provide connections to elements of my UBBT story.

(This took a lot longer than I originally thought...kudos to masters of this craft!)


Live Like a Champion: My UBBT 7 Story in Links

2010 for me, was a call to action on a healthy sense of discontent in my life - focusing on using the right kind of self-talk and affirmation so I could go about making things right.  It was the year where a teacher became a student again, in a journey of public self-cleansing, viewed in the eyes of the world.  It was time to wake up, face the dark side of myself, overcome my atychiphobia and kakorrhaphiophobia, embrace a new paradigm, focus on ideas that matter, and take time out for what matters because the little things count most.

In the process of playing the game and raising the bar, I created my Live Like a Champion goals and then went about building my team and inspiring perspiring.  We attracted 43 members, and it definitely felt like I was training at the dojo constantly, always on the move, but every moment of it was time well spent, even the times when I barely did squat because my legs had staged a minor revolt after a morning hike.  Whenever my spicy plans backfired, I gave up a free day and replaced it with playing catchup until I hit system overload.

I had a lot of peak experiences, which I attributed in part to good karma accumulated from reaching out, rebuilding connections, and helping abroad.  After a successful make-a-blanket event, I became a video machine with the help of my brother, and future events like Coastal Cleanup Day in San Jose turned into a fun ICCD video.  We followed it up later with Coastal Cleanup Day 2010, another success!  Our environmental efforts led to a number of Earth Day updates from Team San Jose, full of great projects and everyday heroism!

In the area of healthy living, we had Defeat Diabetes come to San Jose to present at the high school, where both Dawn and I had valuable experiences learning from children.  (I owe her and many others a lot more than a quick thank you.)  Discipline and diet are areas that I still need work on.  However, some highlights: I did manage to train hard and complete my first century bike ride, bust out with a 3,017 pushup tribute, as well as build proficiency in the fine art of cow whispering!

Our biggest impact was on the school community itself, beginning with our Week Without Walls program, a signature event of the high school, but taken to a new level, thanks to the UBBT.  One year later, elements of the program have been infused into the school culture, everything from freshman orientation to free hug days on campus, and we've turned Epic's Week Without Walls into a powerful black belt journey, captured on film!  Many members of our team also graduated from high school during 2010, and I was honored to be one of the keynote speakers, together with two other faculty members who are also in the Live program.

Keeping it real here: there were plenty of moments of honor and shame alike.  I found numerous occasions where I was not prepared to practice self-defense against an overwhelming life, and I found myself feeling a disturbance in the Force, alone in a crowded room with only my internal dialogue as company as my forehead met bricks on the wall.  Numerous tales of stress eating from a chronic insomniac were a large part of my downfall - still working on improving mindfulness.  Even though I lost some stuff around my waist, it was all frosting, no cupcake - the cycle hadn't fully been broken.  Even after revisiting the cycle, I find myself at times falling into the abyss, feeling like I'm not a genuine black belt fully, because you can always do better.

Wait.  Stop.  Unplug.  Time for a gentle reminder: less QQ, more pew pew Garcia.  You must learn control.  Take the high road.  Switch to a different set of colored lenses.  It's all pennies from heaven.

I'm in love with a black belt, and the lifestyle of the arts.  My honor is my life, and I promised to see this through, in sickness and in health.  Hard work is hard, and there are no shortcuts in an ironman test.  If the lifecycle's broken, then it's time to be hitting the trails.  You will experience fear, but all things pass.

Did I complete my goals?  Not really, but I tackled so much during UBBT 7 that perhaps my plan was designed to fail, after all.  My intentions were noble, but it would seem that you will not find truth in me yet, at least not at the endgame of 2010.

No matter where the path may lead, I will be the candle that holds back the night.  I will find simplicity through embracing the minimalist journey in the coming year, and much more, through seeking verisimilitude and not hyperauthenticity.  I hope this goal (one of many) creates a case for competition of the friendly sort in UBBT 8.

For now, I'd like to recognize the members of my 2010 student team for their efforts, including those who participated in portions of the project, those who completed enough of the Live goals to be considered veterans of my UBBT student team, and those graduates of the program who performed admirably, staying to the course and holding steady throughout every storm:


San Jose Live 2010 Participants:
Gabino Alcazar, Edgar Carranza, Javier Chavez, Jocelyn Cruz, Meaghan Del Real, Edgar Diego, Kyle Donnelly, Eloy Harris, Kenny Luong, Charles Ku, Allison McCarty, Jonathan Mejia-Barrera, Mitchell Mejia-Barrera, Jessica Miranda, Richard Nino, Ana Olazava, Fernando Ortiz, Devin Ozdogu, Hope Pross, Frank Rocca, Jaci Rocca, Kaelyne Rocca, Kellsey Rocca, Adrik Tibbs, Edgar Valencia, Rafael Villa, Ranfis Villatoro.

San Jose Live 2010 Veterans:
Lynne Brady, John Caliva, Athena Diaz, Alexis Gonzalez, Emmanuel Gonzalez, Steven Han, Lucinda Maldonado, Andrew Mendez, Ashley Ornelas, Youssef Shokry, Karla Tapia, Anne Tran, Barnaby Westwood, Armond Witherspoon, Juan Zamudio

San Jose Live 2010 Graduates:
Karena Chicas, Daniel Poo, Robert Truong


Lastly, thank you to every member of UBBT Team 7, coaches and students alike.  I truly appreciate being able to share in this journey together with you.  I hope that you choose to continue your UBBT journey in whatever manner best aligns with your life's path.  If you are ever in the San Jose area, you have friends in the arts who would love to share time with you.

And with that....I proudly join my friends on Team 8, ready to rock!