Category Archives: AAJA

AAJA

Disposable convention co-chair

So, if you follow my Twitter, then you already know I am officially a former AAJA convention co-chair. After my early morning with Michael and our lunchtime nap (somehow this little guy only likes to sleep in the daytime), I answered a phone call from AAJA president Sharon Chan and executive director Kathy Chow. Essentially, even though LA chapter co-president Jinah Kim had said she did not want to accept my resignation and convention co-chair Leezel Tanglao had asked me to reconsider quitting, they talked everyone into the idea that it would be better for me to just go away — er, step down. Their rationale? I should spend more time with Michael.

There was going to be no doubt about my spending time with Michael — I spent a ton of time with my mom, even though we were always out and about as she worked. That was going to be my strategy with Michael — he was going to be with me every step of the way with whatever I was doing. However, while it rankles that they think I cannot mix family and regular life, I am done with AAJA, the governing board’s PR concerns and the national staff’s doltishness.

Continue reading

AAJA grievances I must air*

Quitting sucks, yet I am ready to quit as co-chair of the Los Angeles AAJA convention. However, one of my co-chairs and the chapter co-president both, in all earnestness, asked me to reconsider, so I’m going to lay out why I want to quit, especially since I do not desire to be one of those AAJA members with secret alliances and enemies within the organization. Maybe that’s an Asian thing, maybe that’s a non-profit thing, but it ain’t gonna be me.

First, some background. I was not the first co-chair of this convention. I stepped in when a former board member, Caroline Paras, quit working with the Los Angeles board without any notice. I stepped in when she quit because we needed a convention chair. Then, when it came time to submit a logo to AAJA’s national staff, we searched high and low for a graphics designer who would be willing to shoulder the work. The chapter even offered a $250 stipend for logo ideas. No one bit, so I broke down and did what I didn’t want to do — roped Trinity in to help us out. And he did.

Continue reading

Christmas comes early

I could swear that we just had the 2008 Christmas party, but here we are again at David’s house for Christmas. This year, there were slightly more celebrities and slightly fewer journalists (there was a snafu with the invitation senders), but it was a wash because I got to meet Julia Ling, who plays Anna Wu on “Chuck.” I am pretty sure I played it cool at the time, but got all squealy/fangirlish when I got home. Then, as I read her IMDB bio, I was promptly intimidated. Girl is accomplished.

So, here are a few photos, but they’re really super fuzzy, which is my bad. I’m not entirely sure what I did, but it could something to do with the tweaking I did to take photos of the champorado the other day. Oh well.

I have a life, right?

Things are not looking good for my blogging life. Just being pregnant, I’m pretty tired by the end of my day and need to nap by the time I get home, thus shortening the time I have left for blogging. And honestly, what else have I been into besides baby and AAJA? Not much else, and even then, baby is getting the short shrift for AAJA, which just feels more urgent right now. (How it feels more urgent over the little flutters in my belly, I’m not sure.)

On the AAJA side, we’ve finally gotten past our first convention planning meeting, which….whew. That all means that we’re now past the logo creation stage, which is a huge relief, since Trinity designed it. It was a big headache, especially considering poor Trinity is not even a member, much less on the board. But here’s the logo, it turned out awesome:

Continue reading

Trivia Bowl XV, come and gone

My blogs have been severely neglected, I know. I had a good reason. Basically, as soon as I got back from Hawaii and got moved in to our new place, it was Trivia Bowl planning overdrive. I don’t know about anyone else, but doing volunteer work for a non-profit is not easy. In fact, I liken it to the phrase “herding cats.” Because you get a whole bunch of people who have their own jobs spending a lot of time organizing an event that takes almost as much time as that day job for no pay and very little payoff — except, of course, the satisfaction and joy you get from raising money to help student and professional journalists further their careers. Although…I’m not sure how you balance all that work out with the headaches, frustration and spurts of angrily-typed (more like pounded) emails. Yeah, I’m not kind to my keyboards when I’m mad.

But, its over. And you’d think the hard part was getting the volunteers organized, but that was the easiest part of what I had to do this year.

Continue reading