Joie's Space

Wednesday, December 29, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Itinerary

I like showing guests around town, especially when it comes to bringing them to my favourite places. No prizes then for guessing that yesterday Jim and I brought Lisa and David to the Aquarium and then out for dinner at Samba the Brazillian restuarant where you are presented with various cuts of meat on swords.

The Aquarium was packed with people. Swarming more like. I really don't like crowds and my dislike is probably more than anyone expects of me. I had visions of holding a semi-automatic and finally getting the place to myself. Really, I'm not that destructive. All I was planning to do, had I a semi-automatic, was to shoot that annoying kid that keeps trying to edge between me and/or my cohorts and the glass of a fish tank. Of course being careful not to damage the fish tank in any way. Once that one kid goes down, I'll bet people will notice that I'm armed and that I'm prepared to use my weapon. Then they'll all clear out. It's like that stupid riddle about the dozen birds in the bush. How many are left if you shoot one bird? Zero. No one is stupid to stick around. Then again, if there are still people who are stupid enough to stick around, then hey. I have a loaded weapon. Bear in mind that throughout this fantasy I was always mindful of the effects bullets have on fishtank glass and I was being careful in my planning so that a richochet won't leave any marine life floundering. Heh. Floundering. Geddit? Heh.

Crowds aside, it was still very nice to be at the Vancouver Aquarium. We're going to call Member Services to see if we can get our two free adult passes replaced because they were lost with Jim's wallet. If we can, then we're bring our guests back on a school day so we wouldn't be subject to all that mayhem, mayhem, mayhem.

The dinner was great as usual. It was too bad that none of us lasted very long at the buffet but the food was still really good and the atmosphere was hard to beat. I like the two guys on guitar who sing during dinner. The four of us took to swaying to the music at our tables. I don't think anyone else saw us, but if they did, it's not like we care too much anyway. Swaying, laughing, cracking loud and rather offensive jokes. I guess we really weren't bothering the other patrons too much because it's not like we were thrown out or anything. Our server was even trying to convince us to stay for dessert. I doubt any of us at that point could even being to contemplate any more food. What we could think about though was booze.

Ah booze. We had a small worry though. Considering how racucous we were with a 0% blood alcohol level we were concerned that perhaps we might become really boring people with a drink in us. Still, that didn't stop us from buying enough alcohol that I'm wary of posting our final bill for fear of reprisal from some of the people who read my blog. Hee hee.

I tried Vodka for the first time in my life. I never liked it in chocolates so I figured that I wouldn't like it in a drink. I have never been so happy to be wrong in my life. I bought Absolut Vanilla and Smirnoff Raspberry. Both are great in Coke and on the rocks. I also managed to get another free Barcardi glass because my last one broke. It's a cheap glass but I'm a real sucker for the free gifts that come with alcohol. At the very least it's an excuse to buy more rum. We have resolved to play drinking games every night that we don't have to wake up to school/work/some other important thing early the next morning. I hear my liver starting to whine, but I'm ignoring it.

On the next episode of Lisa and David visit Jim and Joie: Science World (or some other tourist attraction).

posted by Joie! at 12:37 p.m.

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Monday, December 27, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Guests

Christmas morning brought with it two houseguests who crossed the international dateline to arrive here two hours before they left Singapore in the first place.

David and Lisa arrived safely into a grey, wet Vancouver day. A typical Vancouver day then, in other words. The weather up till their arrival was unseasonably beautiful with blue skies and a sun that shone like you see on Sesame Street. Earl commented that it's better to let them see the real Vancouver before they get too enamoured with the postcard Vancouver and then spend the rest of their vacation here in subtly moist rain jackets. I guess he's right.

Due to the fact that most of the people who have seniority at the casino have booked this time of year off, I've got alot more shifts this week than I know what to do with. It's a good thing in the sense that I've certainly overspent my Christmas gift budget. It's not such a good thing in that I have people here whom I haven't seen in a damn long time and I'd rather be spending time with them than with the regulars at my Blackjack table. On the other hand, I have all of next Sunday to Sunday off. That's going to be fun, I can tell you that.

On a not entirely unrelated note, I've finally learnt how to deal Fortune Pai Gow. It's a complicated game which can be easily described as seven card poker. It's in the casino mainly to attract the asian gambling community, but unlike Mini Baccarat, I see white people playing it too. It's one of those games where the learning curve is rather ridiculous, but the only way you can learn how to play it is by dealing it. So far my pits have been telling me that I've been doing alright. I just have to be comfortable enough to take my time and not get pushed around by the players. Assertiveness. That's something I told my interviewer that I'd like to develop on the job. She gave me a weird look that I didn't know how to interpret at the time. After four months on the job, I now know that it meant something along the lines of "You'll learn it faster than you know you will, fresh meat."

I dunno what it is about the Pai Gow and Baccarat players. It's like they can smell fear or something. They don't pick on the dealers who exude a certain something. Something that certainly does not come naturally to me, seeing as how most players try to pick on me. Like telling me to do things that would benefit them but that they know are completely against house rules. Chances are that they know the house rules better than I do anyway, me still being a rookie and all. Rookie status is not shed through chronological time but through total number of hours worked. Seeing as how I only work 1-3 days a week, I think I'm going to shed rookie status sometime next Christmas when I would most probably be working. I'm not too chuffed about it though. Actually, I'm really glad that they take actual hours worked into account when they evaluate my performance because really, there's no way my skills can be compared to someone who went to dealer school with me but works more than twice as much.

I like the people at work though. Not the players or anything, but the people I work with. I'm told that it's a Coquitlam Casino thing, that they don't have this sort of thing going on at the Rock. I've never worked at the Rock so I really can't comment. I went for supper with a bunch of guys from work the other day. A real Chinese supper, the kind that I haven't had for the longest time what with me living with white boy and all. That was nice. I went with someone who I went to dealer school with and someone who went to the night school. (I was day school) Mmmmm, thinking about it is making me so hungry right now...

I digress. I was talking about Lisa and David being here. Last night we watched the Shawshank Redemption Special Edition DVD. The only special feature that we watched was the comic spoof (and Morgan Freeman's son was in it, it was fantastic) because we had to watch the movie first. Lisa hadn't seen it before and I can't remember what she thought it was about, but considering what the movie is actually about, her misconception was hilarious.

It's a weighty movie but between blackberry port (made with berries picked by virgins in Saanich -- well I don't know about the virgins, but it was damn good port), irrelevant comments about various balls and finally a rather interesting question about Malay dicks (seriously, don't ask) I don't think Lisa managed to get a full appreciation of the dramatic tension of the movie. Still, it was fun.

I have tomorrow off so I really should go wake the two of them up and make plans. I think today we're just going to make a pot of laksa. Mmmmm laksa....

posted by Joie! at 11:21 a.m.

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Thursday, December 23, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Up For Air

Exams ended on the 21st. My last exam was for the ever entertaining Dr. Guy Carden who, for the first time in 15 years, was teaching the 300-level Syntax* class.

*Syntax: the study of how language is processed to which no one has any definite answers to yet. In any case, if they never found out the ultimate answer to it, nothing would happen.

The exam was remarkably humane. I didn't expect it to be. On the other hand, humane was not part of the general consensus about the exam and since it's graded on a scale, in a sick, twisted way that's really really good news.

After the exam, I got another haircut at Helmet Salon where I got my last cut. Since this was my second vist, I didn't get the gratuitious 50% discount, but the lady at the front desk was nice enough to give me the student discount although they only really offer it on Wednesdays. This haircut is really really different and I really really like it.

After a celebratory dinner with Jim at one of my favourite all-you-can-eat Japanese restuarants that night, we bought a box of L'Oréal Colour Experte and Jim gave my hair a colour treatment. You wouldn't believe, but it's really really awesome. The base colour is a really deep brown, such that you almost can't tell that there's a difference to my base colour. The streaks are a warm brown, distinct but subtle. The placement of the streaks are absolutely impeccable.

New haircut and new haircolour. I would post a picture but I have no idea where the camera is.

On Wednesday it started to sink in that my exams were over. Before the realization could take hold, however, another, more urgent and pressing realization grabbed me by the neck. Three days to Christmas and not only was there still a significant amount of Christmas shopping to be done, Lisa and David were arriving and something had to be done about the apartment to make it habitable. For one thing, we had over $20 in recycling lying about the house. That had to go. Also almost every surface was covered with the results of zealous food preparation. I think we really should develop the habit of taking care of the aftermath of meals after the meal. That's probably something to be dealt with through a new year's resolution, nonetheless, the mess could not wait for the New Year to be cleaned up.

We needed better trash management. We needed more counter space for food prep so that I could actually use my desk for studying. We needed something narrow at the doorway to drop keys, change and to put shoes that are used so often that it doesn't make much point to shimmy all the way into the coat closet to get them out of the way.

So we had a Plan. That's right. A Plan. We sat down to an absolutely unsatisfying and overpriced brunch at White Spot which is really a greasy spoon with fancy restaurant decor. Due to its deception, Jim and I fall for it occassionally, pay fancy restaurant prices for Denny's food and leave unhappy. Nonetheless, we wanted a nice sit down brunch and White Spot was the only place in the mall that wasn't a food court. The reason we needed a nice place to sit down and eat was because that's the way the best Plans are formulated.

Since we were at Oakridge Mall, here was our Plan:

1. Find gifts for Jim's Dad.
2. Find gifts for Jim's Mom and Husband (American)
3. Go to IKEA for affordable home organization solutions.
4. Never eat at White Spot again.
5. While trying to accomplish the above, also look at sweaters for Jim so that he can get the Christmas present from his dad that he's supposed to.

Central to our plan was actually knowing what we were going to buy as gifts. Jim's Mom and her husband (who is incidently a triathelete who just finished organizing this triathalon -- his name's Jon) was meeting us for dinner in a scant six hours. As things would have it, we were much more certain of what to buy Jim's Dad (who wasn't going to get his present until Christmas Eve) than we were of what to buy them. Card carrying genius that I am, I came up with the gift idea of the century.

They had just moved into a new place not too long ago. Gorgeous place with a backyard that opens out into a bay that opens out into open ocean. So something along the lines of home decor. On the other hand, a decor piece that is only good as a decor piece is a really lame gift. So I suggested a quality, hand crafted chess set. What we found was seven times better. It was a chessboard that was mounted on a heavy wooden box. The pieces were beautifully cast. Flip the board over and you have Chinese checkers. Underneath the board was a velvet lined place to put each individual chess piece. Pull out the drawer and you have a Backgammon board and a Tic-Tac-Toe (alright, that was a little wtf) board. Lift up that piece of wood and there is the storage place for a cribbage board, a set of cards, several sets of dice and all the relevant game pieces for the rest of the games. Gorgeous piece.

I can't say what Jim's Dad's presents are because I think he drops in on my blog once in a while.

Jim found a very nice Marimo Wool (dry-clean-only!) sweater at the Banana Republic. Yes we know that it's owned by the GAP possibly the single most evil corporation this side of WalMart but it was a nice sweater and we needed to get one before Christmas. Moving on.

IKEA is possibly my favourite place to shop in the world. I know that I should be embarassed to admit that, but oddly enough, I'm not, really. This time, however, I could not take the time that I usually like to do to look at all the interesting things that they have displayed in a distinctly pleasing manner. This is primarily due to the fact that our success in the mall earlier prompted us to allow me to take a two hour nap. With the dinner with Jim's Mom and Jon coming up, sauntering was rather out of the question. Despite the time crunch, I am pleased to report that everything went as Planned and we returned (miraculously managing to fit all that unwieldly lumber into the '95 Honda Civic 4 door) with all the neccessary home organization essentials.

I woke up this morning and realised that my exams are over. Christmas is in two days and it will bring Lisa and David with it. Wow. I had better start making this place fit for guests.

posted by Joie! at 11:01 a.m.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Free Money

Everytime I get an unexpected letter from UBC, it always ends up being from the library asking for the $57 in fines that I owe them for what must be three years now. In their letters they remind me that if I have fines that have been outstanding for more than a year or exceed $50 I cannot take books out of the library and/or use the computers in the library. Despite these not very scary cons, I don't want to pay those fines out of principle. With rising tuition costs and larger class sizes and fewer sections I feel like they're taking enough of my money, thank you very much. So when I got a letter from UBC yesterday, I almost threw it out without opening it.

I didn't. I opened it. Instead of demanding money, they were "pleased to inform me" that I had qualified for a bursary of $650, which actually covers the outstanding tuition for next term (the stuff that my student loan this term couldn't cover). Moreover, unlike a student loan, I don't have to repay the bursary. Ever.

I'm stunned.

No really. UBC is giving me money?

Huh. No kidding.

I read the letter a few more times, just in case I was wrong. Or drunk. Or something. I even looked it up on the student services center and the UBC Calendar. I'm the receipient of a non-repayable bursary from UBC. Maybe the next time they send me a letter asking for their $57 I might actually pay. Probably not, but it's a good thought right now.

Still on the topic of free money, I wonder if Twila from the latest Survivor would have won if she had simply said that she needed the money more than Chris did. Since so many other people have no doubt dissected the results of the finale more times than Google cares to dredge up for me, I decline to express my opinions here. Simply, I like Twila and I would have liked her to have won. I would love to discuss the last episode and the reunion show with anyone who watched it though, so catch me online or drop me an email and we'll talk.

Maybe I'll use the extra money to join Curves seeing as how there's one walking distance from where I live. I even know how it will fit into my next term's schedule. I was just taking inventory of the past four months and while I'm doing alright in terms of holding down a job and schoolwork I haven't exactly been experiencing a clean bill of health. In fact, a quick once over at my archives will reveal that I have had respiratory problems, digestive problems and a new allergic reaction. All of the above are clearly linked to stress and they hamper my productivity. I need to start working out (without adding significantly to things that I already have to do in a regular week) which is why Curves with its 30min three times a week program and its proximity to my apartment is perfect.

Here's to the holidays and free money. Take care out there.

posted by Joie! at 1:36 p.m.

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Saturday, December 11, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

The HIB

It stands for the Holiday Inn on Broadway, which is how we refer to the branch of the Casino that's located in the basement of said hotel. I just came off a nine hour graveyard shift there and I'm exhausted. The fact that I'm absolutely wasted is the one reason I'm not getting into bed and falling asleep. I know that if I do, there is no way I can haul my ass out in 45 minutes to drive Jim to work. He's working on a Saturday because he's taking Monday off to go to ICBC to get his license back. His two month suspension is officially over today but because it's not a weekday and ICBC is not open, he's going to have to wait two more days. I have to mention that he would take the bus, but because it's not a weekday, transit doesn't start operating early enough for him to be able to get to work on time. In fact, the Skytrain is so damn lousy that it doesn't even start running until 7am on weekends. Eventually I'm going to settle in a city that never sleeps. Meanwhile, I have to contend with a city that sleeps early on weeknights and wakes up late on weekends. How exciting.

The HIB is very different from the Coquitlam Casino (where I am regularly posted). The Coquitlam Casino is big. Before they opened the latest one in Richmond (the River Rock Casino, referred to as "the Rock" for good reason) it was the biggest one they had. After the slated expansions due to be completed sometime next year, it's supposed to be the biggest again. Both Casinos (Coq and the HIB) have no windows. But while Coq tries to trick your eyes with murals that depict vague outdoorsy shapes the HIB doesn't pretend to be something it's not. It knows is a small casino in the basement and it's cosy and I like it. It even has potted plants which, in the spirit of the season, are adorned each with a small string of lights. I thought that was a nice touch although the lights might always have been there and I failed to notice them the last time I was there picking up a shift.

It's a smaller casino and the tips are much worse than what I'm pulling at Coquitlam. But it's a smaller casino and more people know each other. There's somehow a stronger sense of community. They do things differently there too. I won't go into the details, because they really won't be significant to people outside the business, but I think it's cute. I don't plan to request transfer any time soon but I certainly wouldn't say no to picking up the odd shift there.

I met alot of my classmates from dealer school. Caught up with talk of who left and who got fired. The most juicy story is of course about Steve (who I'm sure everyone in our class heard about within a week of his firing) who got canned because he mouthed off to a pit. None from our class were surprised, mind. It was just juicy, I mean, word has it that they didn't even provide him with a reason for his dismissal. They just told him that he no longer had to turn up for work. They can do that too because it was within his probation period. Whatever though, Steve lives at home and goes to school. This job wasn't important to him in any meaningful way.

Need sleep.

I think Puja jinxed me. We were having an MSN conversation earlier where she mentioned that she was having bad cramps. My period hadn't even started. After that conversation trailed off and I went about my day, my period came and now I have KILLER cramps. Damn you Puja. Damn you and all your paracetamol.

posted by Joie! at 5:45 a.m.

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Wednesday, December 08, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Bigger than Jesus

Today is the 24th anniversary of John Lennon's death. While I know that this is not an original sentiment, I can't help but wonder what else he would have gone on to do if he didn't get shot dead outside his New York apartment. Today as a tribute, Vancouver's classic rock station, Rock 101 played 24 hours of John Lennon. Not just Beatles music but also quotes from interviews and press conferences that he held.

This is the guy that was open minded enough to marry not only outside his race, but also to a woman much older than he. I mean, there are alot of people out there who don't like Yoko Ono and even go so far as to say that she is the reason that the Beatles split up. Now I reserve my thoughts on her because frankly, I wasn't even alive for the whole debacle and all I have to base my opinions on are fragmented clips from various media from a hell of a long time ago. Oh, and my mother, but because she's such a hateful person anyway, I don't really trust her opinions on anything.

John Lennon was shot dead before I was born. It's hard to comprehend that because much of his music is still so relevant today. In fact, the background music for most of my early days with Jimmy consists of Beatles songs. If the radio in the car worked on a more consistent basis, that's what we would be listening to during our commutes. In fact, I know more Beatles songs than songs by any other bands combined. I love Lennon's music. Did you know that you can tell which songs he wrote despite the fact that they are all Lennon/McCartney? That's because whoever really wrote the song in question sings lead. So all you have to do is pay attention and you'll know which songs are his. In case you were wondering? Yes, he was the one who wrote I am the Walrus. It's not just the music though. It's the man.

I'd be hard pressed to find someone so much before my time who I can say I identify with. I don't claim to have any insight into John Lennon the man, but I like to think that the quotes that have survived him are a pretty good indicator of the person he is. I like his way of thinking. Simple, unassuming, but he knows what he wants and he knows who he is. His personality is so strong that it's little wonder that he's bigger than any of the surviving Beatles. Yes, that includes McCartney, who, in my opinion, has become quite a sell-out of late. Plus, how on earth did the best looking Beatle become so damn ugly? I digress.

I felt compelled to say something about John Lennon, this being the 24th anniversary of his death and all, but I don't feel qualified to say anything about him. All I can talk about then is what he is to me. To me, he's just a really, really cool guy that I would love to have for an afternoon just to talk to and have fun with. You know all those questions about if you could meet someone living or dead, anyone, who would it be? I never say John Lennon because I always feel pressured to give an answer like "Dalai Lama" or "Gandhi", though he's always the first guy to spring to mind. Starting today, if ever I am asked this question again (and I'm sure that this really stupid question isn't going the way of the dodo anytime soon) I'm going to say John Lennon, and I'm going to be proud that he's the one guy I would love to meet.

Sorry to have lost you before I was even born. Take care, wherever you are, and have fun.

posted by Joie! at 10:09 p.m.

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Monday, December 06, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Small White Bumps

The title of this post has got nothing to do with Dave, the manager that I had referenced in an earlier post. In fact, now that I know him a little better, he really isn't the bear that I made him out to be. He's not someone I would hang out at the bar with after work, but he's alright. Sometimes he seems belligerent just because he doesn't smile much. Doesn't mean he's mean though.

Moving on. Small white bumps have been appearing either singly or in colonies of 5-12 all over my hands, mostly on my fingers. When they are new, they are rather hard to spot visually, but running your fingertips over the afflicted areas (which is damn near every inch of skin) will alert you to where the bumps are. Over time it will develop a darkish dot right in the middle of the bump. When these bumps are scratched they fill with fluid. So far, it's been a toss up between clear fluid and something with a reddish tint. So why would I scratch at them? Well, why would anyone scratch anything? They itch like you wouldn't believe. They itch so badly that they wake me up in the middle of the night with the itching. Today, I discovered that if I scratch them dedicatedly (so as to quickly bring them to the fluid-filled point) and then burst them open they stop itching. The only problem is that while this is all well and good for the areas on my hands with thinner skin like the sides of fingers it completely doesn't work for the areas where the skin is quite a bit thicker like all of the skin on the palm side of the hand. Genius that I am, I'm now stuck with fluid filled bumps that I can't burst. Bah.

Before people start thinking that I have leprosy or something I would like to qualify these bumps. They are all about 1mm across and are very uniform. So it's not like I have monster deformed bumpy lumpy hands. The bumps are so hard to see with the naked eye that even my doctor had trouble spotting them and my hands look normal, thank you very much. Yes, I have been to see a doctor about them. Apparently it's an allergic reaction, but she can't really tell me what it is a reaction to. She did give me a tube of Lyderm which is supposed to help. So far, I've seen them multiply and the itching does not abate after the twice daily application of the product. I would have to say that it doesn't work.

Prior to my visit to the doc, I was slathering on Tiger Balm to help soothe the itching. During my consultation with her, she told me that Tiger Balm would only serve to further irritate my skin. Then again, it was the only thing that helped me stop scratching long enough last night to fall asleep. I'm going to go buy some calamine lotion tonight. But if my memory serves me right, I don't think calamine lotion stopped me itching when I had chicken pox. I think it only worked to stop me scratching because the pink film it left on my skin was distracting and fun to play with. In that case, I think it would still work for me now, I'll just have to fall asleep with the lights on so that I can see the pink stuff on my hands.

When I was reading the online information about Lyderm (the cream that she gave me) I noted that a possible (although less common) side effect is numbness of fingers. You know what, I think it's happening to me. My chip cutting last night at the casino was a joke and for half of today I was walking around wondering why my fingers felt all tingly and stupid. I thought I had over scratched it or something. The numbing effect seems to last for only about 2 hours after application though so if this stuff is really going to get rid of the bumps then I'm going to keep using it. If symptoms persist for more than two weeks, I will consult my physician.

On a completely separate topic, I finally got an awesome gift idea for Jimmy and I've just "Buy it Now"ed and paid for it on eBay. I can't say what it is here because although he doesn't read my blog he is using the "What I Want for Christmas" sidebar (I think I'm going to get the PDA!). So he might see it in passing and I want to keep it a secret. In fact, I just called the seller long distance (seller is in Colorado) to request that any labels that might betray the contents of the box it is being shipped in be stripped. In addition I'm probably also buying the Shawshank Redemption Special Edition DVD just because he keeps asking for it. Plus, it's one of David's favourite movies so they can both watch it together when David comes over. Boy had he better be coming over. I mean, there are an awful lot of websites out there with extensive step-by-step instructions on how to construct a viable mail bomb...

posted by Joie! at 4:33 p.m.

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Thursday, December 02, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________________

Four Years and Counting

Yesterday marked the start of my fifth year as a Canadian Permanent Resident. I landed here on Dec 1st 2000 kicking and screaming. I don't think I've stopped kicking and screaming, but there have been improvements.

I have to say that I'm an incredibly different person than I was when I arrived here. Considering that most people change between the age of 16 and 20 proclaiming that I'm a different person might seem to be trumpeting the obvious, but no. The move here made me challenge much of what I had previously accepted unquestioningly. I don't want to go into everything here, but suffice to say I'm much happier with who I am as a person than I ever was in my entire life.

In an earlier conversation with Lisa, I mentioned that for the first time ever I'm not wishing I was someone else or other variations on that same theme. Growing up I was never really comfortable in my own skin. Most of my time spent day dreaming was wishing that I belonged to a different family, a different race, wishing I were prettier, more atheletic, smarter, more talented. I would classify it as a full blown obsession. Almost every moment that my mind had time to itself (during my daily commute, during meals, walking, during classes, during exams...) I was preoccupied with how my life would be better if. I'm not saying that I don't wish for a few things right now (like a smaller dress size and the ability to go back to Singapore) but the things that I wish for a reasonable and within my control.

Lisa said that this means that I have arrived. Arrivvedd, I think was how she spelt it.

I can't help but realise that much of this self-discovery is tied to my moving out of my parents' house. For once I wasn't trying to live up to a standard that kept moving higher as soon as the old one was met. For once I wasn't living with a mother who's convinced that being Chinese is one of the biggest misfortunes in the world. (More on this below) For once I was achieving academically for me and not for anyone else. For once I wasn't afraid that someone would put a negative spin on my innocent actions and be mad at me for it. For once I wasn't the target of random anger that didn't have anything to do with me anyway.

I really don't understand why my mother dislikes the Chinese so much. She thinks that they are less attractive and less civic minded. She believes in white supremacy, just not lynching. It must be hard to hate your own race. Living on my own and interacting with others of my own race without the influence of my mother, I've come to the conclusion that Chinese people are attractive and that in many ways I'd much rather be Chinese than any other race in the world. Although I must say that I find my own white boy rather cute. :) I think the more relevant issue here is that while there are differences amongst the different races, the differences don't equate to good and bad. It's more subjective, like how green is different from blue, but both are perfectly acceptable colours.

Four years later and I know that I don't have anything to prove. I'm still kicking and screaming a little about being here, but hey. At least I'm getting a degree while in exile, it's not a complete waste of my time.

posted by Joie! at 9:59 a.m.

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