#47: KM Class of 2010 - Being on a Competitive Team, Maintaining Friendships, the Burdens of Leadership, and 15-Year Aspirations - One Thousand Gurus Podcast

Episode Transcript
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J.R. (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to another fun episode of 1000
Gurus with me, your host, jrYonacruz.
So this special episode doesnot feature just one guest, but
actually four.
For this recording, I hostedfour of my fellow Cabo Modern
class of 2010, the year wejoined.
Cabo Modern is a competitivedance team that I was on during
my college years.
This team was featured onAmerica's Best Dance Crew, a TV

(00:22):
show that was on when I was inhigh school, and it was actually
a huge reason why I moved downfrom the Bay Area to SoCal to
attend UCI and hopefully jointhe team, and luckily it worked
out.
We actually have a total of 12of us in our class, but these
four were the returners of mypodcast guests and also the
studio has space limitations, soI don't know if we would ever
be able to have all of us.

(00:42):
We are busy adults after all.
This episode was almost twohours because we had five people
and a lot to discuss, soSolomon suggested that we
probably should book two timeslots, but, as a disclaimer,
this episode will probably meanmore to us five than anyone else
who might listen because it wassuch a personal episode, but it
was still very special.
Of course, we do a lot ofreminiscing about us joining

(01:04):
Kabba Modern 15 years ago, ourexperiences on the team, what we
learned from it, how our liveshave changed as we've gotten
older, the burdens of leadership, our future goals and
aspirations, regrets, how weapproach maintaining
relationships and connections aswe get older, and then we end
with a heartfelt message to ourfuture selves.
Even though this episode wasnot a typical 1000 Gurus episode

(01:25):
, I hope you guys enjoy hearingus reflect and share our
insights as a group of closefriends now in our early 30s.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou enjoy this episode with my
Coven Modern class of 2010.
Hello everyone, and welcome backto 1000 Gurus.
So I have a special show todaywith four separate guests.

(01:45):
We have Alex Cristal hey,what's up everyone?
There you go.
Alex Cristal Kandang, and thenin the middle we have Dr Jun Lee
and at the very end we have.
Alex Hung Cool.
Thank you guys for being here.
I really appreciate it.
This was long awaited, right.
I think we scheduled this inApril.
So you know five adults tryingto schedule our lives.

June (02:06):
It takes about three months, so that sounds about
right.

J.R. (02:07):
Right, yeah.
So yeah, these are all repeatguests on my show.
I'll go into how I know them,so let's see.
So yeah, we all joined CaboModern in winter, february 2010,
right.
As K-10 newbie class, we've allstayed close, fortunately seeing
each other at least about ayear at annual Christmas
gatherings or something Junerelated.
You guys were all returningguests on the podcast, episodes

(02:29):
14, 25, 30, and 34.
So, for the audience, if youguys want to look it up and yeah
, I'm happy to have you guys asmy first group I was always
trying to figure out whatcombination of return guests I
would like to have.

Alex Cristal (02:45):
So I would like to have.
So you guys are the first we'rereturners now.

Kan (02:47):
Yeah, you guys are returners, that's kind of funny.
Yeah, you guys are returners,now at least on the podcast.

J.R. (02:50):
Yeah, so we have.
This is like a really casualsort of episode.
We're just going to talk, yap,about some stuff.
I have some questions and thenwe might randomly veer off into
whatever you guys want to startoff with how you guys are doing.
I know we caught up off camerabut, like any big life updates
you want to throw in there, no,not really anything significant.

Just living life, man, just hanging out with
friends, family, working,working out right, single life.

J.R. (03:19):
That's finding your soulmate trying soulmate, my
playmate, playmates, no mindmates, help me, help me all of
those things.

Just yeah, just trying to connect with a lot of
different people.
Especially now I think in our30s it's maybe a little bit
harder, so just making more ofan effort to do those things.

J.R. (03:35):
Yeah, staying connected.
Yeah, a lot of my questionshave to do with getting old, so
we'll see right right right yeah.
What about you, ken?
What are you up to?

Kan (03:43):
honestly, since my episode I wouldn't say there's been
anything too big.
There are difference.
I finished the season withculture shock recently.
We do our annual benefit showand it was a really cool
experience.
Got to perform with a bunch ofour youth teams and, yeah, I had
a really great time.
It was actually this pastweekend, so still recovering my

(04:05):
body.
You know, I'm happy to be hereand I'm happy to see everyone,
yeah.

J.R. (04:08):
Nice and you're going to Japan, possibly November.

Kan (04:11):
Yes, the plan is to go back and have a good time Planning
on going with some friends thistime, so that should be a fun
experience and it's definitelysomething that we're looking
forward to.

J.R. (04:21):
Heck, yeah.
So if he ends up moving thereand he never comes back, you'll
know why.

Kan (04:25):
Yeah, we'll just shoot the episode over there.
Yeah, we'll just do remote.

J.R. (04:28):
Yeah, what about you, june ?
I know you have some updates aswell.

June (04:31):
Yeah, I think my episode was we filmed in November last
year and so since then, actually, I transitioned from per diem
to full time at work.

J.R. (04:41):
Nice Woo benefits, yeah, benefits, I love benefits.

June (04:44):
And then I've been training for this half marathon
coming up actually next Sundayin SF.
So, most of my weekends arelike spent running, which this
is like the most running I'veever done in my life and I'm
still not in love with it, butI'm still going to do it.
So we'll see how that goes.
But I guess like the biggestthing is that, yeah, I bought my

(05:05):
first.
My husband and I bought ourfirst property, our first condo.
We are now part of the handfulof house broke millennials yay,
yeah it's great, it's great,yeah, just opening up a new
chapter and so huge for us makesure to drill holes in every
wall.

J.R. (05:23):
Yeah, up a new chapter and so huge for us.
Make sure to drill holes inevery wall.

June (05:25):
Yeah, we just went to Home Depot today and got a drill so
we're gonna everything and mops,just in case.

J.R. (05:30):
Yeah, we'll find a bucket.

Alex Hung (05:32):
A bucket.
Make sure you know where thewater line is.
Yeah, so you can shut it off ohgod great okay

Kan (05:39):
surely not behind the TV, right?
Yeah, I mean the pipe can't bebehind where you want the TV
right.

Alex Hung (05:46):
Surely it's an inside joke, because I flooded my
house.
Oh yeah Well listen to Alex'sepisode.
Yeah, yikes.

June (05:54):
Well, yeah, good advice.
For sure we just we've.
This is our first week of justlike sleeping there, and so
we're just like getting used tothe sounds and like even the
environment, the smells, justhow things are, and like it's
different.
For sure I'm used to havinglike pitch black darkness and so
I have to wear like thisblackout eye mask to make sure
that I can fall asleep, and it'sjust different right now.

(06:15):
But I think those are just thegrowing pains that you get with
moving anywhere.

J.R. (06:19):
Is it more space than you had before?
I'm just curious.

June (06:21):
We were living in my parents' house for the past two
years while we were saving up,and so, while this feels it's
like a two-bed, two-bathroomcondo so it feels like an
apartment it's more space thanus shoving all of our stuff into
my one bedroom.
So, yeah, there's a lot morespace than what we were just in
before.

J.R. (06:39):
Yeah, that's what I figured, because usually when
you move from a place thatyou're shared and then your own,
it's like wow so much space.

June (06:45):
I can actually space my things out now.
Yeah, it's great, and there's alot of good natural sunlight,
and so it just feels bright andairy.

Alex Hung (06:52):
Very nice.
Did you decide to buy newthings for this space and kind
of start over a little bit, orare you moving in some old
things?

June (07:01):
first we had a lot of stuff in storage from when we
were living in our apartment inCentral Coast, so that was like
two years ago, three years ago,right before we got married, and
so like our big stuff, like ourcouch and our bed, are the same
and some of our like furnitureis the same.
But I've gotten a lot of stufffrom doing UGC.
And so I have another free.

(07:22):
I have a big couch in my secondbedroom and got a new couch like
this ergonomic desk and chairand all this fun stuff, and so
it's like a mix and match ofcertain things.

J.R. (07:32):
So it's nice I don't have to buy things right now I'm just
collecting things oh no,hopefully no one sends me a free
like table oh no, I would hateto get a free new bed.

June (07:43):
Oh no.

J.R. (07:43):
I don't need this.
Please don't Free car.
Or a brand new house, freemortgage, free car, free house.
She just says UGC just tofurnish her house, and then she
stops after that.

June (07:55):
Kind of it's kind of a life hack, honestly.

Alex Hung (07:58):
That's smart, so nice .
All right, hong, how about you?
Yeah, for me, work has gottenmore busy.
There's just a lot of thingsthat are happening with work.
Specifically recently, we'vebeen talking to a venture
partner, and so there's been alot of back and forth about how
we could do a joint venturetogether.

(08:18):
We recently went to Denver tomeet them in person, along with
the actual capital person, theVC, and it was a very
interesting experience, to saythe least.
I won't say too much, but Ithink it comes down to some
interesting thoughts whensomeone is presenting you with

(08:39):
millions of dollars I mean, it'snot me specifically, but our
company and you have to decidewhether you want to take it or
not.
Right, and money always comeswith stipulations, and so it was
like an interesting exercise tothink about.
Ok, what do we want?
What are we going to get out ofthis?
Is this a good long term thingor not so much, and I think, at

(09:02):
the end of the day, it was agood experience to at least for
us was a good experience to atleast for us as a company also
to just to think about what wefind to be most important and
what we're willing to part withas far as, maybe, ownership and
things like that.
So, other than that, that'swhat made work a little bit more
stressful.
Along with just trying to growas a company, I've been focusing

(09:24):
on go to market a lot, which issomething that I don't have a
history of doing, but it's beena good experience.
We just haven't seen resultsyet, and I got a new couch, hey.

J.R. (09:38):
Hey, I had to pay for it, though I had to pay for mine,
though I had to pay for mine,yeah the life, I had to pay for
mine.

June (09:44):
though, I had to pay for mine.
Guys, the life hack is just.

Alex Hung (09:46):
I know I should have started a UGC channel.

June (09:48):
You know what I'm actually giving away my couch soon.

J.R. (09:54):
Hey this is your chance.
Free couch I don't need a couch, but yeah, maybe in the future.

Alex Hung (09:59):
But I did get the couch that I've wanted for a
really long time.
It the couch that I've wantedfor a really long time.
It's one of those like electricrecliners.

J.R. (10:05):
Oh, fancy.

June (10:06):
Yeah, oh.

J.R. (10:06):
I saw your story, so did you like move things around to
accommodate that, or like itlooked cleaner than before?
Oh yeah, I don't know if youshoved it all in the couch, yeah
.

Alex Hung (10:15):
The picture that I took of my new couch did look
nicer because I had to movethings out of the way.
So they can move the couch inokay, you didn't just shove all
that stuff in the couch, I hadto move it back.
So now it doesn't look as niceas when I took that photo.
But the thing is, since I livein this townhouse that's three
stories the staircase is verynarrow and so I had to buy a

(10:35):
modular couch, and I could notbring my old couch down the
stairs again because it messedup my walls on the way up.
I had to actually toss it offthe balcony.
I'm serious.
So I I tossed it off thebalcony and did someone catch it
or like?
no, it just actually laid therug down that I was gonna throw
away as well, just to just tocatch everything.

(10:57):
Yeah, my girlfriend wasactually scared.
She's like, if you throw it offthe balcony, is it gonna break
the concrete?
I'm like, do you?
Oh my god, it's not gonna breakthe balcony.
Is it going to break theconcrete?
I'm like, do you?
Oh, my God, it's not going tobreak the concrete.
I mean it's just a sofa.

June (11:08):
It's not even that heavy.
So that couch, that old couch,is now a goner yeah.

Alex Hung (11:13):
I told the trash to come pick it up.
It actually disappeared a daybefore they were supposed to
pick it up, so I don't know ifthey picked it up earlier or
someone took took a broken couchbecause it fell from the second
floor.

J.R. (11:23):
Yeah, from the sky.
Was it not usable?

Alex Hung (11:26):
it's probably usable, but it definitely was broken
from falling off the secondfloor, yeah, but I do love the
new couch.
The dog that I'm dog sittingalready threw up on it, so
that's great uh blessed it, heblessed it yeah, thanks good
luck thanks dog like when youget bird poo.

June (11:43):
Good luck, right.
Is that how that works?
Yeah?
Is it good luck.
Yeah, you've never, heard thatwhen a bird poops on you, it's
good luck.

J.R. (11:49):
So that's good luck.
Dog vomiting on your couch isthat good luck?
I think they're a littledifferent.
Or is that shitty luck?
Yeah?

Alex Hung (11:55):
Literally, that's shitty me.
Maybe part of what we mighttalk about later today is just
it's hard to find a balance ofthings, maybe especially in this
part of our lives where we areall probably a little bit more

(12:15):
focused on our career than wewere 10 years ago, and maybe
we'll be even more focused onour career 10 years from now,
maybe not.
Maybe, like, family is moreimportant at that point.
So yeah, for me it's justtrying to find a balance of that
Still seeing my friends, stillcalling my parents, just trying
to balance all that.

J.R. (12:35):
That was like my first question I want to ask you guys.
But the broad question is whatis it like getting older, if
anything comes to mind?
But I guess, specifically, wemet when we were in our I guess
18, 19 year old, something likethat.
We were in our late teens now,and then we went through our 20s
and now we're in our 30s.
I don't know what has changedsince then.
This is like a 10 yearreflection, 20 or 15 year

(12:56):
reflection, whatever prioritiesyeah, priorities, and I think
core values say the same.

June (13:03):
It's just your life experiences around what you
value at the time.
So, like for me, I still valuemy independence and being able
to make something purposefulwith my life, and so, whatever
that is at the time, like inschool, I really prioritized
being on Cabo Modern becausethat was something that gave me

(13:25):
fulfillment and passion andreward, and so, going through
your 20s, I then shifted myfocus more towards my career and
studying and building up thefoundation for now, in my 30s, I
have this career, but now thatI've I feel like I not like
necessarily conquered that phaseof life, but I've really built

(13:46):
that foundation.
I'm pretty solid with that.
I cannot think about my nextstep in life, which is still now
still being this independentperson, but now that I'm married
, meshing like those two worldstogether.
So I think that's like findinga balance of making decisions
that still make me happy, butwith my partner in mind.
So I'm still trying to figurethat out because we're still

(14:07):
we're only two years in and eventhough we've been together for
much longer than that I feellike this phase of life is just
a little bit different now thatwe both own a home together, and
now we're making decisions forour future together and maybe
even family planning, thingslike that.
So yeah, just different eventshappen, but I feel like who you

(14:28):
are still remains the sameinside you just grow up
differently and then I thinkyou're just ever evolving with
the life events that happen toyou I have one thought yeah,
it's more of just a.

Alex Hung (14:41):
The thing that came to mind when you asked that
question was patience, and forme it's.
I've gained patience in someareas and I've lost patience in
other areas, like what?
So when I was younger, I thinkI was a lot more patient to put
myself in uncomfortablesituations, because I felt like
it would be a learningexperience or maybe it would be
good for me in other ways and Icould grow from them.

(15:02):
But as I got older, I think Iknow where my boundaries are for
what I enjoy and what I don'tenjoy, and so if it's something
that I don't enjoy, I have a lotless patience for that, knowing
that I don't want to be thereor I don't want to interact with
certain things or people,whereas the patience, though,
for that has grown, would be forcertain people.

(15:27):
I think it just comes withunderstanding why people act the
way that they act and be theway that they are, and with that
understanding, you have theability to be more patient,
because you understand whythey're acting out and you
understand why they're pissingyou off, and so you almost feel
like, oh, I probably shouldn'tbe pissed off at them, because I
know that they're just upsetbecause of whatever reason that

(15:50):
you understand that previouslyyou would have just thought oh,
they're being so rude to me, Ineed to be rude back to them,
and you wouldn't have thatpatience.
So I think that's a big thingfor me.
Patience has changed.

J.R. (16:05):
I think I agree with that, where it's like you have more
empathy for people as you movealong, but also it's like you're
not so open to growing andbeing uncomfortable in those
situations, like you're sayingalex or ken, I guess.
If not that I'm curious if yourlife has unfolded differently
than you thought it would whenyou were like 18, 19 and then
now you're, you guys are in yourearly 30s, you guys just kind

(16:29):
of don't go, I'll go out, let'sjust kind of flirt at each other
.

Yeah, I think.
Going back to the question ofgetting older, yeah, I think the
biggest change is just time andthe spaces that you're in.
I think when we're in your 30sor even late 20s, when you're
working, weeks go by so fastthat again.
It took us what three, maybefour months to get a schedule

(16:50):
like for an episode for apodcast.
But before, when we were oncall monitors, like, hey, you
want to just get curry barbecue,like after class or something,
it was just so easy because wewere in the same space, in the
same kind of wavelength ofschedule.
But now, because we're workinglike the people that we see the
most is our co-workers, and it'shard after, let's say, a

(17:12):
40-hour work week.
You have so manyresponsibilities that you need
to take care of.
It's hard to even have thecapacity to sometimes want to go
out or want to make plansbecause you have to recharge or
just re-energize yourself forthe next upcoming week.
Yeah, and even for schoolschedules, there was always
winter break, summer break,spring break.

(17:32):
Now it's just work life, youknow life no breaks
yeah there's no, only holidaysare the ones that you can maybe
plan something, but even so,when you have a day off for
holidays, it's oh, it's finallyI have time to catch up on my
errands, or finally catch up onsomething that you can maybe
plan something.
But even so, when you have aday off for holidays, it's oh,
let's finally have time to catchup on my errands or finally
catch up on something that youalways feel like you're falling
behind.
But when I think, when we're incollege or in your 20s or

(17:53):
whatever, the case is like wehad so much time and free
freedom to dictate our ownschedule, our own, how we spent
our time, because of the spacesthat we're in, yeah I think
that's probably the

Kan (18:04):
biggest thing that I see yeah, I would agree with that
that.
I think as you get older, yourtime becomes way more precious.
I think you're more conservativewith how you distribute it and
I think, also, as we get older,there's I feel like there's so
many more things beingcelebrated and weekends become

(18:25):
like very luxury real estate,like it feels like every weekend
there's like a birthday or likea baby shower or a wedding or
something like that, and I feelvery blessed to be in the
position to be able to attendall these events.
But at the same time, sometimesthere's conflicts and I have to
make a choice do I go to thisthing or this thing?

(18:45):
And I think, as I get older,that's something I have been
processing, because it's notthat I don't want to be at
everything, it's just it's likeliterally impossible.
So I try to be more consciousof what I put my attention and
my time towards.
And, yeah, but I think one ofthe things that I didn't expect

(19:07):
was how a lot of myrelationships would continue to
grow very strongly and it feelslike, even if, like, months go
by or even if years go by, to beable to reconnect is like such
a blessing.
To reconnect is like such ablessing and so, um, because

(19:28):
time is much more precious, Ifeel like every moment to catch
up, even if it's like small,even if it's big, like it feels
so much more fulfilling, and soI think that was probably a
change I didn't expect that I'mreally enjoying at the moment I
want to go into reminiscing overour modern days now.

J.R. (19:44):
Do you guys have any interesting stories or stuff
that comes to mind?
I know in some of your episodeswe talked about some of these,
but then when Alex came herefirst, we were talking about it.
I don't know what you'retalking about.
I know what he's going to say,but do you guys have any
interesting stories that youguys remember?
I'm just curious becausethere's so many things out there
Like it was tough.

June (20:07):
It was tough but super fun .
I think the first thing thatactually comes to mind was maybe
one of the last times we wereall dancing together because, jr
, you're only there up untilnewbie.
Return of year, right.

J.R. (20:15):
Yeah, I was there for part of old year.

June (20:18):
And so I think one of the highlights of our time was, like
even just like Hell Weekleading up to oh shoot, now I
forgot the competition where wegot first place for the movie
set oh, prelude, oh yeah, oreven like for the next one, was
like for vibe, but I think thatthere was just a moment during

(20:39):
rehearsal where we did thisfinal dress rehearsal or final
run through, all in our costumesand we just felt, yo, this is
it, this is the one, and even ifwe don't place, this is the set
and I felt like, all right, ifI never dance after this again,
I'd be really satisfied yeah,when it's just so nice to share

(20:59):
that type of feeling and thattype of like completion, I guess
to to share that with you guys,because you guys are in my
class and like we came from likeday zero to then at that point
and we were all working hardtowards creating something as a
unit and it wasn't just oneperson who was doing one thing.
It's like everyone had a role onthis team and I think we always

(21:23):
say, oh, even if you're in theback, like if someone's looking
at you, so don't feel like youcan just hide.
It's like I feel like everyonegave their 110 percent to make
it feel like they're the star ofthe show, but really that
mentality made the entire set sopowerful, and so I thought that
was just really special tothink about, because it's not

(21:45):
like, yes, I love watching ourvideos from time to time, like
on YouTube, but I get to cherishthe memories I have of like
behind the scenes and no oneelse is going to understand that
feeling of working hard andthen just feeling yeah feeling
it.

J.R. (22:00):
I was gonna ask you guys do you guys remember any funny
or interesting behind the scenesmoments?
And the one that comes to mindfirst, if you guys want to think
, is remember when, alex, whenwe were doing the Scream set and
our costume changes were insane.
Oh, and for every run through Inever got my costume all the
way on until we were on stage,for I Think, prelude Wow.
And then I actually got it on.

(22:21):
Wow.
And then we did well.

June (22:26):
But until then I had never got it on on time.

J.R. (22:27):
It was meant to be yeah, yeah, yeah and it's always nice
dancing next to Alex because healways like hypes you up, let's
go.
I got it.
Come on stage that's a good man.

Yeah, totally remember you remember that?
Yeah, because I told you that Ithink we talked about this.

J.R. (22:40):
Yeah, I was like oh my god , I'm not getting this, because
we went from fully.
I had four layers on fullyclothed.
Every piece was stripping offmore layers until we're naked
for 300.
And then we put back on likeblack clothes for Scream and
then we go into Matrix afterthat.
But yeah, that one from nakedto Scream, I was like never
happened.

Alex Hung (22:59):
Are you just wearing boxers underneath the?

J.R. (23:07):
No because I had, maybe because, no, no, no because I
had black pants on that I wouldwear also for the next piece
right so I was pretty much inboxers for 300, but then after
that I was like yeah, everythingback on dang.

June (23:15):
That's hard when you're like sweating and then you have
to put clothes back on and thenyou have to put this mask on
right oh, like I didn't for ajitterbug, I did my beat to us
with my cape underneath my shirtand the vest under that.

J.R. (23:26):
So I was literally had four layers on.

Alex Hung (23:28):
Oh yeah, that's still early in the yeah that was like
the very like second piece.

J.R. (23:32):
So yeah, it was funny.

Alex Hung (23:33):
I swear I had three pairs of pants on, for yeah, I
think I had two at least, withthe skirt like five layers I
think yeah, that was terrible.

J.R. (23:40):
What else?
Do you guys have any funnybehind the scenes?

Kan (23:44):
I think some funny ones are just like random quotes.
I remember one time Hung wascleaning a piece or something it
was like blocking or whateverand we like paused the floor
time and he goes okay,everything should be good,
otherwise something is wrong.
And it's just like we're like sodelirious and it's like, yeah,

(24:06):
that's kind of how it works,like if it's not right then it's
wrong, but genius but it feelslike but, it's like little
things like that that reallymake the experience of our time
on modern, and I think that waslike one of the first quotes
where people started calling himfunny man hung oh that's right.

(24:28):
So he's truly a poet but, sucha way with the words

Alex Hung (24:33):
yeah, have a way with words yeah, stating the obvious
.
I've also been called captainobvious quite a bit, so it's
okay.
You're just making sureeveryone's on the same page.
Yeah, otherwise you're probablynot on the same page.

J.R. (24:48):
Let me just ask the stupid question for everyone here not
just me yeah, it's for everyone.

Alex Hung (24:54):
I'm doing everyone a favor, right I think another
story with hung.

I don't know if y'all remember it was a new year
, I think it was towards the endof the year.
We were all sitting and likebring it in and like dana was
talking and then hung wassleeping.
Do you remember that she calledyou out?

J.R. (25:11):
she's like hung wake up was this new year?

I think it was new year yeah but it was like a
really late practice.
Totally get it.
And we're trying to debrief andI think you fell asleep during
bring it in.
I remember that specifically.

June (25:28):
Or I think it was maybe hell week and you're like do you
think I can leave practiceearly so I could go study?
Oh, like no.
It was like 3 am.
We didn't final the next day.

Alex Hung (25:38):
I was so shocked that that was the answer.

Reality check yeah , you shouldn't have asked, you
should have just said.
Just said, hey, I need to leave.
I don't know, I get it.

Kan (25:48):
You're newbie too, honest, I get it honestly, because of
the time she probably stillwould have said no, yeah, yeah,
it goes to show like what wesacrificed during that part of
our life.
I think another interestingstory or to me it was
interesting was that we weregetting ready for the movie set
and I remember we had an insaneamount of practice and I think

(26:10):
the last or like second to lastpractice our rehearsal time is
supposed to start at seven, butI remember vividly that day like
it felt like everybody was likelate and not just like five,
ten minutes late.
Everyone was like peopleshowing up an hour late, two
hours late, but no one saidanything because we were all so
tired.
So I felt like everyone justhad a common understanding of

(26:32):
whatever yeah, just comewhenever you can come and then
we'll rehearse.
Yeah, it's kind of crazy that wegot to that point and it
obviously paid off because thatset was like so memorable.
But just thinking, like no onehad to say anything, no one had
to ask for permission, like wejust showed up whenever we were

(26:52):
ready for practice you knowwhat's crazy is that right now I
can't even fathom having tostay up past 11 o'clock to dance
, so I don't just stay up andthen thinking how we would have
sunrise practices up until 5, 6,7 am and then maybe go to sleep
and then try to show up toeither work or school.

June (27:15):
I don't know.
That's just such a crazy time,Like what 15 years ago.
It's that youthful energy Iremember one time I think, like
I.
Actually that happened and Ihad work.
We ended at seven, I'd work ateight and I was gonna take a nap
, but I slept through my alarmand my boss was calling me, but
I ignored it and so then I justkept sleeping and sleeping.

(27:37):
They gave me, they called methree times and they're like if
you don't call us back, you'reno longer employed, and I'm all
I had an emergency come up and Istarted crying and they're like
if you don't call us back,you're no longer employed.
And I'm all.
I had an emergency come up andthey started crying and they're
like, okay, okay, okay, we'llsee you tomorrow.
And I'm just like, oh, thankGod.
So moral of the story is cry.
I was about to say on yourepisode.

J.R. (27:57):
You're like, yeah, every interview I cry and every new
guy get the jobs.

Alex Hung (28:01):
Yeah.
I wish I had that skill, Awoman's tears man At the same
time, though I think, thinkingback on our practices, they're
so inefficient that we did notneed to stay up that late.
We did not have to do an allnighter.
I think hell week didn't haveto be what it was, if it was

(28:23):
just planned better.
But then again, we were allcollege students yeah figure it
out, and so you know we wedidn't have the, the project
management skills that we havenow.
Can we be more efficient withthis?

J.R. (28:36):
no, shut up newbies, okay.

Yeah, I mean it's 20 year olds leading 20 year
olds yeah, exactly yeah, it'stough literally we're not
getting paid to do it wait, whatare you gonna talk about?

Kan (28:47):
yeah, how you shorten your lifespan well, okay.

J.R. (28:50):
So yeah, we talked about this in ken's episode about how
I like stayed up for almost like72 hours when I was like, yeah,
that was a great story, Isacrificed my life just for that
.
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna diefirst, because, yeah, it wasn't
exactly three days, it was maybecloser to like 65 hours, yeah,
but it was two days straightplus some change, and that was
class in the morning and thenworking at jamba juice, so

(29:11):
straight to practice and thenrinse and repeat for two and a
half days yeah, and I told, canthat?
he's like, yeah, you haven'tslept.
I was like, nope, not slept.
Yeah, maybe I closed my eyesfor like 10 minutes, but
otherwise I was back to back.
But the other thing I to saywas remember when people would
come laying like, oh yeah, sorry, I was late Circle up and I'm
like, oh yeah, I was on time.
Sorry guys, I'm just a dick,but Canada always laughs, so it

(29:33):
kind of encouraged me.

Kan (29:36):
I just knew, I just knew Just to dial back.
But yeah, the conversationwhere JR stayed up very long, I
remember to paint the picture.
He worked at Jamba Juice and healso brought me a smoothie and
we were really about the peanutbutter mood at the time and we
had the 3G boost and you couldjust imagine two college kids
like super sleep deprived,sipping on our Jamba Juice,

(29:58):
ready to do another rehearsal.
But yeah, what'd you put in theJamba Juice man?

J.R. (30:04):
I put in all the caffeine that jamba juice had to offer
every little inch of wheatgrassand matcha shot.
One of the things that thepeanut butter movie reminds me
of was one of my.
It was after one of mybirthdays I think it was my 21st
birthday with modern and ofcourse, I was hungover the next
day right and had class in themorning like an 8 am math class.
I got a peanut butter mood,which is a terrible idea, and at

(30:25):
the end of that class Idefinitely threw up all that
peanut butter mood.

Kan (30:31):
Yeah it was pretty crazy.
It's the crazy times, for sure.

We were so willing to do it, man, we were just
willing to be a part ofsomething special and be about
that time and being present withour teammates and holding up
our role on the team, as much aswe're sleep deprived and how
much like it sucked, freaking,dancing in concrete and sunrises
in the cold, yeah, like it justfelt such a like we had a

(30:58):
compass to like north star thatwe wanted to achieve, regardless
if it felt like it wasirrational or unhealthy for us.
I don't know.
Every time when I would go torehearsal I'm like man, like my
class is stepping up, they're inclass, they're doing all these
things, they're not sleeping.
I need to also pull up.
I think it was just thatsynergy of energy that we're
just willing for the love andpassion that we had for each

(31:20):
other and the team.
I don't know.

J.R. (31:22):
I'm just glad that was part of that like space with you
guys, of course, you know, ifyou guys could go back to new
beer, would you do anythingdifferent?

Yeah, I think I would hang out with you guys
more.

J.R. (31:33):
I didn't hang out with you guys as much.
I mean same.

Yeah, I don't know Like we're too cool.
I wasn't that far away.

J.R. (31:40):
I didn't go to uci.
That's the other thing I tellpeople is, like with modern, not
everyone goes to uci.
So people like our dc friendsor whatever, like they could go
to class together all the timebut, like for us, we can always
do that.
So I had none of you guys in myclasses and and some of you
guys probably talk to each otherbut, like I know, for our team,
we're so spread out, so I feellike that was one thing that I
wish we had, but it's just whatit is.

Kan (32:02):
I think I would not sign up for any 8 am 9 am classes.
That's definitely was one ofthe hardest things ever was
going to practice and having an8 am or 9 am.
I think hindsight's always20-20, but I would always.
I think I would go back and tryto be more present, because
there's like a lot of things Ifeel like I didn't truly process

(32:23):
completely.
Because there's like a lot ofthings I feel like I didn't
truly process completely and,looking back even though I look
back on it fondly I wish that Iwas like oh, like this is the
last time we're gonna do this,or this is the last time I'm
gonna dance with this person, orthis is the last time we're
gonna do this show, and I thinkjust soaking everything in fully
and making more memories withpeople and connecting with

(32:44):
people, because sometimes, likeyou never know, that's the last
time you're gonna see thatteammate or whatever, true, so
yeah, yeah, I think I agree likejust spending more time with
people, even outside our classyeah returners oldies, super
oldies.

June (33:00):
I feel like there was, with the labeling of a class,
like there were always oh, youhave to be close to your class.
But I also feel like I was,with the labeling of a class,
like there were always oh, youhave to be close to your class.
But I also feel like I wish Iwas a lot closer to almost
everyone else too, not just the10, 11, 12 people in our class.
I also wish that we as a teamcould have, I don't know, broken

(33:38):
down some of those walls alittle bit more, so I could feel
more comfortable as a new, Icould turn to them Because you
just feel, oh, I'm not goodenough to even talk to you
because you're so much olderthan me or you're so much better
than me and I'm not worthy ofyour time unless I prove myself
in some capacity.

J.R. (33:54):
Yeah, that's true.
If there was something you guyscould change about how our
modern experience was, do youhave any thoughts on that?
Obviously aside from makingpractices more efficient, but
was there anything that you guysfeel like might have improved
that?

Kan (34:09):
I would say some of it was already changing when we were on
the team, but I think somethingthat could have been
implemented more was to receivemore outside training.
I think at the time that wewere on modern, most of the
training or what we learned waswithin the team or within the
cob modern network, and I thinkthere was a lot of resources

(34:29):
that we probably could have usedoutside of modern to grow more
into more well-rounded dancers,and so obviously that comes with
trade-offs too.
But I think, just looking backand how, what material we
learned and what skills weapplied and stuff, I think it
would have been nice to maybebroaden that a little bit just

(34:52):
to see what else is out there,I'm constantly thinking about
how I pissed everyone off mynewbie year, how so.

Alex Hung (34:58):
Well, you said what would you do differently?
Well, I pissed everyone offbecause I you would not piss
people off, I would piss people.

J.R. (35:04):
I pissed a lot of people off because I, you would not
piss people off.
I would piss people.
I pissed a lot of people off,so you did piss people off, but
what you would redo is you pissthem off more.
I would try on his skills onhis talents?

Alex Hung (35:14):
yeah, I definitely didn't piss them off enough.
No, well, the reason why I pisspeople off is because there was
this hierarchy in the teamwhere you can't it seemed like
you can't really speak your mindand they don't really take your
opinion into consideration.
If you're a newbie and I didn'tlike that and I was going

(35:37):
against the grain there and whatit caused is friction with
myself and the rest of the teamWould I do it differently?
I think at the time I didn'treally know how to keep my mouth
shut and I didn't know how to.
I thought that I'm being honestwith my opinion and my thoughts
and so hopefully they'd listenand they'd take it into

(35:58):
consideration, but they didn'tall the time and that upset me.
But I don't really have ananswer to that question.
I don't know if I would havedone anything differently,
because at the time that's justhow I felt.
Yeah, and it was almost likewhen we talk about anime, right,
there's this hero's journeywhere something bad has to
happen before you learnsomething about yourself or

(36:18):
about others, and so there wasdefinitely this feeling of
somewhat transformation from mynewbie year to my return a year
into my old year that Iappreciate.
So I guess if I were to go backI wouldn't really change
anything because it played outin a way that helped me in the

(36:39):
long run.
I just piss people off on theway.

J.R. (36:42):
So you know that comes from.
I realized after talking withyou guys and Arnaud is like
that's from Filipino culture.

June (36:49):
Oh, is it?
It's a Filipino culture thing.

J.R. (36:51):
It's a respect your elders don't talk back.
And I'm like, oh shoot, thatwas Kavamata.

Kan (36:56):
God damn it.

Honestly yeah.

J.R. (37:09):
But like the positive side of that, like what Arnaud was
saying, saying on his episode,which is like the culture of
respect is a good thing, right,and you respect the giants that
come before you, that lead thepath, and there's that sort of
side.
But if you twist it or youdon't cultivate or cherish it in
the right way, it could be thattoxic don't talk back to me
culture and I'm always rightwhich is not the way it's
supposed to be, but it stemsfrom that sort of cultural
nuance.
Yeah, I think I just didn, justdidn't get it.
Yeah, do you guys have anyregrets?
I know these are similarquestions, but I have something
in mind.
That's why.

(37:29):
But do you guys have anyregrets that you would change?
Go for it, man.

June (37:32):
Yeah, go for it, jared.
Let's hear it.
Let's hear it.
What was it?

J.R. (37:41):
Okay, this isn't actually regret, but this was a story.
I went to Korea, starteddrinking and I'm like
everything's cool right.
But then I got in trouble.
Like I had to meet with thecords and they're like, oh, do
you know, what you did was likewrong In my head.
I was like, no, it wasn't wrong, I was just speaking my mind.
But I understood the concernsbecause of what it like the
dynamics of me speaking my mindand saying that and posting it

(38:01):
in our Facebook group was so Iunderstood that.
But I like half-heartedlyapologized, like yeah, I'm so
sorry, but I was like I stillmeant every word, but it was my
perspective.
So now I know.
Now in hindsight it's more ofokay, my perspective is valid,
but also considering everyoneelse's perspective might not
have been the best approach, butI think that was interesting.
One of my regrets, I guess thething that I was going to go
into, was like auditions werealways my favorite part of my

(38:24):
call of modern experience,because that was our time to
show how much we've grown and tonot only do the choreography
but do it differently, like wecan block it ourselves or do
different choreo or do thechoreo to the wrong song.
And so for me I always lovedaudition season, just to
showcase us as returners oroldies or whatnot.
But one of the things I didregret was, you know how, in the

(38:45):
round three or whatever, wherethere was like the freestyle
round and I'm a freestyle dancerby foundation, right, like by
my core, but I never went inbecause I was always so scared,
since there were other freestyledancers there.
And I remember there was thisone moment, my third year
auditioning, so it's not likeI've never been here before and
then I was about to go in for asong that was like a popping

(39:05):
song and then mike song comes inand he just he like kills that
shit and I'm like now I can't goin.
And then it changes to likeanother genre.

June (39:13):
I'm like, okay, well, there was my one shot, my third
year, so my regret was not goinginto that circle, but I don't
know, if you guys had stories Ithink that stayed with you this
entire time no, I I mean I'vementioned this before I'm like
man, I'm a freestyler.

J.R. (39:24):
But my four years auditioning I never went in and
so that was my regret, becauseI'm like, but I'm a freestyler,
like, why was I holding myselfback so much?
Because I know I can do it, butI guess something about it was
like, just I couldn't getthrough it.

Alex Hung (39:35):
I do get what you mean, because my background is
freesty, like showcasey, yeah,like I have to give you
everything in this round and Idon't like any of the music
that's being played yeah that'sthe other thing too.
Yeah, I feel like I'm forcingmyself to, to put myself out
there just to get something down, just to check a box, and I

(40:00):
never felt good about it after.
So I I get why you probablydidn't go in because you weren't
feeling yeah, and that mighthave been part of it.

J.R. (40:06):
I feel like it took me a couple years to get over that.
And then after two years, afterI graduated, I'm like, wait,
now I feel comfortable jumpinginto a cypher, but in that
moment, like even before, Icould do cyphers with my friends
or bba and stuff like that.
But it was that specificenvironment where I'm like why
am I so scared that I can't evengo in, which is very weird.

Alex Hung (40:25):
I didn't know that, because usually you're not
scared of yeah, dancing, I don'tknow exactly and that was just
the time where I failed three,three years in a row.

Kan (40:32):
I don't know I wish I choreographed more.
I think choreographing whenyou're younger is like very like
healthy for your growth as adancer, and I remember thinking
like, oh cow, modern already haslike enough choreographers.
There's already people who arevery experienced, like very
established, and have an ideawho will become the main

(40:54):
choreographers of the team, andso I think that's probably one
of my regrets is that I shouldhave.
Even if I never became achoreographer on modern, it
would have been nice to stillpursue that journey, since I
think that is a pretty importantaspect of dancing when you're
younger, especially on a collegeteam did you do all the choreo
submissions, the?

(41:14):
I forgot what it's called, butyou know where we piece of the
piece auditions yeah, I think Idid for some of them, but I
definitely could have done moreand I could have tried harder.

J.R. (41:24):
Right the effort right I remember going into newbie
you're seeing all of of ouroldies and super oldies do every
piece and I remember Deo toldme he's like oh yeah, if you
want to get better, alwayssubmit pieces or a choreograph
and stuff like that for showcase.
And so I was determined to doevery single one, which I did
and then collabed and I knewthat helped out a lot.
But it was because my superoldie told me to do that and I

(41:45):
was like, okay, I'm never goingto miss one, I'm just going to
put in the work.
So that was always a funexperience because it's kind of
like auditions, where you get toshowcase what you're all about.

Alex Hung (41:53):
I don't know if this is regret, but this is something
that I wish I got to do.
That just never really happened.
I focused so much on lockingand locking pieces while I was
on the team and I team and Ifeel like I was pigeonholed

(42:14):
where that's all I can do.
Wait, you can do more thanlocking.
Well, that's what I was hopingto showcase, but, yeah, I didn't
really get a lot of opportunityand I'm not really sure how I
would have given myself moreopportunity to do other styles
while I was on the team.
I'd never had very good luck inmaking other pieces and making
other styles that were outsideof maybe breaking or locking and
occasionally popping relatedpieces, so anything outside of
that, which now I reallyappreciate that type of movement

(42:38):
and how it feels on my body,but at the time I was never
really exposed to it and so Icould never work on that side of
my dancing, and I think that'salso what contributed to me
maybe being really stiff as adancer at the time is, I think,
how I would view it right now,whereas I've loosened up over
the years when I started toexperiment in other types of

(43:00):
styles and things like that.
So maybe it just wasn't meantto be at the time in my life for
me to branch out, and it's nota bad thing that I focus on one
right, but it would have beennice, I think well, on the other
side of that, like you wereamazing and you were in pieces.

June (43:17):
You like master alex, never put me in his pieces.

J.R. (43:21):
I did oh I did a flip and left you.
You were 300.

Kan (43:25):
You were slow motion, slow motion.
You were in slow motion, youwere in the slow motion part
with the other one right.

J.R. (43:32):
All right, jerry, you can have an eight count, but you're
just going slow for an eightcount, then you leave.
Oh, that's right.
I was killing someone after Iflipped.
I think it was Lala, it was L.

June (43:43):
I think, so Someone.

J.R. (43:44):
Might have been Lava, so at least you were on stage.
Yeah, I guess that's true.
Glares at Alex.

Christal Put you in invented sex man In the back.

J.R. (43:53):
In the back just to run through the back.
Dude you're also in X-Con.

Give it to you.

J.R. (43:57):
See, I'm just making you.
This is an exercise.

Weren't you and Marco like mirrors?

J.R. (44:01):
Because we're If you're.

Kan (44:03):
Marco's mirror.
That means you have a reallygood spot.

I put you in things man, I put you in things.
Of course I did.

J.R. (44:09):
We'll review the receipts later.

Kan (44:11):
But to go off what Jun said , I mean you were like a main
choreographer of Modern.
It's like you were known aslike the person who would
choreograph locking for CobbModern and I think at the 30th
Gala you had a bunch of piecesnominated for Best Locking Piece
.
So I think that goes for a lot.
There you go specialist.

Alex Hung (44:29):
You guys probably know this already, but the
reason why I did it was becauseI wasn't put in any pieces there
.
You go, so I was like okay, Ihave to do it myself given and I
have to block myself in themiddle and I actually did take
that lesson way past just danceand into work and oh, you can't
really.

(44:50):
If you can rely on other people,that's great.
You're lucky to have peoplethat will support you.
But if no one's there tosupport you, then you just gotta
figure it out and make ithappen yourself.
So I did apply it to a lot ofother things, because that's
exactly what happened on kabomodern, at least in the
beginning.
I don't know if you guysexperienced something that you
learned in kabo modern that youapplied after your question.

Kan (45:11):
I think the biggest thing I learned from kabo modern was
how to interact and communicatewith different people, because
on or really any dance team isthat your unified experience is
through dance.
But people come from differentbackgrounds.
They have even within the danceteam, they have different
desires.
Some people they, if they join acompeting team, like they want
to win and some people they joinit because their friends join

(45:32):
it right and so you really learnhow to connect everyone and how
to really personalize yourrelationship with each person
because, like those of us whocame from kaba kids, we had a
prior relationship already andwe're we have to like figure out
how to navigate our newrelationship on modern and how
to navigate new relationshipswith people we've like never met

(45:55):
before, and so I think being onmodern really taught me that
everyone is different and youhave to learn how to just be
with them, because whether,let's say, you don't like them,
then you're I mean, you're stuckwith them for a whole year, so
you might as well figure out howto find some like common ground
or anything like that.

J.R. (46:15):
And, yeah, that's probably the one of the biggest lessons
that you can apply to likeanywhere in life that I learned
I personally learned from modernand that's crazy is that we
jump into this insanecompetitive team environment and
we like just became adultsright, like 18, 19, 20, and then
we have to navigate, likedealing with different people,

(46:37):
feeling like crap becauseeveryone's better dancer than us
except for alex, yeah, and thenso it's navigating, all of that
, and then also having to catchup, and then college too, like
we're going to college andadjusting to school.
So there's just so manydifferent things there.
I feel like how do we getthrough that?
But I think the theme that I'vebeen seeing, especially with
following you guys, is that Ifeel like that rough seas make

(46:58):
better sailors sort of thing,where I always appreciate having
those tough challenges becauseI know that I'm better for it
afterwards, like strongerbecause everything else is quote
easier After doing that.
Having to deal with thehierarchy situation, like having
to grow up as dancers, aspeople, and juggling all these
different things and notsleeping and everything.
No, I think that's true.

The things that we went through called Modern just
sets us up for adults, like iflet's say or you go out with
your friends and it's likeSunday night, you're like man, I
have work tomorrow.
You think about it.
You're like I've been throughworse yeah, I've been through
worse.
I can do this.
I've been through worse, forless.
I can do this, but I think whatI've learned again what kind of
was saying just how to navigatethrough, how to deal with other

(47:39):
people, but you also like therole that you play on the team.
I think that's what I'velearned the most.
And taking that into adult life, like in a company or in your
family, like how to, what isyour role for that specific
entity I think it's how I'velearned, especially being as a
newbie, returner, oldie, superoldie and coordinator right,

(48:01):
it's how do you excel in the waythat you want to, and I think
I've taken that in again.
Different parts of life throughwork, through family, friends,
right.
I think modern specifically hashelped me, made me play like
mind, exercises of like, okay,how do I navigate or excel with
this situation, with thisdynamic of my class, returners,

(48:25):
oldies, different people ofwalks of life, and that kind of
has carried me through again, Ithink now into my 30s.
I think that's what I took fromit mostly.

J.R. (48:34):
Do you have an example of any of those specific roles that
you feel like are good tocontrast or point out?

Yeah, I think let's say, you become a newbie
on Cobble Modern right, it'slike oh shoot.
Everything is so new.
Like, how do I be the bestdancer or the best teammate or
the best person for this role?
And you start a new job thesame thing.
Oh man, there's a hierarchy,there's people I have to report
to.
Like, how do I do the bestthing in this role with my
coworkers, with my superior orsupervisor manager?

(49:03):
What is the best way to excelof our mission statement of kaba
modern?
Or the company like what is ournorth star to?
And the role that I play inwith this again entity?
How do I do it?
The best way to excel, whateverit is that we're trying to do?
I think you can maybe do itboth, or even just being with

(49:23):
friends.
This is my friend group, thisis my class.
How to be the best person foreach specific individual and
then now into your 30s, likefriend groups that you have.
Like how do I be that like alsofor this group or this group
different?
friend groups, like differentcontexts, what role you play and
how you want to like achievewhatever is goal that you have

(49:43):
in that situation yeah, becauseI think what, even what can was
saying you of course, obviouslyinteract with different parts,
different people, differentwalks of life, which we all do
in every specific like hub, thatyou're part of every different
community, and for me, I justalways try to think of ways, of
what is my role in thisrelationship and how do I excel

(50:04):
at this for them, even for metoo I think my biggest kind of
going off of that, my biggestlearning experience, happened
more in hindsight.

June (50:13):
But looking back at my very last year as a cord, like
being now in a leadershipposition, and looking back at
all the times I have made somany mistakes and I have a lot
of oh I shouldn't have said thatthis way versus what I said, or
maybe I shouldn't actually havesaid those words that has
actually shaped how now I treatmy individual patients, cause

(50:37):
now I spend one-on-one time withpeople who are now looking to
me for help and so knowing Ithink it's like the two extremes
, like so many like bad thingshappened I guess that year in my
eyes, like of personal, I feellike I was a person that I
didn't necessarily think I wasat the time.

(50:58):
Let's just say the extreme likeI was a monster, right, but
after reflecting on how I wasand how I treated people back
then and apologizing to peoplewho I've done wrong too, now
doing that moving forward, I canthen use that as a way to do
better for the people who arenow counting on me in this

(51:19):
moment.
Moving forward, it's tough.
It's tough being reflectivebecause, oh god, I'm getting
emotional, but I think itemotional, but I think it's
important Just getting the job.
I think it's important to likealso recognize your mistakes
that you've made, because that'show you will really realize how
you're going to grow or who theperson that you want to be.

(51:40):
I don't know you self-shape andno one is going to change you
except for you, and so you haveto figure out what direction you
want to go towards.
But it's always important toreflect on where you came from,
and I think yeah, I guess that'sone of my regrets is being a

(52:03):
crazy person, but those mistakeshave now shaped me to be a
better person today.

J.R. (52:11):
Yeah, I always have this stance of we talk about regrets,
especially on the show, biggestregret, whatever, and I don't
regret anything, everythingturned out great or I wouldn't
want to change anything andthat's great.
But my stance is that it's okayand good to have regrets in the
sense of not weighing you down,but because it should be a
reminder to be a better person,to learn from your mistakes.

(52:32):
Because I would say, if you leantoo much into the let's not
regret anything, then what haveyou learned?
Right, but I don't want to sayproudly, hang up my regrets, but
I would say I know what myregrets are and I don't let it
weigh me down, but I do knowthat it's always there and
because it keeps me accountableto be a better person and not
make those same mistakes.
I was going to ask just because, on that point so I know Alex

(52:52):
and June, you guys werecoordinators for the team and
then obviously Ken has been adirector for a couple of kids
and we haven't been directors orcoordinators on the team but
how would you guys explain, ormaybe contrast going in first
year into now being in aleadership position, or even
like an oldie, super oldieposition?
How, like what is that?

(53:13):
Dynamic change or difference?
Anything stand out to you, guys.

June (53:18):
I think it's trying to figure out how you personally
are as a leader, versus justmimicking what the previous
leadership was before.
But the reason I wanted tobecome a leader was that I could
make some change, like justpositive growth, but I was still
stuck.
I think there was like thisweird switch for me where I is

(53:38):
it regress or digress, I alwaysget those.

J.R. (53:40):
Both Same time, but like.

June (53:42):
I think I regressed to the Filipino culture.
I deserve respect, like youhave to give me respect just
because I'm in this leadershipposition, even though, like I
have done nothing on my end togive you respect.
And so it's hard because in theback of my mind when I
interviewed, I'm like I'm goingto do all these things and these

(54:03):
things and I want to be thisperson, but then, once you're in
that position, I don't know.

J.R. (54:08):
When the heat is on and the pressure's on.

June (54:10):
Yeah, you just I don't know.
I personally turned into thisperson that I'm just like where
am I?
Who am I?
I have no idea what kind ofperson I am anymore.
And so it's always hard whenyou're trying to make the hard
decisions, because you're theperson that's going to get
blamed for someone's stuff.
Right, everyone's not going tobe happy, but you have to make

(54:31):
the hard decisions for the wholeof the team.
And then you have to live withthose hard feelings that you get
because you want to pleaseeveryone and you think that
you're doing things with goodintention and what you can still
be doing, but at the same time,like you want to make everyone
happy and you just can't, and soit's having to live with that
and be okay with that, but alsoagain reflect on maybe you need

(54:53):
to also do something aboutyourself not everyone's going to
be happy what every that's thejob of leadership is to make
100% of people happy.

Alex Hung (55:04):
Honestly, it's actually a goal of mine to make
someone upset.

No one was even recording.
We made everyone.

Alex Hung (55:10):
I didn't even have to do the leadership position, I
did it from the bottom.
I think it's my duty to pisseveryone off.

No, I think I can attest to that.
With June it's a very different.
The dynamic is really tough, Ithink becoming a coordinator,
especially my first year.
I mean you all are on the team.
It was tough to find thatdifference you're sucked.
It was.
It was really hard, man,because when you're not a in the
leadership like position, it'svery easy for people to talk to

(55:41):
you as someone not in a positionof power, right, like they can
talk to you about everything,whatever they're feeling about.
But when you become a person ofagain position of leadership,
when they talk to you it's justvery different, because now
they're also thinking oh, thisis my coordinator.
Like they're going to decidewhat, how, whatever I say to
them, what decision is going tomake for the team.

(56:02):
It's just very tough, and whatwas june was saying too it's
like you have to just suck it upand have to make people mad,
which is very hard, especiallywith a team that, again, we're
all doing this for, like non-payeveryone's willingly to give up
their hours, their nights forwork, like not working or

(56:25):
studying to do this thing.
Of course you want to make themhappy because this is like
their safe haven, their escapefrom everything else, and then
you also make it stressful forthem.
It's hard to find the rightbalance and I don't think there
is a correct balance or rightbalance to do that.
But just being so delicatelyintuitive of the details of the
decisions that you have to makefor the team was surgically hard

(56:48):
, and trying to do what was bestand also be unbiased on how you
felt about the person or theoverall pulse for the team and
what is best for the team orwhat's best for this person or
the future or right now.
It's like a juggling phenomenonthat you had to just just go

(57:09):
with it and just trust yourself.

J.R. (57:11):
But it's hard to trust yourself when you're what like
21 years old, leading 21 yearold I was about to say I
couldn't imagine leading a teamlike that, like in my early 20s.
And some people are older thanyou and some people are better
dancers than you, except foralex but because then it's like
then you have to make thosedecisions and you're not sure
about yourself.
I don't think I could do thateven now being a director on my

(57:32):
team like it's a little biteasier with more perspective,
but they really don't treat meas a friend and more as like a
director.
But respect to you guys,because doing that your third,
fourth year in college is Idon't know how you would manage
that yeah, it was hard man itwas hard.

It's like even just what dances to put in,
right?
Oh man, I think my choreographyis like great to be on the set.

J.R. (57:53):
Yeah, you never put my pieces in but then just things
like that, like what's inventedsex.

Oh man, alex is of course he's gonna have a piece.
He's the coordinator now, Iknow but if I feel like that is
right, you just have to do itand that's what's best for the
team.
But also it just dawns on youlike man, if I put my own piece
in this, will people even wantto dance it?
I don't know, and you justsecond guess, like when I'm
teaching or I'm blocking.
Do they even like me?
You know, yeah, kind of Becausethis is my piece.

(58:22):
I'm the coordinator now, and isthis the right way to go about
it?
Or do I just not put my ownpiece in to appease everyone
else?
Would the mood be a lot better.
But no it's.
I feel like this competitionset is best for this, but I
don't think they can even behappy dancing with it, because
dance is also a part of joy thatwe do.
It's not just like a businessthing where it's all

(58:43):
transactional.

June (58:44):
Let's just give or take this stuff every decision was
not black and white, even thoughmost people carry it at face
value.
They don't understand how longit takes to come to a decision
and we always weigh like thepros and cons and we never do
just something impulsively.
Everything is with intention.
Even if it is hard decision oneveryone else, it's still

(59:08):
overall like what we thought wasthe best decision at the time
and no matter what happens, it'syour fault, right?

always, yeah, always, yeah this is how
leadership is it is always yeahI think I would say like being a
common modern coordinator isprobably the most rewarding,
unrewarding experience.
Yeah, like unrewarding in thesense of not getting that sort
of good job.
Thanks for being our cord Imean, yes, we got that, but of
course everything is in such alike microscope that if one

(59:37):
thing is off, you're gonna feelthe heat and again being a
leadership.
You're not there for the praise, right?
You're not, you shouldn't.
I don't think you should be.
Depends on what leadershipposition it is, but yeah,
anything that does go wrong,you're at the top of the food
chain, so it's going to be yourfault, no matter what.
So it's tough not to think likethat.
When things don't go perfectly,you're like dang, it's our

(59:58):
fault, it's like my fault, evenif everything in general, big
picture wise, it's fine.
But if one thing is wrong, andit's not even your fault or an
intentional fault, it's stillyour responsibility.

Alex Hung (01:00:09):
Yeah, can I ask you guys, since you were in a
leadership position pretty earlyin your adulthood, did it turn
you away or turn you off to theidea of being a leader?
And when you started working,or were you more welcoming of it
because you enjoyed it enough?
Because you did say there'spros and cons.

(01:00:30):
Right, you enjoy it, but youdon't enjoy it.
And it is very true what you'resaying.
Even though I wasn't a court oranything on Kaba Modern, in
day-to-day work, it's exactlythe same thing if you're in a
leadership position.
So, yeah, how do you feel?

June (01:00:44):
When I was in PT school had a like student PTA club and
I knew I wanted to be inleadership again for the reasons
of I want to be able tocontribute, I want to be able to
have these ideas.
I don't want to just bethrowing my ideas to someone
else and seeing them try toexecute them for me.
So I want to be on thatleadership board.

(01:01:04):
But, knowing how I was before,I didn't want to be the top
person.
So I was like, let me try vicepresident and still be up there,
but not be the person, becauseI didn't want that flock.
But I think if you're just evenin a leadership position, it
doesn't matter what title youhave, because you still have
equal parts voice.

(01:01:25):
You're just in charge of asection that you're in charge of
, right.
So it's okay.
I had responsibilities for this.
But just because this person is, let's say, like treasurer or
secretary, it doesn't make themany less important with their
voice or with their opinions, asme, who's in the vice president
position.
So I really could have doneanything.
I'm just in charge of thatsection.
So I feel like it kind of both,like it has helped me be a

(01:01:50):
better leader.
But also now I know myboundaries.
Now I know myself, I'm a bitmore understanding of what I can
bring to the table, but alsotreat people with more kindness
and respect and use again likemy past experiences as a way to
steer how I'm going to be doingwhatever I'm doing now.

Alex Hung (01:02:11):
So it just helped you understand what kind of leader
you want to be, and not so muchthat you don't want to be one at
all anymore.

June (01:02:18):
Yeah yeah.
So I don't think, like even as aPT, everyone's like, oh so when
are you opening up your ownpractice?
And I'm like I am not everdoing that because it's a lot of
work, it's a lot of, it's a lotof just management and there's
so much responsibility andthere's just all this other
stuff that you have to take careof.
But also, I just want to beable to do what I want to do

(01:02:39):
well.
I want to be able to treatpeople and do that well and not
have to think about managingother people and having them do
their job well.
I just want to do what I'mdoing well at this point, and if
I can be the best person in mycompany, of that like if I level
up to a way of tiers like PT1,pt2, pt3, cool, if I can ever be
like a PT3, that's great.

(01:03:00):
But I don't think I could everbe the manager of all the PTs,
because that's no longer wheremy strengths lie, because that's
no longer where my strengthslie.
My strengths lie in my skillsthat I can provide as a provider
versus a manager, a leader ofthe PTs, if that makes sense.
So if I were to go back tomodern, I would want to be maybe
like team captain rather thanlike coordinator.

(01:03:21):
I would want to be the bestdancer and be a role model for
my teammates rather than okay,guys, guys, like we got to
really hunker down and I have tobe this disciplinarian, but
that's just not me.
Like I feel like that's whatI've learned about myself yeah,
I think the same with June.

Alex Cristal (01:03:36):
Once I got off of modern, I actually felt like man
.

Kan (01:03:39):
I don't want to do this like anymore.

This was really hard.
It did shut me off a little bitin terms of dance as a whole.
I think after 2014 vibe, superold year I was like man dancing.
I'm done with dancing, I don'twant to.
I don't want to dance anymore.
Then I found culture shock.
But culture shock really showedme, I think, that you can also
be a leader without being in arole, and I think that's where I

(01:04:06):
thrived, in Kind of the samewhat June was saying.
I knew when I was on CultureShock, like I didn't want to be
a coordinator in terms ofmanaging people.
I just wanted to be again like,almost like, a team captain.
I was never a team captain perse, but I played a role where,
like, I led in different ways,just not in a way that I

(01:04:26):
probably did with Kabba Modern.
Not to say that I don't want todo that, but I knew that in
that sense that the best, likeAlex, for that like role in this
team is to probably not be acoordinator or a director.
Not to say that it was like itshunned me away from it, but I

(01:04:47):
wanted to thrive in that rolemore than managing people.
Yeah, so in terms of like dance.
That's what happened With work.
It's similar too.
I work with HVAC andrefrigeration Kind of what June
was saying.
Like people sometimes ask mehey, we're going to put up like
your own business.
Man, I don't want to put up myown business.
It's a lot of work and a lot ofpeople managing, even more than

(01:05:10):
the skill itself.
And I think, going back to whatJune was saying too, I want to
be better at the skill first, orbetter at what I'm doing, and
then maybe down the line itmight happen, it might not, but
in terms of being a leadershipfor people, that's a different
skill that I could develop againor want to push more for, but

(01:05:30):
not right now.
There's just a lot to considerand a lot to put energy on,
while I want to build up skillsbefore that, if that makes sense
you're like head of whateveryou do, right?

June (01:05:43):
what is it that?

J.R. (01:05:43):
you do you're a head.

Alex Hung (01:05:45):
Right, I'm a head teacher h, I'm a head.
You're the chief of HR right,currently chief of staff.
Chief of staff.

J.R. (01:05:50):
there it is, you're the staff of chief head, so like do
you ever take what you'veexperienced?
Experienced.

June (01:05:56):
Whoa Experienced, experienced.

J.R. (01:05:59):
Experienced.

June (01:06:02):
From KM to what you're doing now.

Alex Hung (01:06:06):
The short answer is not so much because I didn't
have a leadership position inCover Modern.
I was like the, at least myolder year.
I was more of what youdescribed as I didn't have a
title.
I was just leading throughexample.
Yeah, I was putting out pieces.
Role model.
I was trying to be a good rolemodel, so, but I learned things

(01:06:29):
that I learned that you guyslearned as chords later in life,
when I started to become moreof a leader, when I started
managing people, and even everyday.
Now it's about trying to find abalance of things and not
pissing people off too much.
But still but it's hard.
It's so hard because somepeople you just disagree with
wholeheartedly, you just want topiss them off I see their face

(01:06:53):
and I just want to make your dayterrible
yeah, yeah.
So I didn't actually get muchfrom common modern for my career
, but I that's why I wanted toask you guys that question,
because I just wonder if mycareer would have maybe turned
out a little bit differently ifI had that experience earlier in
life.
Did you want to be court formodern at one time?

(01:07:13):
Absolutely, I did.
Yes, I did apply for it and Ididn't get it.
And in the beginning of all theyear I was pretty bummed out,
but I think once the yearstarted I saw how relaxing it
could be to just do my own thing.

June (01:07:32):
This is way easier and I was like yeah, this is fine.
This is cool Grass is greener.

Alex Hung (01:07:36):
I did not see that year when you two took the reins
, because by that time I wasalready out, so I don't really
know what happened then.
It's kind of rough, honestly.
Yeah, I heard stories.
I moved to Nor norcal by then,so I think I didn't even know
what about you, ken?

J.R. (01:07:50):
I know you were director for a couple kids later on in
your life, not in college, right, you were in college I was, I
directed copy kids.

Kan (01:07:56):
At the same time I was on modern.
I think actually directing kidsis much easier than directing
adults because I think they'remore open-minded personally and
they're they absorb more of whatyou have to say and because,
like you, are more of a like anadult's authority figure not

(01:08:17):
just like their peer who's likeyounger than them sometimes yeah
, they are much more receptivein my opinion, and that comes
with trade-offs, because if youmake a mistake, I feel like you
feel it much more and I feellike when you're young,
everything is so important.
It's like different thingsbecome so much more impactful.
If you, for example, if youlike, shut down a kid's

(01:08:38):
self-esteem, that could, like,really affect them their whole
life and you never, ever want tobe in a position to do that.
You want to cultivate the bestexperience for them as you can.
Sometimes it's hard becausesome, when you're young, like
you, want to do a lot.
You want to be like the star,you want to choreograph, you
want to do all these things andwe can only give so much
opportunity and sometimes theyneed more, like training or

(01:09:01):
something, and so balancing thatwas the difficult part.
I would say it's like what, howcan you do what's best for the
team but also trying to dowhat's best for each individual
person?
And you, of course, wanteveryone to leave your team
happy and with as little regretsas possible.
But, like I mentioned on mypodcast, I think I made a lot of

(01:09:25):
mistakes.
For sure, there's a lot ofthings I could have done better,
not just with the kids, butwith my co-directors, and that's
something I still think abouthow randomly I'm just like man.
I should have went about thisissue differently and if I could
go back in time, I would do it.
But life goes on and I try toremember those lessons in my
life and I'm very gratefulgrateful especially for the

(01:09:47):
parents who were so patient withus, because as I get older I'm
thinking like, damn, like theseparents like really trusted us
our early 20s with their kidsand really trusted us to really
make them the best dancers orpeople they could be.
I think for the most part wedid pretty okay and I feel very
proud when I see them move on tobe successful in other parts of

(01:10:10):
their lives, whether it's indance, professionally or just as
people, educationally orwhatever.
So my experience as a directorwas probably much, much
difference, just right by thenature of the people, it seemed
that you're, I was over, yeah,and so I definitely remember
being a super, an oldie and asuper oldie like I did not envy

(01:10:31):
the position of courtship.
I got to see like firsthand,like how little or how much heat
they would be under, and it'shard to watch because,
transparently, I did not agreewith everything they did, but I
did understand everything theydid and I think that was like
really important for me to haveempathy and like just to be
supportive, because I think whenyou are not in a position of

(01:10:54):
leadership but your peers are,it's very important to support
them and to make them feel likethey're doing a good job,
because I think, all thingsconsidered, I do think they did
a good job, especially withinthe circumstances that were
given, and I do think theydeserve more appreciation for
that time that we were in.
But, like hung said, not being achord has its perks you get to.

(01:11:17):
I always like the bench in theback left corner in the darkness
, every time there's a chordmeeting.
I remember at least our superold year it was just me and saya
as the super oldies and so wewould look at the cords in their
meeting and we could tellthey're a little stressed and
we'd be like it's nice to beover here.

J.R. (01:11:35):
I think that's crazy.
I totally forgot the cornerswhere it's like newbies,
returners, oldies, super Oldiesare like the cords.
Yeah, oh, that's so.
I wish I could go back and justlike, observe, observe
everything.

Kan (01:11:44):
I think technically the bench we were at was
traditionally the returner bench, but I liked it a lot.
You're like super earlyprivileges?
I abused my power a little.
I was like you guys can havethat one.
Or you guys can pick adifferent one.
But, me and Sire.
We're keeping this one and Idon't know if the other oldies
felt similarly, but they weregracious enough to just share a

(01:12:06):
smaller bench with us.
But I definitely agree withwhat Alex said when he was on
Culture Shock, where you don'thave to be a director or have a
title to be a leader.
And so that's definitely what Itried to be as an oldie and a
super oldie, because you want tomake the job of your chords
easier and so you want to leadby example.
Like you want to be on time,you want to know your pieces.

(01:12:28):
Like you don't want to ever airyour grievances publicly during
rehearsal, you want to talkwith them privately and stuff
like that.
And so I think I had to.
I felt very blessed andprivileged that I think a lot of
people showed me a lot ofrespect just because they've
they liked me, and I thinkthat's really nice.

(01:12:49):
Like you don't have to justifyyour actions.
But yeah, leadership is hard,it's very hard and it's very
selfless I think, anyone whosteps into a volunteer position
for free.
Yeah, they don't get paid andliterally all they think about
is the team they're running.
I think that's the mostselfless thing you can do and

(01:13:09):
yeah, and I'm proud that I gotto dance with them and be under
their leadership and they madethe experience really good I can
walk away from modern beinghappy, and that's more than what
you can ask for I have aquestion for everyone.

Alex Hung (01:13:22):
So we all killed ourselves in college to be part
of this thing where we're tryingto be world champions of dance,
right, and whether we achievedit or not doesn't really matter.
It was more of we're trying.
We're all trying to do a thingand we all felt, of course, the
difficulties of it, but also allthe reward that comes out of it
.
Have you felt that way withanything else in your life since

(01:13:47):
, the feeling of working superhard as a unit for a thing,
maybe outside of dance, unlessyou went to another team?
Right, you did the same thing,right?
That's not really what I'masking, because I think that
will naturally happen if you'reon another team and you're doing
the same thing.
But have has that experienceever carried over to another
activity or another thing in?

J.R. (01:14:07):
your life?
For me not really, because itwas never.
I've never done anything asintense, of course, like with
the intensity of dancing and thecommitment to it.
So I feel like I've achievedthings, and with groups of
people, personally, but nothingthat feels as intense because
this environment was moreintense.

Kan (01:14:24):
I would agree that just because of the amount of
ourselves we poured into dance,it's probably very difficult to
replicate that.
But I think for me I have afunny story.
I went to an anime conventionin San Jose and they have like
video game tournaments there andmy friends wanted to enter one
for Valorant, which is like ashooting game and it requires

(01:14:46):
five people, and they had four.
And so they were like askingall our friends who would want
to be there, fill in the fifth.
And I, they asked me once and Iwas like no, it's okay, like I
don't want to, I don't play thatmuch.
Like it's, you guys wouldprobably find someone better.
And so they asked everyone andthey came back to me and then I
felt like I should say yes,because if I don't say yes then

(01:15:08):
they won't be able toparticipate.
And so I said yes and then wedid it and it was like a really
cool experience because it'slike a very team-based game and
these are some people I only metlike that day, but we actually
placed top four in thattournament it was really really
fun, like obviously, like youcan play games online, but doing

(01:15:28):
it in person, sitting next topeople you are working together
with, and we were trying to comeup with last-minute strats and
stuff and we're trying to divvyup the roles and all that.
That was definitely, I feel,like a core memory, even though
that moment was so fleeting, andI felt like that's probably
what it's like People who arereally into sports, who like a

(01:15:50):
league or a team or anything,that was a cool window.
This is what it's like tocompete again, even though our
environment was pretty lax,still like people were very
patient and gracious, eventhough there was like a
disparity in skill level.
But I had so much fun thattournament and it was like cool
to experience like that feelingof camaraderie or coming
together for a singular purpose.

Alex Hung (01:16:11):
That's cool, yeah that was cool for sure.

Kan (01:16:13):
I thought it would be league, not valorant yeah, I
don't think I could get top fourin league ever, but valorant
was fun.

Alex Hung (01:16:20):
I definitely got carried, but it was really fun
that's because not that we'remaybe chasing that feeling, but
it's interesting to think thatthat time has passed and it may
not happen again with all thisreminiscing we're doing, but I
don't know when the next time Iwill feel that way, like how I
felt after a competition gettingoff the stage that high.

(01:16:41):
I don't know where that's goingto come from again.
That makes sense, yeah.

Kan (01:16:44):
Your next dance team.

J.R. (01:16:45):
Yeah, or join the military , who knows?

June (01:16:50):
I don't think I've been part of a group like this after
modern, where I was part of ateam and then I had to carry my
own weight, like that, and wewere working towards something
and then we just createdsomething.
So, yeah, you're right, I don'tknow if that will ever happen
again, at least for me, unless Ijoin something, but I feel like

(01:17:13):
individually, like runningthese half marathons I've been
doing and like putting in thework myself and having the
discipline to run these milesthat I have no desire to do and
then finishing the race.
Why are you doing it then?
someone's forcing you blinktwice, if you're okay my best

(01:17:33):
friend all of a sudden becamevery like into running and she's
never been this type of personbefore, and so her goal was to
do the LA Marathon.
And so, in solidarity, I waslike, okay, I'll train with you.
But it turns out that bitch isfast, and so as I'm running with
her, she's like smoking me andI'm like you know what?

(01:17:53):
At least you have company, andwe haven't.
Actually, we've only ran onerace together and she's been
doing a whole bunch of otherraces, but we're doing the SF
half together next week and soI'm just being a good sport for
her.
You're a great friend, that'sgreat so, so, but yeah, it's
just not my thing.
But I feel like, in theory, asa physical therapist, I know how

(01:18:15):
to run and I know all thethings that will make me a good
runner, but because there's zeropassion, zero desire, zero no
passion there's none, I'm justlike it's hard to even get
myself to do the things I know Ishould be doing, but I do it
anyways, only because Alexforces me to do it.
My Alex.

Alex Hung (01:18:36):
There's a lot of Alexes.

June (01:18:37):
Yes, I think that's the closest I'll ever get to getting
that type of reward.
I finished that Disney halfmarathon in February and
literally as I was crossing theline, tears were coming down my
face and more tears.
But it's like oh, I did it.

J.R. (01:18:50):
All right, first place, just take the trophy.

June (01:18:57):
June, stop crying.
But it's funny because I had myfamily, my other family members
, like my nephew was running it,alex was running it and other
people running it and they werealready done an hour before me
and they're like, yeah, I'vebeen waiting here for a long
time and I'm like I don't care,I did it, I'm with you.
Now I'm past the finish line.
Like to me that is such a bigwin.
So it's not like it was a teameffort, but like for myself,
just creating that goal,sticking to that goal and

(01:19:17):
finishing it was probably againlike the closest I've been to
victory with doing something ona dance team.
Yeah.
Nice.
Will I go running?
Will you be my buddy?

J.R. (01:19:30):
I was going to say no, I want to do a marathon, just so I
can ask June to join me andmake her suffer.
Oh God.
Like I'm only doing this tomake June suffer.

Alex Hung (01:19:38):
I can't tell you how many times I've been asked in my
30s to run a marathon.

June (01:19:43):
It's the thing you do now as a millennial in your 30s you
just start running and you playgolf, which now I'm also doing
ah, let's golf, I'll golf yeah,let's go yeah, I've been wanting
to golf more but I have no time.

Alex Hung (01:19:53):
But I would love to make time perfect, help me yeah
I just have more of a commentthat that feeling of
accomplishment, it just itdoesn't happen at work, doesn't
it, of course, like it's so hardto find that same feeling at
work, even though everyone'stechnically working toward the
same thing.
Yeah, and I think, if someonecan figure out how to get

(01:20:15):
everyone to feel that way atwork, then you guys do like
icebreakers or like teambuilding activities it's.
I think something has it has todo with money and how money is
involved.
That kind of distortseveryone's purpose for being
there.
And if there was a way to givepeople money and they're all

(01:20:35):
excited to be there and theywould be like, yeah, I don't
even need to get paid and I'd behere.

J.R. (01:20:39):
If you could figure that out, you would have the best
company in the world.
Yeah, maybe join a startup orsomething, but no pay.

Alex Hung (01:20:45):
Yeah, hey, you want to join my startup, but also
there's no pay.

J.R. (01:20:48):
Yeah, apparently that's where people get that rush.
Yeah, startup and then thepotential of selling it and
whatever.

Kan (01:20:54):
Yeah, I think it's because with dance or like team-based
stuff, you have something thatunifies everyone, like dance or
like a sport, but with work.
What unifies everyone is-.

J.R. (01:21:04):
Money.

Kan (01:21:05):
Yeah, trying to survive, I love surviving.

yeah, it's expensive though, enjoying
non-profit maybe.
Yeah, you know, there's acommon goal for something the
hung loves profit I do loveprofit.
I know you're just talkingabout venture capitalists you
can do some volunteer work onyour own and not have work be
the thing that gives youfulfillment.

June (01:21:24):
In that way, you can just have an extracurricular for
yourself.

Alex Hung (01:21:28):
Golf.

Running.
Running.
Going off of that question,Hung, I did.
I think Kat can attest to thistoo.
But that feeling of rush forsure culture shock.
Our last show, my last show,was immersive and it was like
like movie set slash, a week'sslash production of the show.

(01:21:51):
But we did this show like eighttimes, so that rush was like it
just kept going and that waslike the time that I felt that
very similarly of how I felt onkaba modern.
So, yeah, not like it was stillin the dance form.

June (01:22:10):
That was very similar to how I felt with you guys join
another dance team, my bones, myknees create a goal for
yourself and something thatfeels almost impossible, and
then create a plan to just meetsmall milestones and all of a
sudden, you have achieved all ofthese victories towards your
big goal I was gonna say aboutyour knees.

Kan (01:22:31):
I heard a quote that if you can run, your knees are fine.
So you know, if you want toimprove the health of your knees
, I heard someone in our groupis if you want to improve the
health of your knees.
I heard someone in our group istrying to find a running buddy.

June (01:22:40):
I got another run coming up in February.

J.R. (01:22:42):
I've always fantasized about being like a long distance
runner, but I'm like, okay, notyet.
I'll know when it's when thetime's right.

June (01:22:49):
The time is never right.
Just do it, JR After thismoment, it's tomorrow, it's
tomorrow.

J.R. (01:22:56):
It's tomorrow.

It's tomorrow, it's tomorrow, it's tomorrow.

J.R. (01:23:00):
No, I know there will be a period in time.
I'm pretty confident that I'llget into it Mark my words but
it's just not right now.
But I've always fantasizedabout running.
Why not now, just a little bitof time?
I have stuff that I havecommitted to, so I don't like,
because when I commit tosomething I just do it Like I
get a summer bowling pass.
I'm going every day.
Dude, this guy's so alert.

Alex Hung (01:23:17):
You got a summer bowling pass yeah.

J.R. (01:23:19):
I go every day.
So that's why I makecommitments very like rarely
because I fully commit to them.
Like this podcast, like 50episodes, 20, 25, I'm doing it
Like I have a few more episodesleft.
So that's the only reason why Idon't like to guys man running
is not for me, yeah, I do notlike running, it's not for me
I'll play pickleball.

Kan (01:23:40):
I'll do any other cardio yeah, yeah you want to join?
A dance team, wait yeah there'sa team called culture shock.
You should join.
I think you do really well.

J.R. (01:23:52):
Yeah, you want that feeling of over on your court oh
yeah, either two questions.
One is going to be what issomething that you have wondered
about someone else in this roomthat you've never asked?
Or maybe you have, I don't know, I'm just curious.
Or two, what are youraspirations for the next 15
years?
If you were to fast for 15years, here's your goals that's
a loaded question all right, jr,this is for you.

Then what's your biggest insecurity, biggest
insecurity?
So I feel like you do so muchinner work, you read so many
books, you talk to so manypeople, but about you, what is
like something that you stillare working at and it's hard for
you to get over that hump.
You know what I mean?
I don't know, because obviouslyyou do so much work on yourself

(01:24:30):
.
I feel like you're very in tunewith who you are, but what is
something that you feel like isstill an insecurity?

J.R. (01:24:35):
Yeah, are, but what is something that you feel like
it's still an insecurity?
Yeah, I would say, justhonestly and vulnerably, I feel
like I am I don't say not goodenough, but I want to say that
like I'm never good lookingenough, especially like in the
age of social media, where it'sthat's what's put on a pedestal
is your aesthetics beingsurrounded in the k-pop cover
community, where aesthetics,dressing up, makeup is all the
thing and that's the things Idon't like, because I'm

(01:24:56):
surrounded by that all the time.
It's this is what your value isas a person, is how you look,
and that's why I've been slowlytrying to wean off social media,
cause I don't like the feelingof I don't want to say
depression, but like the feelingof having to be compared by a
value that I don't care about,and so I think that's what's
been informing me to not want tobe on social media and really
focus on what I care about.

(01:25:16):
And also, being in the space ofK-pop cover dancing, I made a
commitment to be the longestperson in this team, so I'm
going to do it, but I don't knowhow I'm going to survive this
next, my last year this year,because I don't like being in
that environment, like I love myfriends and my team and all
that stuff, but just the natureof what we do and what we
prioritize.
What they prioritize is lookinggood, dancing with beautiful

(01:25:36):
K-pop idols, and I'm like Icould give like a crap about
these idols.
I don't care that they're goodlooking or that they're okay
dancers, and so being in thatspace for this long I'm like I
don't like how this makes mefeel.
But other than that, that's thebiggest thing.
Are you committed?
I committed, so I have to stayin this environment, but I'm
open about not liking being here, but I'm also a leader, so I

(01:25:57):
don't want to make that show toomuch and be like, yeah, I'm
only here to help you guys out,but I really hate being here.
It's not like that exactly, butthat's what it feels like.
It's like I don't feel like Ibelong here anymore, but you
know how long have you beendoing this?
So when I finish this upcomingyear, it'll be 7.8 years, and

(01:26:19):
I've been a director, for thisis going to be my fourth year,
so I'm definitely feeling burntout as a leader and not being
appreciated.
And we've changed the team somuch Like from when I joined six
and a half years ago.
It was it's like night and dayof the culture, and that's what
I've always wanted was a teamthat feels welcoming, kind of
like, not the opposite of modern, but there's no hierarchy.
Everyone feels like heard andseen and stuff that I've learned
in my adult life will make us agood performing team, and so I

(01:26:40):
wanted to implement that thereand we've done a great job that
now it almost feels like there'sthis entitlement of oh, this is
how it is, it's so good, butI'm like.
But we put in so much work tomake it good, and then they
don't see that, and that's alsonot their fault for not being
able to see how bad I was beforethey joined the team, but for
me I'm like okay, no oneappreciates this.
So let me just write out mylast year and then move on.

June (01:27:02):
We're going to move on too .

J.R. (01:27:03):
Running.

June (01:27:04):
Yes.

J.R. (01:27:05):
Running, bowling, this podcast, relationship coaching.
I have a huge list, but anyways, back to you guys, Things you
wanted to know about each other.
Thanks for the question, alex.

June (01:27:22):
Of course man thanks for the question alex, of course,
man, what questions you hadabout other people here?

J.R. (01:27:25):
or where do you envision yourself in 15 years?
I'm curious as to what hungwants to do in 15 years.
Volunteered, he wants to be thefirst billionaire from modern?

June (01:27:29):
no, like what.
What are you?
Do you have any goals right nowthat you're working towards?

Alex Hung (01:27:33):
the only goal that I am mostly focused on right now
is I need a bigger house, andI'm doing everything I can to
afford a bigger house.
It doesn't have to be a mansion, it doesn't have to be super
nice or anything like that.
Why do you want a bigger?

house, oh yeah.

Alex Hung (01:27:49):
Well, I have a two-bedroom townhouse and I work
from home, so every room isoccupied.
Right, you have a bedroom, youhave an office, and my
girlfriend moved in earlier thisyear, so now we share that
space, and so, if I don't knowif I want to start a family I've
been going back and forth aboutthat but if I did, I absolutely
would need at least one otherroom, preferably two more, so

(01:28:15):
and a three car garage.
It's got to put the gym in thegarage or something, and then
you have two of my cars and shecould park on the driveway.
Yeah, so right now it soundslike I'm just working toward a
thing to have a thing, but Ithink it's the sense of
stability that I'm looking for,of I don't want to have to worry
about not having enough roomfor the people that I want to

(01:28:38):
have in my life or the thingsthat I need in my life, and
right now it's a little.
I'm already playing this gamewhere I feel like I don't have
enough space for the things thatI want, and especially if I
have a kid or something, thenthere absolutely is not enough
space for their things and thethings that I need to support
them for.

J.R. (01:28:56):
So teach your kids to be minimalist.
Like here you get one blanket,one toy, one toy.
But I have three cars.

June (01:29:03):
But dad has three cars and a gym and a garage.

Alex Hung (01:29:08):
But I just do want to say going with that, I think
back when I was younger I feltlike there's something that I
had to prove to other people andI had to have, maybe, nice
things or I have to dress acertain way.
And I think as I've gottenolder, for some reason it's gone
away a little bit.
Obviously it's not going to goaway completely, because you

(01:29:28):
still have to care about how youlook to some degree and you
still have to care about how youcome off.
But those luxury items you'restarting to see how they're less
and less important compared toother things like your
relationships and things likestability, just being able to
live comfortably.
And yeah, maybe focus more onyour happiness versus because

(01:29:50):
the tangible things give youtemporary happiness but not
long-term happiness.
So, like my long-term happinessis living close to a 99 ranch in
a park.
There you go, and having enoughspace in my house for the
things that I want, and sohopefully I could get to that
and just I guess, going off ofthat, recently a friend of mine
pretty much purchased theirforever home and they have a

(01:30:12):
family with two kids and I kindof wonder, like once I get there
cause they just got there and Iasked them the same question
what now?
What are you working toward nowother than okay, I just want to
make sure that my family istaken care of.
But I think at that pointyou're not thinking about oh, do
I want the next biggest house?
Maybe, maybe when we get therewe're going to want.

(01:30:34):
It's like when you buy yourdream car, you have another
dream car right because you'regonna get your lambo in 15 like
less than 15 yeah, yeah, lessthan 15 13, 13 and a half, yeah,
but uh, right now, that's allI'm focused on.
I don't know how I'm gonna getthere.
I don't think that I need like20 million dollars in order to
achieve what I need, but, at thesame time, money is just tough

(01:30:55):
for everybody, and and so I'mjust trying my best.

Would you be open to moving?

Alex Hung (01:31:00):
out of cost of living .
I am so adamant that I can makeit.
That's absolutely an option andeveryone has that option.
But something about me is justI'm stubborn that I can make it
and be in the place that I wantto live.
I don't want to have tosacrifice it.
And if it came down to it whereI really had to make a choice,
then I think I'll take it intoconsideration.

(01:31:22):
But at this, point.

June (01:31:27):
I want to make it my goal that I'm going to be able to
afford where I want to live.
Yeah, I relate to that becauseI'm not willing to sacrifice the
location of where I want tolive because it's convenient.
It feels like it's close to mywork.
I don't really want to spend alot of time commuting, and so
all these things that take uptime.
Time is valuable.
I want to make sure that I'mliving with a lot of comfort and
if I'm not working towards thenext best thing, then at least

(01:31:49):
I'm living within my means of.
How can I make my now the bestRight?
So, yeah, cool.

Alex Hung (01:31:58):
What's your goal in 15 years?

June (01:32:02):
Kind of the same, like bigger space.
I envision that I have,hopefully, a family of one, two,
three, five.
I don't know.
We'll see how many I can affordWow.

J.R. (01:32:08):
The number kept going up.

June (01:32:09):
How many I can afford.
As of right now, I cannotafford a single.

Alex Hung (01:32:11):
So big family, yeah, as big as possible.

June (01:32:14):
As big as I can afford honestly, which is zero right
now.
But yeah, that's what I'mworking towards and hopefully
still on the West side, becausethat's home to me, and staying
stable with my job, and I don'tknow if I'm going to be doing
all these other side hustles asmuch when I have a family, but
at least right now that's whatI'm doing to supplement my needs

(01:32:37):
.
And yeah, the hustle is hard tojust get your monetary,
financial needs met.
But as of right now, since weare childless, it's a little bit
easier to grind a little bitmore.
But 15 years, what year?
Even is that 2040?
Yeah.

(01:32:58):
Yeah, that seems like such along ways away.
But 15 years ago, right, wewere just in college.
I couldn't even back then.
I don't think I can imaginemyself being where I am right
now, 15 years from that point,and so we'll see.
It's hard to say.

J.R. (01:33:12):
Just got a UGC house.

June (01:33:14):
UGC house, a whole house.

Alex Hung (01:33:16):
They could just give you a house.

June (01:33:18):
A whole house Like I'll promote you this house.
I know some people who've doneUGC for cars but they've had to
give the car back.
They've had it for a couple ofweeks.

Alex Hung (01:33:28):
Oh, a couple of weeks .
I thought you were going to sayyears.
No, a couple of years.

June (01:33:43):
But they've done it multiple, multiple times, like
no one's giving me a car to justhave and take videos.

J.R. (01:33:45):
You know what I mean, so it's like you can still make it
work that way too.

Kan (01:33:46):
I don't know if I don't know how social media is going
to be in 15 years from now.
Whatever you can, I think it'shard to say what life will be
like in 15 years.
But I mean, like the checklistgoals is like to be um happy at
whatever job I'm at, to have ahouse, hopefully single family,
to have traveled to a coupleplaces, a couple japan's twice

(01:34:08):
north japan, south japan to livesomewhere not in socal for a
little bit or something likethat.
I don't know if I have likereally super duper concrete
goals besides, like the typicalones, indicators of like
financial securement or success,but I hope to.
I think one of the mostimportant things I want to do is
hopefully, in 15 years to stillmaintain a lot of the

(01:34:31):
relationships that are importantto me and still to keep
connections with the people whoare close to me and who have
been a big part of my life, andso, yeah, I think something like
that is really what I want toprioritize, outside of saving up
for a house and being able tolive comfortably and stuff like
that.

J.R. (01:34:49):
Us three are like you guys are like oh, we want a bigger
house and we're like you guyshave houses.
What's that?
What's a?
House.

Kan (01:34:56):
I just have a room.

J.R. (01:35:03):
You have a room.
You have a room.
What's a living?
What is?

June (01:35:04):
that okay.
Well, you have friends.
You have friends.
What's a friend?

no, I kind of same thing what y'all are talking
about financial security, right.
I think the biggest thing ishonestly just to be healthy 15
years like it's a great one ifyou're not healthy, it's
obviously as we get older.
It's very tough to see.
I think our I don't know myfamily members just get more
frail, more fragile, and so I'mlike man by the time I'm 45 or

(01:35:32):
50 or 60.
I still want to be physicallyable to do so many things, and I
think that kind of clicked tome too when my brother, marco,
has two kids.
I have two nephews.
One is about to be three, theother one just turned one, and
when they're like 12, 15 in highschool, I still want to ball
them up.
Yeah, let's go.

(01:35:52):
If they ever take dance classes.
I'm like dude, I'm still likethat guy.

June (01:36:05):
I can still.
Let's do some rounds.
It's battle right now.
Like I still want to like, Idon't, I don't like hanging out
with uncle alex, he always wantsa battle.

J.R. (01:36:11):
He beats me.
He won't let me win at anything.

Basketball dance mario kart no, I just like yeah,
those things, I just want to bephysically be able to do a lot
of the things I want to do,because I think part of my whole
life has been such physicallycentric, right, basketball,
dance even being a hvactechnician I don't like, I'm not
in the field as much, but thosethings I really take a lot of

(01:36:35):
value for, right, it's like ohman I can still take a dance
class or I can, if I ever getinto running like, I still maybe
want to run like when I'm, whenwe're 60 or something, I don't
know rightthose things are very important
to me.
So, honestly, if I'm healthy,if I still have like a stable
job like what Ken said havegreat connections with people,
that's like the foundation thatI want to set for the next 15

(01:36:56):
years, obviously I travel andhave financial success and be
able to live the way that youwant to live in the place that
you want to live in.
I obviously want to live inCalifornia.
California is undefeated withpeople that you're, with the
weather, the food, it's likeunmatched to anywhere else that
I feel like I have been.
So props to you, hung onwanting to make it work here,
because this is the place, man,like we can go to disneyland, we

(01:37:20):
can go to the beach, we can goto the club, we can go wherever
we want to in california and theweather is still like 75 yeah,
you know like it's great.
So I want to stay here and makeit work like how you said, but
again have my health mental,emotional, spiritual like top
tier.

June (01:37:36):
I have faith that everyone in this group is going to be
able to live where they want tolive question do you guys still
keep in touch very closely withpeople either from common,
modern or culture shock andwe've grown apart purely because
of out of sight, out of mind?
But like, how do you keep thosefriendships alive?
Do you reach out?
Do you guys always, areconstantly, reaching out?

(01:37:57):
What is that?
What does keeping a friendshipalive look like?

J.R. (01:38:00):
I just invite them on my podcast.
Is that the?

Alex Hung (01:38:03):
answer that's actually a great way to do it.
Yeah, so I need to start my ownpodcast so this is now how we
will meet again I think what iskey is that we all are still in
proximity to each other.

Obviously it was like tough to really keep in
touch with you when you likemoved, but now, since you're
here, I've been seeing, we'vebeen seeing you way more so now
I think randomly at disneylandyeah, oh my gosh, I saw right
now oh my god, we're onmatterhorn line
really, and I was just like onmy phone and I heard june, hey,

(01:38:37):
I was like hey, hey, hey, alex,alex, alex, alex yeah, she saw
me in line because I just go bymyself, right, but she was with
alex too that was great but,yeah, just being in proximity
with each other, I think itreally helps.
So, trying to stay in touch,obviously me and can have been
way more like see each otherwith like rehearsals and culture

(01:38:59):
, shock Sia too.
Really keep in touch with Sia,yeah, it's honestly like an
effort because I think what Isaid before too when you become
so involved with your career,weeks go by so fast and your
schedule is so packed where,like, you work in the morning
until night and then night youhave to cook or clean and then
get back to messages and thenyou fall asleep and then it's
just like a repeat thing andthen maybe you might see them

(01:39:21):
one weekend, maybe you might seethem for a birthday thing.
But yeah, it's just those smalllittle efforts of even when
june you reached out like hey, Ihave something wrong with my
house.
Even that kind of connection isit's still great to hear or
listen to, or even hung Ihaven't gone back to your
instagram message, but hung sentme like a post on disneyland
about there's going to be a newapp for single riders, only for

(01:39:43):
people dating yeah, like adisney disneyland.

Alex Hung (01:39:46):
Yeah, you're single.
Yeah, hung was like I thoughtof you, because you just love
disneyland so much, so so evenyou want to enjoy it with
someone else.

Even you just thinking about me and like
sending that to me is like stillkeeping that connection.
So those small things are justhuge, or me, and can talk about
video games and movies yeah, Imean, do you always talk about
movies too?
It's like those small thingsthat you like.
Oh, yeah, I think about thisperson when I do this, like I
should send him a message, Ishould send him a text, or if
it's something that is, you know, playful, or something that

(01:40:15):
might be serious about a house,or whatever financial, whatever
it is right, I think it justtakes those small things to keep
those connections, at least thefoundationally uplifted and not
fade away as much as we don'twant it to be.

Alex Hung (01:40:27):
So, going off of that , do you feel like maybe this is
obvious, but has everyone hadless and less connections with
people over the years, or has itactually grown With the older
connections?
More like keeping up with yourconnections?
Obviously you're going to knowmore and more people as you age,
but then it's keeping up withthose people that's tough, and
for me at least, I'd say,starting this year especially, I

(01:40:50):
have not done a great jobkeeping up with a lot of my
friends, and so I still try mybest, but it has narrowed quite
a bit just because the availabletime that I have.

Kan (01:41:02):
Yeah, it's been tough, so I just want to get you guys as
well I think it really depends,but something I've grown to
accept is that if you want tomaintain a connection, you have
to be okay with reaching out andit's you don't take it like
personally if people don't reachout to you because, like like
you said, people are busy withtheir own lives and sometimes
they have concerns of their ownor whatever, and so just because

(01:41:23):
they don't reach out to youdoesn't mean they don't care.
So I think, generally I try toreach out to people when I have
the bandwidth or, alternatively,if there's some type of
celebration, like a birthday oranything like that, that I know
a lot of people are going to goto, then I'll make the extra
effort or make the sacrifices tobe there, because that'll be a

(01:41:44):
good time to reconnect witheveryone and catch up, even if
it's for a little bit, and so sodo you feel like you've been
able to keep up with?
I would say in general yeah,it's not like we hang out like
every week or anything, but ifweeks go by or months go by and
we see each other, it's not likeit doesn't feel like it's been
a long time.
It still feels the same.
The relationship, the qualityis still the same, and that's

(01:42:05):
something I really appreciate isthat if I don't see someone for
like however long and then wesee them again, then catching up
is always nice and it feelsgood and it feels I remember
that at some point in my life,like this person was very big,
like played a very big role orsomething like that, and so,
especially if the celebrationsget smaller, like they become

(01:42:25):
more selective or whatever, Iknow that this is like a
relationship that I should takeextra care to maintain.
Or I should remember that thisperson like really thought of me
to invite me to this event,this like small event or
something like that, and so itreally puts into perspective,
like when people really make thetime for you, like you should
never take that for granted.

June (01:42:46):
I think, naturally, not being part of an organized group
and not being around a lot ofthese people, I'm not as
connected to a lot of people andI feel like the most connected
I've been is with our classamongst people from Modern.
Jr keeps bringing up the factthat I have all these life
events.
Right, but it's really true,like these life events are so
important to me that I want theclosest people that I want

(01:43:08):
present there, and that happensto be you guys, and it makes me
feel like my life is like reallyfull.
So it's nice to be able to goback to like legacy rehearsal
and see people and catch up.
I mean, that's how I stay atleast like still there.
But yeah, it really is like aneffort to keep in contact with

(01:43:31):
people.
But that also feels like I I'mintroverted, very much
introverted, and it's exhausting.
It's exhausting to have a largegroup of people that you have
to keep tabs on, which is why Ilike social media as a way to
just see rather than to compare.
At this point in life it's justmore so.
Okay, let's just check up onthem and just see what they're
about.
But I've come, I've made peacewith the fact that I'm not very

(01:43:54):
close with a lot of people, butI have a lot of good quality
friends.
I know that I can turn to forwhatever reason.
And then it's nice having thatnetwork of people who are so
unique, like all of us havedifferent value and different
skills and different things Ican come to you guys for, and
like we share differentexperiences and we have
different bonds and differentconversations, and that I can

(01:44:15):
hang out with each of youindividually and not feel like I
need a group setting to make itfeel comfortable, and so that's
what I really value.
And it's hard for me to findother people like that because
we weren't we're not workingtowards a common ground in a way
.
When I was living in New Yorkand I was living by myself in
New York for a while when I wasdoing my rotation I tried Bumble
BFF have you guys ever

J.R. (01:44:36):
heard of that.

Alex Hung (01:44:37):
I've heard of it.

June (01:44:37):
It's just, it's like it's Bumble, but you just look for
friends, and so I was justmaking friends here and there
with all these other girls andI've made some pretty decent
friends through that app.
It's never the same type oflike connection.
Maybe one of them just because,like you know, sometimes you
just click with a person, but Ifeel like when you're also put

(01:44:58):
in a situation where you're bothworking towards something that
really does bond you, and so Ijust haven't felt that with
other people in this way, and soI have really good friends, but
I have a really great coregroup of people that I don't
need more friends.

Alex Hung (01:45:21):
No new friends Makes sense.
I just this is just a quickcomment Recently, since we were
in Denver for a work trip, myCEO did say something to the
leadership team when we werethere and he's like post-college
I don't interact with anybodyunless we're working together to
make money in some capacity.
The other situation in whichI'd be hanging out with you is

(01:45:44):
because our kids are playingtogether.
But no, I'm not going to hangout with you because our kids
play together, and so I feellike that's a very polarizing
thought.
You literally don't interactwith any.
You don't make any new friendspost-college and you only keep
your old college friends andthat's it for the rest of time.
Because for him, he has fourkids and all of his extra time

(01:46:06):
outside of work is justdedicated to his kids and
whatever they need.
So that's his thought and Ijust I don't really have an
opinion about it, but it is ainteresting thought that he
shared.
I don't really have an opinionabout it, but it is a
interesting thought that heshared.
I don't think you guys probablyshare the same exact thing.
It's just interesting howthings change.

J.R. (01:46:23):
It's funny because I was thinking about this recently
that with what I have in mindfor my ambitions for the next
however many years, I do want todo certain projects or start
certain businesses or endeavors.
And now that I'm going throughmy networks and with this
podcast, it opens my eyes of thetype of people who I'm
connected with.
Now I'm like I have this desireto bring people in on some of

(01:46:46):
these projects who would want tobe there to not only leverage
their skill sets and their ownpassions and desires, but also
so I can spend time with them,because I fundamentally will
like them as a person, but nowI'm choosing to be with them and
if they want to do it as well.
So that's kind of like my nextgoal is to now use those
relationships to the next levelof finding that purpose and
doing something specific that weboth want.
So I was thinking about thatrecently.

(01:47:06):
Not the same, obviously,sentiment of no new friends, but
but using your existing friendsor people who you do meet in a
way where you can now enhancethe relationship Ideally doesn't
go sour.
We asked think about thatrecently.
Like the quality, not quantityyeah and then aligning it to a
purpose, kind of like what wehad for modern.
Okay, so, as we're wrapping up,I want to ask for the final
question before gratitude.
I want this to be like a sortof time capsule.

(01:47:28):
So if you had to give yourolder self advice or a statement
or something right, you'retalking to your future self.
However many in the futurewe'll see this and see what you
say to them what would you say?

Alex Hung (01:47:41):
This is probably different from what we said on
our own podcast Could be, I cango first To my future self.
I hope that you've matured in away where you understand people
even better and that you'reable to communicate with
different types of people better, and tied with that is the

(01:48:01):
sense of patience.

J.R. (01:48:02):
So to have more patience, maybe with yourself and with
others around you, so good luckwe don't have to go in order.
Go ahead, kim, he's like.
I hope you enjoy Japan and yournew citizenship and your new
house in Japan.

Kan (01:48:20):
I think I would just hope that my future self is happy and
that they continue to try newthings, explore new passions and
just keeps having fun and,hopefully, is happy.
That's really the mostimportant thing.
I hope that the steps I take toget to that future self are

(01:48:45):
important to like my growth andimproving the quality of my life
and the quality of life ofthose around me.
And, yeah, I hope you're a goodpartner, I hope you're a good
friend and I hope you're a goodfriend and I hope you still care
about people.

J.R. (01:49:00):
This is the good timeline where Ken's still a hero and not
a villain.

A dear future self .
I hope that you have slayed allthe insecurities or demons and
dragons that you feel like thatyou're still going through, that
you have been through and thatyou are happy and healthy in
whatever part you are in lifeand that you can look back and

(01:49:28):
be proud of who you are and theperson that you have become
Quiet snaps.

June (01:49:32):
Can I just say ditto for everything.

J.R. (01:49:34):
Boo, okay, just a single tear.

June (01:49:37):
Dear future self.
I hope that, wherever you arein life, that you are proud of
yourself and that there wasnever a wrong decision, and if
you are looking back at 15 yearsand have more greats than goods

(01:49:59):
, than just okays than bads,that you are winning and it
doesn't matter if it's notperfect, but I hope that you've
tried to do whatever it is thatyou've set out to do.

J.R. (01:50:14):
Beautiful.

June (01:50:15):
Nice yeah.

J.R. (01:50:17):
Yeah, I would tell my future self I am proud of you.
You did everything you wanted,because you commit the shit out
of everything.
Yeah, because even if no oneelse tells you they're proud of
you.
Like, I'm proud of you becauseI know you did it, regardless of
what actually happened.
I know that you committed andyou did it.
So yeah that and spend timewith your kids.
Just don't stop doing that.

(01:50:38):
Oh, you're gonna have kids,yeah, yeah.

Alex Hung (01:50:40):
Yeah, we talked about this, yes, in your episode all
right, thank you, guys.

J.R. (01:50:44):
I would end with gratitude .
Whatever you're grateful for,we're here for each other.
You guys are grateful for me.
Whatever that's, we get it um,but yeah, we're over time yeah,
thank you, I'm proud of you,thank you.
Thank you everyone for thisamazing conversation oh, I know,
hopefully we get to do it again.
I do appreciate you guys takingthe time out to be here.
We're all busy adults threemonths out.
We did this, but I hope thatthis can be something, a

(01:51:06):
conversation that we can lookback on and it's recorded for
forever now.
So I hope you guys had as muchfun as I did, because I thought
it was.
It's always nice to catch upwith you guys.
I appreciate you guys so deeplylove you guys.
All right, let me sign off theaudience before solomon shuts us
down.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
I hope you appreciate thisspecial episode.
Extra long episode.
Just a reminder to always bekind to sorry.

(01:51:27):
Subscribe, yeah, like subscribe, follow whatever smash that
like smash, that like buttonleave us love in the comments,
especially my dear class.
Tell them what you like aboutthem.
Yeah, follow us.
Leave me five-star reviews.
I think I should start askingfor that, do it?
Turn on notifications.
Turn on notifications, whateveryou want to do, but a reminder
to always be kind to otherpeople, especially yourself, and

(01:51:48):
remember that you can alwayslearn something from someone if
you take the time to listen.
So thanks for being here.

Kan (01:51:52):
Thank you.
Thank you.

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#47: KM Class of 2010 - Being on a Competitive Team, Maintaining Friendships, the Burdens of Leadership, and 15-Year Aspirations

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#47: KM Class of 2010 - Being on a Competitive Team, Maintaining Friendships, the Burdens of Leadership, and 15-Year Aspirations