1. I'm envious of optimistic, positive people since optimism and positivity does not come naturally to me.
2. I go through phases of musical and hobby obsession, only to be replaced by new music and new hobbies.  My recent musical obsessions have included Brandi Carlile,  Muse, Weezer, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Fleet Foxes and most recently, Joshua Bell.  Over the last 10 years I've had fast and furious flings with fishing, aquariums, volleyball, grilling, poker and, most recently, board games.
3. I have a foul temper when I'm tired but not when I'm hungry.
4. I'm friendly with most people, but picky about who I call my friends.
5. I'm extremely absent-minded.   Never lend me anything, as I'm really bad about giving things back.  Not because I'm evil or covetous, I'm just not very good at remembering things like that.  I forget peoples' names almost immediately after learning them and I sometimes forget what I'm talking about while I'm talking.
6. I've broken 2 bones in my life; my right and left pinky fingers, broken in separate and unrelated incidents.
7. I've been clinically diagnosed with ADD.
8. I take Lipitor for high cholesterol.  The men on my dad's side of my family nearly all have high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
9. My favorite type of steaks are Ribeyes.  I like them rubbed with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
10. I eat very fast; I don't mean to, but that’s just how it shakes out.
11. I've eaten a salad for lunch nearly every day (over 90% of the time) for the last 2 years.  I hated it initially, but now, walking through the cafeteria at lunchtime, all of the non-salad choices look heavy and like a food-coma waiting to happen.
12. Oliver is actually my middle name (Kuo-ding is my first name).  Growing up, I never liked  the name "Oliver", but I do now.
13. I would donate a non-vital organ for more Firefly/Serenity.
14. I smoked cigarettes (Marlboro Lights) for 7 years and quit in 2002.
15. I had Lasik surgery 2 years ago to correct my near-sightedness and astigmatism.  It was easily the best money I've ever spent in my entire life.
16. I sort of believe in signs.  I saw contrasting allegories in 2 of my neighbors which tilted me towards having kids.  One set of neighbors, in their mid-to-early 40's, had no children.  Their house is perfectly kept and everything is pristine.  They have beautiful furniture, everything is spotless and orderly.  My other neighbor has 5 kids and their house is borderline chaotic.  I felt like someday 15 or 20 years down the line, looking back,  I think I'd rather have the house with more bumps and nicks and a richer,  lived-in legacy.
17. When I was about 6 years old, I was playing outside at my babysitters' house and I couldn't make it back to the toilet in time to poop, so I just dropped that bad boy right where I stood: in her backyard.  My babysitter later asked me if I did it and I blamed it on the dog.  But since my babysitter lived on a farm, she immediately ID'ed it as non-animal poop and called me out on it.
18. Around the same time, for Christmas, my mom bought me a Baltimore Colts sweater.  I wore it one day to school and the other kids taunted me mercilessly because the Colts were terrible.  After I got home, I was so unhappy about my Scarlet Letter-Colts patch, I chewed it off the sweater.  My mom was livid because the chewed hole made it un-returnable.
19. In 10th grade, I was the only kid in my Honors English class to fail the Maryland standardized writing test.  I had to take a remedial writing class which I hated, but actually learned a lot from.  I retook and passed the test, but wasn't allowed back into the Honors class.
20. 2 teachers in my lifetime left an indelible impression on me: Mrs. Gribbin and Mr. Ishikawa.  Mrs. Gribbin was a living, breathing example every day of deep passion and rock-solid commitment to her craft and her students.  Mr Ishikawa really imprinted me with the idea that you never need to be ashamed of your work or yourself, so long as you tried your hardest and he would stay after school as long as you wanted or needed to help you do better.  I really need to find and thank them...
21. I played piano for 10 years and was pretty decent.  Eventually I stopped because although I do love music, I don't have a natural curiosity or inclination to perform or create it.
22. I never drank coffee before I moved to Seattle.  After 4 or 5 years here, I started having at least a cup a day.
23. I'm vain.  Especially when I'm feeling good about my hair, waistline or skin (my 3 appearance-nemeses)
24. I'm a good tipper because I delivered pizza and Chinese food in college.  I remember how much different a $1 tip felt from a $2 tip, even though the actual monetary difference was so small.
25. I'm bad at taking criticism.  But, I do appreciate criticism when it comes from a sincere and well-meaning place. 

Dear Oliver,

Your father told me that you are going back to see him this weekend which made him feels very warm in his heart and it also gives him strength to face his fight. Good for you!

Since your mother's anniversary was just passed last week, I am sure you will go to her grave when you are at home, I wonder if you can bring some flower for me and Aunt Catherine Chou to her and tell her how much we miss her? Thank you.

Aunt Mei-yang

Crimony, how am I supposed to cancel after getting that  email?!  Warming my father's cancer-stricken heart, leaving extra flowers at my mom's grave...i swear that Chinese people from that baby boomer generation have some like, genetically-enhanced superfreak guilt-tripping power, like the X-Men.

So I rallied the troops and we made the trip.  Travelling cross country isn't fun, but bringing kids, and being sick, and the kids also being sick is like, (misery)^4.  But, in our misery, we found little moments of sickness levity.  There was a grouchy ass-of-a-man sitting in front of me (he wouldn't switch seats to let a couple of ladies sit together) so I leaned forward to breath into his airspace.  With any luck, he'll have had diarrhea waterfalls and vomit fountains galore by the time he reached wherever he was going...

Also, we didn't bring a stroller.   So in our DET layover, we put Elliott in a wheelchair and loaded the thing up with all our carry-on bags.  I didn't think a thing about it until I started noticing people being extra nice to us and giving us a wide berth to travel.  They thought Elliott was a paraplegic!  I asked a lady on an elevator and she told me that she was trying to not-pay attention so as not to be rude.  I let her in on my dirty secret and she promised to keep it.

Later, Elliott threw up in the airport...

\

and a little after that he had some toxic sickness-farts waiting to get onto the plane to Baltimore.  The senior citizen couple in front of us turned around and had a look of shock and fear on their faces like they smelled Grim Reaper's butt-crack right upon them.  Nope...that's just m'Jen boy!!!

MD itself was also quite nice.  I didn't get any pictures of my dad's birthday party per se since I was waitering and such, but his friends all came and I think he had a grand time.  K & I got him a Blu-Ray dvd player and the Planet Earth series (He loves technology)

Some MD pix (courtesy of Uncle Ned):

The trip home was quiet and easy and now we're back...

Tonight, I'm starting a C# and .NET programming class at Bellevue Community College.  It's not a credit course, though I plan to be taking some of those in the spring.  To get set, I had to get my college transcript and after looking back on that dark, mostly-drunken period of my life, I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry my grades were so ridiculous.  Karen had no such dilemma and laughed until she cried when I read off my classes and my associated grades...