Wow this blog is old. Can you believe we started it 18 years ago? A lot has changed and it seems people just got really busy with their lives.
I'm thinking we can invite extended family members if people are interested, at least Deb's kids since they probably have the most time on their hands, lol.
Maybe because Debs and Owen came to visit recently, I thought it might be good to post an update here. Also since I spend a lot of time with mom these days, I may also post some updates and stories here.
It was fun to see the kids and family. I swear Harry and Olivia are drunk on sugar every time I see them. I watched Harry shovel an ice cream banana split in his mouth saying he had to finish it or else his mom wouldn't let him have any. I don't know what he was talking about Debs. He also said sugar is like caffeine to him and started cackling. This was around 7:30PM, not far from his bedtime I think. I told him not to force himself but he was shoveling so fast, I'm not sure he even tasted it or heard me. Mom and I tried to eat a little from his bowl to help him. I told him, all of us siblings used to share one size like that as kids. For some reason I felt bad for him. He's a big kid and I think sugar is addicting. American portions are also just way too big. Although while the idea of waste is super hard for me, I've been feeling less and less guilty about throwing food away.
Harry is probably one of the sweetest kids I've ever met. We played with the rubix cube, mahjong, and also badminton together with the rest of the family. He's really smart and a fast learner. He's still a bit clumsy and uncoordinated but he's getting better! Owen's tagline of "Move with GRACE!" seemed to be really working for him.
Life update for me:
Our (Roni and I's) townhouse is finally put back together. We had this crazy incident happen when Roni was installing the smallest shelf ever, he hit a pipe and water started spewing all over our living room. It was literally like a comedy show. Pressurized water shot across the living room and out the water across the area in front of the TV. Unfortunately, while some of the water went out, the spray still started flooding across our floors and out of the ceiling on the first floor. The pipe he hit was the fire sprinkler system that connected our row of 5 townhomes. Thankfully after about a month, reconstruction was completed last Sunday. Crazily enough, Roni did use a stud finder. The pipe was right next to it. He ended up going too deep when he felt some resistance past the dry wall. This pipe was made of PVC. I found out later our HOA actually sued the builder for bad work and it had settlement money they were using to do improvements on all the homes. Even the construction guy told us the pipe shouldn't have been where it was and it had no metal plate protection like it was supposed to. Since that incident, I heard a ton of stories and lessons learned from others. Overall the damage from one tiny freaking hole was unbelievably amazing and just sad in terms of costly repairs and the preventative measures that should have been in place. It's so stupidly wasteful.
I've been playing cards (13) with mom and I recently taught her speed. She's decent, lol. I think it's more interactive and engaging than Sudoku although she's VERY good at Sudoku. I've played it with her and she's seriously at expert level. I think she could be in a tournament.
My badminton secret: I still suck at badminton. Ironically enough I never planned to be amazing at it. Ever since I fell flat on my face the first time I tried to serve to getting smacked on the forehead really hard with the racket (where it left the its neck imprint) to being so unbelievable uncoordinated and bad with the hand eye coordination, I really just wanted to be competent at it. I don't think anyone knows how hard I tried and practiced and talked to and worked with all the best players for tips and advice on how to be better. My body would just not cooperate with my mind when it came to this sport. I think my getting accepted into the team was more on pity and a prayer. Even though I ranked 4 of 5 in girls' singles, I lost that position pretty quickly when my friend Son-ahn told my opponents my weakness, "Clear it, she can't hit far." I was soooo peeved at her. "Just shush and drink your Ensure!" I replied. "What? You need to be a better player!" as she shouted at me from the bleachers. Ugh, soo matter of fact. I couldn't argue with her. By the end of the season, I did get better. I knew I was a lazy player though. My cardio and reflexes were not up to par or where I wanted really. It was my senior year, and I was sad I would likely not play again. I tried taking it up again much later after college after a few recreational sessions with my family and wanted to make it a dedicated practice, but I noticed the fluorescent lights started to really bother me, like a lot. Coupled with my eye diagnosis and my eye doctor saying he can't push my prescription any further without making me see the world slightly concave and dizzying, I knew badminton was never going to be in the cards and possibly dangerous for my future. I still like to watch and dabble in it. I learned a lot in that 1 year of badminton experience and what to look for. The games can be really exciting. Overall, I find this sport to be a bit endearing personally. My small victory was birdie to center of the racket head. I came from -10 to like 3!
