Me then and now

I am Filipino-American, live in Daly City, and the oldest of two younger siblings who are girls. They call me Kuya which means older brother in tagalog. The rest of my family calls me Robbie which is my nickname, everyone else, just call me Rouben. I'm a kuya, a son, a colleague, and a good friend to have around. My passion is watching movies, but not so much looking at movies but looking into film. This began in high school, I went to Westmoor High School. It was a painfully ordinary school, but it did have its exceptions i.e the film class I was in.

My professional history consist of just a single job. I worked at the Burger King near my home, it has been my only job. I had two bosses both were white and had this inclination to only hire filipinos especially those who just came to the country. I was one of the few exceptions, there were only two other non-filipino workers and they were both white. I stayed there for an agonizing three years, until I found the year up program and was able to escape the BK clutches.

During my years in city college of San Francisco (ccsf), the highlight of it was in the P.E.A.C.E club which stood for Pilipinos for Education Arts Culture and Empowerment. I was there for five semesters mostly dealing with helping out with barbeques and help set up events the first  few semesters. Then I became a little more involved with the greater aspects of the club. Organizing fundraising events, setting up educational tours, and being involved in the community. It was a very important part of my life I feel proud to have been apart of and hope it carrys on to the rest of my life.

To reminice about the bad times

What would you tell interested outsiders about your high school? What would you include beyond dry facts to give them a sense of what was like to go to school there? What would you say about facilities, atmosphere, teachers, students, or community support? 


Westmoor High School, its tough not to reminisce about the good old times. I'm sure many people have a similar experience at their high school whether it was a rich or a poor school. Westmoor seemed to be more broke then rich.


This is what Westmoor was to me during my four year journey. It was a relatively small school you could walk from one side of the school to the other during passing period without being late. One of the most beat up parts of our school was the soccer field we had hidden potholes that wasn't safe to play for any of us. I've had a couple friends come to school on crutches the next day because of those potholes. You would also notice our swimming pool that was well invested in, our pride and glory laid with the swim and track team.


If you are looking for a good faculty, you're out of luck. I've had too many careless teachers fortunately I wasn't too fond of work so I didn't mind falling into those classes. It's a shame since they seemed very knowledgeable but i feel they've just given up on us after being there for so long. Fortunately I've ran into one teacher that still saw hope in us and showed the desire in every assignment he gave to us. He was my film teacher and his name is Mr. Burrows and he challenged us mentally with critical thinking every prompt, every film.


Our community was mostly asian and filipino. We were all followers but we did have divides just like any other school. Mostly filled with people who went to the mall a lot after school and was into hip hop culture, we called them boppers. Was there support? Not much unless you were "popular" if you were that awkward silent type no one would pay attention and the teachers weren't much help.


Overall my high school experience can be described as mediocre. They weren't the funnest memories but they are my high school memories, and if I ran into one of my old classmates i would be glad to reminisce with them.

Talk Wrestling

"I am the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be." "He's getting beatin like a scolded dog!" Do you know where these phrases came from? You don't? Then hanging out with my friends and I may make you feel out of place. You do?! Well then "business is about to pick up."


Lets say you make a friend at school, now lets say that friend invites you to hang out with his close knit group of friends, you're greeted by everyone now comes the tough part, socializing. They start talking, you want to be engaged in the conversation, but you don't get it. They're speaking english but what kind of terminology is that? Everyone is laughing and you laugh to not make it awkward. You just here story after story and you don't understand any of there inside jokes. We get real comfortable with the way we are around our friends and as silly or awesome you think your jokes are no one else gets it.


I make myself very vulnerable around my friends and its easy to get carried away because its so fun acting out, being yourself. The way I speak to my friends I say a lot of foul language, a lot of inside quotes only we know and I play the role of the king of sarcasim among my friends. When it comes to being around kids or older people i wont be as loud or even curse at all, I still try to keep that sense of respect. Although if we are at a bar around a bunch of twenty somethings my environment has changed and I only feel encouraged to be obnoxious.


When it comes to the style we talk it becomes a way of us all putting on the same mask, to just have the default language in such settings. I understand the reasoning, I understand we all have our limits and we shouldn't waste our business time bickering to each other rather there is a standard to be met for us all. We all must treat each other with the same respect without perpetrating ourselves by the way we speak or someone else speaks.

Assigned Secretary Dates and stuff...

Week 2
9/14 Damian

9/15 Paris

9/16 Kaylah

Week 3

9/19 Sal

9/20 Paris

9/21 Damian

9/22 Diante

9/23 Daniel

Week 4

9/26 Naria

9/27 Taylor

9/28 Joshua

9/29 Kaylah

9/30 Rufus

Week 5

10/3 Rouben

10/4 VeEsther

10/5 Nawaz

10/6 Jenice

10/7 Michcail

Week 6

10/10 Demeya

10/11 Shawn

10/12 Virgil

10/13 David

10/14 Brandon

Week 7

10/17 Sal

10/18 Diante

10/19 Daniel

10/20 Naria

10/21 Taylor

If you have not had the chance to be secretary after week 6 then I will place you in week 7 instead. Also if you have any concerns with the template or any questions on the note taking please ask.