Hunger, Offense, Cloth, Bad Omens and The Brush Fire

Apologies: 
To anyone that I have ever offended in anyway...this speaks for itself.......

No Offense:

My grandma expressed concerns that she might have cataracts and wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble to go see a doctor and get them evaluated the other day. When I told her that I could take a look at them for her, she had a shocked expression on her face...

Grandma:  "You can evaluate cataracts? You know how to do that?"
Me: "Yes, that's what I study, you didn't know that?
Grandma: "I thought you just prescribe glasses"
Me: "I can do that AND I can give an ocular health exam which includes cataract evaluations! Who told you that I only prescribe glasses?"
Grandma: "Everyone else in the family said you only prescribe glasses and can't do anything else"

*sighs* This is seriously what everyone in my family thinks I've been doing for four years of my life?? Just giving the "one or two" option to everyone and prescribing glasses to people?!?!? It's very difficult, but I'm gonna TRY to not take this offensively...

Because the amount of cloth = the price of the shirt...
Grandma: I like your shirt
Me: Thanks grandma
Grandma: How much was it? It must have been really cheap because it's made with so little cloth

Bad Omens:
I didn't think I was very superstitious but from a series of "bad omens" which lead to equally bad events, I think I'm starting to see some connections that might foreshadow some bad things. Maybe I'm starting to pick up psychic vibes. A sixth sense? Allow me to connect the dots:

Example #1:
After booking a trip for my parents with the total being $444 (which means death in Chinese) and then getting a discount of $6.66 (which is means the devil in English), one of our pet bunnies DIED!!

Example #2:
On the day of my drive up to SF, a bunch of bad things happened:
--We buried the bunny that died and laid bricks on top of his grave so none of the stray animals around the area can dig him up, but that morning, we found his white fir scattered throughout our yard and he was dug up and was GONE! We still haven't found his corpse!
--Oscar and I got in a HUGE argument that morning and we almost killed each other
--I saw a van's tire EXPLODE on the freeway! They panicked, rapidly turned the steering wheel and hit the breaks at the same time and ended up stopping perpendicular to the flow of the freeway lanes and blocking up two lanes of the freeway. They are lucky all the cars stopped in time and didn't hit them. But then that car ended up causing a huge pile up and jammed up the freeway!
--I know this one is minor but my keychain broke!
----> All these bad omens eventually lead to the ultimate disaster.....The BRUSH FIRE!!

The Brush Fire:
There was a brush fire along the 5 freeway this weekend made my 8 hour drive up to SF a 14 HOUR drive because I got stuck in a 5 hour traffic jam!! It was the worse traffic I've ever been stuck in! They closed off the 5 and it was a parking lot for 5 hours! People got out of their cars, including me! I could count every spot of gum and study all the details of the cracks on the pavement. It was horrible!!!



Luckily I didn't have to use the restroom and I had enough gas and food or else it would have been a complete disaster!! Nonetheless I took preventative measures after the first hour of being stuck in traffic like I limited my liquid consumption. I turned off the A/C to conserve gas. It was really hot that day, over 90 degrees outside with plenty of healthy sunshine. So I was basically baking in the car for 5 hours with the windows down hoping to catch a whiff of air. I was still ended up sweating and almost dying of dehydration. I really didn't think I would make it out of that traffic jam!!

I ended up getting to SF at 1 AM that night! I can't believe I spent 14 hours in the CAR!!!!!!!

The drive back down from the bay area ended up taking 11 hours TODAY (TRAFFIC AGAIN)!! If you ask me, this is WAY MORE time than I bargained for to be spent in a CAR for one weekend!!! 

The Air Puff

The Air Puff:
My parents dragged my brother and I out to run errands today and the last errand we had to run was visiting my dad's co-worker. My dad's co-worker has a 2 year old little girl that is as cute as a button. I started to play with her and she warmed right up to me. I picked her up and carried her in my arms while we walked around in the backyard.

I have to admit, it might be my fault because I was shaking her up and down to make her giggle. And then it happened.......

She FARTED (REALLY LOUDLY) into my ARMS while I was carrying her. I felt the AIR PUFF on my arms.

As if being grossed out was not enough, my mom had to add embarrassing into the equation by assuming I did the farting: "Amiee, did you just fart??"

Pretty Princess:
 It's really fun playing with my baby cousin Alex because he can say and do the funniest things. Yesterday my brother asked Alex who I was and she said "Amiee is a pretty princess". Awww...how can I not love that little bundle of joy?

Alex and Andrew (aka: "pancake") are brothers and being three years apart, it's kinda pathetic that Alex (older brother) is only 4lbs heavier than "pancake" (younger brother). So they are both around 30lbs. We were playing together today and Alex has grown quite fond of me so he came over to hug me, bum rush style. (hehe, bum rush is such a funny saying...) So "pancake" saw that and he came over and bum rushed Alex and me together! As pathetic as this sounds, two little kids (5 and 2 years old) knocked me over and I fell hard on the ground.

But given that you calculate their weights, if you think about 60lbs pushing me over, it seems less pathetic than a skinny little 5 year old and a fat 2 year old pushing me over. Anyhow, I lived to tell the story but I'm bruised from embarrassment. 

Endless Family Reunions: 
More family parties/reunion to launch off this week again.

Schedule for this week:
Monday: Chinese buffet at a restaurant on Convoy (San Diego's small version of Chinatown).
Tuesday: Prime rib dinner at Wong's Golden Palace (owned by my grandma's sister).
Wednesday: Oscar's Graduation (dinner gathering afterwards)
Thursday: Family dinner (TBA location)
Friday: Off to Bay AREA!

Escondido Family Party: Day 5

I was very much looking forward to visiting my Uncle Wei in Escondido yesterday and I am very happy I finally got to go see him!

A little about my Uncle...
Uncle Wei immigrated here back when Oscar was probably 4 or 5, since he's 18 now, that means probably 13-14yrs ago? When he first came here, he was forced to leave Megan (my cousin) and his wife (my Aunt) behind in China. Space was tight, as my parents, my grandma, my brother and my uncle all squeezed inside our cozy 3 bedroom apartment, but we made room for him and welcomed him into our home. He was very good to our family, treating Oscar and I like his own children. This special treatment towards Oscar and I lasted many years, until Megan and her mom were finally granted visa's to come to the states so they could be reunited. Lucky for them, my parents bought a bigger house (the one we currently live in) and we were able to accommodate them as well. So for a while, my family and Uncle Wei's family lived together in our four bedroom, two bathroom house. Pretty soon, they got their own place and moved away.

I still remember how neglected I felt when Megan came into the picture. It was almost like my Uncle had abandoned Oscar and I. We were no longer the center of his attention. It never made very much sense to me why I cared so much since he was just my Uncle. And it actually does make more sense that he pays more attention to his own daughter than to me and Oscar, but for some reason, I have this longing for his affection. I always admired how much my Uncle loved Megan and am very saddened that Megan doesn't seem to reciprocate any of that love towards her own father. It makes me almost hate her for being so nonchalant about how much my Uncle does for her and all the sacrifices he makes for her. She seems to not appreciate anything he does for her. It's not fair! He's a great father and a great husband and yet it goes unnoticed everyday by his own wife and daughter! Oh well...I guess I can't sit here and rant/ramble about injustices in the world all day long...so back to the party...

As soon as I saw my Uncle Wei yesterday I was very shocked at how much weight he has lost. He must be working very hard and must not be taking care of himself really well. Megan and I dormed together for my Junior year in Undergrad at UCSD and she would tell me about Uncle Wei has chronic liver or kidney problems. And during that period, Megan even told me how Uncle Wei might have sleep apnea and needs to enroll in a sleep study to fully diagnose him. But Megan slacked on filling out the forms and failed to enroll him in the sleep study for the whole year we dormed together. I would nag her about it every week and finally it got to the point that I just couldn't stand it anymore and offered to fill out the paperwork for Uncle Wei myself so he can get the ball rolling on getting enrolled in the study, but Megan declined my offer. I didn't follow up on it, but I hope he has all his health concerns taken care of. It just concerns me so much to see how thin and frail he looks now.

I brought my graduation photos for my Uncle to see because he wasn't able to attend this year. (He works 6 days a week with no vacation time!) But since he was hosting the party, he didn't have time to see my pictures.

I didn't even notice this at the time until my mom pointed it out today, but when he was done cooking yesterday and it was time to eat, the first name my Uncle Wei called to go eat was ME :) He didn't call anyone else to go eat, but he called me :) It's nice to know that I still have a special place in his heart. (But all things considered, I have to keep in mind that Megan wasn't there yesterday because she was working, but I'll take what I can get)

When I left, Uncle Wei and my aunt prepared a red envelope for me to congratulate me for graduating this year. Their red envelope money (as always) was very generous. Also another indication of how much he cares about me :)

 I am grateful for how generous and helpful my Uncle Wei has been to me and I will always have a special place in my heart for him.

On another note: "pancake" was very cranky yesterday because he was sleep deprived and had a low grade fever, so he wasn't very fun to play with at all. Thank goodness we had Alex to play with. He always has a lot of energy.

All in all, the party went well, I was just glad I got to see my Uncle.

My dad made a watermelon basket for the party:

OUR house Family Party: Day 4

I wasn't hoping for fireworks and magic at our family party but I guess all in all, it turned out fine. I was so intimated by everyone else's party that I was trying really hard to convince my parents that we should cancel it and may be throw one next year when we are more prepared. But I'm glad we decided to do it anyway. There was plenty of food, the kids (and adults) loved the bunnies, the karaoke was alright (never a huge fan of a bunch of relatives attempting to sing), and I guess the point of it is that we just gave it our all, and we accomplished it as a family effort. It's nice to work alongside my parents and see fruitful results.

Here are some highlights:

I attempted an edible arrangement bouquet

This is Oscar's contribution: a sushi platter

And to be honest, I was so busy hosting I forgot to take pictures. I still had plenty of time to play with "pancake" and Alex though, but no pictures of how the rest of the night went...just good memories :)

Carmel Mountain Family Party #2: Day 3

Very uneventful party with lack of food and space to walk around. Not to mention, this house is heavily decorated with highly expensive antique vases and irreplaceable items so I always feel like I'm tip toe-ing around on eggshells when I'm there. I think this is definitely ranked the lowest of all the parties, which makes me feel better because at least this means we won't be last! YES!

Since there wasn't much to eat and not much space to roam around, I ended up playing and taking tons of pictures with Baby Andrew (whom I have nicknamed "pancake" because of his round and flat face).

This is baby Andrew's "Pancake" face :)

Me with baby Andrew and his older brother, Alex (the love of Oscar's life)

Me and "pancake" 

My Dad is very fond of "pancake" too