Kids are a blessing to parents. But they are too tired to enjoy it.
We all knew it would come. Still, it came as a surprise on the last day of May 2021.
It’s really fast.
The first one, “One Child Policy” stayed for 34 years (1980-2014). The second, “Two-child Policy”, 5 years (2015 -2020).
How long is this one’s life, “Three-child Policy”, before the government says “Okay, have kids as many as you want”?
Then the “Max-child Policy”? It will say, by law, you must have as many kids as you can. No more“you want”, but “you must”. It…
They are hit by Covid much worse than adults. But they will get their life back.
My son Jack will turn 17 this coming Sept. He comes down the stairs for dinner. For some time, this is when I feel a large boulder rolling down the hill. Today I notice his T-shirt is so loose that the fringes seem to be flying everywhere. Suddenly he looks so skinny.
My brain is having a hard time processing the picture sent by my eyes.
“What happened, Jack? Your shirt looks way too large on you.”
“I don’t know.” Teenagers, boys. They don’t really like talking about themselves, especially in front of parents. Also because of age, however, they…
Give every baby a home, let them run for their dreams. Because it could be a dream of Olympic championship
The women’s 100m butterfly swimming final. China’s Yufei Zhang leads the lanes until the last 15 meters. Her fans back to China hold their breath, ready to celebrate her championship. The commentator says,
“Yufei Zhang’s got second place.”
0.05 second behind her Canadian rival. Deadly silence, the screen still moves with Zhang. She turns her face, smiles, gives a big thump up to the girl who just beats her.
The camera moves to the champion. She has a perfect Asian face.
Born in China
Maggie Mac Neil was born in Jiujiang, China, one of the poverty-stricken areas in the country. …
Then he called me “dad”.
I quit my job. It’s an e-commerce sorting warehouse. Packages, packages, packages. Sorting, sorting, sorting.
But there are some good memories there. There are some names that I will remember for some time. Chichi is one of them.
The two name-dumbs
It’s a genuinely wrong name because I never got his name right. Honestly, it’s my invention —Chinese tend to call a single-syllable in a repeating fashion to show a sense of intimacy. I guess it was close enough as he never bothered to correct me.
I always messed up with names at the workplace, with 200 or so co-workers rolling in and…
The new genre: spend money on social media, live a miserable life.
“One year ago, I was nobody.”
‘‘Using this Samsung Galaxy for three years. It has everything that I need. (showing the Rolex at his wrist)’’.
“Whoa~ I like your kitchen! My kitchen is 3 times bigger. It’s too much work.”
The Covid failed to bog down the wheel of wealth accumulation. At least it’s the case in the U.S. The art of showoff gives no sign of decline in light of all the fear and death. In fact, it’s evolving faster than the dollars are piled up. The boom of social media has provided infinite possibilities.
Look at what we have planted in our children. It’s time to drop the great expectations.
You get what you plant.
Since my son turned teen the pain of being pushed away by him haunts me every day. Where is the clingy, bouncing, curious boy? Now a cold, distant, unappreciative little critter. If it’s a business I have likely made a bad deal: big investment vs. little return.
I called my mom. She raised three boys.
Me: “Mom, did you see it when we turned away from you, closed the door on you? Did you think that was a bad deal?”
Mom: “Firstly, never say raising kids is a deal, ever.”
“Secondly, you get pumpkins after planting pumpkins, beans after planting…
It’s America’s 245th Independence Day, 70th July 4th holiday, my 3rd celebration on this land.
We watched the fireworks show for the first celebration. A show at the same place for over 60 years.
The second, we hunkered down at home, watched the pandemic news, almost forgot July 4th.
This year, they will resume the fireworks. But the old place is closed, they will start over at a new place.
Things will never be the same. The good news is I am seeing bigger smiles, hearing more laughter at the park. As they say, “Only after tribulation can we have twice as much rapture.”
So is my gratitude to this land, after so many years…
And almost kills it now
Thousands of years ago, Xi’an was the capital of ancient China. Every year, students and scholars across the country traveled to Xi’an to attend the Imperial Exam. Once passed, they would get a job serving the emperor and move into the higher class.
A word invented for a dish
Many visiting scholars fell in love with Xi’an’s food. One year, a scholar was obsessed with a special kind of noodle: the thick, dry strings were covered with chili powder. A ladleful of chili oil was heated near to the burning point before spattered on the top of the noodle. …
I have 8 stories but I am not sure they really fit in
Sense and sensibility
Years ago I had a personality assessment. One of the results caught my eyes: I had sort of dual personality in terms of emotional sensitivity. In short, I recognize things fairly quickly, but I don’t really act on them. Or, my mind is sharp and blunt at the same time.
The report listed it as a negative trait — It makes a person look lazy and under-motivated.
“Sounds like me!” I conceded. To further attest to it, I didn’t really care. Quite opposite, I was sort of glad. Over the past two decades, I worked in three continents, a handful…
Goals are never achieved after a straight line. Hybrid just provides another path.
I have been a member of three public speaking clubs since early 2019. Three times per week, I drove to three different places to attend club meetings. Each meeting was scheduled for 1.5 hours or so, plus a social time afterward ranging from 30 minutes to one hour. Coming back home, I would have spent at least 3 hours for the meeting. The organization had run the meeting format since 1924. One of its features was the family-like gatherings within the clubs.
I enjoyed the family-like environment for barely one year. March 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued the Stay-at-Home…
