My Ohio license plates on my car. Plus I got an Ohio drivers' license.
Ironically, it's because I'm going back to Utah for about a month, and needed to get these irksome "paperwork"/ responsible citizen duties done before heading out. *sigh*
Everyone in America is talking about Gay Marriage, because the Supreme Court is debating the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) like, right now.
It's quite fascinating to read the analogies being drawn. There's the milk analogy- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who is liberal) compared "a gay marriage endorsed by a state, but not recognized by the federal government" to "two types of marriage, 'full marriage, and then this sort of skim milk marriage.'" Oh Ginsberg... gotta love her!
There's the porcupine analogy, which was really quite funny. This one has been circulating on Facebook, so most of you have probably read it. Basically, it says will society stop shoving the gay agenda down our throat already???!!! We are not against gay marriage, but it's appearing EVERYWHERE that we are exhausted of it being thrown in our face left and right. It's like pursuing a "porcupine pet" agenda to the point that now, you can't just state that you own a dog or cat, but have to say, "I own a dog/ cat... but there's nothing wrong with owning a porcupine too."
OR right now, make sure you say "it's raining cats and dogs and porcupines."
OR you go to an art history class to learn about Da Vinci's masterful use of line and shadow in his paintings, but instead, the professor spends the whole class talking about how Da Vinci secretly kept a pet porcupine, "despite the disapproval of his backwards society, and this inner struggle was the source of his sensitivity and genius as an artist." [Believe it or not, there are articles out there that does this.]
And if you oppose any of these changes, you are a bigot and insensitive.
Really quite a clever analogy.
And then there's the straight-in-your-face "You are a bigot" analogy.
Oh wait, that's not an analogy. That's a real life experience.
Yesterday in class, we were talking about racism in Oakland, CA in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. We were having a discussion, when my classmate said, "Speaking about the 'Pro-Family' movement going on today, which, by the way, a few decades from now we will just expose them what they are- bigots (*snickers*); the 'Pro-family' movement etc etc."
FREEZE.
*Sigh* that's me. I'm not one who can respond fast enough on my feet, and I don't debate well, so I usually have a good comeback after the issue has passed, or I just let it slide (gotta pick your battles, ya' know). In this case, it was a combination of dumbfounded-ness and "roll eyes" *whatever* response.
To be fair to him, he didn't know that I am Mormon (I'm sure he would have been a little more sensitive if he knew that), and, like I said, we were talking about racism in Oakland a few decades ago. Back then, policies that we now explicitly label as "racist," were not regarded as such then. So my classmate simply took what happened then ("it was all really racist"), and applied it to the situation now (it is all really bigotry").
I'm not here though, to write a defense of my faith. THIS is a good article explaining my position on gay marriage, and so is THIS.
What I ask though, is please, let's not be disrespectful or nasty of the "other" side. Just as I don't call you mean or derogatory names for supporting gay marriage, please don't call me, my family and friends "bigot." We may have different opinions, but that does not give you the right to insult me. Even if you don't share my faith or even try to see things from my point of view, at the very least don't publicly insult others. We may never agree on this issue, but we can certainly "agree to disagree" in a more accommodating manner.
I want to tell you about some of my food adventures since I've moved here to Buckeye Nation. Which is really quite a feat considering how the food scene here is not exactly... a selling point. But food lovers like me can still hunt down good food any where, right? ;) Some food adventures have been good, and others, well... let's just say, one food adventure gone wrong gave me the shivers.
Let's talk about the good food adventures first:
- CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite food feast, but NOTHING ever beats the taste of home. This year, Miss Cee and I went all out to celebrate CNY 2013, the Year of the Snake, starting with our bat adventure, which you can read about HERE.
Just kidding. [Btw, this couple missionary serving in my church's congregation came up to me last week and said, "We heard about the bird and the bird in your apartment last week. We call it your "Batman and Robin." Bwa ha ha ha ha!]
What Miss Cee and I did do was host a Hotpot dinner for four other friends on the first night of CNY. It was fabulous!!! We had thin-sliced pork and mutton/ lamb, Chinese meatballs (my favorite!), artificial crabmeat, 2 kinds of vegetables, noodles, egg dumplings, tofu, mushroom... nom nom nom.
Eating hotpot always reminds me of the steamboat dinner that I ate growing up every year for my family's Chinese New Eve Reunion Dinner/ 除夕团圆饭. Steamboat is the Cantonese version of it, and everyone uses an individual mini-ladle to scoop food from the broth. It was absolutely delicious, and a great way to welcome the new year, especially after the annual huge cleaning spree (大扫除).
The next week, we went with 2 other friends to try out dim sum at Sunflower restaurant. We had heard good reviews for it, and what better way to celebrate CNY then to splurge a little on some comfort food?
Sadly, I wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong- I rather eat bad dim sum than no dim sum at all, but I was disappointed with the quality. I think even Salt Lake has better dim sum than this! Oh well.
Then on Sunday we invited 2 friends from the ward to celebrate the last day of CNY by making our own Chinese dumplings/ 水饺. Follow these steps for a delicious meal.
First, we make them:
Next, we pose with our handiwork:
Then, we boil and eat them- YUMMY!!!
And to top it all off, my friend from Singapore gave me a container of Singapore pineapple tarts!!! Picture on left is the day I received it. Picture on left taken the very next day. Yes, you can tell that I loved it.
Now for the bad adventure. Thankfully, I've only had one food adventure (so far) that made me shudder in horror. Some of the food in Columbus isn't terrific, but nothing like this. A friend from small group and I went to Cup-O-Joe for hot chocolate one night, and I ordered hot chocolate, and this is what I :
I was devastated because the first time I went there, Cup-O-Joe had the MOST AMAZING cup of hot white chocolate. Yes, you read that right- hot WHITE chocolate.
This time, I tried their normal hot chocolate and it turned out pink and disgusting. *sigh* I wrote the 2 comments on the cup and left it on the table, and hope that the people working there find it. Sticking to my hot white chocolate next time!
As a Latter-day Saint/ Mormon, I have the deepest respect for my church leaders, and look forward to the semi-annual worldwide conference held in April and October. One of the most memorable quotes I have heard over the years, came from Thomas S. Monson (current prophet and president of the LDS Church), who said this in the April 2005 General Conference when he was still a first counselor:
"Avoid the philosophy and excuse thatyesterday's luxuries have become today's necessities... It is essential for us to live within our means." (Quoted from HERE)
So true!
Then, last night, I was reading Lizabeth Cohen's A Consumer's Republic (you can buy it HERE on Amazon), which is about the rise of mass consumption/ consumerism in post-World War 2 America. Basically, how did America become the #1 country of "stuff"? It's written in very readable prose, so even those who are not in the academic world won't get lost. Definitely recommended!
But that's not what got me excited. After reading for hours, as I started page 261, GUESS WHAT I FOUND?!
No, not a reference to President Monson. Too bad... Anyway, on page 261, Cohen quoted then-Macy's board chairman, Jack Isidor Straus, whosaid this in1965(Staus also oversaw the development of a large shopping mall in New Jersey, so you can imagine that he was one of those advocating "spend, spend, spend!"),
"Our economy goes on spending regardless of how many possessions he has... The luxuries of today are the necessities of tomorrow."
But this time, Straus was saying this to justify the expansion of shopping malls, credit and endless/ mindless spending.
Isn't that funny? The same quote applied to two situations arguing for the exact opposite effect. One to discourage unnecessary spending, and the other to encourage it.
Moral of the story: Always read quotes in context. And be grateful that I was still alert enough to spot this quote after 261 pages!
WARNING: this post contains lots of CAPS LETTERS (for emphasis & dramatic effect), but is based on TRUE events.
Miss Cee has been my roommate for only ONE WEEK, but I can already foresee that it is going to be quite an adventure.
Last night I came home around 10 pm and was putting away my stuff when Miss Cee rushed out exclaiming, "Miss Keesh! I've been waiting for you to come home becuaseabirdattackedmeandthereisamouseinthekitchen!"
HUH?!
She explained (slower) that she was sitting at her desk in her bedroom, happily working on her computer and was about to take a shower when A BIRD ATTACKED HER.
Remember, it's winter time, so all our windows are shut tight with blinds pulled down, and (as far as we can see) there are no holes in the roof of the apartment. So when she said A BIRD ATTACKED HER, I pictured this:
Taken from http://www.istockphoto.com
Only of course, an angrier (and browner) bird, pecking at the window, furiously trying to break the glass and blinds to get in. I was like, "Huh?! Why would a bird attack you?!"
Then she went on to say that she was so scared, she started crawling on all fours and shut both our bedroom doors and the bathroom door, to which, because I'm still thinking this:
I thought to myself, "She crawled on on fours? Erm... okay, I guess she didn't want the bird to see her through our bedroom windows... But why shut the bathroom door? There are no windows in our bathroom!"
And then she started exclaiming how the bird swooped down right in front her face multiple times, and I finally got it- she wasn't talking about a bird outside of the window. THE FREAKING BIRD WAS IN OUR APARTMENT ATTACKING HER!!!
WHAT THE HECK???!!! How in the world did the bird get into the apartment? And what do you do in such a situation?! Please remember that poor Miss Cee was all alone, crawling and gasping for anyone to hear her pleas for salvation... alright, not so dramatic, but imagine how freaked out you would be if a bird appeared OUT OF NOWHERE and swooped down TO YOUR FACE and CIRCLED ABOVE YOUR HEAD and started demanding "GET ME OUT OF HERE OR I WILL PECK YOU TO DEATH."
Seriously, it's terrifying.
Where are the men when you need them??? - one of the thoughts that went through Miss Cee's mind. The other was, "Help me! Please keep me alive!"
Thank goodness despite the "trauma" Miss Cee figured out how to get the bird out of the apartment, which involved shutting all doors (hence the bathroom), turning on the lights to the living room and opening the balcony door to let the bird escape. Thankfully, the bird took the escape route.
Poor Miss Cee. And you wonder why I hate birds...
But WAIT!!! The story does not end there. After Miss Cee got the bird out, she quickly shut the balcony doors, turned around and was about the walk back to the bedroom when she noticed this:
A mysterious "blob" perched on our kitchen cabinet doors near the ceiling. Inching closer, the blob turned out to be A MOUSE.
Round 2.
Except that this time, the animal simply perched there as if dead. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to do anything anyway, Miss Cee left the ceiling light on, hoping that the light would force it to stay in its position while she went took a shower. No point staring at a mouse that didn't seem inclined to move all night right? She took a shower, then quickly shut herself in her room.
I came home soon after, blissfully ignorant of all that had taken place just an hour prior. So when Miss Cee rushed out to tell me all that had happened, I could not quite believe my ears. A bird attacked her? And what mouse was she talking about?
I climbed onto a small chair and took a closer look, and after puzzling over why the mouse was so black and furry, it hit me (again).
This wasn't a mouse.
Oh no.
The "blob" was really
A
SMALL
CURLED UP BAT!!!
There is A BAT in my apartment.
Oh my word. What the heck.
This is not some dark, dusty, junk-filled attic that becomes a perfect nesting place for bats- THIS IS MY KITCHEN IN MY NEW APARTMENT. In case, you don't believe me, I climbed onto the chair again and took a picture as evidence:
Okay, now to figure out what to do with this bat. I didn't know if the bat was dead or not, though Miss Cee suspected that it was alive but injured (her theory is that the bird had attacked the bat and taken it into the apartment). Ewww!!! No way was I going to deal with a bat that was alive. Thus, in order to test it's alive-ness, I took the handle of a bathroom appliance, and tapped on the cabinet door and ceiling because (believe it or not) I remembered that bats had excellent hearing, and I thought tapping on it might "wake" it up or at least cause some movement. Some of you are rolling your eyes, but hey! I don't do science.
Anyway, zero movement from the bat, even after all the ruckus from the tapping. Therefore I thought, "This bat is dead." I grew bolder and inched the handle closer to the one of its claws. Closer and closer... then I touched it.
The bat finally moved its claw and curled up smaller.
I SCREAMED, and so did Miss Cee (who was, may I say, "safely" sitting on the couch in the living room, observing all that I was doing and offering suggestions, but she wasn't going near the kitchen anytime soon). THE BAT WAS ALIVE AND SLEEPING/ RESTING IN MY KITCHEN!!! No way was I going to go near that scary (a)live monster-relative-of-the-blood-sucking-vampire. It hadn't move because Miss Cee had (wisely and thank goodness!) left the light on.
We were almost resigned to having to leave the light on for the rest of the night, then Miss Cee thought of our home teachers [home teachers are men assigned to take care of a family/ single sister in their congregation] or HTs. We decided to ask one of them to come over the next morning and help us deal with it before church- it was late at night, and the bat was "sleeping" right? Anyway, here is how the text "conversation" went:
Miss Cee: Hey, can you do me a favor tomorrow morning before going to church? There is a BAT in our kitchen. Can you please come and take it out for us?[note the caps of the word "BAT"]
Miss Cee's HT: Wait, a live bat?[We can totally infer what he was thinking- "Seriously?! What type of bat? Dead or alive? Or a baseball bat?"]
Miss Cee: Yes.............
HT: We can come now [i.e., "I got to see this for myself. No way there is a LIVE bat in their apartment."]
Only we didn't see his last text, and so a few minutes after we started putting away stuff for the day, we heard a knock on our door- I tell you, there is really only so much shock one can take in a night. Thank goodness it was a pleasant shock this time because ta dah! Our HTs stood outside our apartment, ready to "take down" (no pun intended!) the bat.
Here are our heroes, armed with a broom and one of those flexible-clothed laundry baskets. I helped them a little, and when we tried coaxing the bat into the basket, it made this ear-piercingly-high, horrid "chirp, chirp, chirp" sound. Yup, definitely not dead. It even spread its wings when we finally trapped it! The HTs then grabbed it and set it free on the balcony.
HOORAY FOR OUR HEROES!
The weird things is despite all that, I hope it survived because I actually do like bats, and I sincerely hope it did NOT meet the same fate as this mouse:
Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! One of my favorite videos this year so far.
When Miss Cee's friend heard about the bat, she pointed out that it was an auspicious sign for us because in the Chinese language, the word "bat" (蝙蝠/ bian fu) sounds like the word "fortune" (福/ fu). It seemed especially appropriate considering that yesterday was Chinese New Year's Eve. I joked that we had chased our fortune out of the balcony door, to which Miss Cee quipped, "No, we are simply sharing the fortune with everyone else!"
We had a terrific looooooong laugh together. So my readers, if you notice that you are having an especially prosperous year, you know why!
So most everyone should have heard by now that I moved into a new apartment and I got a new roommate! Miss Cee is a second year graduate student in the Education department from Taiwan, and we attend the same church congregation, which is how we met and decided to room together.
It's been a while since I've had an Asian roommate (family doesn't count), and I am completely TICKLED by some of our similar habits and quirks. I know it's really 80% personality and 20% Asian-ness, rather than the other way around, but there are some similarities we share that are so "unique," it's easier (and fun-ner) to attribute it to being Asian and let everyone just shake their head, roll their eyes and mutter, "Oh you Asians..."
Example 1: We both shower at night.
It's nice to have white American roommates (who generally shower in the daytime) because then we don't fight for the bathroom (especially on Sunday mornings). But it's also nice to know that my roommate has a cultural understanding of why I shower at night. FYI, according to my undergraduate 101 anthropology class, there is an anthropological cultural explanation for why different cultures shower at different times- yes this is what we in the academic world study...
2: We sleep late and wake up late. The saying "early to bed, early to bed" is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but even if Mr. Franklin wasn't the one who came up with this saying, I'm convinced it was NOT invented by an Asian. Alright, there are exceptions to the rule on both sides, but I do notice that most of my former Asian roommates and I have a later "daylight clock" than most of my American roommates. My theory is that we Asians grew up having to stay up late to study, and so formed the habit of sleeping late. Bad, unhealthy habit but hey! Don't look at me- blame it on the education system!
3: We drive the same car model, the Toyota Echo. I'm not kidding you. And we bought this model for practically the same reasons- cheap, low gas mileage (less than 100,000 miles when we both got them!) and runs smoothly enough to get us from point A to point B without worrying about breaking down.
Mine on the left, hers on the right
Isn't that just hilarious?! Her car is 3 years newer than mine though. Now whenever people comment on how tiny my car is, I have an excuse to say, "It's an Asian thing" (Ssh! Don't tell them it's really not). By the way, my car is really not that small. It has FOUR DOORS, is really the perfect size for Asians who tend to be smaller in built.
4: We cook dinner for lunch the next day, even if it is already 11pm.
Over the past Christmas break I visited an old roommate of mine in Kentucky, and one of the things we reminisced about was how one time she came home from work at midnight to find me in the kitchen cooking mac-and-cheese for my lunch the next that day.
Well, it's nice to know that apparently, I'm not the only crazy Asian who does this, because guess what Miss Cee and I were doing at 11pm this past Monday?
Yup.
I'm still grinning from recalling these memories. What can I say- I'm Asian and proud of it!
It's been freezing here in Columbus this past week. I feel like I'm in a freezer in a freezer- it's that cold! Every time I go out my face gets blasted with a full-on cannonball of frigid air. BAM- every single time.
This time I'm not kidding.
BUT I'm not here to complain about the cold weather. Oh no. I'm here to tell you what the cold weather can do, and why it is sooooooooo awesome, and why you should all make Mr. Cold Weather your best friend forever and ever and ever... (do you hear the sarcasm just dripping here).
So, 1) The cold weather can turn a school into an ice-skating rink!!!
How "AWESOME" is that?! I just found out that BYU-Provo, my alma mater, literally turned into an ice-skating rink today! Here's the magical formula to make your school equally oh-so-"cool":
Make someone (or whoever is in charge of doing this) forgot to salt the pathways, or think it's not important since it's only rain + Rain + Subzero temperatures = Ta dah! "Ice-skating pathways" for the 25,000+ student population to slip and slide and cling precariously to railings enjoy!
For the record, I LOVE BYU, and I hope everyone was safe (meaning no bruises or broken bones from accidentally sliding "skating" into someone), and that they "de-iced" the pathways as soon as they could.
2) The cold weather makes impossible things become possible!
Remember THIS POST where I told you about my colleague who called Provo "hell on earth?" I guess you can call this a case of HELL FREEZING OVER. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha... yes I think I'm sooooo funny.
3) The cold weather makes me turn funny. See 2).
4) The cold weather helps you burn more calories when you workout.
Alright, so I don't workout, but I moved on Monday morning, and of course, it snowed ON THE VERY DAY I HAD TO MOVE. Thanks a bunch Mr. Weather. My friends were terrific though- they nonchalantly shrugged off any additional inconvenience from moving in the cold weather, and did what they came to do. And for that, apart from my everlasting gratitude for their service, they also got the added bonus of burning some extra calories from all that huffing and puffing (or was I the only one doing this?!).
And if anything, every time you dress, you have to layer and layer and layer, then take them off once you get indoors, then put them on all over again layer after layer after layer- I'm telling you, you burn quite a lot of calories.
5) The cold weather addles my brain to the point that I commit a fashion no-no in Miss Keesh's personal book of fashion.
I went to the temple directly after school yesterday (for more information on LDS temples, please visit HERE and HERE), and grabbed a long black skirt to change into. However, I forgot to bring a change of shoes, and ended up wearing a brown-black blouse, a long black skirt and... coral-pink sneakers. I pulled my skirt as far down my hips as possible, but it still could not hide my completely mismatched, bright, attention-grabbing "LOOK AT ME!" shoes.
Of course, I played it cool when I went into the temple, and thank goodness I changed into temple shoes so my mortification did not last too long. I promise I don't judge how or what you wear to the temple, but you got to admit that even you would stare if you saw someone wearing this combination. Plus, even if no one else cared (which I'm sure no else did because everyone treated me just as nice), I did! My personal (again I'm not judging anyone else but myself) fashion book says no sneakers to the temple, and no sneakers with nice, non-denim skirts.
*Groan*
And that, my friends, is why Mr. Cold Weather is like, my best friend forever and ever and ever (urgh! My floor is disgusting from all the sarcasm).
