Bad Luck and Respect

Life doesn't just hand you lemons. Life shoots lemons at you through a bazooka gun. And then life takes one, cuts it in half, and squeezes the juice in your eye. That's what life does. It never hands you anything for free.

I've learned this week is that each individual instance of bad luck is independent of another instance of bad luck. This is why they call it bad luck: a string of unfortunate mishaps that happen in such a sequence that convinces you that the world has suddenly turned its evil focus on YOU. Did it? No. Not really. But it sure seems like it.

Two car accidents in a two span period. The first, on my birthday. The second, not my car. A buttload of claims and adjusters later, I still find myself stuck in more of a mess than I did in the first place.

The hard part is not letting these personal mishaps affect my professional life. However, things in my professional life aren't giving me an easy time either. It's shitty times like these when I tell myself I want to quit. Why the fuck do I volunteer for this shit (volunteer = unpaid, mind you!). Why the hell did people put so much faith in me to do a good job, when I just keep getting shit for trying to do the right thing?

The best advice my mom has ever given me: "Is this (shit) going to matter in 5 years?" The answer is always no, and is supposed to be the positive outlook on life's stupid little problems. But I still have to put up with the shit before it "doesn't matter" anymore.

Maybe I need a private meditation session with myself. Or I need to revisit the edifice of my religion and pray for better days.

It's maddening really, that I can't seem to get a break. I know I trip over the tiniest little things, but sooner or later a million of those tiny little things add up.

I think I need to grab life (or my enemies) by the balls and really set things straight. I am always taken for granted, and taken advantage of, and I always allow myself to be walked on because I know these little battles aren't worth it. But I think I need to grow a pair of my own and really put my foot down to finally gain a little respect.

"Wo xi dio jiu nang" Family Reunion

We headed out at 6am this morning and took 101N back up to norcal. We made a few stops along the way, and it felt like my dad was giving me a tour of California, the countryside. We first stopped by a town called Solvang. It's a Danish town, with Danish style restaurants, buildings, and homes. Really cute place. We ate at this pancake house, which was pretty legit. I asked my dad how he knew about this random gem in the Santa Barbara area. "Books! Internet!" There you have it kids, keep reading and keep surfing if you want to educate yourselves.

Along the way, we shared some pretty hilarious conversations...well, hilarious on my dad's part at least. One of the particularly funny ones was when we started talking about our people, teochew (or diojiu):

*Teochew/chinese
*English

Dad: "There are 50 million teochews worldwide, half of which are in China, another quarter of which are in Southeast Asia, and the rest around the world."

Me: "Since we're so underrepresented, why don't we just start our own teochew country with the 50 million that are present? Like on an island or something!"

Dad: "Are you kidding me? The whole island would be DEAF from all the loud talking!"

Me: "We're not THAT loud. What about Cantonese people?"

(unintentional comedic pause)

Dad: "SAME SHIT!"


Gosh I could've died right there! So it was a pretty fun road trip. We got in around 1pm, and we went to go help set up for the reunion later that afternoon. The reunion was kind of fun, I got to see all the cousins and nephews. My 5-year-old cousin Kimberly clung on to me the whole day, but it was fun acting like a kid again. She's bright for her age, and everything she says could be quoted.

I captured some of her craziness on video, so I'll upload that next week. My forgetful self left behind the connector for the camera to the laptop. Also got some fun pics of the grown-ups. Adults can be pretty hilarious too =)

When parents come to visit

My dad is crashing here for the night. Tomorrow morning we're getting an early start so we can drive back up to norcal... the scenic way. At least he offered to drive the first half so I can sleep.

After dinner we had to go to LAX to drop off his rental car. Before we left he said to me, "When we come back, I'm going to clean your apartment." No objection to that.

The thing about my dad is, when he starts, he doesn't stop. I feel like it's the slight OCD in him, but then again, we've got a little bit in all of us, no? So he starts in one corner and just starts moving things around, and I'm trying to help, at the same time trying to not get in his way (at one point he said "Stop. I'll clean this area, and you go find somewhere else to clean").

And viola! We discovered that I do have a fourth wall after all! And he was proud of his work too, "See? Twenty-minutes!" I went to take a shower, and I came out only to find that he rearranged and cleaned up the other wall. He also did my pantry.

I don't know if this is what happens with all families, but my mom did the exact same thing when she came to visit. She came in and immediately started to tsk me for dusty end tables. Then she cleaned it for me. She also did my dishes and cooked me dinner while I sat on my lazy bum. I have a theory that parents baby you when they miss you. Either that or they really think I don't know how to take care of myself. Probably the latter, huh.

We have to get up in about 4 hours, so I'm hoping he gets a good night's sleep after all that fun. Can't wait to go home to see the fam again.

Wine Tasting

Went wine tasting with Richard yesterday at a place called San Antonio Winery in downtown LA. It was super cool, and they have great wines for super cheap. We walked past a bunch of women who were all helping the bride-to-be taste the wines she wanted for her wedding.

The two best, highly-recommended wines that they have are called Moscato D'Asti and Stella Rosa. They're sparkling wines and they taste oh-so delish! I am usually a fan of dryer red wines, but these are light and sweet, and sometimes you just need some of that on a nice summer evening. Also got myself a Riesling, American Cardinale, and California Villadoro. Can't wait for drunken summer nights!
For 7 bucks a bottle, you can't beat that!

It's 12pm. Time to bust open a bottle of Stella. =)