Friday, January 9, 2015
Friday, July 16, 2010
Dad's Kung Fu Exercises
My dad came over finally and I ran upstairs to greet him. He was in the backyard with my mom and the two dogs. My mom was saying how he had begun practicing this kung fu/tai chi style exercises. He said it was 5 animal styles called Wu Qing Sao or maybe Wu Ching Tsao. Something like that.
He was showing me the simple exercises, movement by movement, and I started to realize that he looked different. He looked a tad happier and he looked like he was in better shape. His muscles were slightly more visible. This was pretty entertaining to me and it made me happy that he took up something healthy like this.
He showed me some of the movements. It was very tai-chi-like. There was a tiger style, bird style, deer style, monkey style, and what might have been gorilla style? The movements were pretty cool.
The whole time we were doing this, we were in the backyard. I thought it was pretty amusing. Especially when he was doing the monkey style! It consisted of a simple hand position to mimick monkeys in a horse stance. You look one way, then rapidly look the other way. He looked so serious and goofy at the same time when doing this. It was alll pretty amazing.
I'm going to try and copy down these movements to practice later.
Also, I learned today that our family name really is Sao and not Chan. His father was named Sao, but left him while he was still in his mother's stomach. He was raised by a family named Chan and adopted the name. I remember my mom mentioning something about this, but it was always confusing. If my father says our name is Chan, then our name is Chan =)
He was showing me the simple exercises, movement by movement, and I started to realize that he looked different. He looked a tad happier and he looked like he was in better shape. His muscles were slightly more visible. This was pretty entertaining to me and it made me happy that he took up something healthy like this.
He showed me some of the movements. It was very tai-chi-like. There was a tiger style, bird style, deer style, monkey style, and what might have been gorilla style? The movements were pretty cool.
The whole time we were doing this, we were in the backyard. I thought it was pretty amusing. Especially when he was doing the monkey style! It consisted of a simple hand position to mimick monkeys in a horse stance. You look one way, then rapidly look the other way. He looked so serious and goofy at the same time when doing this. It was alll pretty amazing.
I'm going to try and copy down these movements to practice later.
Also, I learned today that our family name really is Sao and not Chan. His father was named Sao, but left him while he was still in his mother's stomach. He was raised by a family named Chan and adopted the name. I remember my mom mentioning something about this, but it was always confusing. If my father says our name is Chan, then our name is Chan =)
A Little Fun, A Little Disaster
Yesterday, in order to help manage my brother's kids at home, I offered to cook them dinner. My brother was in and out and my mom was struggling to take all sorts of ingredients out of the fridge. The inside of the fridge looked like PURE CHAOS! So I started throwing out all the mysterious leftovers. Once I did that, I left to go to Safeway.
I was going to make Bucatini All' Amatriciana. I think thats how it's spelled. It's a Giada De Laurentis recipe. I think thats how you spell her name. Anyways, it's a type of tomato-pancetta based sauce with mozzarella stuffed meatballs. Very good! So I thought this would be a hit with the kids. What kid doesn't love meatballs?
I asked the seafood guy if they had pancetta while I was looking near the bacon stuff, but he didn't know and said he had to go ask the "meat" guys. He came back with professional help. The guy confidently escorted me to the deli meats area where I found thinly sliced pancetta for like $4-$5 for 3 ounces! I needed 6 ounces so that stung the wallet. I got the rest of the stuff and left for home.
At home, my best friend David was over, along with a couple other friends. My mom had left to go bring my aunt back to the house. So, I was thinking, "Crap, I gotta feed all these people!" The recipe I think probably serves about 4-6.
I prepared the sauce, made the meatballs, shoved them in the oven, and then decided to cook more pasta than the recipe called for so I could feed more mouths. I was worried that it would weaken the flavor, but I had to make sure everyone got some.
The kids weren't crazy about the pasta!! But they did like the meatballs! The pasta was a bit weak in flavor since I had made more pasta. That was kind of disappointing. It wasn't very popular at all. I'll have to just double the portions next time or something.
I remember feeling that I had to help out around the house to ease my brother's stress. Clean up, help with kids, clear out some junk.....
Today, I took my mom and aunt to the doctors. Eye doctors? It was the Opthamologist. I helped them fill out the paperwork and waited in the waiting room for them to be done. I was so tired. I felt like the room didn't exist and I kept nodding off into sleep and waking up.
Finally when they were done, I heard my mom getting into a little arguement with the nurse. I went to check it out. What they were talking about completely confused me! It was about my mom's medicare coverage. I had to have the nurse explain to me what was going on. My mom was being stubborn and kept saying she was going to cancel her stuff. The nurse wasn't being very patient with my mom because they were very behind schedule.
On the way home, since my mom was all worked up, she began ranting about my brother and his recent behavior. She thought he was blaming her for something when that wasn't the case at all. I tried to explain to her the stress that he was under and to try have a little more patience and understanding. I tried to remind her that we're family and have to be there for each other. That communcation was key for us to be able to understand one another. The whole conversationg got me pretty emotional, but in the end, I think she understood a bit more. I hope it helped.
I was going to make Bucatini All' Amatriciana. I think thats how it's spelled. It's a Giada De Laurentis recipe. I think thats how you spell her name. Anyways, it's a type of tomato-pancetta based sauce with mozzarella stuffed meatballs. Very good! So I thought this would be a hit with the kids. What kid doesn't love meatballs?
I asked the seafood guy if they had pancetta while I was looking near the bacon stuff, but he didn't know and said he had to go ask the "meat" guys. He came back with professional help. The guy confidently escorted me to the deli meats area where I found thinly sliced pancetta for like $4-$5 for 3 ounces! I needed 6 ounces so that stung the wallet. I got the rest of the stuff and left for home.
At home, my best friend David was over, along with a couple other friends. My mom had left to go bring my aunt back to the house. So, I was thinking, "Crap, I gotta feed all these people!" The recipe I think probably serves about 4-6.
I prepared the sauce, made the meatballs, shoved them in the oven, and then decided to cook more pasta than the recipe called for so I could feed more mouths. I was worried that it would weaken the flavor, but I had to make sure everyone got some.
The kids weren't crazy about the pasta!! But they did like the meatballs! The pasta was a bit weak in flavor since I had made more pasta. That was kind of disappointing. It wasn't very popular at all. I'll have to just double the portions next time or something.
I remember feeling that I had to help out around the house to ease my brother's stress. Clean up, help with kids, clear out some junk.....
Today, I took my mom and aunt to the doctors. Eye doctors? It was the Opthamologist. I helped them fill out the paperwork and waited in the waiting room for them to be done. I was so tired. I felt like the room didn't exist and I kept nodding off into sleep and waking up.
Finally when they were done, I heard my mom getting into a little arguement with the nurse. I went to check it out. What they were talking about completely confused me! It was about my mom's medicare coverage. I had to have the nurse explain to me what was going on. My mom was being stubborn and kept saying she was going to cancel her stuff. The nurse wasn't being very patient with my mom because they were very behind schedule.
On the way home, since my mom was all worked up, she began ranting about my brother and his recent behavior. She thought he was blaming her for something when that wasn't the case at all. I tried to explain to her the stress that he was under and to try have a little more patience and understanding. I tried to remind her that we're family and have to be there for each other. That communcation was key for us to be able to understand one another. The whole conversationg got me pretty emotional, but in the end, I think she understood a bit more. I hope it helped.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Troubled Day
Today started off a bit rugged. My brother was in a bad mood again which started off from yesterday. He's been under a lot of stress and pressure due to financial and family obligations. My mother and him haven't been on the best of terms for a while now. It's probably because of loss of patience. My brother told me that our mom recently had a kidney infection and had been to the doctor. She was prescribed some medicine to take care of the problem but apparently it wasn't working very well or didn't make her feel good. Because of that, she stopped taking it and I think it got worse. On top of that, she had been gardening in the backyard (which looks like a swamp) for hours and hours at a time. He kept telling her to stop doing it so much, especially since it's summer time and its so hot and humid. It's not healthy for a woman her age to be stressing her body like that. Especially because of her infection. He's a work-a-holic and he is frustrated because she has always been a work-a-holic as well. Now he's inherited that trait and it's in full swing.
I tried to be supportive to him and hear him out while he vented on the situation of things, but it wasn't until later that I realized how upset I was about everything. I feel so helpless and don't know what I can do to immediately help. All I know is that I've got to work harder (become a work-a-holic?) and start contributing more financially to the family.
I hate when my mother and brother argue with each other. This is something I had to get used to ever since I was a child. They'd argue and I'd have to be the mediator. I was just a child when this all began. So to see this again, it doesn't make me feel good.
I tried to be supportive to him and hear him out while he vented on the situation of things, but it wasn't until later that I realized how upset I was about everything. I feel so helpless and don't know what I can do to immediately help. All I know is that I've got to work harder (become a work-a-holic?) and start contributing more financially to the family.
I hate when my mother and brother argue with each other. This is something I had to get used to ever since I was a child. They'd argue and I'd have to be the mediator. I was just a child when this all began. So to see this again, it doesn't make me feel good.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Southern Hospitality? Home in VA.
So I stopped by a 7-11 to grab some gum. I walked out and was throwing away the wrapper when I noticed a young Spanish couple with a baby in a stroller walking by. As they walked pasted me, this old white grandpa called out, "Hey ma'am? Hold on I got something for ya."
They couple was kinda confused, as was I. I was like that's kind of weird. Is this old man crazy? But the couple stopped to see what he was going to do or what he was going to give them. The old man slowly rummaged through the back seat of his car and came out with a brown teddy bear in a sweater. He kinda dusted it off and said with a smile," I got this teddy bear. You can give it to your son."
This literally made me laugh out loud because of just how nice I thought it was. I thought he was crazy, but he was actually being nice.
The couple smiled back and thanked him.
"How old is your son? He's a good looking kid." He never stopped smiling.
As the couple left and the old man got his car to leave. I was just so entertained by what happened. And I turned to the left as I stuck a piece of gum and started chewing, I saw the green grass and trees that I loved about this town and was suddenly struck with a feeling of sadness.
I saw that this was Alexandria, Virginia. My hometown. A beautiful town with wonderful people who will surprise you with random acts of kindness. And I wanted to be back in this town. But I was in Los Angeles. And it suddenly made me afraid. Will I ever reach my goals in life? Will I have the success that I want? Will I be able to start a family and take care of them?
I suddenly wondered if the grandpa was all alone. Or who might he have bought the teddy bear for? Or how did he get it? How did it make him feel? Why was he so delighted to give this teddy bear to a little boy who was a complete stranger? Did he have any children? Or grandchildren? I thought maybe no.
This made me feel very alone and scared. I don't want to be alone. I want to be surrounded by love with my family and friends. I feel like I'm running out of time. I need to work harder.
They couple was kinda confused, as was I. I was like that's kind of weird. Is this old man crazy? But the couple stopped to see what he was going to do or what he was going to give them. The old man slowly rummaged through the back seat of his car and came out with a brown teddy bear in a sweater. He kinda dusted it off and said with a smile," I got this teddy bear. You can give it to your son."
This literally made me laugh out loud because of just how nice I thought it was. I thought he was crazy, but he was actually being nice.
The couple smiled back and thanked him.
"How old is your son? He's a good looking kid." He never stopped smiling.
As the couple left and the old man got his car to leave. I was just so entertained by what happened. And I turned to the left as I stuck a piece of gum and started chewing, I saw the green grass and trees that I loved about this town and was suddenly struck with a feeling of sadness.
I saw that this was Alexandria, Virginia. My hometown. A beautiful town with wonderful people who will surprise you with random acts of kindness. And I wanted to be back in this town. But I was in Los Angeles. And it suddenly made me afraid. Will I ever reach my goals in life? Will I have the success that I want? Will I be able to start a family and take care of them?
I suddenly wondered if the grandpa was all alone. Or who might he have bought the teddy bear for? Or how did he get it? How did it make him feel? Why was he so delighted to give this teddy bear to a little boy who was a complete stranger? Did he have any children? Or grandchildren? I thought maybe no.
This made me feel very alone and scared. I don't want to be alone. I want to be surrounded by love with my family and friends. I feel like I'm running out of time. I need to work harder.
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