My "Revival" Weekend

Well, there's really no point in me trying to explain that it's been a LONG while since I last posted anything on here, as you can all see that for yourselves. So I'm just gonna dive right into the meat of things and explain how this past weekend was my big "revival" weekend. Unfortunately, it's still gonna be a pretty long entry, because I really want to get the WHOLE story out there. I hope you do read it all, so you can see for yourself just where I am coming from right now.

For those of you who have been keeping up with me on Facebook through my constant status updates, you know that I have been having quite a miserable time lately (for the past few months it's been on and off, back and forth between being absolutely miserable and then totally "fine" on the outside), and it really got to its worst on Friday night. I honestly felt like just throwing in the towel and letting my life just go to shit (even more than it already has). But then, something happened. This is the story of how this weekend reaffirmed to me that everything (and I mean, EVERYTHING) happens for a reason, and that you are always exactly where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there, doing what you're supposed to be doing.

It started on Friday night. I was packing my bags and getting ready to leave for Andrew's house, since he was my ride up to San Jose. I couldn't drive my car, so I was relying on my sister to take me to Andrew's house. The details of what happened next are kinda iffy in my head right now, but basically I was having some sort of conversation with my mom and sister and then she said something that really upset me, and so I raised my voice and she did the same, and things got pretty heated pretty quickly. It ended with me screaming at the top of my lungs, "You're not my fucking sister! (x2)" And so, needless to say, THAT pretty much blew away any chance I had of getting to Andrew's.

So I decided that I was going to walk all the way across LA county from Glendale to Marina del Rey, since I REALLY wanted to go to the Summer Conference, and that was the only way I saw that I was gonna get there. Now, you're probably wondering, "Why didn't you just ask your Mom to drop you off?" Well, I did, you see, but my mom isn't used to driving long distances at night, so she said she couldn't do it. And so, with my mind set on walking the whole way there, I posted it on Facebook, like I always do, posting every second of my life on there like it's the normal thing to do... And then while I was packing my bags and getting ready to leave, my sister knocks on my door. So I open it, and all she says is "I'll take you, ok?" Me, still being heated from earlier, REALLY wanted to say some snide remark, but decided to lower my pride and just say, "Ok."

So eventually I get to Andrew's place, and I was on Facebook on my iPhone (I just can't get enough of Facebook, it seems, eh?) reading and commenting on my best friend Trevor Roach's latest status update. He was in the same shitty mood I was in, which was becoming more and more common lately. So his friend T-roy and I pretty much invaded his wall post and had our own little conversation about life and shit like that, and man, this guy really inspired me! I mean, WOW. He'd been down on his luck for over 2 years already and was STILL alive and kicking, and STILL moving forward trying to make the best outta the cards he'd been dealt. I thought MY life was bad? This guy had been so low at one point that he was living in his car for a period of time! It was truly a huge slap in the face for me, and I immediately felt horrible that I was over here complaining on a daily basis about how bad my life is...and then I get this reminded from a friend of a friend living on the opposite side of the country that my problems ain't shit compared to what he's gone through, and what so many other people are still going through. Just...the way he looks at life, the way he goes on living day to day saying that it is what it is and he can only look forward, it's truly inspiring! It got me thinking, if HE can go on living and thinking like that even after all he's been through and is still going through, what RIGHT do I have to sit here and complain about my life when I don't even have it as bad as he does? That was the start of it all...the beginning of my decision to change. The events that transpired next were the true catalyst for this huge change in me, though. Keep reading, you won't regret it. I promise.

So we get to the BWW Summer Conference 2011, and things are going well, and there are all these speakers sharing their tips to becoming successful and stuff like that, and it was as if the flame inside me that had been sparked by my conversation with T-roy had just been fed a bunch of "fire food". That small little spark in me just grew and grew until the fires of passion and absolute excitement about being alive completely consumed me. I was experiencing a natural euphoria and I was getting hyped up about life! In less than 24 hours, I went from feeling the worst I had ever felt in my life, to feeling the absolute best that I had felt in a VERY long time. It was AMAZING! We eventually broke for dinner, and when we came back, there was this group performing a few songs about being successful in the business and stuff like that. They ended it with "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba. THAT was the kicker. Those words have never rang truer for me in my entire life! "I get knocked down, but I get up again; You're never gonna keep me down!" I mean, WOW! The rest of the night went with a few more presentations that really changed my life.

On Sunday morning, Matt woke me up and we got dressed and ready and went to the Christian service. Keep in mind, folks, that I am not a Christian. Those of you who know me, know why. Those of you who don't, that's another blog entry altogether, but I promise I will explain. When we got there, the same group that had been performing on Saturday's second half was on stage singing songs of praise. The song they were singing when we got there had something to do with how much we are all loved by Jesus and whatnot, I no shit, I started tearing up. I mean my eyes started to water and I almost broke down right then and there. It was EXACTLY what I had needed to hear. I had been feeling so unloved and unappreciated and unworthy of anything for the longest time, and for complete strangers to tell me that Jesus loves me, for some reason I just cracked. It hit a chord in my soul that hadn't been hit in a very long time. I felt all the energy from everyone around me as they all praised God and Jesus and stuff like that, and I was being revitalized by it. Slowly but surely I, the Kelvin you all once knew and loved, was coming back to life... but different. Better. But that's not even the best part. My Christian friends will LOVE what I am about to tell you all next. So the service progressed, and at the end of it all, Alan, who was speaking at the service that morning, led those who wished to participate in The Sinner's Prayer. I had never heard of it before, but I decided to say it along with everyone else anyway. In for a penny, in for a pound, you know? So we went on and said the prayer, and it got to some part about Jesus and washing away our sins or something like that, and again I just felt so LOVED and so moved by it all that my eyes began to tear up again... I was being completely washed over with so much positive energy and so much love that I just couldn't help but tear up. It was quite an experience, and I loved it! That said, though, and I'm sorry that this will probably disappoint all my Christian friends, I'm not returning to the Christian religion. Like I said, i have my reasons, and that's a whole different blog entry for a later time.

The rest of the day went on without a hitch, and I learned even more things that I needed to know to make my business successful and stuff like that. All in all, the Function was AMAZING and most definitely LIFE CHANGING. I will forever remember this past weekend as my Revival Weekend, because it was a weekend in which a long-dead part of me was brought back to life and took over my being. The part of me who actually believed in myself and knew that I could do whatever I set my mind to. The part of me who KNOWS beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything in our lives happens for a reason, and we may not know the reason right away, but ti will come to us in time. The part of me who is driven and won't stop moving forward, even after my goals have all been met. The part of me who knows that there is only one direction to move in, and that's FORWARD. There is no use in looking back on the past with regret and dwelling on past mistakes. Consider me Kelvin Rodeo 2.0. I'm back, I'm in charge, I'm fired up and ready to go!!! My life has only just begun, and this time it's going to be great. Because I said it will be. No more hang-ups. No more self-pity. No more wallowing in my sorrows.

I love my life, and I love my business and everyone involved in it. I am going to do whatever it takes to be successful. It's a done deal. Thank you, Matt Fromm, for believing in me and making sure that I got to this Function. It truly has changed my life, and I am glad to have you as my upline and friend.

Get ready, world, because Kelvin Rodeo is back and better than ever!

Wow, it's been a while...

So I have been out of commission for a really long time; I was kinda taking some time to try to reorganize my life and determine where my priorities in life were. Not to mention the military life was starting to take a toll on me, as I was moving around a lot in the past couple of months. Now, however, I am back in action, and will (try to, at least) be blogging on a "regular" basis... A lot of things are happening back home, and they are issues that demand action. Action from us, the people of the Commonwealth. A lot of them are just old issues being brought back to the table for more discussion, but I think that those are some of the most important things to talk about these days. Most people would disagree with me, they would say that we have CUC, the economy, stray dog problem, etc whatever they can insert there to be a more pressing matter for the CNMI. They are thinking in the now, and I am trying to think a few steps ahead of the game here.... So anyway, I am currently writing a letter to Representative Bordallo of Guam about the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument..... As many of you know, this is quite the pressing issue at the moment. Many people will just ignore it because they are uninformed as to what is going on or how important this really is to us..... but I hope to change that. Keep on the lookout for future updates from me. I'm back, and I'm gonna be writing a lot. You all should too. Let your voices be heard, CNMI.

Rodeo, out.

The Crazy old dude on the bus

So I'm sitting here on a bus up to Oceanside and there's this old dude sitting in a chair by himself having a full on conversation with himself. Either that or there's some invisible person there that only he can see or hear, lol. It's so weird though... He's been going at it or like the past half hour!! O.o Gotta love the crazies we have here in SoCal...

Fair winds and following seas, Angelo Villagomez!

So this post is kinda late, as I had intended to post it earlier in the week but a lot of things came up so i never finished it..... better late than never, I suppose.

By the end of the week, the island of Saipan will be bidding farewell to one of the greatest public figures that it has ever seen. Angelo Villagomez, whom we all know and have come to love in the past four years, is moving on to the next chapter of his life and leaving Saipan for Florida. In the past four years that he has been on Saipan, he has done so much for the community; a lot more than many other public figures have ever done. No, he never loaned out picnic tables or tents for those big parties that we all love so much. What he did, and what he will be leaving us with, is so much more valuable. Just the establishment of Beautify CNMI alone is enough to write pages upon pages about. With Beautify CNMI, he managed to create a nonpartisan organization that united our people, regardless of which political party they belonged to, under the common goal of beautifying our islands. Together, we have successfully cleaned, and will continue to clean many areas on island in our mission to rid the islands of the various eyesores that pollute our image. While I cannot be there in person, I fully support the mission of Beautify CNMI. In a politically divided CNMI, it is the one thing that unites us under one vision, the vision of a beautiful and tourist-friendly vacation destination. We have Angelo to thank for that.

He has inspired so many of us to take action and speak out for what we believe in. The amount of participation by my peers in political and environmental discussions has skyrocketed thanks to all of his efforts. He truly was an inspiration to us all and the catalyst for change in many. He has paved the way for all of us to go, and now it is our job to continue on with what he started. He may not be on island anymore, but we can continue carrying out his (and our) dream of creating and sustaining another beautiful and prosperous CNMI. I have spoken to a lot of my friends and former classmates from home, and they have all expressed an interest in returning home someday to try to help our islands rise up from the ashes, when those very same people had once picked up their bags and left saying that they would never return because there was no hope left. Angelo has brought that spark of hope back for many of us, and I will be forever grateful for that. As for me, I never gave up hope. I kept trying to convince my peers that there would always be hope as long as we never gave up on our islands, but many of them didn't see that hope until Angelo came into the picture and showed us all what was possible with hard work, dedication, and a little bit of faith.

And so, it is now up to us, CNMI, to carry on with his vision. Let's all continue to work together to help make our dreams a reality. We can do it. Just look at everything we have accomplished in the last couple of years. Think about how much more we can accomplish if we just keep on with it for the next couple of years and into the future! Thank you so much for everything you have done for us and our home, Angelo. Your presence on island will truly be missed, and the day of your return someday in the future will be a greatly anticipated event. May you have a safe journey to Florida and may you continue to be successful where ever your life takes you. We hope to see you again someday.

Once again, I have failed to update....

I know it's been a while, folks... I've been real busy with the Navy.... they've been moving me around all over the place for the past two months, and even now I'm still not at a permanent command so life is still pretty hectic for me right now.... Angelo Villagomez is saying his big farewell to our Island soon, and that's going to be a day that we all dread... I'm currently trying to write a letter on that whole thing, it should be out later this week. I'm putting a lot of thought and heart into it so hopefully it'll turn out good.

holy crap

wow I haven't posted anything in a while.... I suppose part of the reason is that I've been too busy lately... and also part of the reason is that it gets kinda hard to keep five different blogs up to date.... yes, I have five separate blogs.... they are all for different things. oh well. been tired lately. bored too. but also been spending lots of time at the gym, so I suppose that's a good thing.

Angelo Villagomez speaks to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce

The Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum for the nine candidates vying for Mayor of Saipan during their general monthly meeting at PIC yesterday. Each candidate was given three minutes to speak, and this is the text of Angelo's speech.

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Hafa Adai and Tirow. It is an honor to be able to speak here today. Jim, Kyle, and Kelli, thank you for the invitation. Gentlemen…and lady.. it is an honor to share a stage with so many who gave given to our community over the years. This is the only public forum where all mayoral candidates will have the chance to appear together and I thank the chamber board and membership for giving the community, especially the business community, the opportunity to hear from all of us.



Before I get started I wondered if I could quickly poll the audience. With a show of hands, who here depends on tourism for their business?



Come on now, who in this room depends on tourism to put food on the table?



Alright, thank you.



That’s almost everybody in this room.



And I would add to those hands the government workers who depend on you paying taxes to fund their salaries.



Tourism is everyone’s business is not a meaningless phrase.



Tourism is the lifeblood of our economy and the focus of the entire government right now, even the mayor’s office, should be working to figure how to help YOU create jobs and pump money into this sinking economy.



So how will a Mayor Angelo administration support tourism and help YOU create jobs?



Destination Enhancement.



But what does that mean?



For starters I will continue my practice of going out with community groups and planting beautiful trees around our villages and continuing to encourage public participation, just as I have for the last 4 years. In fact, if you would like to join us, I will be with the boy scouts this Saturday morning planting flame trees in Koblerville.



I will take care of our dead dog and stray dog problems once and for all. I’ve worked for years with PAWS, but as a private citizen I do not have the authority to implement the regulations that are already written or to hand out the dog tags that are sitting on a shelf in the mayor’s office. Tinian was able to build a shelter and implement a program for under $10,000 AND they picked up 1000 strays in the first six months. There is NO reason we cannot follow their example.



AND I will continue to do what I am probably best well known for doing, which is to go out every weekend and pick up trash off our beaches, parks, and roads.



And as mayor I will finally have the authority as one of the eight government agencies charged with enforcing public law 6-37, the CNMI Litter control act.



Destination enhancement is also about taking care of our tourist sites, especially our natural tourist sites, which most believe are the main draw to these islands. When we get a lot of rain, like we did this past weekend, coral secondary roads wash out onto into our lagoon, damaging the coral and reducing water quality. This degrades year after year the main attraction that draws tourists to Saipan.



Paving the roads to Laolao, Obyan, and Mount Tapachou is an investment in maintaining our tourist sites and our dive sites…and has the added side effect of being good for the environment.



Destination enhancment is also about community programs and community events. Today’s tourist is not satisfied with simply sitting on a beach. They want local interaction and immersion. We have some great signature events with the Taste of the Marianas, Flame Tree Festival, Tagaman, Xterra, and Hell of the Marianas and those need to continue. But with dwindling resources, I believe there is a proposal to slash MVAs budget by a third or more, I would propose that the Mayor’s Office can supplement those community events. How about a series of road races called the Mayor’s Grand Prix? How about promoting our agricultural fairs and our fishing derbies right along side our other marquis events?



Destination enhancement is also about getting Saipan online. Working in partnership with MVA, the mayor’s office could facilitate access to information about Saipan. An online community calendar advertising these events in one place in multiple languages would allow today’s tourist to plan their vacation around our community events. And the way we would reach these tourists is to use social networking websites like Mixi, Facebook and Twitter. I do this for my personal website and attract about 40,000 unique visitors per month. We could easily apply these techniques to our marketing of Saipan.



These are reasonable, attainable goals my administration could accomplish in the first term. These will be the priorities of my first years in office.



In accomplishing these goals I will do what I have been doing for the last several years. I will rely on the private sector, the community, and various government agencies to come together like we have done on so many community projects these last few years.



I have learned a lot these last few years on how to get things done here. I am ready to apply these skills NOW TODAY as your Mayor.



Finally, I realize that there are also a host of other activities and services that the Mayor’s office presently maintains or facilitates. One of my first tasks will be to conduct an audit to determine the effectiveness of the office, so that the Mayor’s office and its budget can focus on providing our community, and our small businesses, with the platform that is needed to keep us in business.



I humbly ask for your support in this upcoming election. My name is Angelo O’Connor Villagomez, please visit my website at angelovillagomez.com.



I will be happy to speak with anyone and answer any questions following the close of these presentations.



Again, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.



Si yu’us ma’ase and God bless.

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He did an excellent job, and as it turns out, he is quite the public speaker. Off the subject for a little bit, watching his YouTube video made me remember all those years of public speaking competitions that I did back in the day, and now I actually really miss it all. I participated in various on- and off-island public speaking competitions and events from the 6th through 12th grades, so it was definitely a part of me. All those years of training has made me into the speaker that I am today. Of course, I haven't had an opportunity for public speaking in a while, so I'd probably be a bit rusty if the opportunity suddenly arose. Going back to Angelo, though, as I watched his video, I could see various elements of things that I had been taught over the years being applied in the presentation of his speech. It made for a very good attention-grabbing speech, if you ask me. Go watch it for yourselves at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgQraAC_jAU.

And so, my fellow absentee voters (and my friends on Saipan who read my blog), I am once again asking you to vote for Angelo for Mayor in this year's election. If you aren't registered to vote, then damn, you missed out on a good year to vote, but please spread the word about Angelo's platform to all your friends and convince them to vote for him as well. Thank you for your time.