One of the rules of business relationships is generally never to insult your boss. Well, Michael Furdyk isn't my boss, though i suppose volunteering for TIG does mean that on some level he is a supervisor/boss of sorts. Oh well, he is still a big dork. That's saying a lot, because I am a big dork. So it's not an insult at all, but rather an awkward compliment. It's more of a title (hence the capitalisation of the word). Oh yes, I forgot, if any one actually reads this, they might be lost in what the hell I'm talking about. Perhaps the near-beginning is a good place to start.
It was a long Sunday, this past June 8th. I spent many hours underneath the propped up Ford Esscort that I call my own, working on putting in a new Starter. Being that it is a Ford, every thing is under the engine and requires you to remove at least three hoses. I normally would have procrastinated to fix the car, but I was working diligently to get it repaired. I was a man on a mission. Indeed, Michael Furdyk would be in San Francisco, only 100 miles away the following day, and I was not going to pass up an opportunity to meet him. So thankfully, at about 4pm, I turned the ignition with the car still up on jacks, and heard the beautiful response of a full churn and start. The date was on.
My drive to San Francisco was, as it usually is, an adventure. It was quite warm in Sacramento, but ended up an overcast and dreary sort as I got closer to the bay area. I feared the worst: a rainy day in summer in S.F. That would have sucked some of my energy. As I arrived in 'the city' an hour and a half after I set off, I converged to Union Square, where Mike had planned to meet me in front of Macy's. It was a nice and bright day outside. I waited a few minutes, then hopped out of the car, minding that I have 4 TIG stickers on it, and switched on the hazard lights. It was only a few city block turns when I saw an orange TakingITGlobal T-shirt attached to a tall fellow dashing out of Macy's with security guards after him. Ok, ok, there were no security guards. I shouted 'Michael' and got a half smiling-pondering response. We brieftly shook hands and fell right in step back towards the car. Mike had a rather large sandwhich with him. He was also wearing pants that I thought could only be dawned at a disco. A man with cunning style ;-P
Fifteen minutes later, I was imperiously driving through Chinatown, amidst construction workers, and being navigated by Mike's life saving Ipac. Apparantly I didn't know San Francisco as well as I thought (and what a re-occuring theme). We were on our way towards the Presidio district, where Mike's technology conference was being held. I was told Jonah from GYAN was also there, and so we scurried on our way - up and down the windy and treacherous heights of the city upon the bay. After narrowly escaping an accident, and giving Mike some of his own medecine (apparantly he drives like a New Yorker too), we made it to the conference.
The conferene. Hmmm... let's just say, it was an hour of my life I'll never get back. I recognized the words 'XML' and that was about it. While Mike had his neato laptop to save him, I was stuck listening to techno-yuppie garble. That isn't to say I'm technologically... inbred or ignorant, but c'mon, the in house jokes and the little ASN references to Wickies (sp) can only take you so far.
After the conference (where they had good food though), fate was suddenly changed because I failed to find my keys 5 seconds earlier. You see, we had almost escaped, er, departed... and I was fumbling with my keys, when Jonah ran up proclaiming that a guy was begging Mike to come back, to speak with him. I believe the word 'uplift' was used 197 times in 45 minutes. I'll leave it at that.
So yes, where were we.... about 4PM I believe. We get back into the city from the East side, and were planning to go to Berkeley (great food, my new university... both pluses). The horrid traffic cut that short, so Mike again rescued us using the navigation of his iPac, and we dissented upon the Metreon. This is where the more interesting dialogue started.. though I felt at times I babbled a bit to much. Well, I was there to be honest and.. to be myself, no bull shitting.
Some lines of conversation talked of our childhood... I gave a rather riveting 10 minute lecture on one of the 'theories' I'm currently developing regarding the 'culture of work' and why students and young people do better in the environment of clubs, etc... Indeed, for I was not only discussing my plans to work with the lovely TIG I-cubed team to develop the zine, but also to work on expanding TIG 'clubs' and what not.
Mike and I wandered around the city for a while, grabbing some Starbucks coffee and doing a bit of web surfing, running like fools through the remaining five minutes of time the Modern Art Museam (sp) was open, and preying like vultures over this bad-ass looking electric car that I seem to see all over California (it was Mike's first experience). Unfortunately, neither of us are 21 so we couldn't rent it. We traversed to the 'Sharper Image' and checked out some boy-toys. They had a life-size Yoda replica for $500. We both got chair massages. Life was good - could have used a glass of wine and a bit of pipe.
We took a few moments to stop for Wolfgang Puck soup - and while Mike chowed down, this is when I revealed some of my.. troubled past. I generally try to let those that I enjoy the accompament of know about my dark past en brief, because I've noticed that it can be an eliminator of sorts. Some people respond negatively from it, and do not see the redeeming qualities and story that follows the deeds... which usually turns me off to them. Luckily Mike sort of took my past with a shrug, an understanding of sorts. He is indeed just a cool guy. As I later described: "Mike is the kind of guy who I'd love to play drunken golf and bumper cars with." Though he is always business, there is also something about him that is always... compassionate. He is not allways professional or... 'on the job' but yeah, still that ingenuitive brain continuously is running.
So we ran a few 'do not walk' signs, almost got hit by a car or so, and took the old early 1900s Cable Cars up to little China after stopping at Mike's hotel for a few minutes. Here, we searched for a Dim Sung restaurant called 'Golden Dragon.' Cheap place, good food. It's on the corner of Grant and Washington. All you can eat for $13, hulluva deal I say. Dinner as well lead to enlightening discourse. We spoke about religion and culture, more visions of TIG and my part in them possibly, as well as digressing on various sideline topics - including vegetarianism and how I embarked on the path, as well as how Mike is beginning the journey. Much was communicated - not only through words, but through the comfort I was beginning to feel around Michael.
The day was filled with interesting ideas, brilliance and... just a city that radiated beauty. We beat the cable car walking back to Mike's hotel, in which we then headed back around (it was 9pm), thinking we could get back to the Metreon and grab my car before it was time to meet Jennifer at 9:30, which was an unexpected surprise I did not know would occur. We were wrong, and indeed, did not get back until almost 10pm. Luckily, Jennifer Corriero, young woman of the year, was running late. I parked, Mike went to go meet up at the Cheesecake Factory, where we would dine dessert for the evening. After finding a parking space, I folleyed around and... dropped the bloody parking lot ticket. Which meant that if I did not find it, I would be responsible for a $20 charge. I was quite frustrated, and since I was running off of 4 hours sleep from the night before, being quite tired did not help. My exhaustion was yet to come.
Racing across the street, having found the ticket crumbled under my seat- a wonder how it got there in such a small interval of time- I stopped to give a dollar to a woman who needed it more than I, and ran into Michael upstairs on the 4th floor of the famous Cheesecake hall of fame. Oh, they have all kinds of (expensive) food there, but we were there for the nomenclature food. Michael and I seemed to have developed a rather eased transition: from first meeting to good mates. I at least was very comfortable with him, and was a little nervous about meeting Jennifer, since it was so late and I was feeling inarticulate. Well, I thought back to the chinese cuisine a few hours back, and reading the fortune cookie. My fortune read: "You will find that you have more skills that you thought you did." Of course, a little tradition is to add, "in bed" at the end. So in my head, I said: "You will find that you have more skills that you thought you did, in bed." I had a good inner guffaw and laughter at that, and felt at ease. Then she walked in.
The first thing I noticed was energy. Maybe it was a self fulfilling prophecy based on biographical attributes. Jennifer Corriero has way to much energy after a long conference and at 10:15pm. But maybe I was just bloody tired. Watching her chatter wore me out. We met, and I shook her hand, noticed the nice tannish suit she wore, beads dangling decoratively (what else would they be there for?) around her neck. She some how seemed different from the TIG pictures.. certainly beautiful, yet perhaps more alive. If that is possible, and I guess it is. I wondered for a brief moment if she had increased levels of natural amphetamines in her system... and then realized I should stop wondering and just begin speaking - as I was very silent for the first 10 minutes or so. She and Mike re-capped the day's events, and after a brief tiff about someone complaining about how the two worked, Jennifer turned her attention towards me. It was then that I noticed, what I believe, is the trait that makes Jennifer such a beguiling and awesome person to me: her eyes. Specifically, her eye contact. You see, I generally try to look at people strait in the eyes, there is a lot to be said.. a lot of understanding, wisdom and truth to be gained from doing this. Most people shy away, or if they are looking at you, do not do it as peeringly as Jen. Remarkable. She asked me of the days events and Mike and I took turns regailing the long 10 hours of San Francisco that was now sealed behind us.
After a bit of hashing out little sidetrack ideas here and there, Jennifer asked me my impressions of the TIG crew - of which most of whom I've conversed with. I indeed spoke my mind, and was proud to give such hearty words. TIG has been a great thing in my life, and some of the people have really been terrific. I aslo retold the events of how I stumbled on TIG, in the late summer of 2001. How it has helped create and mold the man I am today. I pitched my downfalls and mentioned my qulams and dislikes, as well as simply recomendations on things that I feel could be improved or altered, and sort of closed off with what my vision working with TIG is. Frankly, I have but one vision: global domination. Hah! I thought I'd throw that in there. Ok, the real sentence. I have but one vision: improved youth motivation and action in correlation with greater critical thinking and decrease in apathy. I am a progressive, and while my politics are different from many involved with TIG, I believe one common goal brings us together, and that is positive involvement. Our various values may conflict, but it is the very essence that we work together to resolve them and work through them that is the power of networking. A few of the ways to acheive that: strengthen TIG's mission in an offline sense, to help foster communication through communities that have little internet connection, as well as to greater network those that have adequate access. As well, to undertake and help re-create the zine. Yes, the same ideas that I mentioned earlier, but they are such emphatic and worthwhile goals to me, that they are unmistakably the epicenter of my volunteering right now. These projects are my life.
Get-up And Do Something at Berkeley will be important, but during the summer, I have a lot of time and motivation that I will not have in the fall. The topic diverged rather awkwardly for me, as Jen turned to Mike and said 'We should try to get this a funded position.' I'm always sort of cautious around ideas of money. You see, I would absolutly love to get paid to work with TIG - but I understand three things. I have to build more trust. Money is tight and hard to funnel to the U.S. for staff. I am a volunteer. I just wished volunteering paid all the bills :-P. So yes, I knew that I was visibly uneasy with the subject, because I am not sure what to say or do. I'm doing this for the love of it, yet also realize I could do a lot more if I didnt have to work 2 jobs... but still even now I'm having a hard time articulating what exactly it is that I feel unsure or awkward about. Jen changed the topic, to my delight, and we moved on with various subjects such as more of the people I have been thankful to meet, my back ground with speaking/writing, etc..
Alas, the night had to end- and indeed, if it did not, I would have fallen asleep any way. So Mike and I chattered for a few more minutes about computers, and Jennifer mentioned something about either a TIG conference in Toronto or coming to S.F. We sombered to the parking garrage to my car - as I told Jen she just had to see my bumper stickers. I have about 13, including 4 TIG ones. I've since added another in the front. We said our goodbyes, and Jen made me promise to drive safetly, was quite motherly about the whole thing. Mike just had a bit of a grin plastered to his face - he must be used to this. It was very kind. Then, a second before I was going to hold my hand out for a departing handshake, Jen leaned in and gave me a hug. It was then that I felt like more a part of TIG than ever before. You see, hugs are pretty special to me... simply because they just seem to be that universal sign of acceptance in the human world. A hug is more of a gift of understanding and kindness than another sign of acknowledgment, such as a handshake. I had thought about a hug, but most people are really uncomfortable with that, at least when first meeting. I reciprocated the gift to Jen and had to also collect from Mr. Furdyk. I waved good bye and watch two remarkable individuals disappear, if for a short time, from view. Jen popped back from the stairwell and offered a final farewell and Mike fumbled back as well and gave a big dorky wave. Thus, a big dork...
It was a crisp evening, this June 9, 2003. I drove around S.F. trying to find a freeway. No Ipac to help me out. Luckily it was 12:30AM so little traffic, and I could still read the signs. It is a wonderful city, San Francisco. It is the bastion of progressive thought and I marveled at the wonderment of the city. I passed by a corporate building by the Embarcadero and saw the remnants of a 'No Blood for Oil'spray painted outline on it. Such dichotomies are only found in places like this. I had a lot to think about, and with the window down full blast and the night air whisping by, keeping me from the slumber that my body so yearned, I immersed myself into these thoughts. I almost started hallucinating, and had to slow down many times. There was a police car that sped past me at around 100mph (not on emergency)... I laughed and joined right behind him. I pondered much, and wondered what would be to come. I was not able to go to Toronto to see the Toronto TIG, so a bit of them came to me. Well, sort of. It was an opportunity that I will never regret- like loves first kiss. Only this fate was far different than love. I wondered how it was that I would follow through with Jennifer's assertment that Reggie and I were the perfect team to help create TIG clubs. I thought about many things on the road 115 miles long.
