Dog sitting

Clearly, he's not happy about staying with me.

thanksgiving on a rainy winter day

So glad for my campus fellowship. I feel like I found new older cousins (possibly an uncle or aunt, but I don't think they want to think of themselves in that way, haha). One day, I'm not going to be the youngest person in the room and I'm not sure how I'll feel about that. We seem to be a bigger group this semester too, so who knows what that will be like and if they'll be regular.

Thank you gift and card from a student

Hk fog

strategies

I spent 20 minutes talking to Crazy Colleague about essentially nothing of import because for some reason, he needed to talk about a possibility that was never a possibility in the first place. I told Colleague S about it, and she said: "Why did you spend twenty minutes talking to him?? He's crazy, and talking to him for 20 minutes isn't going to change that. Just talk to him for five minutes."

Oh. Yeah. Duh.

I'm SO dumb.

On a more positive note, Timothy is really a great person and a wonderful boss. #thankful

new normal

Two weeks after I get back, stress levels are higher than I expected. Are the after-effects of a vacation so short-lived? Or should I change careers?

I do tend to be more suspicious of people when I'm stressed, so I need to watch out for that.

Finally, resolutions

Cliched, but necessary this year: to trust and honor God at work.

This means I give him my anxieties even as I do my best to be disciplined and focused. This means that the thoughts I think are directed at Him and others in love. 

And of course, hours after I make this resolution, I am tempted to give it up. Why are academics so weird?

runneth and runneth

God has always brought the right friends to my rescue. No one friend can always be there for me in all situations. But God always, always brings the right one to speak the right word. Jehovah Jireh.

Shout out to Mar and Karen for providing human connections this morning as I open The File again after vacation.

so far so good

Good news in the family.

Rest, and renewal of old friendships. I learn so much from talking to my old friends, and learning about their lives, loves, and challenges. I must remind myself to make time to meet with people.

Came back to a hassle-free mandatory window inspection (no repairs necessary, only 600$!).

Visited my dermatologist who said I'll probably only need to be on Accutane for three months.


2016 is starting off very, very well. Praise God. The upcoming year may turn out to be hard, but it's great to start off well, and to be reminded that our God is a very, very good God.

Dad

My father and his mother often buy the lotto, especially when something significant happens or if an event occurs. Today, he told me that he bought 0505, the number of the hotel room in which we stayed over the weekend. Unfortunately, the first prize was 2008, the number of my sister's hotel room.

My father's stories are always stories of  missed opportunities.

Maternal grandad

Tua ee said that ah kong was a traditional Chinese man who was stern and silent, especially with his children. But he loved his wife and cared for her. Once, tua ee was reading her books to prepare for her high school exams next to ah mah, and didn't realize that ah mah had fainted ("beh jin lang"). She thought ah mah was asleep. Ah kong came into the room, saw what had happened, then grabbed tua ee's book and flung it across the room, saying, "someone's about to die, why are you still reading?!" (Lang ai si liao ko thak hami chek?!)

He rented rooms in various houses around Taiping for his growing family before finally building his own home out of scrap wood (discarded pieces and edges after trees were cut into straight planks), but was forced to take down his house and move to a New Village called Pokok Assam during the Emergency. Tua ee was five then. Most of the house still stands there today although tua ku has renovated parts of it since.

Since there were so many children, they all took turns to eat and tua ee and tua ku were careful to take only a little of the dishes so the younger children had some to eat too.

Tua ee once took a few of the younger children out to a nearby Hindu temple during a festival, and along with other merry makers, picked up pieces of coconut when they were thrown to the ground to bring home to eat. But when they got back ah mah pinched her thigh because she took the other children out to play. She's still miffed.

Once, in a confrontation with a younger sister's husband who had beaten her until she had to be sent to the hospital, tua ee had to be held back from punching the guy by tua tiau. (Apparently, just a few months earlier, tua ku had been transferred from his school because he punched the headmaster and tua tiau didn't want his wife to be transferred from her school.)

Whenever tua ee is accosted by estranged spouses or their families around town, they would complain to her about this or that and ask tua ee to say something on their behalf. Tua ee would calmly smile and nod and say yes, but never said a word to her younger sisters or their families.

Once, during my parents' younger days, my dad called tua ee to complain about my mom, and tua ee told him, "my sister is not round. She's shaped like a square, so she has edges. She can't fit into your life without poking you." After that, he never called her with his complaints.

Memories

Tua ee, who is 79 this year, said that I was an easy kid to have around. When I visited, I sat quietly with a book and didn't make a peep. She has a set of children's encyclopedias in her home and apparently I was the only one who read them out of all her children and grandchildren.

She also said that the best place in Taiping to buy fabric to make clothes was my grandfather's shop.

Ugh

Was laying on the living room floor watching tv with mom when I thought a bug crawled up my back, and I sat up and tried to catch whatever was wriggling under my tee shirt. For a second I almost screamed because I thought I saw a gecko jump out of the neck of my shirt.

It turned out to be a centipede, but my mom didn't believe me. So we moved the sofa and there it was.....I found one of its legs on my back.