rejon is Jon Phillips.

Join us at the Sharism Launchpad and SHARISM.ORG. The event is Dec 21, from 6:30 PM and onward at Sala Rosa. We need your input to make events, media, and software better and to be used by more people! We have to work on our cultural software together.

Today is the anniversary of my sister, Charis Phillips, passing away 7 years ago from, 6 years prior, fighting kidney cancer. She lived from August 23, 1977 until this date December 11, 2003. She lived a full life. She wanted to be a doctor so she could help people. While she didn’t get to go to med school or see the world with me, she was a freesoul.

If I can complete my life with as full a life as Charis had, I would die a happy man. That is all I want. I want honest people around me, someone to love me and my friends, tell me the truth, and to enjoy how great life is while we are still here. I want to work with great people to build amazing things. And, remember, all things are abstractions around us that are extensions of people relations. People are the most important part of life. I prioritize people.

I wondered why the last couple of days I’ve been super passionate about every little crevice of reality, not settling for seconds on reviewing first year SFAI art projects, trying to talk to people in bars about what they are really doing when they just want to have a drink, and generally grinding my mind into every facet of daily interactions, somewhat annoyingly probably. I’ve been posting a lot about being aggrojon even prior to my last trip to Singapore. But, being in the United States is a trigger for me to overexert and be critical of all aspects of daily life. Like a free software project, I try to be conscious about most everything and want to improve lives.

I’m sorry if I have not treated each and every person who reads this, with the ultimate respect, or have not done something to make your life better. I will do better. I will share more in 2.0.11, and as long as I have breath in my body.

I fly around the world monthly and I have input from best friends and new cultures in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe, Brazil, and Sweden. And that list keeps growing! I absorb best practices, new styles, trends, and am fortunate to meet more freesouls around the world super regularly. So, when I get back to the fablab in San Francisco, I’m faced with the engineering challenge of upgrading the current context. I adapt and refashion reality from what I have learned.

Why am I into this Sharism? Or, rather, why am I working so hard on this CHARISM? I put people first because I believe that other resources come from people. I put my family and friends first.

I feel so horrible that it took me way too long to find out that Fabricatorz affiliate, Pete Ippel (hypermodern in our #fabricatorz irc channel), had been super sick! how lame is that that I can’t find his mom, or know where a good friend is at or even what happened to him? I’m zigzagging on planes around the world, and my friend has been sick. Luckily, I ran into Meredith Tromble at SFAI Hou Hanrou’s show opening and she asked me to teach Pete’s class for him. It worked out great actually because the class he titled FREE AND OPEN SOURCE CULTURE. So I ended up helping Pete, and we are all glad to know he is recovering well. I’m glad that I have a flexible life and learned from my sister how important people are around me. And you can beleedat, now I have my best friends, the Fabricatorz, emergency contact info.

If Sharism is “the more you share, the more you receive,” then CHARISM is “the more people you help, the more people help you.”

I love you Charis. You did not die in vain. You still are my best friend and I miss you every day. When I get down, depressed, or become aggrojon like last night when I reenacted that scene from It’s a Wonderful Life where George Bailey goes around ripping on his family because he’s upset with his present situation, thinking of you, Charis, brings me back to when we were kids, I had hair (heh), and we just had fun as little kids. Can’t it all be so simple…

If I’m sitting on some plane stuck in Qatar or Chengdu, feeling that I can’t take anymore troubles with some stupid contract in China, or have a girl cheat on me, or wonder when the next gig is gonna kick-in, I think of you and I always find the energy to crank up that amp past 10 to 11, 12, and so on. I can and will do more. I miss you. To Charism in 2.0.11!

UPDATE: I talked with Pete on the phone! He is getting better everyone and really great to talk with him! He remember my sister and we talked about this blog post. Big thoughts and prayers to Pete! He gets to come home from the hospital on monday and his mom is taking care of him.