Passing On
ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- Laura's grandfather passes away.
After long hours of studying totally foreign HTML code, i finally finished fixing my blog and was all ready with new material to mock things with. But in light of recent events, i have decided to write something a little more meaningful instead.
Two days ago, my grandfater on my mom's side passed away. I wasn't aware that he was suffering from any kind of heart disease, but i never did hear about him very often. I think the last time i saw my grandfather must have been at least a decade ago. I can't actully remember the reunion very well, but i can recall a photo of the reunion that sits on the mantle at my parents' house. Judging by the way i look in the picture (and by the magenta & turquoise outfit i was wearing), i'd guess that i was in about 4th grade at the time.
My grandfather was born in China in 1908. He lived there until the 1930s when civil war between communists and republicans created a lot of unrest. Eventually the communists pushed the republicans out of the country and the island of Taiwan served as a sort of safe haven for the political refugees, my grandfather included. Years later during WWII, my grandfather served in the taiwanese army, where he acted as an ambassador to the United States. I don't really know much about his army times, but I bet my grandfather had some really impressive tales to tell. Too bad my grandfather didn't speak much english when he moved to the US and never really picked up the second language. Plus, the language limitation appears to have been passed down through the generations, showing itself in my sad broken excuse for Chinese. I have never really had the opportunity to communicate with my grandfather. My mom never really encouraged it anyway. Maybe he wasn't as great of a dad as he was a military man.
In my head, my grandfather is a balding chinese man sitting on a cushioned chair and hiding behind a big newspaper. When i was young, he got to play the role of the cool granparent after my brother and i observed that he was actually reading comic strips and not the boring part of the newspaper. This amused me as a child, since it was broke with the notion that grown-ups are always boring. He seemed to have a sense of humor.
The funeral is in Atlanta, one week from Saturday. I'm not sure if i'm going to go, since i didn't really know him so well and it's so far away. This is the first time i have known anyone who passed away. i'm not sure what to do.
He was an impressive 96 years of age when he died.
New Home, New Life
BERKELEY, CA -- living up to the reputation.
So in a recent column about housing ads, i poked a little fun at Berkeley stereotypes and sorta implied that my new roommates were all vegetarian lesbians. This was a mistake and i'm really sorry if i prejudged anyone, or if i led people to believe that berkeley residents are as counterculture as i previously suggested.
Now that i'm here, i can tell you the truth. Some of them eat meat.
I arrived in Berkeley about a week ago. Three girls greeted me here, the second floor of a two story house on 59th street. From what i can tell so far, Berkeley really does live up its reputation. Organic waste in this house is never thrown away but composted in the backyard close to where the corn stalks are growing. Rumors of "pickling parties" (and i thought tupperware parties were ridiculous) float around the kitchen. Herbal teas serve as an accompaniment to the nightly, pre-bedtime hookah smoking sessions, during which I have seen smoke rings like never before. And then when the hookah is all burned out, we all up and run off to our futons where we sleep because there are no actual beds anywhere in the house. Even this very column is late for posting because there wasn't any internet until i hooked it up myself.
Last night, hoping to get a glimpse of the olympic ceremonies, i ventured out to the TV. Upon reaching the television set, i learned that we receive a fabulous total of four(4) channels through our bunny ear antennas. Unfortunately, none of the channels happened to be NBC. Channel 2 was covering a race between 40 midgets and an elephant to see who could pull the 747 airplane faster. Channel 4 was local news. Channel five was airing some show hosted by Barbara Streissand who was showing clips of old musical moments. And on channel 9, a portly woman with platinum blonde hair was trying to sell identity theft preparation packages. The packages were $240.
Anyway, Berkeley has been an interesting place. Adjusting has been pretty tough and making friends has certainly been a challenge. I miss San Diego and all its familiar faces. Maybe i could invite some people over for our next pickle party? Well, that's not for a while. For now, i'm gonna cheer for the the midgets.
