Did the regular park thing in the morning. Edda swang, swung, swinged?
Jeremy and Edda sang, sung, singed?
Oh yes, and we bought a trampoline which pretty much takes up all the space in the living room.
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Common name: Shrubby whitevein
Scientific name: Sanchezia speciosa
Location: Bukit Batok Nature Preserve!
It’s Official. They are my favorite band.
American Girls, Murder of One, Holiday in Spain, Richard Manuel is Dead, Sullivan Street, Black and Blue. All great songs in my book.
Well, sadly, it was the last day at the bike shop for me. Since nobody I know who works at the bike shop reads this blog, then I can talk about it as much as I want to. (That’s sarcasm or should I say… Hello Brian!)
Laff. Naw. It’s been pretty enjoyable. I’ll miss the razzing, the comraderie at the shop. The discounts of course. Today there’s always something in the back of my head that says I’m forgetting to buy something, but today, I managed only to walk out with 2 vitamin waters for lunch and a pack of Strawberry Clif Bloks. Yum.
It’s 3 years of my life and it’s been a pretty important part. I’ve definitely gotten healthier, thinner, more appreciative of what it takes to live on a non-yuppie income. I’ve made some great friends and have some good times. I definitely know a whole lot more about bikes, not to mention the expanded tool kit and the 4 bikes that I have right now. 🙂
I’ll make a reference that Mike would approve of, “All Good Things….” (Guesses are accepted in the comments.)
Friday,
I went out on a Hike with Rich, Chi and one of Rich’s friend’s, whom I don’t remember her name and her, niece? Valerie. We all went off to Arastradero Park in Palo Alto where it was a georgeous day and always a good view. I found out that Valerie had apparently run a 5k on Thanksgiving, and with no practice she ran it in 30 minutes – which is probably faster than I could run that in right now. She placed second, tho she said she hated running.
For dinner, Ronnie and I went up to Oakland to visit Lindsay. We went to her pad, which I’ve never seen before, and ate at some mexican place with really good chips and salsa. We went back to place to play another cool ass video game – Super Monkey Ball 2 on the Gamecube.
Thanksgiving was pretty good this year. JT organized a flag football event in the morning. We played from 9:30 to about 3, which constituted about 4 games of football. There was some girl there that was flirting with me, but felt bad flirting back, since everyone there was Christian except me. Oh well. My legs are weirdly sore too – I never felt winded really, and my main muscles aren’t sore, just those ones i never exercise biking.
I showered and went off to Arif’s place around 4:30. Tahera was there, and introduced me to Guitar Hero II – and I was hooked. I pretty much played all night and I rocked! The best song was “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns ‘n’ Roses. That was a awesome song. I played until about 2 am. Oh there was turkey and people and blah blah blah, but Guitar Hero Rocked! hahah jk.
The turkey was good. It was dipped in some sauce I have no idea what. All the Karims were there. Arif’s sisters, Shahista and Sophia, his brother – Akil and his gf Shannon. Arif’s parents. Hasnain and Zainab, Nasreen and Hasnain’s parents. We even got Arif’s Dad to jam on the (real) guitar!
Mr. Karim rockin’ out!
Turkey – Karim Style
Girls and Guitar Hero II
Yet More Guitar Hero
Painting (Jeremy is the paintmeister, I hate watching the mess slowly unfold in the house):
Latkes! Vince got his hands on a magazine with an article about latkes and he’s been super excited to make them for days. (Jeremy = 0.5 Jewish, Vincent = Edda = 0.25 Jewish, total household Jews = 1). Vince loved making them, but didn’t eat any. Classic Vince. Edda didn’t seem impressed either. We served the latkes with pork patties. Hmmm, not exactly kosher.
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Common name: Simpoh Air
Scientific name: Dillenia suffruticosa
Location: Bukit Batok Nature Preserve.
Common name: Cane reed, Spiral flag, White Costus
Scientific name: Costus speciosus
Location: Bukit Batok Nature Preserve.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
Mom is preparing the Thanksgiving turkey and it is just for two of us. Well, it looks like about 90% that Mom is heading to Shenzhen, China early next year. She is pretty excited about it. I am happy for her too and will find a way to there if her stay is relative long.
I am cleaning up the house waiting for our gathering in December. Can’t wait to see you all, especially Edda.
Friday noon time, we will go to Du Pont Circle to meet Mom’s classmate’s daughter for lunch. Saturday, we have a gathering for our cancer friends and spouses. We will head back to SC on Sunday.
I wrapped all the remaining persimmon fruits with plastic lunch bags with holes at bottom because I have competitors (birds). Hope, you still can enjoy them when you come back in December. I moved the Chinese Kinkgo (?) tree to the back yard and moved a couple of bamboos to the boundary of our house. Hope, they will survive the move.
Well, may all your tummies be full and may a good night’s sleep ease you into the shopping frenzy that is Black Friday! Woo hoo! I have been doing all my holiday shopping online and the packages aren’t even being sent here – they are piling up in Katherine’s office in NY. Ha ha ha! I’m so excited about this holiday season.
Things I’m thankful for:
1. That Vince sleeps like a log. That boy can sleep through hours of Edda’s crying 2 feet away from his head.
2. That today was a beautiful day and Edda and I got to wear flowers in our hair.
3. That Edda is learning to dance to “Footloose”
4. That Jeremy made a delicious lamb stew for us to eat.
5. For all our family and friends, thank goodness we got through this year. Hopefully, next year will be less stressful.
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Common name: Canna lily
Scientific name: Canna (a bunch of species)
Location: In our apartment complex.
Judy’s email has been bothering me all day. Well, really it isn’t Judy’s email, but rather my response that got me all tangled up.
Judy invited everyone over to her house on Sunday to visit everyone and The Kid. I sorta hemmed and hawed an email saying that I couldn’t make it. When I sent it, I instantly knew that something was wrong. I thought about it for awhile, and finally figured it out – I was avoiding visiting her. (Sorry Judy.) The reason? It’s not cause I don’t like kids or Judy or P’ng, but rather it reminds me way too much of the life that I could have had with Jocelyn. I don’t mean having a kid with Jocelyn, but somehow Judy and P’ng would’ve been a larger part of my life had we walked down that path. (Judy and Jocelyn are best friends from med school.) Having KX has somehow brought that “whatif” into sharper focus … and it hurts.
It’s no surprise that blogs are divided along familial lines and it’s no accident either. And in a way I don’t feel like I belong anymore at Judy’s and so I avoid it. It’s not to say that I don’t feel welcome – I do. Judy and P’ng always have legendary potlucks and dinner parties. In fact, I want to belong – desparately in fact, and I feel that I would, if I had someone.
And here is where I get into the general married vs single people divide. That feeling of not belonging just doesn’t apply at Judy’s, there’s more general unbelonging with married people. I joke a lot about that recently, but maybe it’s true that every joke has a thread of truth. It comes down to the fact that my path to find someone no longer lies thru my married friends. So, my goal of finding someone is at odds with hanging out with the marrieds. And, I can’t shake this unsettling feeling when I do hang out with couples. Inevitably, I think my hang out time with Judy & P’ng, Choon & PS, Shwe & Xin, Lynn & Jack, Arif & Tahera will have to decrease. It has to in a way. I wish it wasn’t the case, but I’m not sure there’s much choice anymore…. I think Choon could see this one coming from a mile out and I think he’s resigned to the fact that I’m probably not going to hang out with him as much anymore. Honestly, he understands.
On the flip side, I know I’ll miss out on a lot of things turning down married events. People and friendships grow apart when they aren’t kept up to date. Is that the price that has to be paid? It seems like it and I don’t like it. I wish I had more single friends in their mid to late 30’s. I’d be kinda curious to hear their take on this. Is this a classic battle? (Probably.) Is divergence of singles and marrieds inevitable? (Not entirely sold that it is.) Am I crazy? (Most definitely.)