Author: Mitzi

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Well, I’m off to the Orient!

I haven’t mentioned this but in about three days I will be on a plane to India. This is very exciting, despite my lack of exclamation mark. The reason I am still being a little reserved is because of work. Having to make it through two days of work before I go is keeping me from getting to excited about anything but the week end.

Anyway, details: Patrick is already there, for work. I am going to be meeting him there on Friday, or possibly Thursday, I can’t remember what day it will be in India when I actually arrive but it will be Wednesday night when I leave. I’m traveling on Halloween night, which is fine with me I guess, for some reason I haven’t been into Halloween so much for awhile. Possibly since Patrick and I started dating, not sure why that is though since he is into dressing in costume too. I think I might like the romanticism more and it’s hard to get caught up in it when those around you are not.

Back to India! I’m going to meet him in Mumbai, where his company’s Indian HQ is and he’ll show me around Mumbai for a few days since he has been to that particular area of India a few times already. Then we are flying to the capitol, New Delhi. There’s a tourist circuit in that area called The Golden Triangle and it consists of three cities: New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. There are lots of historic sights and landmarks to see there, like the famous Taj Mahal, for example. There’s also something called The Red Fort and some government buildings that I do not know the names of.

Honestly, I don’t know a lot about India and the history of the country. Actually, I know a bit more now that I’ve watched some docu-mini series about the history of India and how it has gone through a long line of invaders/rulers who have all contributed to the diverse culture that India has today. I also learned that at the southern tip of India, in Tamil Nadu there is a village where a man’s DNA has been liked to some of the first humans. This is because 1. his family has a history of marrying first cousins so they’ve kept the bloodline pretty pure and 2. they are pretty isolated in that area so it’s not hard to maintain that lineage.

The Lotus Temple by InsideSouthAfrica on Flickr

While we are there I hope to:

  1. eat amazing food and take pictures of it
  2. take pictures of US… on vacation! (I don’t have a lot of pictures of us)
  3. ride an elephant
  4. touch a monkey – or notice a wild one from far away and say “HEY! A MONKEY!” in excitement as the locals walk on, uninterested
  5. try to “blend in” as much as a non-Indian can
  6. buy some clothes
  7. buy some jewelry
  8. buy some spices (can I bring these home?)
  9. learn some words in Hindi
  10. visit a Hindu or Sikh temple

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That was the year I knew the panic was over…

Listening to: Ellie Goulding

I’m finding myself missing my miserable college years because I’m slowly realizing that was when I felt the most free and most hopeful I had ever/have ever felt in my life.

Now, I’ll go ahead and explain that last statement. I spent two years in San Francisco going to college and being out on my own (read: away from overly protective parents). I thought “Hell yeah, I’m going to get wild and cray-zee!” However, at some point in those two years I went through one of those life changing events that leads to epiphanies and soul searching, that kind of shit. I (slowly and painfully) broke up with my first serious boyfriend. For reals break up, guys, instead of being “on a break” (which is only really a thing for those in denial) I ended up breaking ties for good at some point in those two years.

It was painful (as young, emo break ups usually are) but it was also a great time in my life for feeling so low that “up” was the only direction in which I could head. I was around one of the most supportive group of friends that one could ask for. All my new college friends were all so positive and supportive in an introspective and enlightening way which was what I needed. You know, as opposed to the “get over it by going out and partying your worries away” kind of way. I don’t know why I thought I would be a partier in college, I never was one of those people in high school or elementary school. Sad emo kid was my forté, I should have known that old habits are hard to break.

Also, I don’t know if you’re aware but being a full time college student means you are taking 15 hours worth of classes per week. Compare this to a 40 hour work week. That’s 25+ hours to mess around and do NOTHING. What that? Studying? Oh yeah, so let’s dedicate an additional 5-7 hours a week to “working”. (Can you just imagine what my GPA was? I really don’t remember but I do have a Bachelor’s Degree now so couldn’t have been that bad.)

Patrick Starfish’s To Do List

Anyway, I had a lot of time to be alone with my thoughts, because my friends were all working or studying. My thoughts led me to a lot of clichés like:”The world is your oyster” (So slurp it? Throw some lemon juice on it?) and “Nowhere to go but up.” I spent a lot of time wandering around San Francisco thinking deep thoughts about my life, what I did wrong, what could have been so right, etc. Looking back on it now, it was fun, it was a good time, and I think I’d rather be there than where I am now: working until 9:30 pm at a job that I don’t love. I wish I had that amount of time to think and be alone with my thoughts instead of thinking up to-do lists and reminders about things that need to get done but not having enough time to do them and eat/sleep/live.

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Grandma

My last remaining grandparent passed away back in February. This was my grandma aka “mahmah”, my dad’s mom. I saw her pretty much every single day from the time I was born until I moved out of my parents house at age 21.

Some people aren’t close to their grandparents and some people are very good friends with their grandparents. I can’t really say that we fell into either category. My grandma didn’t speak English and I only speak a limited amount of Cantonese so it’s not like we had very meaningful conversations. She wasn’t like my mom and dad who would praise or punish me. She was just there, always, and ready to give. Mostly, she would give food.

Grandma didn’t make traditional chow mein or artfully steamed fish, well she did but that wasn’t what I liked about her cooking, she would make dishes like ground pork and shrimp omelets! Salty wontons in soup! “Spanish” rice with cut up hot dogs! Curry! Battered and fried stuffed eggplant!

Grandma's Hands

These are the familiar, possibly provincial, possibly just resourceful, dishes that I grew up eating and this is today my “comfort food”. Of course, nobody knows how to make this stuff in the family, nobody wanted to learn I guess. All the dishes were just so weird and so very “grandma” I’m sure no one ever though “Oh yes, this will be a good dish to share… with people.” No, it was just dinner, good old weird dinner dishes.

Sometimes I remember that she won’t be cooking for me anymore and that thought is enough to bring me to tears. It’s not that I only miss by grandmother for her cooking, it’s just that grandma and food go hand in hand and it very much the core of the grandma experience. I miss pretty much everything about her sometimes and it feels like this void that can never be filled again.

I'm glad I have this picture

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Moving to the West Side

I broke up with my building today. We’ve been together for about 3 years now and I’ve been pretty happy. We’ve had our occasional fights and annoyances but generally, I’ve been pretty happy.

Lately it just hasn’t been working out. We haven’t been spending much time together because I’ve been working so much. It’s really just time to move on.

So I found a house and I’m moving to Culver City with Ashima and Juno.

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Downside of Non-Alcoholim #27

 

Whenever I have a conversation with a drunkened co-worker at a work celebration event, it almost always leads to embarrassing situations for me. I tend to forget that people who have been drinking are usually little more friendly and outgoing than they usually are.
It means the next time I see them I act a little too friendly upon first encounter and it slips my mind that they may not actually remember that we talked for an hour last Friday. Then, for the rest of the minute that my food is heating in the microwave, I have to pretend like everything is totally cool and I always ask people if they got that thing checked out by a doctor.