Open House coming up (2021-04-11)

Last year I held a couple of 3 a.m. Korea time Zoom calls. I promised myself that I would never do it again. And so far I haven't.

Instead, I did something even worse.

An all-nighter.

The conference started yesterday from 11 pm, we finished at 4:55 a.m. this morning.

Should I bother saying I will never do that again?

I need to have a normal life. I had planned to take the day off to get my time clock ready for what was coming, but I was receiving so many questions from people that I barely slept the day before and day of the conference.

* * *

There are three kinds of people in the world: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those people (like the ones who showed up today) asking: What happened?

Some people ignored the previous emails and messages and thought the conference was either today, or starting at 11 am, not 11 pm Korea time.

I can't blame them. It makes perfect sense that someone in Seoul would schedule a meeting to start at 11 am Korea time.

Who in the world starts a conference in his own time zone to start from 11 pm, and plans to go on until the crack of dawn?

* * *

So why have I scheduled a virtual Open House at 9 a.m. Seoul time on April 11th? It isn't because I don't have anyone performing an intervention to stop me. My co-founder is Eunkoo Lee. Expecting her to stop me from setting up meetings is like expecting a fellow alcoholic to stop you from drinking.

She isn't just an enabler. When I show up to the office, I learn that we have many meetings scheduled. I will give her credit, she is fantastic at avoiding double-booking sessions. Instead, she will book them one after another without ever making a mistake.

If I say I need a break, she will agree, then recommend that I take a 15 minute break between meetings or show up to a meeting a few minutes late.

I couldn't even take today off after wrapping up the session at 5 am and finally kind of sleeping from about 7 a.m. Surprise, surprise, we had a 1 pm zoom meeting, then a 3 pm zoom meeting right after that.

Thanks Eunkoo!!!

* * *

So here we are again, but I can only blame myself. Swept away in the enthusiasm of holding a conference, I thought we should have some type of a follow-up session. This week will be busy (surprise!) so Sunday morning seemed to be the one time we could have the Open House.

A 9 a.m. Open House scheduled for April 11th Korea time. We will hold it to one hour because, yes, Eunkoo will have another meeting! It will be her online church service.

I am sure I will hang around if people want to talk more, but the meeting will probably end at 10 am sharp if people show up telling me how we should run FSI or fit our programming around their lives, schedules and dreams.

Please register so we can have an idea of how many people may be joining. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-house-with-fsi-co-founders-tickets-149452633851

24 hours prior to the Open House we will send out the link for the session. If you sign up at Eventbrite, you will also receive a message with the link information.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate

Breen's column that outraged Samsung

“What People Got for Christmas” Michael Breen The Korea Times December 25, 2009 At this time of year when Seoul’s bare winter trees are wrapped in beckoning lights ― blue and white are the in colors ― and Merry Xmas signs at hotels and department stores are really saying come-hither-gentle-reveler-and-empty-your-purse, and when expensive restaurants belch noisy year-end office party groups onto every street and the karaoke rooms are full, it is tempting to declare that Christmas has lost its soul. But that would be a mistake. Christmas is a time for giving, and, before they can be given, gifts have to be bought. Commerce is good. Here, as proof, is a round up of some of the gifts given and received today by people in the news. Samsung, the world’s largest conglomerate and the rock upon which the Korean economy rests, sent traditional year-end cards offering best wishes for 2010 to the country’s politicians, prosecutors and journalists, along with 50 million w...

2015-01-09 Asia Liberty Forum (Kathmandu, Nepal)

I was pleased to be one of the speakers at the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum, held this time in Kathmandu, Nepal. Freedom Speakers International has presented at the Asia Liberty Forum several times. I was invited in 2014 and have been able to invite North Korean refugees to also speak at the forum. 2014, New Delhi, India Speakers: Chanyang Ju, Casey Lartigue Jr. https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2014/01/07-09-ALF-India.html http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2014/01/137_149698.html https://www.facebook.com/CaseyLartigue/posts/1308010646009594 2015, Kathmandu, Nepal Speaker: Casey Lartigue https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-01-09-asia-liberty-forum-kathmandu.html 2018 Jakarta, Indonesia Speakers: Eunhee Park, Casey Lartigue FSI was named a finalist for the Asia Liberty Award https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2021/01/11-Asia-liberty-award.html https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/organizations-from-afghanistan-nepal-south-korea-named-finalists-for-asia-l 2019, Colomb...

Michael Jackson & Prince

Michael Jackson, born August 29, 1958 Prince (Rogers Nelson), born June 7, 1958 Note: Originally posted 1/31/05; reposted in honor of Prince performing at the Super Bowl this weekend... Once upon a time, I wanted to be Mike. Michael Jackson was the lovable lead singer of the Jackson 5 during the 1960s and 1970s. His family had been poor, so it is no surprise that they were releasing at least one album a year. Michael was the family's lottery ticket. I was a big-time fan. I was a member of the Jackson 5 fan club. My brothers and I tried to be just like Mike. I'm the tallest of the three. Check me out, I was so C-O-O-L ! Look at that 'Fro. Could there have been a cooler Bible-carrying kid? I could have hid entire African villages under that cap. And the African villages that could not have fit in that Afro could have squeezed into my bell bottoms. You'd have to pay me money to wear those beads today, but I was stylin' then. But it was clear that I was destined to beco...

How not to get your ass beat by the police

The black president of the United States stupidly commented on the arrest of a black Harvard professor in his own home by a white police officer. Some random thoughts and memories: * I'm sure most people are still trying to figure out who Prof. Gates is. As G.K. Chesterton once wrote: "Journalism consists largely in saying 'Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive." * Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare." Perhaps. But having a criminal in my house is even more of a nightmare. Also, having the president of the United States talk off the cuff about me about something he doesn't know is pretty bad. And getting shot by a cop after I escalated a situation would also be worse than getting arrested. Anyway, I have had my own dealings with the police over the years: * Back when I was a college student many many moons ago, one of my brothers and I got stopped by police in Bro...

Does a flower turn to the sun?

I tend not to address points raised by people commenting on posts. In the back-and-forth of such discussions, people sometimes say things they don't mean or take extreme positions. In other cases they are just trying to be provocative, especially when they can remain anonymous. But a discussion on Greg Mankiw's blog caught my attention. That's because a couple of the folks suggested that parents don't really have the knowledge to make decisions about the quality of schools. Between 2002-2004 I was actively involved in the fight to get school vouchers for families in DC. I often heard the argument that parents don't know how to choose between good and bad schools and that, anyway, parents had enough choices with the school system's "out-of-boundary" options and charters (that had also been opposed). Without getting too deep into the out-of-boundary program, I'll point out that Woodrow Wilson HS, considered one of the best schools in the city, recei...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

Search This Blog