Through his stories, Derek shares bits of his life with us as a blogger for FCSN Voices. Check out the Blog Project and Derek’s page & stay tuned as we build his page and add more stories!💌
09.26.26 🥮🦀🎂
On Saturday, it was the Mid Autumn Festival. It can be called the Moon Festival too.
In the evening, we invited Auntie Jen’s family, Megan, and Josh to our house to celebrate it.
I arranged some white roses in a vase for the Moon Festival and had really good and meaningful conversations with my family members.
Josh’s favorite song was Grenade by Bruno Mars, Megan’s favorite restaurant was Din Tai Fung and she likes their XLB buns, Auntie Jen’s favorite place is San Francisco, and Alicia’s favorite hiking trail is Saratoga Montalvo Arts Center.
I made almond cookies with almond flour, bananas, honey, egg, and butter.
Mom made a jujube date and red bean rice cake with rice flour and milk.
Megan baked lobsters with parsley, butter, and garlic and also brought tea flavored moon cakes.
Dad baked lamb chops with rosemary.
Mom steamed the meatballs with seaweed and edamame, stir fried mushrooms, eggplants, lotus root, made cucumber salad and stewed beef tendon.
Auntie Jen made steamed crabs.
After dinner we had tea with moon cakes and my almond cookies as desserts.
There are a few flavors of moon cakes, such as Jasmine tea, green tea, and oolong tea.
Alicia also learned to use a match for the first time to light up her birthday candle.
We also sang Happy Birthday to Alicia who has turned 15 years old.
Everyone was happy chatting.
I felt excited celebrating the Mid Autumn Festival with my family.
09.27.26🍪🍋💵
I had a summer camp called Growing Into Myself Career Exploration Workshop that was led by my behavioral consultant Maisie.
To continue practicing running business, another student Chloe and I were getting ready to sell cookies and lemonade on Sunday.
Her Mom Stephanie and my Mom designed the flyer.
Chloe distributed the flyer in her neighborhood on Saturday.
I had good and meaningful conversations with Maisie and Stephanie.
Then, I put four cookies in each bag.
Chloe poured the lemonade, water, and honey in the container.
Maise put the ice in the lemonade.
I held up the sign that said lemonade and cookie.
We made $94 of sales!!
I enjoyed selling lemonade and cookies in Chloe’s neighborhood. I’m so proud that we made a lot of money with our hard work.
10.02.26 🎶🎹🎻
On Friday evening, Mom, Dad, and I went to a concert in Heritage Theater in Campbell Community Center.
The concert’s name was John Williams World.
John Williams is a legendary American composer, conductor, and pianist who has written many of the most famous and popular film music.
He wrote music for Star Wars, Jaws, E.T. Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and many more.
The music was performed by Peninsula Symphony.
The conductor’s name was Pola Benke and the orchestra followed her stick for the beats.
The main cello was performed by Christopher Costenza who is a music professor at Stanford University.
During the intermission there were Star Wars characters such as R2-D2, Bug, and Stormtrooper in the lobby.
The audience took pictures with them and I did too.
I enjoyed going to the concert.
10.03.26 🍫😁💵
On Saturday afternoon, I had a hangout with Chloe in our house.
She’s my partner to learn how to run business with Maisie.
Her Mom Staphnie and Maisie also came.
I made chocolate mousse with avocados, cocoa powder, salt, honey, and milk and served chocolate mousse to everyone.
I played UNO cards with Maisie, Staphnie, and Chloe.
Chloe stayed in the game room and did not want to join us in the family room because she did not like Bailey’s barking sound.
It took her a long while to come to join us.
We counted the money that we earned by selling lemonade and cookies last Sunday.
We made $94 of sales. Taking away the cost of ingredients, each of us made $27!
I felt proud making the money from our hard work.
I had a good time hanging out with Chloe.
