i just got the school newsletter and it says school starts on september first, which im okay with. THEN it says that school runs from 7:35am-2:30pm. wth!?!?!? they added ten minutes to school?!!?? idiots.

anyways, i went out to dinner last night with my family and my uncle's family. the whole purpose was so my grandma could talk to her five grandchildren (me, my sis, and my three cousins) and give us something. so both our families take pictures at my uncles house. fun. then my grandma sits us all on the couch and she tells us her story. i actually enjoyed it because i've never really heard it before. i've heard bits and parts of it like who came to America first, who went back for who, and stuff like that. but my grandma went in a sort of timeline order.

my two younger cousins were being really restless. one of them was like lying on the couch saying he was hungry, wanted to go to the restaurant, and that he already heard this before and didn't want to hear it again. i was thinking, "wow freaking rude." cuz my grandma does so much for us, and HAS done so much for us that the least he could do is sit through the whole schpeal which was interesting if he actually payed attention. but what do you expect, he's a hyperactive 11 yr old boy.

so anyways my grandma just talked about her dad coming here first and her following. she talked about the worst year of her life when her husband died (my dad's dad) and her mom died. that was sad. a few minutes later my cousin asked why he had to hear this, and his dad (my uncle) WENT OFF on him. he's all, "what do you mean why!? it's your family history. you HAVE to know this! do you know how much we all gave up for you so you could be sitting here?! you are very ungrateful. your mom and aunt (my mom) were housekeepers when they came here! your uncle (my dad) was working the nightshift in a hotel! you HAVE to listen! i can't believe you're asking why. you're grandma went through so much, she give up so much. we all work hard. shut up and listen!"

i was halfway between tears and laughter. tears cuz it was all so true and amazing. laughter cuz he just told his son to shut up and listen. hahahahaha. i think i've become more emotional lately. i don't know why. there were heck of times when i had to blink back tears when my grandma was talking. it was just all of us grandkids sitting on the sofa listening to my grandma talk in broken english, and our parents sitting on the other side of the room taking pictures and watching us, and all of us grandkids telling our grandma to talk to us in Chinese cuz we would understand, and our grandma continuing to hold one of my younger cousin's hands while still talking in her broken english and tellnig us how proud she was. all of that was just "wow" cuz our families aren't the type to sit down and just talk to us about our family history and say "we're so proud." but i guess it's cuz my grandma's getting old and who knows when she might leave us that she's trying to tell us all she can.

and after her story she tells us again how happy she is to have all her grandchildren here, and how proud she is of all our accomplishments: my cousin ariane going to berkely in the fall and my sister serena going to med school having already graduated from berkely. so during that im just sitting on the couch looking around whisipering to my cousin: "yuuuup...and im still in high school. let's get a woohoo for those going into senior year." hahahaha. so then my grandma gives each of us a box. inside is a 24K gold pendant thing that has our zodiac sign on it. i'm a rabbit, serena is a horse, ariane is a tiger, my cousin henry is a monkey, and my cousin lorna is a lamb.

so then we all go out to dinner. me and ariane get more hyper as dinner progresses. im saying "i own a pen" in italian which is pronounced like "i oona penna." then we start singing disney songs, and i get the pochantos "just around the river bend" song stuck in my head. but all i know are four lines (excluding the chorus), so throughout the night i was singing:

should i choose the smoothest course?
steady as a beating drum
should i marry kokowum?
is all my dreaming at an end?

soon all i was singing was "should i marry kokowum," and i decided to name my future kid kokowum. hahahahaha. i got home, and my mom got this chinese pouch down from the closet. she opened it, and there were all these different 24k gold pendants and chains. most of the pendants were tiny ones that my grandma used to give my parents for their birthdays. apparently when i was born a bunch of relatives were giving me gold chains left and right. haha. so i took one of the gold chains and hooked it onto the pendant.

i find it really interesting how in american culture people hold baby showers and friends and family come with gifts that the baby will use in its early years. bottles, clothes, blankets, etc. but in the chinese culture, when the baby is born, relatives come bearing gold pendants and chains. gold may not be useful in bringing up the baby, but i think it's much more appreciated when the kid grows up. like for me, those gold pendants and chains are something i can have forever and look back at knowing i received them from family members when i was born. nice little insight there.

i changed the background to my xanga. it's gregory smith (aka ephram from everwood). i think the only reason i have a xanga is so i can change the backgroud periodically =D.