Post-Thanksgiving Tummy Ache

Thanksgiving, a day of gluttony and excess.
We stuffed ourselves as full as the 24-pound turkey that we ate: potato salad, Chinese sticky rice, mushroom gravy, creamed corn (made by me), green beans with BBQ sauce, honey-baked ham, cabbage, stuffing, canned cranberry jelly slices (mmmm), salad, and pie. Heaven's sake, Marie Callender's pies never change! I had three slices of the German chocolate; it consisted of chocolate pudding filling with shredded coconut, tear-dropped chocolate chips, and a flaky, pale crust.
We played some competitive Taboo with family, Rock Band 2 with the cousins, watched Transformers. I could see why the New York Times review claimed that the entire movie was an advertisement for the military. Robby explained to me Optimus Prime's speech to Jazz about why they need to save humans - "They're a violent species...who have a lot to learn" yadda, yadda - is really analogous to our government's attitude toward Iraqi people. I'm not sure I fully understood this propaganda because the analogy didn't seem consistent through the entire movie. If the bumbling humans in the movie symbolize Iraqi people, do the good transformers represent Americans? Who does Megatron represent? The terrorists? Well, the shallow movie proffered some food for thought, though, actually, our food dulled our thoughts.

Who do we thank on Thanksgiving Day?

In the third grade, I remember Ms. Bianca dressed half the class in pilgrim outfits and the other in Indian outfits. Our costumes were made of construction paper. I wore a white paper collar and a brown hat (I was a pilgrim). We had to perform in front of the whole school: we sang "America, the Beautiful" & translated the lyrics into American sign language as we sang. Back then, we still celebrated Columbus Day.

Now, in California, we celebrate Martin Luther, Jr.'s birthday in place of Columbus Day. We no longer teach our kids the saying "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Instead of learning about the fateful and meager meal shared between resourceful & friendly American Indians and starving & desperate Pilgrims, high school students learn the truth about Christopher Columbus. I did not learn these truths in school. I had to learn them on my own, when I picked up a few eye-opening books, such as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Lies My Teacher Told Me, and A People's History of the United States. These books reveal the true events when Columbus arrived on Hispanola Island and slaughtered the Arawak Indian population, when he saw gold studs in their ears and forced them to search for gold with the threat of cutting off limbs... Many Americans shy away from this history; they call it revisionist. But our country is built on the blood of the indigenous, and our history of violence is a long and continual one. To ignore it is to ignore the natives who occupied this land first.

I will teach my children that the creation of our country is based on genocide, and out of its creation more violence but also progress, diversity, and opportunity.

Drowning in Happy Photos

Robby thinks that our apartment is becoming a shrine to our wedding. And I'm getting exhausted from organizing wedding photos. I've postponed writing the thank-you cards for a few months now, hoping that I'll have time over Christmas to write them. Now, I've taken up printing and organizing photos, and it has turned into a big task. I've got the scrapbook and the photo corners to make albums for the parents. Now, I'm waiting for the cardstock to arrive. We've been picking and choosing photos to frame and give to family, and that has been an onerous task as well. Of course, it's fun to relive our special day through these photos, but we've looked at them so many times that I know them a little too intimately.

If you read the blog posting below, I must admit that I had a brain fart at that moment I claimed that babies don't pee. I wanted to scare Robby into understanding the frequency with which parents change their infants' diapers, so I tried to be as frightening as possible by stating that they only poop. Oops.

Quote of the week - babies only poop

Wifey and I were walking along, talking about the merits of getting a dog and/or having a baby. In general, I am partial to the former and she the latter, but we have accepted both acquisitions as inevitable. During this particular conversation on this issue, the topic of poop surfaced, so we compared the relative costs (and benefits?) of cleaning up after baby vs canine waste. I do not remember the exact prompt, but at some point in the conversation, Jeanne explained, "You know, infants don't pee. They only poop. ...I think."

It took just a few seconds for us to realize what she had said ...and a few more for me to promise to quote her on this blog.

I Love My Family

I love spending time with my family. Even if my infant nieces craves constant holding, even if my 5 & 3-year-old nieces fight over toys, even if I trip over art projects and train sets in the living room, I love my family!

Robby and I visited family in the Bay Area this weekend. We woke up with the family, ate breakfast with the family, watched the girls as my parents got some rest, and even got the chance to hang out with a few of Robby's college friends. Unfortunately, we had some bad Vietnamese food on Castro Street of Mountain View (stay away from Minh's Restaurant on Castro next to TheRapy). We saw a hilarious film called Role Model starring Paul Rudd & Stifler from American Pie.

Robby invented a game with Maya in which he would pull her by the ankles over a large Pilates ball, bounce her a few times, and toss her on the sofa. She loved it. She likes to rough house and the only chance she gets her dose is when Robby comes. My baby niece Audra is good at smiling and interacting with people now. Sher recognizes faces and can roll onto her belly (though she can't roll back onto her back). The middle niece, Mei Mei, has entered the phase of copying everything her big sister says. Suffering from middle-child syndrome, she still needs to find her own self beyond looking to her big sister for guidance.

I felt a tinge of sadness to leave my beautiful nieces. When we see them after Christmas, they will all be a little taller and a little more articulate.

We did the Monster Mash

Robby and I hosted our first party last night! Well, not really our first. Our first hosted parties were the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, but those don't really count, right?

We organized a little pot-luck get-together with 15 or so people, and we stuffed ourselves with chili, samosas, rice krispie treats, brownies, Korean sushi, fruit, homemade bread, and hummus. We gorged ourselves on food and spirits as 150 or so little kiddies came by our apartment trick-or-treating.

Our building was bright and festive. We borrowed some strands of orange lights from our generous neighbor, who decorated the walkways with pumpkin lanterns, a window display, and a life-sized phantom that hung from a tree. She dressed up as a green-haired witch, her husband as Jack Skellington, our other neighbor in hot pink, and three out of the four apartments passed out candy.

One little 3 or 4-year-old princess was scared by Robby, who stood behind her in his mask and said, "boo!" She stood frozen on our steps for a long time, holding her sister's hand, staring at him. Then she said quietly, "How dare you." Robby thought she said, "You scared me." Robby finally convinced her to walk off our step by inviting her to give him a high-five, which she did. As she walked away from our apartment with her parent, she turned around and shouted something out but we could not decipher her words. I'm guessing she had another indignant comment. Who is he to scare of princess?

After the last trick-or-treaters left, we settled into the living room and watched Shaun of the Dead, the hilarious cult horror movie, starring Simon Pegg from Run Fat Boy Run. It was a great group movie.

Halloween really felt like Halloween this year. We didn't have to search for parties or look for the nearest parade just to find an excuse to dress up. We were surrounded by adults who wore more than lazy costumes, so that put all of us in a celebratory mood. Most of the houses on our street were lit and inviting. All in all, it was a successful evening!

1. Robby & I


2. Group shot: hanging out at the food table.


3. What is this? Champagne on Halloween?