0-11

The worst just happened... NN lost her last game of the year.  She was frustrated. I was frustrated. More so her... cuz she's been having a rough week.. which culminated in tears of emotions. Her teammates... her friends.. her coach all tried to console her.  But there's nothing to console.. nothing that CAN console.. other than a "W." 

What really hit it home for me was.... after the game... I get a bunch of texts from {{someone}} on how their daughter's softball team eeked out yet another win.... and will be playing their last games in pursuit of being 1st or 2nd place. Talk about salt in the wounds.  On one hand... I'm ecstatic for them.. but on the other hand... not a good moment. 

The night didn't turn out well.  NN went on a huge rant of how her teammates don't try... how she can't carry a team of lukewarm and content.  Then she goes back to basketball and starts berating her teammates that couldn't even dribble.  Enough.  Enough is enough.  You can wallow in your sorrows... but don't drag down and step on your teammates to make yourself feel better.  As a loving father... I had to put a stop to it.  And it made for an awfully quiet night.

Sports.  You gotta love it.  

Btw... I'm still salty about that come from behind loss to Wash 20+ years ago.  I'm still tearing myself apart from 2 yard line in the Super Bowl XLVII.  I'm still fuming from up 10 in the 4th quarter from Super Bowl LIV.  I'm still livid from 5 run lead with 6 outs in 2002. Those things.. will never, EVER go away. 

Out the other end

Due to COVID... I haven't had to use or buy any gel for almost 2 years. (YAY!!!)  But today... I found myself squishing and squirting a bottle of gel... only to be greeted by the gel firing off from the end of the bottle.  Turns out.. there's an aluminum seal at the opening of the bottle that I neglected to remove.  And in my haste and pressure... I ended up breaking the seams of the bottle where the tiny piece of foil held together stronger than the seams of the bottle itself.

This is not a good sign of things to come this year... 

林嘉怡 - Part 3

This is it. A third post dedicated to a woman other than my wife, my mom and my daughter.  Heh... 

嘉怡... is stunningly beautiful.  No... I'm not a horndog.  She is still my little sister... 10 years my younger.  She always stood out with her quiet charisma.  She glows with such radiance.  Her speech.  Her demeanor.  Her love for Jesus.  

We last saw each other 6 years ago on an unassuming day in the City.  Already then... I thought both she and Daniel were full blown adults and citizens of society.  This time around... they have emerged as... dare I say... peers.

During our first night at dinner... they paid for dinner.  Daniel tried to wave me off... cuz he knows this is his chance of playing host and perhaps.. repaying for what is a long list of thanks.  I didn't fight him.  Cuz I know... deep down... I would do the same. It's etiquette. It's manners.  It's the right thing to do.  And I told him... "You pay this time.  I will pay when you visit us in California." 

Then to hear their stories... how they're risen to leadership at church.  How they've been elected as church planters. (PAL!!!)  How they've submerged into the culture to learn Mandarin.  How they're now Youth Leaders for ABC's. How they're worship team leaders. 

It was an awkward time.  We never really hung out.  When they were growing up... we just had NN and then shortly after... SW.  We were new parents.  They were fledging students. Our social paths never crossed.  During dinner... we talked about nothing.  K-drama.  Traffic. Discrimination. Investment. Work. Church. Lots and lots of church. 

During our trip... Kayi would continue to text me places to go visit.  Did they want to hang out with us? I don't know. Did we want to have a host lead us around. I think so.  

Then...after our first dinner... they invited us to their home for dinner.  Normally.. this wouldn't be a big thing.  Especially after breaking bread together.  But inviting someone to their home in the midst of COVID is what you would call... special.  We entered their lives.  We stepped into their kitchen.  Their bathroom.  We ate their cooking.  Drank their soup.  And after dinner... we chatted for over an hour.  

If we were to ever move to Texas... they would be our only friends.  Yes... Ben and Kim are there.  So are Connie and Chris.  But those are just acquaintances.  And they're a generation ahead of us.  Just like we're a generation ahead of the Lam's.  But yet... I feel like... we can rekindle what was never there.  We can spark the fuse of darkness.  We can become... 前線同路人. It doesn't get any better than that.

Texas 之旅

After 2 years of SIP and quarantine... we finally take our long planned, much delayed Texas trip.

Is this a place for us to migrate and escape the rat race?  Or is this a place for us to invest in and cash out for future college funds.  We don't know.  But at the 11th hour...we decided to take advantage of the kids' spring break and off we went.

Some highlights and first impressions of Texas...

1. First of all... our flight out of SFO was delayed.  And as we waited for our flight... I saw another flight boarding.  So I asked to get on their standby list and lo and behold... they had openings.  And I got an Exit Row seat too.  WIN!
2. Texas... everything is so darn big here.  The parking lots.  The stores.  The Whattaburgers!!
3. Texas... everyone is so nice here.  Everyone.
4. Cars really do slow down at the 20 mph school zones then speed back up to 45 when the signs say "Resume."  Back in California... fuggedaboutit!!
5. Gas prices are 50% cheaper
6. Staples (milk, bread, beer...) are not cheaper.
7. Sales tax... much cheaper
8. The roads are so confusing... I can't even begin to articulate or matriculate? 
9. So many brick homes.  Almost all brick homes.
10. We've seen maybe 7 or 8 houses.  They all look the same.  Welcome room. Same kitchen layout. Family room. 3 bedrooms with a master suite and walk in closet.  And yes... a 2000 square foot house is half the price of a 2000 square foot Silicon Valley house.  Imagine if we bought 3-4 years ago.
11. Ranch 99.  H-Mart. Wee. Yi-Fang. Haidilou. It's all here.  The only thing missing... is a Hong Kong Style Cafe.
12. Bummed - a whole day of doing NOTHING.  (see other post)
13. National Video Game Museum.  Yes - SW only cared about dominating the circuits. But also Yes... a trip down memory lane.  Including the original Gameboy Tetris. The personal arcade Pacman. The board game for Pac Man and Frogger. And ohhhhhh.... Super Mario Bros on the NES... to which I forgot where the Warp Zones are.  To this date... I still haven't flipped the game.
14. Tex Mex - ain't all that.  Chevy's really ruined it.
15. No Sushi... there's no ocean within a 200 mile radius.
16. Asians are rare.  Cantonese... even more rare.
17. No discrimination whatsoever. 
18. Streets are ohhhh sooo clean.
19. The weather was gentle to us.  Worse we had was a 70 deg day with 50% humidity.  I'm sure it gets worse.
20. Daniel and Kayi (see other post)
21. What are we giving up....? Family. Church. Familiarity. 

Can we call Texas home? We polled the family.  On a scale from 1 -10... 10 being the best... the results were 7, 7, 6, 7.  I think that's pretty telling. 

Earth Day 2022

In commemoration of of Earth Day... I'll begin the first of a series of what I've always suspected... but am finding out to be more truth than myth.  Plastic recycling is scam.  As one writer puts it.. it's nothing more than something that "makes the consumer feel better." 

Truth be told... I never believed in recycling.  Not because it's not real.  Paper (if separated), glass, aluminum... those are all recyclable. In 6th grade... I devised the first recycling program at school by putting boxes in all the classrooms for scrap paper.  What came as a shock was... after we collect the paper... we had to bring it somewhere!!!

Kenneth, Johnson and I carried bags and bags of paper... walking up and down the Embarcadero looking for a recycling center we found on the Yellow Pages that no longer existed.  Ended up having mom take me there on an early Saturday morning.  And once we found the recycling center... I dumped all the paper into a bin.  A worker saw us and asked us to start separating the color from the white.  We didn't... we left.  My job was done.  But was it?? 30 years later... that day is as clear as last night's dinner. 

Separating out white from color.  Emptying all the content from bottles and cans. Removing labels from bottles. And so much more....  and that's the bottom line. Recycling doesn't work without work.  

Capitalizing on vacation

If you're gonna spend thousands of dollars on airfare, car rental and AirBnb... you should make the most of your trip, right?? Oh contrare...  the family just wanted to stay in and watch mindless youtube videos and play minecraft.  To a point... where I got so pissed... I left the house and went on a drive on my own. It's despicable, in my mind, that this is even up for discussion.  

Is it me...? I'm sure it is (NOT!!)

星星 everywhere!!!

We started to watch 星星 because I found a show on Prime with the same name but with different actors.  It turns out... the show on Prime is a Japanese remake.  Upon research... we found out there's a Filipino version and a Thai version.  ABC also bought the rights to the show... but didn't go through with the pilot. 

After finishing the Korean version... we started sampling the other three versions.  Ohhhhh myyyyy gwwwarrrrssssshhhh.... it's like a train wreck.  You want to, but you simply can't turn away.  

You just wanna smack them...

There are those days... where the kids talk back.. or talk in a way... where you simply want to smack them.  Without adding fuel to the flame... the only things you can do is 

1. walk away 
2. ask, "Say that again?" (and give them a chance.. which they will fail) 
3. stare at them for a few seconds then say, "Why would you say that?" 

I was never like this... was I?

韓風吹

While VOD-surfing the other day... I came across a show called "My Love from the Star."  It was vaguely familiar... so I did some digging.  Turns out it was a remake of a famous 2013 TV series that launched the further propelled the Korean Wave.  來自星星的你... otherwise known as 星星 took the world by storm... even took our church by storm.  I remember one of our brothers famously posting a horrible pic of his haircut that attempted to look like the lead actor from this drama. 

Maybe it's the topic... maybe it's the production... maybe it's my own taste.  This drama doesn't hold its water against Crash Landing on You.  In fact.. if not for the reputation of this show... I would've given up after the first episode.  But alas... 韓風 is blowing steadily in the Leung household.  Kids and wife can not stop watching it.  

Channel Surfing

Long gone are the days of channel surfing... where you just click click click on the remote control without stopping for anyone one show.  Then Prevue Guide came... then digital TV... and the time it takes to load a channel was 3-4 seconds.  The fun was gone. 

Fast forward to VOD.  I absolutely love scouring through the volumes and volumes of videos - looking for nothing.  I go through all the lists.  Dramas. Comedy. Family Movies. Watch it Again. Because you watched XYZ. Then when I'm done... I go from Netflix to Prime.  I go through all their categories and all their shows.  Then it's Hulu... then it's Disney+.  Then it's back to Netflix!!  I never stop and watch a movie or a show.  And every weekend, I look forward it.  It's my... happy place. 

Oversharing

I volunteered to be a Driver for NN's 7th grade field trip.  We got there early and was standing around shooting the breeze with the teachers.  The teachers started talking about how they dread having both boys and girls in a vehicle and the drama they actually see.  And one teacher even admitted to purposely sitting a guy and girl next to each other in class cuz she knew they liked each other!! How cruel... demented... and absolutely worthy of praise!! Hahaha... 

中間分界

NN was going through some of her old pics when she said, "Oh geez... I use to part on the side?? That's soooo millennial!"  

"So where should you part?"

"The middle, daddy!  Ugh... don't you know?"

And I'm thinking... 中間分界!?  It's back...? Again??? 

"C"

NN was chosen today to be one of two Captains for her volleyball team.  I wasn't there... but it seems like the coach pulled them aside and said, "You may not be the most talented, but I've seen your leadership skill rises above the rest."

BTS

It's not stopping.  I keep running into people and talk to them about BTS's concert in Vegas!! It's every where!! Colleagues.  Parents.  Parents from kids that use to go to school with NN/SW.  They....Are... EVERYWHERE!!!!

Inadequate

A swarming wave of inadequacy suffocating me right now.  

At work on Friday.. I'm realizing how much of my job I have no clue on what to do.  Every aisle I traverse.. every corner I turn... there's this new world that I am completely alien to.  Gwarsh I hate that feeling.

Then on Saturday... I take NN to her Beach Day trip with the volleyball girls.  And for whatever reason.. she doesn't fit in.  She's not with the "popular girls."  She's not with the 6th grade girls.  And then within her own friend group... she didn't fit in either.  But whatever... we survived it.  

We get home from the beach and I take her to rec basketball that's run by the JV coach.  She sees a bunch of friends there and she's happy again.  When I pick her up... first thing she said to me was, "I got demoted again."  Turns out this time, the JV coach put her with the less talented bunch.  You can't cheat the eye test... she really does not compare with the talented group.  Maybe... you can say she's the bad, good-player.  Or you can say she's the good bad-player.  Either way...she didn't fit in.

On the car ride home.. she started complaining about her friends only talking to her when no one else is around.  

Geez..... she had a crappy week.  She had a crappy day.  And now... there's nothing I can say or do to lift my daughter up.  I felt like such an inadequate dad.