October 2019 | Vol 19, Issue 6
FALLING FOR SERVICE
Key Club International | CNH District | Region 3 Division 30 South | Oxford Academy Key Club
TABLE TABLE OF OF CONTENTS CONTENTS
SE KEY CLUB? OH YEAH! 7-8 EDITOR’S NOTE 4
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PRESIDENT’S CORNER
SEPTEMBER IN REVIEW
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5-6
CALENDAR 19 LIGHT THE NIGHT 17 KEY CLUB
EPTEMBER DCM
MOTIVATION
11-12
18 FALL FIESTA 15-16
CLUB RUSH + 1ST GEN MTG 9-10
PAINTING SOCIAL 13-14
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PRESIDENT’S CORNER Club Rush Club Rush 2019 has passed! All of the clubs are active now and have been conducting meetings and events. For those who have taken out time to read our newsletter, thank you! We provide a lot of great information and stories from our officers about events from each month. Hehe make sure to tell our bulletin editor Natalie that you love and appreciate her work. She’s the best. :)))) Key Club offers a lot of different opportunities that are beneficial to everyone. Firstly, we provide you a ton of different volunteer opportunities. In our weekly emails, we send out sign up sheets for different volunteer events. If you attend the event, we will make sure to record your hours and these will be sent to the school. This is a very convenient way to complete the forty mandatory hours of service you need to graduate. It also looks great on your college application! Next, Key Club is a great way to expand your social circle. I’ve met many people throughout our division and even some people in the district. It’s a great way to connect and form bonds with people who don’t go to Oxford. Finally, Key Club offers scholarships. If you are a dedicated member, you will have the opportunity to apply for many different scholarships for the Kiwanis Club of Cypress and even at District Convention. Join Key Club and become part of our sunshine family!
Tobi Yao OAKC President
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EDITOR’S NOTE A Bittersweet Club Rush It’s October, which means it’s yet again time for another newsletter! I hope you’ve all been doing well and that you’ve had an amazing start to your fall. This last month of September was very busy for OA Key Club. For one thing, we had Club Rush! Shout out to all the members who decided to give Key Club a try, and shout out to all the freshmen for staying constantly involved in Key Club even BEFORE technically joining. Lastly, shout to my fellow seniors who joined! I know there aren’t a lot of you, but thank you for being real ones, you’re all officially cool. Anyways, Club Rush this year was very bitter sweet. I mean, yeah, it’s a little awkward to be dressed in full on Key Club attire in all of your classes and to not be able to walk anywhere without accidentally hitting someone with your balloon. And not to mention, wearing all black when it’s 80 degrees outside is not ideal. But nonetheless, those are all things that, at least for me, make Club Rush special. It wouldn’t be Club Rush with board members constantly scurrying around trying to get to their shift on time or get to class right before the bell rings. And it definitely wouldn’t be Club Rush if we didn’t chant our cheers in front of the whole school. It’s crazy to not realize how much you love something until it’s almost over or gone. I guess what I’m trying to say is: cherish every moment of your high school career, PLEASE! Because last thing you know, it’ll be all over in the blink of an eye.
Natalie Melendez OAKC Bulletin Editor
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SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER
Jaquelyn Nguye
September has been especially busy and membership dues payments we last week of the month. Our first gener also on September 18, where general over Key Club introductions.
Our first general meeting was a succe stagram raffle that received free Key C ner from our second general meeting, ing the structure of our club and then h from our general members is greatly a by, I hope that many members contin order to learn about volunteering eve ties.
Speaking of activities, on Septembe D04N and D04W gathered at Garden G Those who weren’t interested also wer to use. At the DCM, I was helping our ing boba on the table and handing ou DCMs like these, I would be at the serv bags) but luckily I was able to lend a h
I didn’t participate in the color fest, bu was like watching a battle unfold. I ma everywhere, meaning that our division D04N seemed to have a civil war, whic watch.
Overall, September went by in a flurr ments on Instagram and Facebook, at fun at the September DCM. I’m excited October DCM for next month!
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IN IN REVIEW REVIEW
en| 10 | Publicist
y with our club, since Fall Rally South ere heavily emphasized on during the ral meeting of the 2019-2020 term was members met in the choir room to go
ess, as we had two winners from our InClub merch! We also had another winwhere we gave a presentation coverheld a kahoot game. The participation appreciated!!! As the school year goes nue attending our general meetings in ents and other Key Club related activi-
r 28th, our division (D30S) along with Grove Park to go all out in a color fest! re able to make tote bags and keep it Treasurer run the boba stand by refillut straws to the customers. Usually with vice project station (so making the tote hand with manning the boba stand.
ut watching the chaos from a distance ainly saw yellow and red powder flying n and D04W were really battling it out. ch in and of itself was very amusing to
ry of advertising Fall Rally South payttending general meetings, and having d for the new volunteering events and
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KEY CLUB? O Victoria Truong | 10
Wow, time sure does fly by! I can’t believe it’s already been half a year since OAKC announced its newly appointed board members. I’ve been a Tech Chair for two terms now, and the website has been up and running for a few months as well. Although school’s been buzzing with homework and whatnot, Key Club is still staying updated with new events and brand new merch (which you guys should totally check out by the way) including the justreleased OAKC sweaters! Anyways, all good and exciting news aside, this month’s article will be a throwback to a special day in March, the 8th to be particular, which is the day the new OAKC board members were announced! That day was somewhat nerve-wracking for those of us who had applied for the various positions available, and I remember wondering when the results would come out already! It was a normal school Friday (except it wasn’t haha), like any other typical Friday, and I was heading to English with one of our current historians, Lydia. All we could bring up the entire class was the application for Key Club board and I had to keep reassuring her that, yes, you are DEFINITELY going to make it into the board!
number of volunteer hours ea practice the four core values clusiveness, Character Buildi can remember as L.I.C.C for we continued to chatter throu er applicants and considering desired positions to our fellow though, I promise. In my opinion, and I’m sure m one, Key Club is a friendly an that has given me the oppo and make more connections schools! That’s what I love ab to get hours easily and you ca to events with! How great do some, am I right, or am I right?
Back to Friday, March 8...it’s now, the end of the school we iousness has kicked in at full awaiting the phone call th ceptance. Worst comes to wo coming my way, but an ema could write a whole essay, single-sp Keep in mind that not only should you have a pretty good thoughts floating around in m
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OH YEAH! | Tech Chair
arned, but you also have to s of Key Club: Leadership, Ining, and Caring, which you simplicity’s sake. Moving on, ughout the day about the othg the possibility of losing our w competitors―nothing serious
and the announcement, but we’re here to find out about the result, aren’t we? Although you can probably tell by now what would unfold within the next two hours, or else I wouldn’t be here writing an article about a special topic. That’s right, I ended up receiving a phone call from OAKC’s Treasurer, Grace Nguyen, and I was gushing with happiness after we hung up.
many others share the same nd inclusiveness environment ortunity to meet new people with Key-Clubbers from other bout Key Club―you can work an make a new buddy to go oes that sound? Super awe?
I’ve really just earned my spot into the OAKC appointed board, and I can’t think straight about might be happening in the future, but I do know that I have officially become the Tech Chair serving for the 2019-20 term! Oh, how I cannot wait to start modifying and managing what is now our current club website.
s the end of the school day eek as they say, and my anxl power as I head on home, hat would confirm my acorst, it won’t be a phone call ail rejecting my application. I
paced, about the doubts and my head between dismissal
Things took a turn for the better that week and I’d say that this was one of the best highlights of freshman year, and if you’re up for it, I strongly recommend that you apply for Key Club board next year, too! It really is worth it, and the Key Club board as a whole is friendly and collaborative, so trust me when I say that good things have happened to be because of Key Club. It’s thanks to an organization like this that we can wear our yellow with pride as the Division 30 South Suns, and of course, our red, white and blue for OAKC.
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CLUB RUSH+ RUSH+ CLUB 1ST GENERAL GENERAL 1ST MEETING MEETING Grace Nguyen | 11 | Treasurer To think that this is my second year representing Key Club at OA’s Club Rush. Time sure does fly by fast. I can’t wait to meet more freshmen at our events. Big thanks for my precious board members for sacrificing their lunch time to help at Key Club’s booth. Although it was hot, you all came out in all black to encourage new members to join our club and to cheer in the middle of the black tops. Without you keyuties, none of this would’ve been possible. Good job to our historians who took wonderful pictures and thank you to everyone who took pictures with us. I’m really surprised on how many people sign up this week. Hopefully, everyone will remember to turn in their paperwork and pay the membership dues. And a BIG SHOUTOUT out to William Roberts and Kevin Dang for already turning in their club dues and paperwork to room 102 before Club Rush even ended sjksjk. When freshmen are more productive than all of board… oops BUT ANYWAY be sure to get those paperworks in!!! Trust me, they’re very important. And for everyone who’ve been asking me why they must pay club dues to become a member, it’s because $7 goes to Key Club international (which consists of all the Key Clubs around the world) and $4.50 goes our division (which includes schools in the AUHSD District as well as Whitney, Los Alamitos, Rosary, and Servite). All this money goes back to members through scholarships and discounts for big events. The last $0.50 goes towards the Pediatric Trauma Program, a nonprofit organization dedicated in helping kids suffering and even dying from trauma. This club became a big part of my life, so hopefully it will become a big part of yours too. Please join!!!
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Lydia Lee | 10 | Historian Compared to other schools, our Club Rush was considerably late. It was from September 10 to September 13, more than a month after school started. The major downfall to this was Fall Rally South payments. They were due within a week after Club Rush ended. Every time we worked a shift, it was necessary for us to wear our black button ups and pants with classic yellow bowties. We had a large flag as well as a sun costume and a photo frame. At our booth, we had an amazing tri-fold (shoutout out to Tiffany <3) and a property card (that I am proud to say I made) that was mandatory by ICC. On the Wednesday of Club Rush, all the officers of Oxford Academy Key Club and one of the DLT members gathered to do some cheers in front of everyone. We tried to be as hyped as possible as Timmy led us through them. I also walked around with Kenny Le on Wednesday, taking pictures with everybody who wanted to. It was a fun experience as Kenny and I had very different opinions on who we should ask for pictures. Overall, it turned out well and we got lots of good photos. In the end, it was fun to participate in Club Rush with my fellow board members and I hope that I can experience this again
Tobi Yao | 11 | President The first general meeting is important. Very important. It’s your chance to make a good impression on all of the members who signed up during club rush. If they think the club is interesting, they’ll come back. If they don’t, well, they don’t. I took time to plan out this meeting and make sure it was perfect. The MPR has a class so it can’t be used. I made sure to save the choir room so we could hold our meeting in there instead. I prepared a powerpoint which I made sure Jennifer (my VP) looked over so there were no dumb mistakes and made constant reminders for the agendas to be printed. However, on the day of the meeting, when all of the members were flowing into the choir room, we realized that we didn’t have access to the powerpoint. I freaked out for a while as someone tried to find the choir teacher and the tech editor tried to figure out how to turn it on, but both failed. Therefore, we ended up having to go through the meeting without the powerpoint. It was scary since everyone was staring at me, but overall, I feel that the meeting was successful. A lot of people showed up to the second meeting as well. Good start to the year!
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SEPTEMBER DCM: Color Fest Helen Tran | 11 | Project Chair “There’s powder in places where ing and used Lance’s camera to recthere shouldn’t be powder.” ord a couple different moments of - Jennifer Vo, Oxford Academy Key the DCM. Club Vice President Eventually, when all divisions got toSeptember DCM was such a memo- gether for the final Color Fest, Kenny rable and enjoyable experience! and I joined the crowd and got powAlthough I arrived late to the DCM, I der all over ourselves. As messy as it really made the most of it and time was, it was fun to be able to see a flew by so quickly. Standing by the mix of different colors (representing boba fundraiser (which was a huge the different divisons) and to be with success shoutout to Grace <3), Ken- people who radiated the same posiny and I innocently watched the tive energy back. participants of the Color Fest get demolished in powder. As soon as Ali DCM’s are such a unique Key Club offered us some free yellow powder, event & never fail to disappoint! I we knew that we had to get the one highly encourage everyone to come and only Tobi Yao. We weren’t even out to the DCM’s. I remember feeling wearing the appropriate attire and intimidated and overwhelmed about didn’t have our medical release form the first DCM I went to because there signed, so we snuck into the field ar- were so many people present, but I ea and both attacked Tobi at the promise that everyone is very INCLUsame time. We successfully caught SIVE and LOVING! The turnout of this her off guard and I wish someone DCM really opened my eyes to the recorded that moment. Love you Ms. dedication and passion of Key ClubPresident <3 bers, which makes me even more pumped for FALL RALLY! For the rest of the Color Fest, Kenny #notsponsored But in all seriousness, and I ended up sneaking around it’s truly amazing to see different diviand pretending we were historians sions be able to get together and so that we would fit in and could at- form connections with Key Club at tack people with powder without be- the center. I can’t wait for the fun coming victims. We observed the memories that future DCM’s will various activities that were happen- bring.
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Jennifer Vo | 11 | Vice President I’ve been busy. Or maybe I’m just tired? I think I can speak for the rest of the junior class when I say it’s really hard to try to wake up at 6 AM on a Saturday morning to volunteer when you’ve been sleeping at 2 AM for five days straight and this is the first break you’ll get. That’s no excuse, though. I’ll serve more hours next month. :(
September DCM came around late this year, which meant that the DLT execs and I finally had a much needed break before the FRS frenzy began. After taking such a long break, it felt almost tiresome to return back to all the responsibilities. On the video call with the D04N and D04W executives to plan for the
DCM, I could feel myself slowing down. However, on the day of the DCM, I had more fun than I expected! We ended up hitting an outstanding 600 RSVPs, and the entire event ran surprisingly smoothly. Mr. Barry even complimented us, saying how this Colorfest was one of the best ones in a while. We also heard lots of comments from new members, fresh from Club Rush, who said that this event had made them fall in love with Key Club and they were excited to attend the future DCMs. Hearing that made me really happy--that all the work the D30S execs and I had put in was worth it. I am so blessed to serve as EA for such an amazing division; you guys have taught me so much and more. :))
Natalie Melendez | 12 | Bulletin Editor This month’s DCM took place on September 28th at Garden Grove park. I’d never been there before, so I was surprised when I got there and saw that the place was packed! There was traffic everywhere, high school sports teams were in practice, and all my fellow Key Club members were gathered around the opposite side of the football fields.
time was spent at the boba table, where I helped Grace sell and raise money for PTP. Meanwhile, many other Key Club members were participating in the color war, and each time I turned to look at the crowded area behind me, I saw pretty clouds of yellow, red, and blue.
September DCM was a reminder of how much I enjoy forming part of this Nonetheless, I had a great time. The club, and I can’t wait to attend more weather was nice and cloudy, and I DCMs before the term ends. even felt a few raindrops! Most of my
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PAINTING SOCIAL Giang Nguyen | 11 | Historian
Socials are some of my favorite Key Club events because of how fun times socials can be organized within one school, but it can be even b ing to be able to hang out with Key Club friends from across the district
The Paint and Picnic social brought Oxford, Cypress, JFK, Katella, Loara flower pots to donate to senior homes and wrote cards to go with them ford showed up at the social, since it was great to see fresh faces par kick back with my friends and paint some flower pots.
Even though painting flower pots and writing some cards was simple en my pot, and I was so proud of my work that I felt a little sad parting wi pot, I decided that I would rather donate it for someone else to enjoy. room? As the popular saying goes, “I guide others to a treasure I canno
At the end of the day, it was a fun experience and now I look forward about the community, whether it is having fun with friends or giving ba members will be able to come out and join in the Key Club culture.
Kenny Le | 11 | Project Chair
The planning of the non-slip project was much harder than I expected course, my cousin had to put in the wrong Michaels address, and we e have the paint that we were looking for.
When I arrived at the correct Michaels, the paint was ludicrously expen her millennium of knowledge helped me with the process of buying the
The project itself was cool. I put a cardboard box, a roll of tablecloth, ta Honda and drove to the park. Volunteers made museum worthy desig Supreme sock to an artistic representation of Patrick Star’s beautiful fig new socks.
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it is to relax and chat with friends while doing service projects. Somebetter when multiple schools come together to have a social. It’s excitwhile participating in a chill activity and earning some hours.
a, Western, and Whitney together in a service project where we painted m. The most exciting part for me was how many new members from Oxrticipating in Key Club. Other than that, the only business I had was to
nough, it was still a really enjoyable experience. I painted Peppa Pig on ith my masterpiece. Although we had the option of keeping our flower I mean, who wouldn’t want a Peppa Pig flower pot sitting in their living ot possess.”
d to more division socials in the future. Key Club for me will always be ack to others in the community we live in. I also hope that more Oxford
d it to be. After school, I went to buy paint supplies from Michaels. Of ended up 30 minutes away from my house in Long Beach. They did not
nsive. Thankfully, Helen with her centuries of experience and Grace with e paint online.
ape, scissors, 10000 socks, paint and hope inside the trunk of my Dad’s gns. I could not comprehend the volunteer’s ingenuity. From a $10,000 gure, the kids at CHOC Children’s hospital will surely love their brand-
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Tiffany Ong | 10 | Historian
The St. Irenaeus Catholic Church hosted its annual Fall Fiesta from September 20-22 this year, with live music, rides, games, food, prizes, a silent auction, and so much more. Key Club volunteers were able to help with food booths, game booths, the book fair, and the silent auction booth. My first task was to organize the books with Jackie at the book fair so they were laid out in a way that was presentable and visually appealing. Even though we were a little sad that we were at the book fair while we were at such a fun event with games and rides, we still tried our best to organize the books and make them look nice. When we were done, we were able to help out at other booths like the funnel cake booth. :)
Most volunteers worked at the funnel cake booth for the majority of the shifts. We collected tickets as payment for the funnel cakes, assisted the people making the funnel cakes (by handing them plates and carrying them to the tent), and decorated the funnel cakes with powdered sugar as well as fruit flavoring. It was really fun working at the booth because I liked helping the people fry the funnel cake, since I could talk to them and get to know them better. Overall, there was a great turnout of approximately 10,000 people at the three-day event, and us Key Clubbers were a great help in allowing the event to run as smoothly as possible. :)
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James Nguyen | 11 | Historian
One of the events I volunteered at this month was the Fall Fiesta at St Irenaeus. This was one of my first times volunteering at St Irenaeus besides the bi-weekly Hope Food Distribution. The booth that I worked at was making funnel cakes and figuring out how to make them was a fun experience. The shape of the funnel cake just comes from dripping the batter around a cutout in a deep fryer. Serving the customers was fun as we got to take their orders and call out names. It felt like a part time job, maybe I should have taken notes. The person running the booth with us was very helpful and had her kids help out too: starting them off young. There were many other food booths like the burger one next to ours which also had volunteers from different schools and the field was taken up by rides. I was working with my sister and we delegated the duties to some of the other volunteers at the funnel cake booth. Overall it was a learning experience and I had a fun time serving up funnel cakes.
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LIGHT THE NIGHT Timmy Bui | 11 | Secretary
Light the Night was one of my favorite September events. Initially, we had not much to do because there were already so many volunteers participating in the same exact event as us. We hung around in the area until the event coordinators gave us a real task an hour or two later. We were told more about the details and purpose of the whole event as well as our job. Light the Night was about building awareness for diseases like leukemia and lymphoma. It turns out that we were assigned to watch the area where people would write about the reason they were running. By then, the sun was beginning to set and we would finally begin to experience the light of the night.
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Above us were rows and rows of pretty lights. On the table next to us were bags lined up with tiny candlelights inside of them, each one dedicated to a person who I presumed to be someone with a blood cancer. And all around us were lanterns that people carried. We eventually got lanterns and got to keep them. These kinds of events just remind me about our purpose in Key Club. Just as people were participating in the Light the Night walk to remember all the hard work that our community has put into this cause, us volunteers must remember our purpose when helping out at service projects. The lanterns I got to keep will be a memorable souvenir of this beautiful night.
MOTIVATION BEHIND KEY CLUB
What does Key Club mean to you?
Because you’re reading this I’m going to assume you have a bit of interest in Key Club, whether that means you only come out to general meetings or attend events. I don’t know what the drive is for you to continuously be involved with Key Club, but whatever that is, it’s helping you stay committed which is the only thing that matters in the end. As for me, the reason why I try to stay committed to Key Club even while I’m behind schedule is because at times, it is the only motive I have to continue on and do my best in the things I am involved in. There are more days when I am overwhelmed with life than days where I am truly happy, but the days where I am happy end up involving some kind of Key Club activity. September DCM, which literally took place two days ago, helped me realize that I can achieve happi-
ness, even if it is for a short period of time, in the midst of all the chaos happening around me. Key Club gives me the time to focus on the 1 good thing that is mixed in 100 bad things, and that 1 good becomes the cornerstone of my happiness and saves me from falling apart. I learned how important it is to truly know what our motivations and our daily dose of energy comes from, because those are the things that shine the brightest no matter how dark the night is. Another reason behind staying committed to Key Club are my buddies that are in Key Club. These days, there are so many extracurriculars that take me away from Key, and the only reason how I notice is because of the people that consistently check up on me. Have Key Club not be a burden that you HAVE to go to events. Use it as an advantage to have fun while you can. Think about it :)
Claire Lee | 10 | Publicist 18
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Arnold Elementary
VegFest
Spooktacular
Spirit Night #1
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OC Japan Fair
HOPE Food VegFest OC Japan Fair
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St. I Trunk or Treat
Cypress Halloween
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Carnival
Los Al Halloween Carnival Spirit Night #2 SOON
MORE
EVENTS
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C O N T A C T
PRESIDENT | Tobi Yao tcyao2003@gmail.com VICE PRESIDENT | Jennifer Vo vojenniferv@gmail.com TREASURER | Grace Nguyen 12GNguyen22@gmail.com SECRETARY | Timmy Bui bu1timmybu1@gmail.com BULLETIN EDITOR | Natalie Melendez natalie.melendez@outlook.com TECH CHAIR | Victoria Truong victoriantruong@gmail.com PROJECT CHAIR | Kenny Le Kennl_l@outlook.com PROJECT CHAIR | Helen Tran helentran952@gmail.com HISTORIAN | Lydia Lee LHLee017@gmail.com HISTORIAN | Giang Nguyen giangadonrawr@gmail.com HISTORIAN | James Nguyen verll123@hotmail.com
U S
@oakeyclub
HISTORIAN | Tiffany Ong ongtiffy@gmail.com
Oxford Academy Key Club
PUBLICIST | Claire Lee 0128jil@gmail.com PUBLICIST | Jacquelyn Nguyen bwama123@gmail.com
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SEE YOU NEXT TIME...