In The Garden
August 11, 2009 § Leave a comment
You know you have Chinese parents when you think you’re being sent outside to pull weeds, but are actually commanded to get rid of the plentiful mint and basil growing near the flowers and cucumbers. I hovered over the plants for a few minutes, wondering what to do about the situation, but I eventually got to work uprooting them, if only to show my mother that I am capable of doing a good job.
When my dad first told me that we had them growing in the backyard, I was elated. Who doesn’t love having access to fresh herbs? But then he continued, “I’ve been thinking of getting rid of them.”
What?
Well, neither of my parents cook with mint or basil. I didn’t think he was serious, but there I was, developing blisters on my gloved hand from pulling out the roots. At least it smelled good. I also unearthed a few worms, which I had to block out of my mind; I’ve always abhorred the disgusting, writhing creatures.
Before
As my legs & back ached and sweat dripped down my face, I wondered how anybody could enjoy gardening as a hobby — I have zero experience with it. I also wondered if the previous owners of this house spent time deliberately planting the mint and basil. This stuff doesn’t grow there naturally, does it?
After
Core Lies
August 10, 2009 § Leave a comment
How do I forgive somebody who constantly tears me down? The theme of this year’s summer camp was forgiveness, and while I learned an enormous amount about the freedom that comes from releasing a grudge, it is still incredibly difficult to put into practice.
“If you don’t find an apartment soon, you might as well quit school this semester,” mother said spitefully at dinner.
How can I tell her that her exaggerations are hurtful to me? I have been hearing them all my life.
“If you keep getting B’s on your report card, you’re going to end up going to community college.”
“If you don’t find an internship by next summer, you’re going to end up jobless and homeless with nobody to take care of you.”
All those words planted this thought in my mind: you will never be good enough for me. And I believe it, constantly living in fear of her disparaging remarks. I can’t wait to get out of this house sometimes.
Tired Of Using Technology
August 6, 2009 § 2 Comments
Recently, almost every piece of technology that I own has been malfunctioning. This has caused my blood pressure to spike to abnormal levels due to the immense irritation.
1. The display on my iPod has been broken for a few months now [I think I dropped it one too many times]. It still plays music, but the screen just has a bunch of lines like a barcode. I used to be able to fix this problem by holding down the Menu & center buttons, but a few days ago this stopped working as well. So now my iPod is literally just a big Shuffle. I don’t particularly mind, but the unfortunate thing about using Apple products is that they can’t be fixed, they can only be replaced. Since my iPod is no longer under warranty, the guy at the Apple store could only offer me 10% off of a new one. I guess I’ll wait until this one dies completely…
2. Speaking of my iPod, the charger now looks like this:
This is just not right.
The morning we left Boston for Canada, I left my laptop on the bed while my iPod was charging to go downstairs and fill up some water bottles for mother. While I was gone, my idiot brother jumped from the couch onto the bed, knocking my laptop over the side and bending my iPod charger in the process. Amazingly, it still works, but I’m certain it will not last any longer than my poor iPod.
3. The week before we went on vacation, I took a trip with my church college/career group to Starved Rock, where we had a picto-scavenger hunt. My group used my camera for all of our pictures, but somehow right after we took the last picture, my camera gave me the error message, Please reinsert memory stick. I did this about 30 times over the next few days but to no avail. Since our precious pictures were on it, I could not try to reformat the card, which is what I believe I need to do to fix it. So I bought a new one and am waiting to try the broken one on my friend’s card reader.
4. One of the first days we arrived in Boston, something happened to Firefox and it crashed. This isn’t unusual, but when I reopened it, my bookmarks were all gone. WTF, I thought. I reopened it a couple more times with the same results, so I deleted it and re-downloaded Firefox. This time, it wouldn’t even open. I had no idea what was going on. Frustrated, I decided to go back to using Safari, which I like infinitely less. After that crashed on me multiple times as well for no reason, DC suggested I try Camino, which is what I am using now. He described it as “like Safari but it doesn’t crash.” The former is true but the latter is not, unfortunately.
The only thing that hasn’t failed so far is my phone. I’m waiting for it to explode when I least expect it..
This Made My Day
August 5, 2009 § Leave a comment
After a long day of traveling for a total of 9 hours by car & plane, my family finally arrived home. As I walked up the stairs, I noticed a package by the front door, and figured that it was just more parts for the computer that my brother is building [AKA the computer he is paying my cousin to build for him]. When I came downstairs later, though, Larry had taken the package to the kitchen and was asking my dad what it was.
“I don’t know,” my dad replied. “This has my name on it, but I’m not expecting any packages.”
A bomb? I thought idly as I loaded laundry into the washing machine.
Dad read the return address, perplexed. “San Francisco baking company?”
He told Larry to stand back as he cut open the packaging tape. I vaguely imagined the box blowing up in our faces as mother picked cucumbers out in the backyard. What a way to die…
Upon opening the package, we were faced with another box.
“It’s upside down,” Larry said, observing the This Side Up arrows on the side. Dad flipped the box over and out dropped a flimsy cardboard box of…pastries.
After I ravaged the contents.
I suppose the “baking company” was a hint, but we couldn’t help but wonder who the hell would be sending us a box of cookies without any notification. They looked delicious, though, and I blocked out thoughts of poisonous baked goods as I reached for a chocolate chip cookie.
On the lid of the inside box was a name, address and phone number. The intended recipient of these cookies turned out to be Yanling Yin from Downers Grove; my father’s name is Yanling Li.
Too bad, I thought as I munched on a blueberry muffin. These are mine now…
For food that was 6 days old, everything inside was surprisingly delicious. Mother ended up calling the phone number, but it was apparently the number to an office, and Yanling Yin was out of town until the 10th. I’m not exactly sure why this package ended up at our house, but I am enjoying the spoils nonetheless.
auradis 