Vestiges of soft unrequited love remain nestled between the cracks of broken cement and dirty brown carpet. Masked by straight lines and squared lawns, his love for her was reduced to the consistent inaudible drone of Chinese and Vietnamese radio, hum drums delights of celebrity Taiwanese game shows, and the wailing rain of Korean dramas. Outside of this, the clanking of dishes and sizzle of blood-fresh meat and pounded garlic occasionally surfaced. It was hard to believe that love existed in this place.
For their daughter, love was finite and existed at her desk. Her desk was small, made of plastic plywood and had an eclectic variation of shelves. Dents and marks were covered with stickers. Stickers were layered with even more dents and marks. She would methodically place her school papers to the left, her aladdin picture on the back and whatever novelty items she hoarded.
Her dad's peculiar obsession with moving furniture around the house kept her desk moving. Her desk was familiar with many rooms in the house. For a period of time her desk spent time in the dining room/living room. She rather enjoyed this lack of privacy. She saw her dad more this way.
...to be continued
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Dear Arcade Fire,
You are good to me. Thank you for filling my morning with inspirational dance goodness through the harmonious belching of your preachy songs. Thank you for existing and creating.
hugs, kim
I've been in a frenzied state because I have my GRE's in 4 days and continue to score very poorly on practice tests. I realized that most of this has to do with stress and me concentrating on "finishing" rather than answering each one with caution and care. I'm just going to relax and breath and concentrate on the test. Listen to Arcade Fire. Try to do my best and if I don't do well, it won't be the end of the world.
Afterwards I'm getting a cupcake for myself and my friend Linh and we're going to eat fuckin' crab. Linh will fly to America back to Des Moines, Iowa the very next day so I am sad. However, I am very delighted with the fact that I have friends in the Midwest. This means that I can probably satisfy my dreams of midwestern way of life by being a stupid California tourist who can't tell the difference between Idaho and Iowa in the very near future.
June 23rd will mark the "last stretch" if you will. Here are my travel plans:
July 2nd - July 4th - Hue, Vietnam - final VIA hooplah! Goodbye to Ellioto.
July 11th - 13th - Phnom Penh, Cambodia for work (maybe Siem Reap?)
August 16th - 21st - Taipei, Taiwan - to do what I don't know but I really want to speak Chinese.
August 21st - Los Angeles, CA, USA (!) - land of people who speak English!
August 28th - Huntington Beach, CA - ADAPT Inspires - Pacific Links Foundation fundraising luncheon - I'm a speaker!
In there I want to fit in another rendezvous in Hong Kong to see some friends and a trip to Hanoi and our shelter for trafficking returnees in Lao Cai province. In addition to all the goodbye Vietnamese dinners I must do before I leave.
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And what is a post without videos? Arcade Fire!
I GUESS WE JUST HAVE TO ADDJUUUUUUUUUUUST!!! My Vietnamese neighbors probably don't know what hit them.
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I really like this blog entry from good girl dinette in Los Angeles, CA - "American diner meets Vietnamese comfort food." I like how she captures her parent's early dates with such color and liveliness.
Because her blog is nestled into her website I am unfortunately am unable to get the link to the exact entry. If you scroll down you can find the entry under the title "date" Here's a snippet:
banh khot
the tiny stall is packed with hungry diners waiting in front of dimpled pans in which a mixture of rice, coconut milk, and scallions is sputtering in oil. when the banh khot with dried shrimp and mung bean come out, they are perfectly blistered and crisp. she eats deliberately. he can see her mind working. she knows the basic recipe, but cannot discern the ingredient or technique that distinguishes these cakes from the others at the market. he laughs as she looks from their empty plates to the coveted batter next to the fire. he lets her take one last look, then takes her hand and they exit onto the street.
che
before too long, a vendor stops in front of them. in today's yoke are mung beans and red beans in coconut milk, neatly poured into plastic bags, each with a straw fastened by rubber bands. they take two bags and resume their saunter.
cine
the marquee advertises charlie chaplin's "modern times." they walk toward their seats, arms carrying beef jerky, coca-colas, and popcorn. the cool and dark of the movie house and her perfume do their magic and he falls asleep halfway into the film. this time it's she who indulges him and lets him sleep. when the movie ends, she nudges him awake and takes his hand to leave the theater.
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I've realized that I'm very good with creativity if I have limitations or guidelines. Like a homework assignment. I love K-12 homework assignments, I'm very good at them. Make this. Make that. Do this using these things. I may entertain the idea of doing a project that gives me guidelines to make this and make that. I also love following rules (like a martinet) and hate not following rules, and I say this with as much veracity as I can. Breaking rules gives me a heart attack.
If I can focus this much time to my GRE's I probably damn could focus it on other things...like learning how to read music, doing art and trying to practice and be good at it, exercise, spend time with family, old friends.
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