Getting back to my roots

Dallas is the first home I remember. And its major difference from every other place I've seen in the last two months?

SKY. THERE IS TONS AND TONS OF SKY.

It's kind of nice and refreshing. And then after a while my eye gets bored again and wants to look at things.

But after all's said, it's nice to know the sky ain't fallen yet.

I s'pose this post very technically does not belong on this blog, because Dallas is IN Texas... but if you're that anal, let me inform you that this is just a random name I threw together when I was in China and wanted to document my travels and explorations separately!! Don't be so picky. :P

Olivia and Garrick's townhouse is absolutely adorable. They put me in the office/one of the master bedrooms, and there's an awesome TUB!!! I took full advantage of that last night. :P Then, uh, had to scrub bathroom rings. I never noticed those when I was a kid. Eww, disgusting. I also ate leftover rice/green beans/chops, and that was delicious. Mmmm. I think I might... go eat another portion... :-[

I woke up this morning when Olivia left for work and Garrick started "work" (aka Starcraft) in the office. I pottered about, did two loads of laundry, had a BV coaching call, and went for [more] yummy Thai food with Garrick, picking Olivia up on the way. Tom Yum soup is mmm, mmm, good. I've also missed eating rice a lot. Funny, I know I was just in Asia, but I almost never ate rice there because I was so anxious to eat all the other carbful non-rice things... noodles, dough balls, dumplings, flat breads... Meh, I figure I can always get rice somewhere else. And I am right.

This is Olivia. Her face looks like this naturally.

This is Garrick. His natural expression is enhanced by his hair.

After lunch, Jeff King and his parents came by to pick me up and take me to see the King Tut exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art! Unfortunately, we weren't able to get tickets for a showing earlier than 6 p.m. (we got there at 3), so we spent a lot of time bumming in the rest of the museum.

Jeff's parents... Auntie Melody, and oh no, I don't remember his dad's name. XD 淑淑 ("uncle") works. ;p

This really trippy room turned people a monochrome flat yellow.

As evidenced by this photo, untampered with.

Jeff and I were buddies back in Sunday School kindergarten days; we used to compare how much lunch we could eat. Sometimes he won, sometimes I won. I regret to say that come second grade, we girls had turned into brats who chased Jeffery into the girls' bathroom every Sunday. XD Don't ask me why. I'm not sure we knew even back then. Anyway, he's one of the sweetest guys I know, 'cuz he totally doesn't hold it against any of us.

He's also a talented violinist - I believe he was busy earning a violin performance degree before he joined the Air Force. Conscience over passion - now that's impressive.

I want a dresser like this one!

All you ever wanted to know on one ticket.

Tiffany underwater scene!! I love it. You can't tell here, but the glass is textured, adding to the realistic effect.

Homage to my passion

I really like wrought iron. It's so bold and striking.

And again.

Jeff liked this crab, hahaha.

Um, robot desk chair?

MWAHAHAHA I SEE YOU NOWWWWWWW

This poor little guy looked rather agonized, being the bottommost creature in a carved bracket of creatures-stacked-on-creatures.

I like my shadow to the side. Um, this is a "skull hook." You know, for displaying all those heads you hunt home.

Pretty. I discovered that I like looking at furniture a lot. :| And clothing. (This is better than my childhood penchant for, well, nothing in a museum) This was my favorite painting. I spent at least 3 minutes staring at the paintwork that went into making her pearl necklace appear 3-D.

Sorry if this is too risque for anyone, but I found this statue absolutely hilarious. (I'm not mature enough to approach art objectively yet) His facial expression looks so deprecating and woebegone... he's about 22 feet tall and faces his audience straight-on. He's like, "Just let me pee in peace!"

Museum cafe decor

Sunset

We finally got into the King Tut exhibition, which was duly impressive and all that good stuff. I'm afraid that after an afternoon spent staring at artifacts, the Egyptian tomb contents just fell into my "more artifacts" mental categorization. I'm most interested in mummification techniques and they never elaborate enough on that, so what have you. I could only stare at their storage jars. It might be compared to, oh, I donno, being interested in cloning and being told that I could stare at the beakers used for genetic exploration after they were throughly washed and sterilized.

The Kings graciously dropped me off at Babe's, which apparently is some nice, famous fried chicken place in Carrollton. I found it pretty delicious. We found the wait to be about 25 minutes.

I have no comment.

Garrick and Olivia. Garrick's mother allegedly stated his need for a haircut about 8 times yesterday.

Garrick and his TAMS friend, whose name I don't quite know how to spell. Those green beans were quite yummy.

Best friend! Like I said, there's something wrong with her face. I don't friend normal (aka "boring") people. ;)

Yum.

We came home, I passed out from food coma and jet lag, and everyone else had a nice, social visit until I woke up at midnight to Hammer singing the economy song. After I was regaled with the song he wrote for Olivia and me (and our imaginary 80's sitcom), everyone else peeled off for bed and I have been left here to deal with the consequences of my earlier nap.

San Francisco

Well, that's not really an accurate title. (Disclaimer: I know I have a lot of travel posts to catch up on posting... I'll get around to filling in the Asia gaps when I can. :P)

I was in Sunnyvale, south of San Fran, for about 42 hours or so, and that was the most expensive taxi ride I've had yet in my life. (I was kicking myself for not thinking about the car rental option from the moment the van door shut) After about five minutes, I resigned myself to my fate and decided I'd at least get a good story out of it. And I did.

My taxi driver was a Vietnamese man of Chinese descent, around my parents' age, who had escaped Hanoi in the late 1970s (on a boat, just like in all the stories :P). A senior in architectural design at the time, he ended up spending several years in various refugee camps in China, Hong Kong and Macau. His three children were all born in the refugee camps - one per camp. The family finally arrived in San Francisco in 1983. His youngest son was 6 days old.

He and his wife set to work immediately. Janitorial work for 12 hours a day, English classes at night. Their early employers were picky and miserly, but their consistent high-quality work meant that the bosses were satisfied in spite of themselves. Within six years, he and his wife managed to buy a house... which has risen in value to $1 million today (well, before the recent economic collapse... it's depreciated to about $800). He told me about hardcore studying - five classes per day - and diligence in the taxi industry, quickly earning the "Medallion" (which is some kind of certification, I guess, allowing one to own one's own taxi and operate independently or lease out to hired drivers?) and helping various relatives do the same. He hopes to finish his degree someday. I told him he should be really proud of himself. He told me he is. ^_^

That, plus a ride with 140 pounds of luggage, is worth $120 to me. :P It's maybe not my first choice expenditure, but I sure do like human interaction. ...Also, I completely forgot to ask his name. Haha.

ANYWAY... So yeah, I saw pretty much nothing of San Francisco. It remains virgin and unexplored by me... hopefully I can go back sometime this year, maybe in the spring. It was frickin' cold when I was there... Well, relatively speaking, anyway. (It was something like 45 degrees? You northern people can shut up ;p) However, the sun came out on Sunday afternoon and it was delicious.

I did, however, see Mike and Eugene. They're both former neighbors of mine from my community in Hsinchu, Taiwan. I met Eugene when I was about 12 or so. We both played violin, and our moms decided to make us play a Dvorak trio together with another girl, Grace. Um, neither one of us was very fond of practicing so we'd play card games together instead, thus incurring maternal wrath. ^_^ As for Mike, well, I went to orchestra with his brother during my high school years and even saw Mike from time to time at the tennis court, but never met him until I walked into the Union a week after I moved to Austin for college... Haha. Then we were in the same small group, same church, same friends circles until Mike moved out to CA last year after graduation. So yes, it was fun catching up.

Mike and I saw Seven Pounds on Saturday night, then Eugene/Michelle/Mike and I went to church Sunday morning. Apparently there is a rash of these post-college-grad-Asian-American-societally-minded churches around. Apart from the faces being different, GRX is an awful lot like Vox. Haha. I kept expecting to see a familiar face materialize at any moment. After church, we went to Palo Alto (home of Google!) for yummy Thai food. Mmm, I love Thai food. We then attempted to explore the Farmer's Market, only to be cheated out of the experience by... uh, it being closed. Following that, I went home with grand plans of taking a short nap before exploring downtown San Francisco, only to pass out entirely until Olivia called me at 7:30. D'oh.

Charles came over after dinner, and we made a fire in the backyard and enjoyed using up his several-year-old stash of sparklers and firecrackers over some sweet dessert wine. Good times.

Flames. FLAMES!!!

Eugene and Charles... holding hands...?? Nah, just warming.


Mike and a toast

Liquid ruby

Uh, we don't time things correctly.

Me making a huge pyro mess... Yesssss.


Attempting to draw a halo. It didn't turn out quite right.

Circle, circle, dot, dot?

Eugene "shhhh"-ing Mike, much to Mike's dismay

Awkward cow... It really is very awkward, but funny.

We then wrapped up the night by watching half of What Women Want and A Walk to Remember on TV. :| My long nap messed up my sleeping schedule, so I stayed up until 7 or so reading (and finishing) Ender's Shadow. I also watched the first 15 minutes of 28 Days Later, but then decided that probably wasn't good bedtime material.

Before Mike took me back to the airport on Monday afternoon, he and Eugene took me to lunch at Coco's (NOT the Asian bubble tea place :P), which I firmly believe should replace every Denny's and IHOP in America. Srsly. The pictures in the menu looked delectable and the food actually lived up to the expectations raised by their descriptions. Mmmm. I'm still bemoaning the fact that I only have one stomach and not four, like a cow. Oh, and the waiter was pretty cute. XD (Sorry, it had to be remarked)

Mine. :D 12 oz. Angus sirloin with amazing mashed potatoes/gravy and veggies. I missed my big camera.

Corn chowder.

Angus steak omelette. Rawr.

Chicken tortilla soup.

Eugene, Kat, Michael.

And that's basically the account of my - layover, really - in CA. Thanks for the hospitality, guys! Be sure to look me up when you visit Austin. =)

P.S. The Southwest flight from San Francisco to Dallas was stupidly long and a little bit torturous, and I don't like their carpool method of stopping in every city on the way to drop people off and pick up more. It makes sense, sure, but I feel like I paid enough to be able to avoid that!! Oh, well. I sat next to 1) a really fat diabetic guy with leg braces 2) a garrulous Hispanic woman who preemptively admonished me to be sensitive to the needs of people undergoing psychiatric therapy and 3) a hot Asian ER doctor who liked reading People magazine and wore a gorgeous red silk blouse under a yummy leather jacket.

From Sea to Shining Sea

Leaving this side of the pond for the other. <3 I'm going to miss this one. I love my family... the only downside to the beautiful hugeness of this globe is that "family" is always on the opposite side of "me."

In cheerier news... I've finally found where I belong... anywhere international works really well for me. :D I guess my third-culture kid traits are finally settling a bit, and I'm showing more of my true colors. As a friend recently said, "I consider myself a citizen of the world... I can't confine myself to just one place!"

I think in 2009, I'd like to push my boundaries and hit up some continents I haven't yet explored. I guess, um, Africa/South America/Australia/Antarctica are the only ones left. :o

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

I feel like it's been a while since I blogged anything of much substance... it's a little hard when one's constantly on the go (and I've missed that hustle and bustle). I'm sure I'll get back to your regularly scheduled post-college angst soon. ;) Just kidding. I hope I get over that emo nonsense once and for all. 2009 shall see a new, grown-up Kat! (HAHAHA)

I leave for the States (I typed "home") tomorrow night, so... sigh, I'm going to miss these kids boys MEN. Benj, we missed you around. :\ I keep remembering all these childhood jokes ("You must go UP!", "Huddle close to get warmth", "Bai-jee-lah, bai-jee-lah, huhuhu, bai-jee-lah") that the boys don't know. :\

In the meantime, here's a small glimpse of everyday life. I promised the boys a "date" day when they came home... the only small hitch in the plan was that we live out in the boonies (and Mom/Dad won't let me drive without that international permit, grr) so no problem, Mum came along.

Thanks, Jon, for taking a lot of these pictures. (So nice to have a photographer brother... I actually get to be in some pictures! Which was the whole reason I took up photography in the first place... yes, very shallow)

You can often find a bunch of us curled up on the sofa, reading/doing our own things. Here Tim's reading Eragon, Mom's highlighting every other verse in her Bible (I tease her about it a lot - the whole thing is a mass of colored lines), and I'm typing up quotes from the Golden Compass series. (In recent reading news, I finished [re-]reading Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte today. I'll post about that if I get some time)

My dad really hates it when I stick my tongue out in pictures... I've been doing it all vacation to bug him. :D I think I passed it on. ^_^

Mum very kindly drove us downtown today. She hates it when she sees my camera around, so she always screws up her face a little bit. Poor thing should just not resist me. ;) (Yes, my parents should not have to worry about their nearly 24-year-old daughter being the worst kid in the family... but whatcha gonna do...)

iPodding it up

Mom and her babies! Not so baby any more. Ummmm... I think my recent pics haven't been very flattering to Mum of late. Sorry, Mommy. I love you. (Hsinchu wind is not kind to people with our kind of poofy hair)

Sorry if you didn't want to see the inside of my mouth. Should I have focused on the car wheel instead?

Totally random, but I ran into Nancy's uncle here today. O_O I've been to this restaurant about 8 times during my time here. Considering the fact that I've maybe spent 18 days' total time in Hsinchu (the rest in Taipei), that's pretty amazing. It's all-you-can-eat individual hotpot, which is basically...

...Each person gets a small pot of soup stock, a plate for veggies (to be collected at the cold produce section), a bowl for sauces (self-mixed, also at the cold produce area), and an unlimited supply of meats, dumplings, tofu, etc. to add to their hotpot. It comes along on that revolving bar toward the right of this picture... unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to take this picture when there was actual food coming our way (since I was busy trying to capture the ambiance while waiting to eat). Total price per person? $7.50 U.S. Now do you blame me for coming here so often? :D (It's turned to envy, hasn't it? That's right - eat your heart out)

I think Jon looks super handsome in this candid.

I really like this picture. :P Ahhhh, my baby brother shouldn't be big enough to piggy-back me around!!

We do kinda look alike from the back, eh? At least in a fraternal twinsy kinda way. I think it's the emo hair.

Here we're being menacing toward Mom. Unsuccessfully. I like how happy we all look. We had a really fun time giggling and listening to various jokes in the car. (Mom: "Is this joke any good? Tim: "Well, I find it quite entertaining.")

I'm teaching Jon my favorite window/mirror/touristy self-portrait trick. :P



We ran into Christine and Kevin in the department store.

Camera fun in the elevator

Then I took the boys to take sticker pictures with me. I kinda thought it would be fun (for me) and a good opportunity to torture them (since, uh, it's kind of a girly pursuit). I won't say that we turned out any amazing art, but it was good sibling bonding...?

We accidentally chose to print them out really tiny, so they're a bit hard to see clearly. :|

But I took pictures of the pics with my 30D, 'cuz... what else is $2000 worth of camera gear for, anyway? ;p

Hanging out with my brothers is really fun and a little bit strange. When they're goofy, they do the same kinds of silly things I do, so it's a very little bit like catching a glimpse of myself in a mirror out of the corner of my eye. I love them.

Left-to-right... first pic: I like how I stick out my tongue, and one brother thoughtfully adds cartoon "poop" near my face, while the other one writes, "Daddy won't like" (as mentioned before, Dad hates the tongue sticking out).

Second pic: Next, they try to obliterate my face. Fantastic. ^_^

Third pic: I wrote "Fan Burger" on the top of the cartoon image and "I eat pigs" "on" Timmy's shirt. Jon drew gas coming away from me and "Don't fart" on the bottom with a little skull. And Timmy wrote something obscure on Jon. "Watch out for ....???"

And this was an extra-long image... Jon thoughtfully added centimeter heights to, uh, point out how I'm definitely the shortest one now. >:\ :P

Please note how excited they are to doodle on me. Well, that's a relief - I was worried that they'd merely tolerate their crazy sister's feminine pursuits. (They do despise my shopping, so I'm glad I do it when they're not around)

Okay, good night/morning/Boxing Day! :P

Farewell pic: I have blue hair under bright light.

And a duckbill under duress*.
*interpreted loosely as "Any situation in which I feel pressured to behave a certain way."

And this is what your face sees a split second before I plant a wet one on you. Mwahaha.