youxu

To simply put, I am a chatty person who is borderline argumentative, and my husband is a logic person who is borderline stubborn. These features are merged inevitably in our offsprings and displayed with obvious combinatorial effect.

Example? Some bits and pieces of conversations between me and one of the offsprings (currently 8 yr old) on a car trip......

O(ffspring): (talking nonstop and playing some wordy games with me to argue)
M(e): OK OK, can you stop arguing for a minute?
O: No I can't. Didn't you say I'd be a good lawyer some day?! I need to take every opportunity to practice.

(an hr later, after another round of talking/arguing)
M: Can you turn yourself out of the lawyer mode for a minute?
O: I just did! I am now in the "Too Argumentative" mode.

(5-10 min later, after some more talking/chatting/arguing)
M: OK OK, from now on, I am not responsible for you. Do whatever you want!
O: No you can't. You need to be responsible for me.
M: Why?
O: So I can have someone to blame!

Now I am borderline crazy.

Current Mood: blah

( 21 hours! )

Current Mood: blah

After my one and only haircut trial on William 5 years ago, I had given up on home barbering.

Until after Matthew was born. Since his hair was countable with little effort, there was not much room for me to mess up with. So after about a year or two when his hair finally grew to the point that he needed a haircut, I reboot my home barbering program. It was a better experience, and I went into a positive cycle of "more haircuts, better results". Then I started doing the trimming on William as well. And recently I intended to expand my pro bono clientele to Ian.

Me: (looking at his newly cut hair that made me feel embarrassed to know him) "I swear that I can cut your hair better than that!"
Ian: (staring straight to my eyes, pupils dilated): "I WILL SWEAR IF YOU CUT MY HAIR!"

Current Mood: blah

A couple of days ago I brought both boys to a store to get them soccer balls. It was a rushed trip, the only 25 minutes I could squeeze in that day between an errand and swimming lesson. After they each found a right size soccer, I quickly went through the self-checkout with a few items I picked up. With the receipt in one hand, my purse in the other, a bag on shoulder and another bag hanging on a finger, I said to the boys who were goofing or gawking about 3 feet away from me, in a medium volume of voice, "Hey boys, can you grab your balls?" William quickly came up to my side and picked up the balls from the checkout area. He then turned to me, and whispered to my ear, "Mom, you mean our soccer balls, right?!"

Current Mood: amused

Matthew's teacher gives kids a Purple Card when they have extraordinary behavior. And Matthew periodically gets it. On such a day, he would say, "Guess what I get today? It starts with a P". I would, of course, be very happy, and couldn't help teasing him by saying, "A Pizza?",  "A Panda?", or other silly things, before naming the winner.

(Scene change to last night's bedtime conversation.)

Matthew: "Mommy, do you know I have a girlfriend? Her name is Sandra."
Me: "Oh yeah? Does she know she is your girlfriend?"
Matthew: "Yes she does! And we'll get married after we go to college."
Me: "Sounds like a good plan. Whose idea is that?"
Matthew: "Ms. Sara, Ms. Nancy and Ms. Tammy. They all say that we can get married after we go to college."
Me: "Why do you want to marry Sandra? What about the other friends?"
Matthew: "I like her. She is pretty. And nice. Ashley wants to marry her, too. And I say, 'No, you can't marry her, 'cause I will marry her'."
Me: "So what does Ashley say?"
Matthew: "She says if she can't marry Sandra, she will marry nobody."
Me:  "Wow!"
Matthew: "So mommy, who are you married to?"
Me: "Who(m) do you think?!"
Matthew: "hmm, (thinking for a few seconds), I know I know, it begins with a D!"
Me: "Right!"
Matthew: "Is that a Duck?"
Me: "What? NO!"
Matthew: "Oh I know I know, is it very tall?"
Me: "Right!"
Matthew: "You marry the CN Tower!"
Me: "(LOL) CN Tower doesn't begin with a D!"
Matthew: "I know, you are married to Daddy. But Daddy's name doesn't begin with a D, it's I!"

William and I were having a bedtime chat about ...the world.

"Mom Mom, do you know because of the global warming, some day Florida will not exist any more?!

"Hmm?"

"'Cause the Arctic will melt and there'll be lots of water. And Florida is so low, it will go underneath the ocean!"

"Really?!"

"Yup. But maybe we can put a fan in front of the moon to blow to the earth and cool it down..."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh no no, that may not be a good idea, 'cause then we'll have hurricane."

Good night Sweetie! Let's worry about the world tomorrow.

Current Mood: amused

I am neither naive nor cynical.

Now we'll see how much recombinant DNA research will be affected.

Current Mood: blah

For people who know me REALLY well, I am either cynical or naive. I know I can be both. And here's an example: when H1N1 started to show on news media and one of the first hear-say comments/sources said something like the genome sequence of H1N1 is a mixture sharing similarity with avian, swine and human influenza virus, guess what my first impulsive thought is? "A genetic leakage from a lab?"
Several weeks later, I am still wondering why no one has asked that question yet. And my explanation is: I must be the most cynical AND naive person in the world.

Current Mood: bitchy

( This one is even more boring )

Current Mood: tired

I went grocery shopping today (Yeah, shopping is blog-worthy here for two reasons. One, I don't do it often. Two, my life is generally boring).

Nowadays, after loading a shopping cart with stuff we need, instead of going to a counter with a cashier behind, I usually go to one of those self-checkout station--not so much for efficiency 'cause sometimes it may take longer, but, as you probably figure out, I am kind of a control-freak, so if there's any chance of do-it-yourself, I'll take it.

Anyway, as I was going through this displaying-beeping process in front of a scanner, with 10 jars of orange or apple juice(1), a bag of oranges, an apple pie, a carton of ice cream, some Klondike bars, my smooth transaction was stalled with the last three items in the shopping cart: a standing alone green cabbage (never bought before but craved for it today) and two kinds of grapes (red and green). In the past I would put the no-barcode item on the platform, and look up for the code by making choices on the screen. Today, as I was about to do the same thing with the cabbage by choosing "No barcode" on the screen, instead of showing a list of items with images, I got a screen saying "Please wait while we process this..." and then "Ding!", the item was priced and billed. That was kind of ......sweet, I thought. I suspected within the last two months or so from most recent shopping in this store, they must have updated their Non Barcode checkout technique; I wondered if the little webcam-looking gadget sitting above the screen did the trick by identifying the item and processing it without my contribution. Slightly baffled but nicely surprised, I went ahead with the green and then the red grapes and admired the same thing happening. Thinking to be helpful to the webcam, I even opened the bag holding the red grapes more on the top so IT could take a good shot. Then I stood back waiting for the screen to update the bill.

With the few extra seconds in hand while waiting, I couldn't help sharing my surprise-of-the-day with a store employee who was standing a few feet away from me, cleaning up another self-checkout stand. "Isn't that amazing?" I said, "I just put the item on and Bingo, it got picked up by the scanner. Wonderful. How does it do that?" The friendly employee turned to me, with a sheepish smile, "I did that." Wait a minute. "Yeah", she continued, "I punched (in the code) for you." Oh, SHE was the magic behind. Thanks. But how I wish the webcam-looking thingie did that! Or maybe it should. Oh well.

(1): the only flavored beverage among the three kinds of drinks in the house--the other two are milk and water, so it's not hard to picture my family drinks juice more than it seems necessary.

Current Mood: blah

( time well spent )

Current Mood: relaxed

Someone posted on Canada's underpopulation which brought in many people's responses to this country. Since another friend invited to see more of slices of life from her friends, I'm going to share some personal stories.

Story 1: Canada's immigration policy: non-refundable fee was returned intact.
While applying for Green Card to USA, I also submitted my immigration application to Canada, since people I knew all said it was easy to get the approval to Canada but hard to USA. The application to Canada was mailed away in late October or early November, and was returned in less than a month, with non-refundable application fee paid in check that was not cashed, and a letter stating "we are currently not accepting any new application for this year. Send again in January". A month later, I got my pre-Green Card approval letter from USA. No need to send anything to Canada any more.

Story 2: Canada's bank policy: no money is good enough to accept and no account is bad enough to close.
Spouse lived in Canada and had a bank account that was never closed but not much in function for a couple of years after he came to work in the States. He then received a 5 digit check of Canadian dollars that he wanted to deposit to that account. The bank refused to accept it due to "the low activity" of that account. Were this be withdrawl, I'd say they were smart. With no money going in, and not much left to come out, he wanted to close the account. But that was also refused, 'cause they wouldn't accept long distance closing, nor faxed signature with written request etc.. Six months later he stopped by a branch of that bank when he was in Toronto to close it and was told "can't be done." This was after he stood in line for a while to get a two second conversation time with a clerk who told him that he needed to go back to the original little puny town where the account was originally open to close the account. And being a Canadian, he walked out of the bank without shooting a "why?" Finally it took this wife's yelling to this bank's USA 1-800 service number to get the account closed by phone or fax or email in a couple of weeks. Average Canadians can't handle this level of harassment.

Current Mood: bitchy

Recently a picture of Angelina Jolie in the 20s' attire caught my attention. Her Oscar nomination removed the last bit of hesitation of watching the movie on a chilly night. There I was, last night, sitting among a group of students and rare adults like myself, in a lecture hall that I usually take the spot behind the podium for many morning hours during the past two weeks, watching this rusty-colored color movie rolling out the story of a mother who lost her son and her world until she finished the fight.

It was a good movie, to me, 'cause it haunted me the whole night. Jolie's performance was Oscar-level no doubt. Although she still gives you the typical strong backbone Jolie, but it's more subtle, permissive, lying underneath the fragility shown through her slim, bony fingers and body. Her eyes were the best part--many layers of expressiveness and intriguing.

For some reason, I always like Jolie. Not love. Not adore. Just like. And admire from a distance. She doesn't seem to be particularly warm to anyone other than her kids. She insulates herself from everyone with this quiet politeness. But I like that she is not pretentious although very glamorous; she is always on the cover page for many magazines or papers, yet there was never any quotes from her mouth that would reveal anything deep in her thoughts. The Brad-Jen stuff dragged her on and on, yet she still gives me the feeling that she has nothing to do with any of the trashy news. She has her own goals: being a good actress and a good mother; and everything else can go to hell.

In this movie, something was similar. She wants her son back. As she told her son and herself, "Never start a fight. And always finish it."

It was a good finish, for the movie, and for her.

Current Mood: pensive

( i.e. as if a fishbone is stuck in my throat, only spitting it out would make me feel comfy again. )

Current Mood: blah

Our dinner conversation tonight touched upon the historical event happened today in DC, to which William commented, "President Obama's daughters are so lucky--they don't have to go to school today!"

Then he threw his parents a challenging look, "Mom, or Dad, why can't you become the President so I don't have to go to school?!"

Current Mood: amused

In another word, the story of steamed buns.

( Gotcha! )

Current Mood: satisfied

( Something Wonder Boy keeps making me wonder )

Current Mood: Proud anyway

To save trouble for my non-Chinese speaking friends, here is the google translation of what my title says, "Leisurely average light is really". To spare you from further confusion, no, that is NOT what I want to say. But since I don't know how to say it in English, the thought is recorded in Chinese.

平淡 means "peaceful", 从容 means "leisure" or "at easy", 才是真 means something "is truly the true thing". It is a mood, an attitude, an ideological status. It's the azure ocean after an angry storm, the lusciously green meadow underneath the rainbow, the sandy beach in the sunset hugging sandcastles and beach toys whose owners have long gone taking home the excitements and noises, the silhouette along the path in a young forest under the moonlight, the creek in a mountain singing an early morning song for themselves, the house that was just left by gone-to-school kids whose toys and blankets and jammies and breakfast plates were untouched and yearning for the return of their masters.

And that's where I am. And 平平淡淡从从容容才是真 is what I feel.

Current Mood: peaceful

This morning after finishing reading a profound book ("Return to Earth" , a great book, by the way, and I may blog it if I can gather my thoughts together), I overheard a meaningful language lesson a 3rd grader was giving to a kindergartener in my family room.

Do you know about these words? A jerk is a junior educated rich kid; a nerd is a naked educated rich dude; "cool" means constipated overweighted out-of-style loser; "poop" is people order our patties; and a dude is a donkey up doing election (this one he cooked right on the spot when I asked).

Hm, no child left behind on these.

Current Mood: amused

Let's see.

( Starting tomorrow, maybe? )

Now here's a chance to see my true friends who would be willing to take some off my plate. I'm not holding my breath.

Current Mood: anxious