GoldentToken:VillageTree

Making an offering to the BigTreee and it’s Spirits in TheVillage.
800Years old, the tree stands at the base of the mountain alongside the Village and lake where we harvest our Grasshopper&Village Bean Coffee. Respect for the elders. Regards for Friends aand Family

Prologue to the Walk:Powering Up in Pattaya

Hafa Adai,

Just finished the first segment of the Prologue to theWalk. Understanding that the journey would be a massive test for the body, I wanted to start things proper and charge things up with the Spirit. Since flights were cheap and Cambodia was a hop skip and a jump away I thought I’d power up with some voodoo magic on a trip visit Anker Wat. It turned out that a 2day excursion set aside for Cambodia wouldn’t be enough time (take note:A first time trip to Cambodia without an escort or detailed gameplan is inadvisable) I decided to make the most of my Thailand trip and visit the beautiful beaches of Pattaya..the same place as the lovely scenery that millions have seen on the Movie ‘TheBeach”. ..or so I thought. Well, I was absolutely mistaken because that was actually Phuket(or am i still mistaken?). But hotel arrangements were made so I was locked and loaded on Pattaya and thought to make the best out of the situation.

First…if you get a chance to go to Pattaya and your goal is not necessarily a drunken stroll and romp throughout the nooks and crannies of Walking Street—drop a visit to either the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Pattaya and/or to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not observatory…you can likely find that with eyes wide open—these places on their own can be worth the trip to Thailand in itself.

What do the the oddities, exhibits, and amazing facts displayed at Ripleys; the beautiful gardens at the Botanical Garden, and the soccer playing, basketball shooting, hula hoop swinging, accurate dart throwing, dancing elephants have in common?

They are concrete evidence that in this world of achievement and creativity— with beauty and/or beast absolutely anything is possible. AMAZING!

Fast forward to the nightlife in Pattaya—if the dudes who look like fit versions of Kim Kardashian, Fergie, and Jenny MacCarthy don’t blow your mind (let’s hope that’s all they blow) then if you stick around and enjoy the ride long enough—the street talent absolutely will.

Another chapter in the prologue to what can be the Adventure of a lifetime…with the multitude of impossible things made possible in Pattaya–completely grateful for the eye openers and motivation to make the upcoming 1,360mile walk look to be a bit more manageable…even with a bum left knee, a scarred right knee..and a sore rightside daggan muscle that has been bothersome for months..

Finish or Fail—this trip to Thailand is definitely a motivator to make it to the starting line..Looking forward to rising with the sun in the land of the rising sun tomorrow.

May theForce be with you.
Thanks for dropping by.

TheForce&Enson’s Walk Across Japan:

Hafa Adai,

My name is Roman Dela Cruz. i am reporting to you through THE FORCE as a reprepsentative of FokaiIndustries, a brother in the YamatoDamashii Ichizoku, and most importantly  as a human being.

Enson Inoue, mixed martial arts icon, Professional Shooto world-champion, and very vocal humanitarian has initiated a walk from the North of Japan to the South (Hookaido to Fukuoka) to collect pledges in efforts to raise funds for a direct Christmas donation to the victims of March 11,2011′s tragic earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan.

As his friends, his students, and his brothers. Patrick Ayuyu and I will be walking alongside (as far as we can) from September 11th til a hopeful finish line by November 19th.

As it stands,We will be backpacking this trip without the option of paying for lodge or food throughout this 1,360mile tour.instead we will be relying on the good graces of friends, family, and new acquaintances along the way for sustainance and recovery.

Tune into here for a first person perspective insight and details from the shadows of greatness in the trials of  a gruesome walk–dwarfed by a gesture a thousand times as monumental.

Despite Breaking my sandals and keeping my soul in Guam…as well as possibly forgetting my most frequented credit cards, the trip is geting off to a good note.

lessons for the day:
1.God is Real
2.Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
3.There is no 9th row in United Airlines

 

 

 

 

TheF-Force:KeanuReeves

 

Keanu Reeves: The Most Charitable Actor In History

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“Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I’ve already made for the next few centuries.”
~Keanu Reeves, 2003

The more you read about Keanu Reeves – the more you can’t help but love the guy.  It is estimated that Keanu made approximately $260 million and counting from his role as Neo in the blockbuster trilogy The Matrix.  For the first Matrix movie – he received $10 million up front plus 10% of all box office receipts.  For Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions – he received $15 million per movie plus an additional 15% of box office gross.  Well – if you’re counting … the first Matrix movie made over $460 million, the 2nd earned $738 million and the third raked in $423 million.  That’s over $260 million for one guy – Keanu Reeves.

And what did he do?  He gave away approximately $35 million out of that haul to the special effects team and makeup artists resulting in over 1 million per cast member.  He just gave it to them (source).

“Money doesn’t mean anything to me. I’ve made a lot of money but I want to enjoy life and not stress myself building my bank account.  I give lots away and live simply, mostly out of a suitcase in hotels. We all know that good health is much more important.” (source)

And boy does he mean that.  He turned down a reported $11 million paycheck to play in Speed 2 and an opportunity to play alongside Robert Deniro and Al Pacino in Heat so that he could play the lead role in Hamlet … not in the movies – but on a Canadian stage (source).  Alright – I’m impressed Keanu.

He apparently – also has a foundation to fund cancer research and cancer hospitals.  In 2009 – he told the Ladies Home Journal this HERE:

“I have a private foundation that’s been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children’s hospitals and cancer research. I don’t like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does.”

Over the years – Keanu has supported many charities and causes.  According to “Look to the Stars” HERE:

Keanu Reeves has supported the following charities:

His sister has leukemia so cancer research hits home (source).  The actor who inspired the ever popular “Sad Keanu” meme has been caught being very casual with the homeless in L.A. As Ranker explains HERE:

In September of 1997 Keanu Reeves, who now has millions of dollars, decided to spend a West Hollywood morning with a homeless man, talking, sharing and treating him as an equal. Not recoiling in disgust at the man’s belongings is one thing, but sharing, conversing and really spending some time sitting down with the less fortunate isn’t something that people usually do while in the United States and not part of a program.

TheF-Force:Patrick McConlogue & Leo

Patrick McConlogue is a lot like the many others working in the New York tech scene. Every morning, he walks to work, passing a few homeless people on the streets, and then spends the rest of his day at a computer, writing software code for a 35-person startup.

But the 23-year-old engineer didn’t think those two parts of his day had to stay separate. Earlier this week, he made an offer to one of those homeless men.

“I walk by a homeless guy every day on the way to work and I get this feeling every day that he is a smart guy — he has books and he writes,” McConlogue told ABC News. “I was trying to think of a way to engage him and help him.”

McConlogue approached Leo, a 36-year man who lives on the streets of lower Manhattan, on Thursday and gave him two options.

The first was $100 in cash.”I figured that was enough for a ticket some place or a few meals, if that’s what he wanted,” McConlogue said.The second option on the table was a laptop, three JavaScript books and two months of coding instruction from McConlogue. After hearing the offer, Leo, who McConlogue described as very articulate and gifted, especially in on the topic of environmental issues, decided to take the coding option.

“I want to spread knowledge and information about climate change and global warming,” Leo told ABC News in a phone interview facilitated by McConlogue.

Soon, McConlogue will deliver him a Samsung Chromebook with 3G connectivity, three JavaScript books, a solar charger for the laptop and something to conceal the laptop in. He will spend an hour before work every morning teaching him the basics of software coding.

McConlogue began documenting his plans to help Leo on the blogging platform Medium earlier this week and has seen a mix of reactions.

The technology community, in particular, was critical of his first post, which was titled, “Finding the unjustly homeless, and teaching them to code.” Many commenters criticized McConlogue for using the word “unjust,” which he admitted was a poor word choice.

Still, some writers heavily criticized McConlogue’s effort beyond that.

Techcrunch editor-in-chief Alexia Tsotsis said McConlogue was “tone-deaf” and that his plan demonstrated “a profound cluelessness about poverty and the disenfranchised.”

Slate’s Matthew Yglesias argued that housing, not coding, is the first step in fixing homelessness.

Then, Slate’s Will Oremus called him a “naive techie.”

But along with the critics, there were those who supported his effort. More than 1,200 people have liked the “Journeyman” Facebook page McConlogue has set up about the project and he said he has even heard from some previously homeless individuals who see the effort as useful.

Leo himself, who is aware of the online chatter, said that he is understanding of the criticism. “It’s America, people have the right to have their opinions,” he said. “It’s the Internet, people have the right to post what they want. I agree to disagree.” When asked about housing Leo said that he thought “housing was great for people who want to be put in housing, for people who want and need it.”

Ultimately, McConlogue says he is offering what he can right now to help.

“Being able to code will help him do some of the things he wants to do,” McConlogue said. “The negative feedback is that you should give him housing and food. My thought is that technology will do a better job connecting him, in the long term, to what he wants.”

McConlogue plans to keep blogging about the experience on Medium and Leo himself will write the next post. He said he doesn’t have plans to do anything with the larger homeless community at this point, however.

“I’ve tried to build products for the many before, but I wonder if this new generation is building projects for the power of one,” he said. “I am going to do a really good job with this guy. I will learn from him, maybe even more than he learns from me.”

FokaiFabrications:SeekingTalent

Hafa Adai, We are looking for hard -working, qualified, and motivated  tailors to engage several projects in an expanding collection

of Fokai Custom Equipment and Paraphernalia.  Interested and serious individuals please contact fokaiindustries@gmail.com

for details. much appreciated.

Factoria de Fokai

A brief glimpse into the early phases of the Fokai Factory en route in Bali.

TheForce:Temar Boggs

Fresh in the wake of the controversial “not guilty” verdict of George Zimmerman in the homicide of Travon Martin–the Force prevails—unfortunately without nearly a fraction of the media the world could use...

African American Teen Saves Kidnapping Victim… Media Barely Mentions It

Posted on July 15, 2013

Temar Boggs was hanging out in his Pennsylvania neighborhood when he heard that officers were looking for a reportedly kidnapped 5-year-old girl. Boggs, 15, and his friends got on their bikes and joined the search. “I had the gut feeling that I was going to find the little girl,” Boggs said.

After first checking the woods and along a creek, Boggs spotted a maroon car that started backtracking through the neighborhood, presumably to avoid a group of officers.

He caught up to the car, causing the driver to stop and push the girl out. Boggs scooped her up and delivered her to the police. “I’m just a normal person,” he said. “It was a blessing for me to make that happen.”

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd31e02l3jk

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

MEET TEMAR BOGGS

Temar Boggs is a 15-year-old student who lives in Lancaster, Pa. He loves playing sports, hanging out with friends, skateboarding and biking. Add “being a hero” to the list.

Temar was having an average summer day on July 11: he helped a neighbor move her couch, and then settled in to hang out with some friends. But when Temar and friend Chris Garcia heard a five-year old girl had been abducted from their neighborhood, they jumped into action. After locating and chasing down the abductor, they rescued five-year old Jocelyn Rojas and were able to return her safe and sound to her parents.

For his heroics, Boggs is our Foot Soldier of the week. I spoke with him this week about his extraordinary actions.

How did this all happen?

 [After finding out about the abduction], we went out there and made a little search party of all of our friends and went to go look for her, go find her.

We looked for about half an hour to about 45 minutes around the area where they said she could have been missing and we couldn’t find her at all so we came back. The whole block was filled with fire fighters, police, newscasts, and so on so forth.

So people were– everybody in the group was scattered out everywhere. People were in their houses. One of my friends was at their houses; most of my friends were talking to other people, and all this other stuff. And I was just up a long thing on the bike and I had a feeling in my stomach that I was going to find the little girl.

And I went toward that way and Chris followed me, and from there, then– and we saw a suspicious car, we looked in the passenger seat: the little girl was in the car. We chased it for about ten to fifteen minutes and I guess he got scared and let her out in the corner.

I picked her up—well, no, I didn’t pick her up, she ran to me and said she needed her mommy, and I rode her back home. Well, halfway, cause the way I had her was dangerous so then I carried her back halfway home.

So what about the car was suspicious, what made it catch your eye?

He was just turning around, like he was turning around down–I wouldn’t say streets, cause they were like little cul-de-sacs, but then they would branch off to another street. So he was turning down those.

So, like, up the hill where I was chasing him down… there was like a car of cops, and he saw them and turned back around and went down the hill. And that just made it a little more suspicious. And then I looked in the passenger seat – the little girl was there.

And when you saw her – were you scared? Did you know it was her? What was going through your mind?

I wasn’t scared, I was just [thinking], “Save the little girl, make sure she was okay.”

So you got her, you took her back, you gave her to the police first? Or did you take her straight to the family?

I took her to… I think it was a firefighter.

And you got to meet her family later. What was that like?

It was just heartwarming, how much love they showed me.

How do you feel about having saved that girl?

It was just out of heart. It wasn’t to get attention or anything. It was just to help somebody in the community, help make sure another little life was okay and make sure her future could be possible.

And your friend Chris, how does he feel about it?

He feels the same way. He did that out of heart, he didn’t do it to receive anything.

Inspired by Temar and Chris’ heroism, people across the country have decided that the boys do deserve something in return for saving five-year old Jocelyn. Several individuals have already set up online fundraisers to raise money for college scholarships for Temar and Chris. You can find out more at this report on Lancaster Online.

EnsonInoue:TheForce is With Him

 

Enson Inoue’s New Fight: Helping the Displaced of Northern Japan

By Tommy Hackett on July 17, 2013

Enson Inoue is known for a fighting spirit which carried him in epic battles against the likes of Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture, and Igor Vovchanchyn during the heyday of Japanese MMA.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Inoue first came to Japan in his early 20’s, where he began an unlikely MMA career — initially, to challenge his own sense of fear. The Japanese accepted him as one of their own, dubbing him “Yamato Damashii,” or the spirit of traditional Japan. His ferocity and never-say-die attitude was said to be bringing back the samurai spirit that the Japanese themselves were losing.

But today, Enson Inoue is planning a new challenge: a pilgrimage across his adopted home, to raise money and awareness for those still suffering and displaced by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Beginning in September, Inoue will trek close to 1500 miles in honor of the displaced, including through the ravaged areas of Iwate Prefecture — staying wherever he may find shelter and only carrying his own food and water.

He’s asking fans to pledge support, accepting donations through his website which will be used for supplies to help the displaced.

“What we’ll be doing is not only raising money for the people up there, but also I want to make it so it inspires them too,” Inoue explains of the walk he will take with two longtime friends, Roman De La Cruz of Fokai Industries and K-1 veteran Pat Ayuyu.

“As far as food and water goes, we’re going to run out of supplies, yeah?” he adds, his Hawaii accent still rock-solid after almost two decades in Japan. “But these people don’t have work and don’t have a way to purchase what they want. That’s why I’m making that rule, that we only eat what we carry, to put us in the situation where we have to depend on people’s help too.”

“They’re in a situation (in Northern Japan) where they need to rely on other people,” he continues. “It’s not possible to make it all the way across Japan only carrying food and water, without help. We’re going to have to sleep outside every day. So it’s kind of like their situation, unstable. They’re in temporary housing and they don’t know how long they’re going to be there. They’re not confident they’ll always have a place to sleep. We might find a good place to sleep one night, and not find anywhere to sleep the next.”

“You’ve got to keep the hope. If you look at the resources, there’s really no way to make it. If you look at the people in temporary housing, it’s the same: some of them end up having to wait until hope comes. I hope it inspires them to continue on.”

In 2010 Inoue completed the Shikoku Pilgrimage, a walking tour of 88 Buddhist temples. After the 2011 disaster, he began setting aside time from his successful network of martial arts academies to help the disaffected. With the help of his friends and fans, Inoue has made more than 20 trips to bring supplies to the ravaged north from his home in Saitama.

He describes the lessons learned from his MMA career as serving him well in these experiences. He was a huge underdog when he handed Couture his first MMA loss, and refused to quit in a frightful beating at the hands of Igor Vovchanchyn – in a bout where he sustained a swollen brain and numerous other injuries.

“Discipline and perseverance,” he says. “The duration of the fight is different; even thinking of the hard training before the fights; this (trek) will be a bit longer. It’s a whole different thing, but it’s the same thing. To have to get up again every day, no matter how much pain you have. Pushing yourself to get through the mental anguish.”

But this time, the battle isn’t about testing his fighting spirit.

“It’s to inspire them to continue on,” Inoue says. “Second, the fans, I can inspire them to help. They don’t understand how dire the situation is. If people didn’t do these volunteer missions to help, a lot of people would be dead. The people up north still need help.”

“If you skip a couple of beers and pledge a penny per mile,” Inoue explains, “at the end of the journey, that $13 will buy water for a family for a month, or rice for a couple weeks. You can help people in ways that are life changing.”

Donations can be made through Enson Inoue’s website, DestinyForever.com.

Welcome to TheF-Force:

Hafa Adai and Welcome to the Force:(pronounced the Force/silent f/).
The F-Force has 3main objectives.

1. A window into the Heartbeat of FokaiInternaional.
2. FokaiIndustries effort to showcase good intentions of the gifted helping the challenged.
3. A video log into the history, the detail, and the evolution of FokaiApparel/Equipment.

Ultimately we are here to service mankind, to reenforce the position of goodwill, and to motivate self-improvement…

We stand proudly as Micronesians in focus for a better whole.

Thanks for tuning in.
May the Force be with you.

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