Today... Joyce told me to get rid of my jeans. She's had it. She can't stand it anymore.
I've had these jeans for years... it's hard to find a pair of jeans that fit you, that don't shrink or get loose wash after wash... and is decent enough for work, church or casual wear. Well... it turns out.... the jeans in general are in good condition, but the zipper is causing me problems.
Apparently, the past few months, the zipper has gotten to a point where it creases together and creates a bump -- making it look like... uhm.... I'm having a normal, male physiological reaction. Hmm.... not to say it hasn't happened in a public place for whatever reason... but according to Joyce... it's happening too often, to a point where someone (don't know who's even looking) will misunderstand the situation.
Perfectly good jeans... now I have to donate them cuz it creates a bump where it shouldn't. Great.... now I have to go shopping. Ugh....
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Secret Garden
When I was in fifth grade.. my teacher Sr. Celine made us buy and read a lot of books. I hated reading. Just didn't have the attention span or discipline to sit and read. One of my least favorite... or most hated books... The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 300+ pages of boredom. When it come time to write a book report... I read my friends' book reports and used that to write my own.
Flash forward 20+ years... Nn is in 2nd grade and she plows through that book. She makes me sit down and read her the final two chapters so we can "enjoy" the book together. As a full grown adult with a college degree.... I still find the book hard to read. The diction extremely advanced. And the story is stronger than Nyquil.
How is Nn doing this at such a young age?!?
Flash forward 20+ years... Nn is in 2nd grade and she plows through that book. She makes me sit down and read her the final two chapters so we can "enjoy" the book together. As a full grown adult with a college degree.... I still find the book hard to read. The diction extremely advanced. And the story is stronger than Nyquil.
How is Nn doing this at such a young age?!?
Saturday, March 11, 2017
We're the minority - Part 2
OMG.... volunteered at SW's class today.
Was teaching the boys some new terms like "trustworthy" and "thrifty" and "loyal." When I got to the word "brave", I asked them "Who is brave?!?"
"Donald Trump!?!" (WTH!?!)
"How's he brave?" I asked.
"If there's a war, he will lead our country!" (#smh... that's what are kids are growing up learning?!?)
I sooooo wanted to set them straight. But alas... it wasn't my classroom. And in reality, another parent was there. I didn't want him to tattle on me. =)
Was teaching the boys some new terms like "trustworthy" and "thrifty" and "loyal." When I got to the word "brave", I asked them "Who is brave?!?"
"Donald Trump!?!" (WTH!?!)
"How's he brave?" I asked.
"If there's a war, he will lead our country!" (#smh... that's what are kids are growing up learning?!?)
I sooooo wanted to set them straight. But alas... it wasn't my classroom. And in reality, another parent was there. I didn't want him to tattle on me. =)
Thursday, March 09, 2017
We're the minority
Driving through the Central Valley on our way to Yosemite the past week, we see sooooo many Pro-Trump signs. It's amazing. I guess in the grand scheme of things... the Bay Area is the minority with the way we see politics. Even in a "blue" state such as California.
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
"You're not demanding?!"
For the 2nd time in about 3 weeks... some close friends said Joyce and I are overly demanding parents with extremely high expectations. My jaw dropped.... twice.
One of the two people making those claims have their kids in school, art class, gymnastics, swimming, piano... so on and so forth. The other has their kids in tennis, scouts, violin....
The few things I do make a demand on...
1) act with manners - greet others, especially your parents, elders and teachers
2) speak in Chinese
3) simple table manners
People..... people.... people....
One of the two people making those claims have their kids in school, art class, gymnastics, swimming, piano... so on and so forth. The other has their kids in tennis, scouts, violin....
The few things I do make a demand on...
1) act with manners - greet others, especially your parents, elders and teachers
2) speak in Chinese
3) simple table manners
People..... people.... people....
Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Emergency Room
Made another visit to the Emergency Room tonight...and this time, it was Siu Wah's turn.
We've been trying to figure out and overcome SW's food allergies. We've always suspected him having nuts and dairy allergies. Last month, we gave him some almonds and that's become his new favorite snack. Tonight, we introduced him to cashews. And boy did we pay for that act.....
At 6:30PM he ate his 1 and only 1 cashew. He immediately complained about a sore throat. Not knowing if he was acting or not, we gave him some Benadryl.
Two hours later, after dinner and playing... he complained of a tummy ache. Then when he was walking to the bathroom...he started vomiting, and vomiting, and vomiting some more.
We then put him in a warm bath...and that ignited him breaking out in hives. At one point, he rolled his eyes and looked like he was passing out. Scared the living day lights out of us.
So I took him to urgent care at 830PM (they close at 9PM). Within second upon arrival... the receptionist called for "triage." The other receptionist ran to get a nurse. I guess food allergies can't be dealt with lightly.
Praise God.... SW's reaction doesn't swell up his throat or tongue. So he was able to breathe (and play with his iPhone). Within minutes of being admitted to Urgent Care, they immediately sent us to the Emergency Room at the big hospital.
SW ended up being quite med'ed up. And he got an epi shot on his thigh.... some mom was ready to do at any moment if SW's condition worsened.
Ah wel.... I guess we found out for sure one snack he IS allergic to.
We've been trying to figure out and overcome SW's food allergies. We've always suspected him having nuts and dairy allergies. Last month, we gave him some almonds and that's become his new favorite snack. Tonight, we introduced him to cashews. And boy did we pay for that act.....
At 6:30PM he ate his 1 and only 1 cashew. He immediately complained about a sore throat. Not knowing if he was acting or not, we gave him some Benadryl.
Two hours later, after dinner and playing... he complained of a tummy ache. Then when he was walking to the bathroom...he started vomiting, and vomiting, and vomiting some more.
We then put him in a warm bath...and that ignited him breaking out in hives. At one point, he rolled his eyes and looked like he was passing out. Scared the living day lights out of us.
So I took him to urgent care at 830PM (they close at 9PM). Within second upon arrival... the receptionist called for "triage." The other receptionist ran to get a nurse. I guess food allergies can't be dealt with lightly.
Praise God.... SW's reaction doesn't swell up his throat or tongue. So he was able to breathe (and play with his iPhone). Within minutes of being admitted to Urgent Care, they immediately sent us to the Emergency Room at the big hospital.
SW ended up being quite med'ed up. And he got an epi shot on his thigh.... some mom was ready to do at any moment if SW's condition worsened.
Ah wel.... I guess we found out for sure one snack he IS allergic to.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Not Oroville.... San Jose
Ohhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyy gawwwwwwd......
San Jose is officially flooding.
A neighborhood, about 0.5 mile from my church is now underwater. The banks in the nearby creek broke...and water is up to the height of cars, chest high for adults.
The entire neighborhood is flooded. Not just water... but sewage and cleaning supplies. No warning. No sandbags. Nothing.
One minute, you're home for winter break. Next minute, you're standing on top of any car you can find, hoping and praying for someone to rescue you.
Last week, the whole world was watching and praying for families living by the Oroville Dam who were evacuated in fear of flooding.
One week later.... without warning, thousands of people lose their home and all their belongings. Where's the justice in all this?!?!?
San Jose is officially flooding.
A neighborhood, about 0.5 mile from my church is now underwater. The banks in the nearby creek broke...and water is up to the height of cars, chest high for adults.
The entire neighborhood is flooded. Not just water... but sewage and cleaning supplies. No warning. No sandbags. Nothing.
One minute, you're home for winter break. Next minute, you're standing on top of any car you can find, hoping and praying for someone to rescue you.
Last week, the whole world was watching and praying for families living by the Oroville Dam who were evacuated in fear of flooding.
One week later.... without warning, thousands of people lose their home and all their belongings. Where's the justice in all this?!?!?
Monday, February 20, 2017
Loss of Hope in Mankind
Spent the long weekend down at SLO.... and this time, man.... I came back with a horrible taste in my mouth. Do we really have hope in our future???
Was at the SLO children museum. There was one particular exhibit that a bunch of kids wanted to play with, my kids included. The three kids (of a certain ethnicity) were there and they had no intention of sharing. Despite my hinting and clearing of the throat... the oldest of the three girls (maybe she was 10??) continued to hog that exhibit. After about 5 minutes... the other two girls finally forced her out. Then the 2nd girl (maybe she was 8) spent another 5 minutes on there. Leaving the last girl (4 or 5) to beg the girl to be done. My two kids stood patiently waiting.
When the 2nd girl left... the little girl finally got on. And maaaaaaaaaan. She stayed on that thing for a good 7-10 minutes!!! Again... I told my kids to be patient.
Finally... FINALLY... an adult saw me and came over to ask the kid to leave. Begging, prodding, forcing... the little kid threw fit after fit. Until finally, she pouted and cried when she left. And that adult wasn't even her parent.
Where were the parents??? What's wrong with these kids???
Immediately, after my kids got on... I instituted a system for lines. Both my kids and the family friend took turns. Played a bit, and got off. So everyone got to play for a minute or so.
Ohhhh it gets worse. Then this little boy comes rushing through. Cuts the line and says it's his turn. I was pissed.... and told him to get in line. He even had the courage to say, "I was here first." What was he... sick!? demented?! Without yelling at him... I finally got him to understand that "He was next." One more minute and I would've lost my cool and yelled at him...then yell at his parents for not teaching their kids common courtesy.
What is it with kids these days!?!? Damn parents!!
Was at the SLO children museum. There was one particular exhibit that a bunch of kids wanted to play with, my kids included. The three kids (of a certain ethnicity) were there and they had no intention of sharing. Despite my hinting and clearing of the throat... the oldest of the three girls (maybe she was 10??) continued to hog that exhibit. After about 5 minutes... the other two girls finally forced her out. Then the 2nd girl (maybe she was 8) spent another 5 minutes on there. Leaving the last girl (4 or 5) to beg the girl to be done. My two kids stood patiently waiting.
When the 2nd girl left... the little girl finally got on. And maaaaaaaaaan. She stayed on that thing for a good 7-10 minutes!!! Again... I told my kids to be patient.
Finally... FINALLY... an adult saw me and came over to ask the kid to leave. Begging, prodding, forcing... the little kid threw fit after fit. Until finally, she pouted and cried when she left. And that adult wasn't even her parent.
Where were the parents??? What's wrong with these kids???
Immediately, after my kids got on... I instituted a system for lines. Both my kids and the family friend took turns. Played a bit, and got off. So everyone got to play for a minute or so.
Ohhhh it gets worse. Then this little boy comes rushing through. Cuts the line and says it's his turn. I was pissed.... and told him to get in line. He even had the courage to say, "I was here first." What was he... sick!? demented?! Without yelling at him... I finally got him to understand that "He was next." One more minute and I would've lost my cool and yelled at him...then yell at his parents for not teaching their kids common courtesy.
What is it with kids these days!?!? Damn parents!!
Saturday, February 11, 2017
CNY2017
Of all the things that happened leading up to this event... Of all the things that happened tonight.... the one image that will haunt me forever, is when Karen was carrying a helpless Elena, looking for her lost son. The hopelessness... the despair... the anguish. Nothing can describe that feeling. My heart skips a beat if I turn around and NN or SW aren't where I expected. But for 20 minutes!?!?!?!??!?!
The whole church was sent out looking for him.... and all along... he was playing hide and seek behind a shelf. That darn kid..... And the moment I saw them reunited... How can I not shed a tear???
CNY2017..... will always be remembered for when Elena lost and then found her son. Hallelujah... God is good.
The whole church was sent out looking for him.... and all along... he was playing hide and seek behind a shelf. That darn kid..... And the moment I saw them reunited... How can I not shed a tear???
CNY2017..... will always be remembered for when Elena lost and then found her son. Hallelujah... God is good.
Sunday, February 05, 2017
Walk their streets, breathe their air, see their sights...
Second time we went on our Neighborhood Outreach / Prayer Walk on Saturday. Last time, we ended up finding a location where this organization was handing out sleeping bags and clothes. So were able to go meet, speak and pray with new friends.
This time was completely different!! We tried to piggy-back with the same organization as last time and meet with some of the neighborhood friends. Turns out there was a police raid of the camp grounds there. And contrary to our plans... the organization went a completely different route. Keno and I ended up driving aimlessly for an hour, trying to catch up with them.
Right when we were about to give up... we had one last hope to go back to where we went the first time. We courageously went beyond our comfort zone... and decided to walk down to the creek. To our surprise, under the bridge, we found several camps of "indigenous" people. Not homeless.... the city government doesn't like to use that word.
These camps.... they're amazing. They have sleeping bags, a campfire, cooking utensils, vegetables, lots of collectibles, blankets. Some of them even had phones. They were really self-sustaining. When we approached them... they didn't shoo us away. Keno and I were respectful and asked if we can come closer. They truly welcomed the milk and cookies we brought... and they longed for more. They longed for some warm clothes... blankets and "real food."
Those images. Those images of their homes and tents.... I still see it every time I close my eyes.
Like Karen said... we shouldn't drive around to find these camp grounds. We need to walk their streets, breathe their air, see their sights. And try to understand first hand, what they go through on a first-person basis. On Saturday, we took one step closer to crossing that cultural boundary. Many... many more steps to go.
This time was completely different!! We tried to piggy-back with the same organization as last time and meet with some of the neighborhood friends. Turns out there was a police raid of the camp grounds there. And contrary to our plans... the organization went a completely different route. Keno and I ended up driving aimlessly for an hour, trying to catch up with them.
Right when we were about to give up... we had one last hope to go back to where we went the first time. We courageously went beyond our comfort zone... and decided to walk down to the creek. To our surprise, under the bridge, we found several camps of "indigenous" people. Not homeless.... the city government doesn't like to use that word.
These camps.... they're amazing. They have sleeping bags, a campfire, cooking utensils, vegetables, lots of collectibles, blankets. Some of them even had phones. They were really self-sustaining. When we approached them... they didn't shoo us away. Keno and I were respectful and asked if we can come closer. They truly welcomed the milk and cookies we brought... and they longed for more. They longed for some warm clothes... blankets and "real food."
Those images. Those images of their homes and tents.... I still see it every time I close my eyes.
Like Karen said... we shouldn't drive around to find these camp grounds. We need to walk their streets, breathe their air, see their sights. And try to understand first hand, what they go through on a first-person basis. On Saturday, we took one step closer to crossing that cultural boundary. Many... many more steps to go.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Losing never tasted sweeter...
Friday was the annual Spelling Bee at Heritage Academy. To both of our surprise... both SW and NN entered. NN hates losing.. so she hates competition. SW...well... he just doesn't know what's going on. Upon arriving to pick them up after school... NN tells me that no one in her class got out... and there will be another round next Friday with 3rd grade words. And then she blurted out that "But SW came in 2nd!!"
Whoaaaaaaaaaa..... our son came in 2nd???? My first thought was... did only two people enter the contest?!?!?
I was so proud of my son. It was hardly believable for SW... who barely knew any English when he started in September. Major props goes to his Kindergarten teacher.
A friend of ours took a video of the final moments of the Spelling Bee. And the final word that he mispelled...? "Was." It's not phonetic word, it's a sight word. If you spelled it phonetically, it would be "W-U-Z." You can tell he was lost. He started sounding it out and spelling it....
"W"
(silence... 2 -3 seconds go by)
"H"
(an audible gasp from the audience....)
(more silence....)
"E-R"
"Sorry...." His teacher says.
And calmly SW steps down from the stage, clapping cheerfully for his friend, as his happy-go-lucky self.
Watching that video at night... and hearing him spell "her" made me realize that the past two days, Joyce has been going over 5-6 words every night with him. Just to make sure he knows how a Spelling Bee works. And time and time again, she kept drilling him with the word "her" because he kept spelling it "H-R." And at the time of desperation... he went back to what he was trained to do the most. Sigh.... makes me wonder, if we really did spend time coaching him... would he have won???? Monday Morning Quarterbacking...
But alas... Losing never tasted sweeter...
Whoaaaaaaaaaa..... our son came in 2nd???? My first thought was... did only two people enter the contest?!?!?
I was so proud of my son. It was hardly believable for SW... who barely knew any English when he started in September. Major props goes to his Kindergarten teacher.
A friend of ours took a video of the final moments of the Spelling Bee. And the final word that he mispelled...? "Was." It's not phonetic word, it's a sight word. If you spelled it phonetically, it would be "W-U-Z." You can tell he was lost. He started sounding it out and spelling it....
"W"
(silence... 2 -3 seconds go by)
"H"
(an audible gasp from the audience....)
(more silence....)
"E-R"
"Sorry...." His teacher says.
And calmly SW steps down from the stage, clapping cheerfully for his friend, as his happy-go-lucky self.
Watching that video at night... and hearing him spell "her" made me realize that the past two days, Joyce has been going over 5-6 words every night with him. Just to make sure he knows how a Spelling Bee works. And time and time again, she kept drilling him with the word "her" because he kept spelling it "H-R." And at the time of desperation... he went back to what he was trained to do the most. Sigh.... makes me wonder, if we really did spend time coaching him... would he have won???? Monday Morning Quarterbacking...
But alas... Losing never tasted sweeter...
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