Younger Sister (妹)

我妹妹今年十九岁了，从小我一直看着她长大，觉得她永远是那么幼稚，一直那么不懂事。确实她有很多缺点，但是我最近发现我可能对她要求有点太高了，恍然大悟原来做哥哥的应该鼓励和支持才对，让父母去批评和指导，说实话我也不用花那么多功夫去强迫别人学习或工作，等我自己有孩子以后再费那个心吧。

妹妹跟我外公一样，有好多有趣的习惯我想記錄下來：

1。） 妹妹属鼠，我属兔，我们俩都胆子很小。万圣节时候去鬼屋，我妹妹不太敢一个人进去，轮到我们的时候非要握着我的手才敢进，说实话我也吓得半死，勉勉強強地小步前进。 过山车更不行了，连排队都不敢排。我也同感，排队经常可以看到那车有多高，听到别人的喊叫，我也有点提心吊胆的。

2。）妹妹对个人的血型和基因很感兴趣，一提起这个话题可以说个半天，看来用功学习了不少时间。尤其是说起我们俩谁得了父母谁的基因，经常抱怨我当大哥把好的基因全强走了。

3。） 打牌的时候喜欢拍桌子。我们家四人打四十分，妹妹刚学了一回儿还不太会打，但明摆着是赢牌的时候，她会很积极地把牌摘出来，用力砸在桌子上，生怕别人不知道她的利害，越大声越好。

4。） 妹妹拿筷子和铅笔都有点怪，不是标准的拿法，但是肉是掐地到的，写出来的字也马妈虎虎读的通，就没跟她计叫了。不过总有点觉得她手是爪的。

5.) 她跟我一样，喜欢日本文化和食品，特别喜欢寿司和漫画。可能夫母很可怜，把两个中国人孩子养那么大据然变成日本鬼的粉丝了。

My sister is 19 years old this year. Since her birth I've always looked down at her as immature and not acting her age. Sure, she has a lot of flows, but recently I came to the realization that I might have expected too much of her, and that as a brother I should be more gentle and supportive and let my parents take the parental role of criticizing and shaping her life. I should just be there to give rides when needed and helpful suggestions like which Mexican restaurant to go to. I honestly should not worry too much about her future, and it's better to wait until I have y own kids to boss them around. 

 Much like my grandpa, Emily has a lot of interesting things about her: 

1.) In the Chinese zodiac my sister is rat, I'm a rabbit, and naturally we're both kind of wimpy in real life. During Halloween we used to go to haunted houses together, and she was so scared that she needed to hold my hand before daring to go in. To be frank, I was pretty scared too and progressed forward step by step, hesitantly. ( I don't get scared, I get STARTLED). Roller coasters are out of the question, as we don't even get in line for those before wimping out. It's the sound of people screaming at the top of the ride that gives me the creeps and fazes me.

2.) My sister is surprisingly knowledgeable about blood types, and she could go on and on about it for half a day.  It's one of the few topics she studied really hard and applied her mind to the topic, a great way to study something is to be interested in it. When it comes to her own genes, she says I stole all of the good genes from our parents and left her with inferior ones. Sorry, sis.

3.) My sister loves to pound the table while playing cards. Our family of 4 plays a Chinese game similar to bridge, and my sister just picked it up, so she's not terribly good at it. But when she knows she's gonna win and it's her turn to play, she'll slam her card down with authority, annoucning her victory for all to know. The louder the better, as if someone wouldn't be able to hear her.

4.) My sister has a weird way of holding chopsticks and writing utensils. It's not the standard way and not what they teach you in school to do, but she can grasp food with the chopsticks and write generally legibly (although, needs some work) so I haven't complained about it much. But I kind of think her hand is like a claw and remind her of it all the time.


5.) Not unlike me, my sister appreciates Japanese culture and Japanese food, especially sushi and manga. I fell bad for my Chinese parents, raising children who became traitors to thir Chinese heritage by embracing the enemy Japanese. O well, the world is a large place, can't embrace anything without offending somebody.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan  

Younger Sister (妹)

我妹妹今年十九岁了，从小我一直看着她长大，觉得她永远是那么幼稚，一直那么不懂事。确实她有很多缺点，但是我最近发现我可能对她要求有点太高了，恍然大悟原来做哥哥的应该鼓励和支持才对，让父母去批评和指导，说实话我也不用花那么多功夫去强迫别人学习或工作，等我自己有孩子以后再费那个心吧。

妹妹跟我外公一样，有好多有趣的习惯我想記錄下來：

1。） 妹妹属鼠，我属兔，我们俩都胆子很小。万圣节时候去鬼屋，我妹妹不太敢一个人进去，轮到我们的时候非要握着我的手才敢进，说实话我也吓得半死，勉勉強強地小步前进。 过山车更不行了，连排队都不敢排。我也同感，排队经常可以看到那车有多高，听到别人的喊叫，我也有点提心吊胆的。

2。）妹妹对个人的血型和基因很感兴趣，一提起这个话题可以说个半天，看来用功学习了不少时间。尤其是说起我们俩谁得了父母谁的基因，经常抱怨我当大哥把好的基因全强走了。

3。） 打牌的时候喜欢拍桌子。我们家四人打四十分，妹妹刚学了一回儿还不太会打，但明摆着是赢牌的时候，她会很积极地把牌摘出来，用力砸在桌子上，生怕别人不知道她的利害，越大声越好。

4。） 妹妹拿筷子和铅笔都有点怪，不是标准的拿法，但是肉是掐地到的，写出来的字也马妈虎虎读的通，就没跟她计叫了。不过总有点觉得她手是爪的。

5.) 她跟我一样，喜欢日本文化和食品，特别喜欢寿司和漫画。可能夫母很可怜，把两个中国人孩子养那么大据然变成日本鬼的粉丝了。

My sister is 19 years old this year. Since her birth I've always looked down at her as immature and not acting her age. Sure, she has a lot of flows, but recently I came to the realization that I might have expected too much of her, and that as a brother I should be more gentle and supportive and let my parents take the parental role of criticizing and shaping her life. I should just be there to give rides when needed and helpful suggestions like which Mexican restaurant to go to. I honestly should not worry too much about her future, and it's better to wait until I have y own kids to boss them around. 

 Much like my grandpa, Emily has a lot of interesting things about her: 

1.) In the Chinese zodiac my sister is rat, I'm a rabbit, and naturally we're both kind of wimpy in real life. During Halloween we used to go to haunted houses together, and she was so scared that she needed to hold my hand before daring to go in. To be frank, I was pretty scared too and progressed forward step by step, hesitantly. ( I don't get scared, I get STARTLED). Roller coasters are out of the question, as we don't even get in line for those before wimping out. It's the sound of people screaming at the top of the ride that gives me the creeps and fazes me.

2.) My sister is surprisingly knowledgeable about blood types, and she could go on and on about it for half a day.  It's one of the few topics she studied really hard and applied her mind to the topic, a great way to study something is to be interested in it. When it comes to her own genes, she says I stole all of the good genes from our parents and left her with inferior ones. Sorry, sis.

3.) My sister loves to pound the table while playing cards. Our family of 4 plays a Chinese game similar to bridge, and my sister just picked it up, so she's not terribly good at it. But when she knows she's gonna win and it's her turn to play, she'll slam her card down with authority, annoucning her victory for all to know. The louder the better, as if someone wouldn't be able to hear her.

4.) My sister has a weird way of holding chopsticks and writing utensils. It's not the standard way and not what they teach you in school to do, but she can grasp food with the chopsticks and write generally legibly (although, needs some work) so I haven't complained about it much. But I kind of think her hand is like a claw and remind her of it all the time.


5.) Not unlike me, my sister appreciates Japanese culture and Japanese food, especially sushi and manga. I fell bad for my Chinese parents, raising children who became traitors to thir Chinese heritage by embracing the enemy Japanese. O well, the world is a large place, can't embrace anything without offending somebody. 

Stairs (階段)

Kaidan is the Japanese term for stairs. Recently I've been doing a lot of stairs to stay in shape, and it's HARD. I've done a lot of running in my life, and I'd say running on flat ground is the easiest (duh), climbing stairs is way harder, and then the absolute hell is running uphill. I've really surprised I ever survived running the uphill parts during the marathon, to be honest. Stairs are.....ok, depending on how fast one is trying to move up them, I guess, and in a controlled environment. I remember when I took the Stair Climb Challenge in downtown LA a few years ago (the whole objective is to run up about 75 flights of stairs as fast as possible) and thought it was the coolest thing ever......until about floor 6. It's all about pacing...hills for me are just, get over this hill as soon as possible because after the uphill it should be much easier and possibly exponentially easier due to the resulting downhill, Stairs are much more about taking even strides, going at a pace that won't burn oneself out but also not totally embarrassing oneself. It helps to have a couple big fans or some sort of air conditioning within the stairwell to allow for a cooling effect that's sorely missing, as opposed to the natural breeze from running that outdoor runners that is probably part of the thrill.


Stairs is also the metaphor for learning and playing dodgeball....trying desperately to try to get to the next skill level without tumbling back down the stairs and losing it all and having to climb back up. Now with a solid foundation in both disciplines I know I won't tumble all the way back down to the bottom Home Alone-style, but it's also harder to get to the very top. I can see the top and can picture myself getting there, but each step is harder to take and progress slows down due to having to go over the stuff already covered (the toll of the stairs that one has already put behind). It's also difficult to know what exactly is the top: The Stair Climb was 75 floors, but one could keep going to the very very top....to the rooftop. Or go back down and do the stairs again. In dodgeball, there's individual accomplishments like winning the Most Valuable Player award or making a big play in a game, but there's always the next prize or the next tournament....Even the best players in the game don't have a specific title that says, "I'm the best player in the game now," it's constantly winning tournaments with good teams and showing dominance and  superior skill at those matches that proves that they are the best players in the world, or hailed as much by others. No big banner at the end of a marathon, for example, that says "Finish Line," just more steps to climb.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

Police (警察 ( けいさつ )

A very disturbing event happened to me yesterday that profoundly affected the way I live my life. As I was driving to work down the 101, I came down the hill in a 65 MPH zone and noticed a rider on a motorbike pulled off the highway on the side. As I drew closer, I realized that it was not a normal motorcycle, it was a police motorcycle, and the rider wasn't just idling on the side trying to fix something, he was a police officer, and he was pointing a gun at me. NOT a real gun, though, a radar gun, which kind of looks like a microphone but does much more damage to one's wellbeing, apparently clocking every car that goes by to ensure compliance with the posted speed limit. I quickly pressed the brake and simultaneously glanced down at the speedometer to check how fast I was going (due to having just come downhill I couldn't tell as the needle was also moving down from 75, somewhere in the 70 range) but I also realized very quickly that it was too late, if the police officer got me going too fast, it was already too late to do anything about it.

We've all been there before: the sudden realization of the presence of a police officer and quick mental check to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong......2 hands on the wheel, only one earbud in my ear listening, have registratino all in order, not texting while driving, not holding my hand to my ear while driving (phased that out a long time ago), no emergency vehicle having gone by without me yielding..... I think 70 to around 73 is OK in a 65 zone, right? People usually get a 10MPH grace zone.....although it is at the end of the month here and they might be filling their quota......uh oh, the cop is getting on his bike. What's he doing?

For some weird reason, I get a pretty big adrenaline rush once i see a cop coming up behind me......"Are they coming to pull me over!" seems like a pretty big possibility, and one knows how bad and financially destructive a speeding ticket is. At that moment thoughts like "please not me, please not me!" go through one's head as well as possible excuses, possible ways to wriggle out and "get off with a warning," going through worst case scenarios......and the cop pulls up behind the car right behind me and pulls him over. That poor driver hadn't been going much faster than I was, by my recollection......in fact, it might have been a situation where the cop could have pulled over any of a number of people including me, I just got really lucky. The difference betwen $0 and going on my merry way or hundreds of dollars, a police stop, and utter humiliation and a scarring experience. I think, though, that at least for me, that's why the cops are there sometimes: to deter other peple, not just the ones they catch, from breaking the law.......getting that feeling of almost getting caught and "that could have been me" is enough for me to slow down, scondense that 10mph grace period to 5 mph grace period, and be more vigilant, especially from now until the end of the month, at least.

Coincidentally, my gf and I just recently watched a movie about cops! Full of checking out suspects, car chases, talking to possible informants about getting a lead, encounters with heads of organized crime, and cracking a government conspiracy......it was called "Zootopia," the animated Disney movie that just came out this year. Really well written, cute animals, workable plot, and lots of laughs throughout......what's not to love? And a strong message especially in these times: don't discriminate against a certain type of people just because they seem scary, or otherwise unfriendly..... maybe we should take that attitude towards cops and try to get to know them better, but for now I'd just like to avoid them as much as possible.

Fantasize on,

Rober t Yan

Air Conditioner

The Japanese word for air conditioning is simple.......it's Aircon! One of the many words in Japanese drived/ taken from English, which include Pasakon (personal computer), knife, and pizza.

Recently in my office, it's been freezing, which is unfortunate because as I stated previously, it's been the hottest days of the year recently, so the contrast is huge from going to the oven that is the outside to the refrigerator that's the inside. It's gotten pretty close to catching-a-cold territory, to be honest. It's not cuz the air conditioning is broken: no, no, it's working quite well blasting cold air into my face and causing my feet to be cold despite me wearing socks, it's that someone, a human being, decided to set the temperature lower to compensate for the excessive heat outside. Compensating led to overcompensating, and unintended consequences resulted. And instead of wearing shorts and enjoying the summer, I'm spending the hottest days of summer indoors with a blanket/ jacket shivering because it's so cold. A truly backwards situation.

The simple lesson from this is: don't overcompensate. We as humans want to fix things, which is good, actively change the situation for the better, but we also tend to go to extremes to do so, and swing it to the other end. No taste in one's food: add salt, but could become too much salt. See traffic ahead while driving on the freeway? Get out at the nearest exit and take a detour......but then end up spending more time than you would have done just staying the course (happens to me all the time).


One of the sillier things I've been overcompensating for recently is the treatment of bugs: I used to be the kid unfortunately when I was little who went outside and killed ants by stepping on them or drowning them, marveling at how much power I had over other living creatures. Recently, though, due to my girlfriend and others' attention to animal rights I became more aware of them too, and sort of agreed with the concept of not killing any living things. This included trying not to eat too much meat, even possibly fish because fish are living too. More maddeningly, i went out of my way not to kill bugs in the home, choosing to try to cup a spider in a receptable and leeting it out in the wild. All of this lasted about one day. Some might disagree, but I think we as humans live in a world where ife and death interchange all the time, every second and every minute of every day. Unfortunately as bigger organisms in the world, we have to destroy living organisms just by lving an breathing, as we inadvertently step on bugs when we walk outside, we swallow 8 spiders a year in our sleep (or 30, according to my gf, which seems like a big difference from 8) and bugs will always splatter on our windshield when we drive a car. That is the natural cycle of life, and to overcompensate and decrease my quality of life for that is overcompensating. Sure, one doesn't have to hunt down flies and spiders all the time with a newsapper or flyswatter like when I was a kid, but killing one or two because a spider's coming right at you is a natural side effect of our existence.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

Intense Heat (猛暑)

I've alluded to the concept of Natsubate, 夏ばて, or Summer Heat in Japanese, before. It's the concept of being tired from the heat, weariness from the summer temperatures. I also theorized that people grow a little dumber during the summer, due to the brain melting. Not a scientific theory, but definitely possible that productivity decreases, attention span wavers as one worries about how hot it is in the office, sweating, etc. All the long days might be a factor too, at least for me here in sunny Southern California: so many daytime hours, so many opportunities to go outside and do fun activities, not as much time to be smart, stay indoors and read books, etc. 

Just in time for summer 2016 (officially begins today), LA is enduring a heat wave, or mousho.  Temperatures in the 100 degrees! Perfect time to go to work, bring your own lunch, and don't leave the office unless you have to! It's the kind of temperature that I was warned about as a kid, where people in Chicago died due to heat exposure, etc. It's hot enough to bake an egg, it's hot enough to make one lose their appetite (literally), it's hot as balls, lots of things can describe how hot it is tomorrow. Makes one wonder how people survived back in the day without air conditioning. Also makes me consider soberly that the human body is so frail: we have to be at just the right temperature (68 degree room temperature) to be comfortable, anything too cold or too warm and we start complaining. Imagine other planets, other solar systems with uninhabitable conditions: it's really a miracle that life even exists. 

The biggest factor that contributes to Natsubate, though, is just being exhausted after spending even just a little time outside. Every move seems like a chore, walking outside seems like walking into a sauna except with one's clothes on. I tried to wash my car manually today (apparently frowned on in SoCal) and expended so much energy I was forced to take a nap afterwards. After I came indoors, I could still feel the heat in my body, on my skin, all over my body, and it takes a while (and a few sips of my favorite, ice water, to cool down). That's why I recommend traveling in the fall, folks. Avoid the summer rush. 



Having endured many summers (my 29th one!) I have some experience as to how to best spend it. It's good to have something define the summer, separate it from all the other summers in one's life. Summer tends to be the most memorable time of the year due to the long days, active lifestyle, school not being in session, etc. It could be vacationing, summer camp, some kind of job, summer school (ech, hope it's not that), or just hanging out in the neighborhood, at the local pool or something. I've had all of those, my last one in 2015 highlighted mostly by a trip to Greece and Turkey and Toronto. This summer, I'm for the first time not spending it alone (well, romantically at least) and have my wonderful girlfriend with me! Yay! But the defining thing for me will be this game called trampoline dodgeball, dodgeball except on a court full of trampolines. Really fun, seriously tiring, and higher risk of injury, it's not for the faint of heart, but my team qualified and will compete in the 2016 Ultimate Dodgeball tournament in SkyZone Las Vegas August 407! Yes! Happy start of summer everyone! 
Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan 

Graduation (卒業)

Recently, I was able to participate in an event I wasn't sure I would ever be able to take part in again: A graduation ceremony. I graduated from the "Intermediate" (I tend to think of myself as more than just intermediate at this point in my Japanese proficiency, but regardless) class at my unaccredited, purely-for-profit, but very fun and productive Japanese class in Little Tokyo, called Fuji School. There was no massive ceremony, I did not wear a cap and gown, there was no graduation speech, and I did not have to "walk down the aisle," but I DID get a certificate of completion (really what a diploma is anyway, right?) and the important feeling that a graduation signifies: the end of a long journey, and the beginning of a new one. It's very pretty exciting.

I don't consider myself "old" by any stretch of the imagination (yet), but I do envy some of the people younger than me who can still get that rue graduation feeling, of having went through the 3 or 4 arduous years of work and being officially able to move on to the next chapter in one's life. I'd been doing that all my life until I graduated law school (I vaguely remember some sort of kindergarten graduation), and it's a good way to bookmark one's life, knowing that before the graduation was my college years, and afterwards was my post-graduate years, etc. I don't have that anymore, except maybe for job transfers, which aren't the same; there's not that sense of camaraderie with people who are graduating at the same time, no lead-in to summer where one packs your bags and leave college forever and hit the world to go on a path to your future; job transfers seem more like just going from one desk to another, from answering to one boss to answering to a different boss. I didn't enjoy my graduation that much, I remember it usually being a chore I had to go through sitting and watching as others got up to get their diplomas, me lost in a faceless sea of people going through the ritual, but I always remembered the plans that I had in store next; the promise, the dreams, the aspiration. I kind of miss graduating from somewhere, and at least with Japanese I can feel a sense of accomplishment.

For me, graduation also cultivates a sense of moving forward in life, moving on to bigger and better things, being in a better position than I was while younger in life. I think I've always deseprately wanted to improve myself and not get stuck in a rut, to take years off of nonproductivity, to be in a worse position than I was years ago. That's probably one of my worst fears, that and being a failure (kind of similar), being on a shaky boat in choppy waters, and roller coasters. I always fear I've gotten dumber, or faded back into bad habits, or gotten worse at dodgeball, or been lonelier than I've ever been before, or WASTED YEARS OF MY LIFE; so far I've been lucky enough to say I've probably avoided that, but I need to keep it up, as there's no more graduations in my future (unless I go get another degree, always a possibility) to at least give the illusion that I'm progressing. In the current times of Orlando gay club mass shootings, ISIS terrorist activites, alligators eating a child at Disney World Parks, Donald Trump accusing a judge of being unfair due to his race, and other backwards things in society, it's easy to think society as a whole is moving backwards. I just hope I don't do the same.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

Emoji (絵文字)

Teriyaki. Samurai. Koi. Origami. There are a lot of words in the English language that come from Japanese origin (more than any other Asian language, as Chinese words can be counted on one hand like "wuxu"), and they've been incorporated into the American culture: people go to sushi and ramen restaurants, kids attend karate class. One word, though, that I didn't know came from Japanese until recently, has probably taken over as most relevant to this generation of young people and any smartphone user: An emoji. 

Emoji in Japanese is actually pronounced with a short "e," not the long E that Americans commonly prounounce it as, and the kanji letters are broken down to meat "picture," and then "word." So literally, a picture of a word. It's really interesting because Kanji, back when it was developed thousands of years ago by scholars, aimed to depict things as they were actually shaped, like the word for fish actually looks like a fish (魚), and now emojis are sort of bringing that back, like a retro-style version of it. Emojis are actually frequently mistaken with emoticons, as that's more of a picutre done using punctuation marks, like :). Not the same at all, and can't get the helpful brown color background of the famous poop emoji. 

I personally never used emojis until last year, never thought it was worthwhile and stuck to traditional writing and elaborate pose, I guess, I guess I'm an old-school type of book reader, no fluffs and frills, but I think I might be behind on the times. Everyone uses them, to the point I feel it's almost impolite not to use them. My girlfriend loves using them, and every message will include something, whether it's a heart, dancing, or.....apparently a very famous emoji, the poop emoji. 

I personally had never heard of the poop emoji, but I have to admit I was drawn to it the first time I saw it, which is perhaps part of its appeal. It's a poop-shaped brown object with a smiling face, almost like the poop knows it's poop but is happy about it, not apologetic about it. No one would have ever associated "poop" with "happy," but this emoji totally turns it into a cool thing. The story of the emoji actually sis detailed online: it started in Japan in the 1990's and then was adopted by Google in 2008 and used on its smartphones. At first it came without the smiley face on the poop and instead flies buzzing around the poop, which is pretty funny as well. Amazingly, it was almost not included in smartphones because it was "too offensive," but the people at Google were apparently in touch with society enough to know that it was funny, and it became a big hit. Out of all the emojis I have ever used, that emoji I've definitely used more than any other one, and probably more than 50% of the emojis I've used are that one. (I just write a whole chain of them, the more the merrier I guess). 

What's my stance now on using emojis? I guess I've softened my stance on them, although I would never use them on an official email for lawyer business or anything, but they're definitely interesting and spice up the texting world. Maybe that's what I was missing during my online dating years, was the use of these emojis! What have I been missing! Ahhhh!!!!!! I still don't think I would initiate the first move on a text with an emoji, and I'd wait for the other person to establish the practice of using emojis before I followed suit, for fear of alienation and/or thinking that I was not mature enough/ professional enough. 

Interesting note about grandpa (continued from last post): Grandpa has never used an emoji to express himself. 

If I were to create an emoji of my girlfriend, it would be her shaking with excitement called the "penguin shuffle" emoji. Or a piece of cheese with a smiley face. (they probably have one already) 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan 

Grandfather (おじいさん)

Ojiisan is Japanese for grandfather. I've lived with/ close to my mother's father since I was 5 years old, so he's been a part of my family for virtually my whole memory-producing lifetime. Here are some reasons (in Chinese and English dual translation!) why my grandfather's the most interesting grandfather in the world (sorry, Dos Equiis guy)

为什么我外公是世界第一有趣的外公

当然，很多人会说他们自己家的人是最酷的，没有统一的標準可以用来评價。但我可以想象要是我是别人家的话，我也可以客观地说我外公太有趣了。

1。）我外公已经九十岁半了，十二月份就要庆祝91大寿了，但不显得那么老。从二十年以前好像跟本没有增年龄。天天早睡早起，一大早就做体操，练身体。不抽烟不喝酒，再健康不过了。

2。）中国汉字认识得滚瓜烂熟，滴水不漏。我读报纸时经常问外公字怎么读，他很少不知道，除非是新字。

3。）天天读报纸又读新闻，但看完了就忘记了，问他有什么新鲜事就不知道了。毕竟活了九十多年了，可能消息都混起来了。

4。）吃东西不挑食，原因是觉得味道都差不多，不管是鸡羊猪牛都一样。不过不太喜欢海鲜类的，身体会过敏。

5。）种花很积极。以前住在芝加哥多天冻的冻夏天有兔子吃的吃，总是有点问题，到南加州来后好多了，一年四季可以种，外公現在喜欢种柠檬树，熟了还可以吃，或泡柠檬汁。

Why my grandfather is the most interesting grandfather in the world.

Of course ,many people will say their own family members are the coolest, as there's no uniform standard for evaluation. But I can imagine if I were someone else's family, I could objectively think my grandfather's too amusing.

1.) My grandpa's already 90 years old, in December he'll be 91, but he doesn't look it at all. He doesn't seem like he's aged for about 20 years. Every day he is early to bed and early to wake, and exercises first thing in the morning. Doesn't smoke or drink, can't be healthier than that.

2.) He's like a walking dictionary for CHinese Kanji characters, knows them like the back of his hand, not a single word missing. I'll often ask him how to pronounce a word when I'm reading the newspaper, and very seldom does he not know, mostly because it's a new word.

3.) He reads the newspaper and watches the news every day on TV, but he forgets immediately after consuming the information, if asked what's new in the world he'll have no answer. Who knows? Maybe after living for 90 years, things start to overlap, everything gets mixed together.

4.) Not a picky eater, primarily because he thingks everything tastes the same. Doesn't matter if it's chicken lamb pork or beef, it's all gravy for him. However, not a big fan of seafood, as his body is allergic (mostly in the face).

5.) Very diligent about gardening. In Chicago where our family used to live there'd be winters that froze the ground or rabbits in the summer who ate all the flowers, but it's much improved now that we're in Southern California, where grandpa can plant stuff all year round. Nowadays it's lemon trees, where the lemons can be picked when ripe and eaten, or used to make lemononade. (When life/ grandpa gives you lemons.....)


To be continued!

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

Hype (誇大)

Earthquakes. Storms. Active Volcanoes. Tsunami tidal waves. All are extremely strong forces that exist in this world, but all pale in comparison to maybe the strongest force of all: hype, or kodai in Japanese. Hype, for those that are unfamiliar with this mythical creature, is the generation of positive feelings, excitement, and anticipation for something. Sometimes it's justified, and the end product justifies the hype that surrounded it before its arrival, but most of the time, as with this next topic......things are overhyped.


Sex is overhyped. Yes, I'm talking about that sex, the kind of intimate physical contact with another person. People make too much of it, sacrifice too much for the pursuit of it when it reality sex is just a normal body function that people do that's pretty enjoyable. Without sounding too much like a prude, sex is nice, but it isn't something that people should give up everything else in the world for (all in moderation). From a young age, boys at least are pressured to try to have sex, and as much of it as possible. American Pie put into the society mainstream the idea that one must have sex before high school is over. When adult men talk to each other, one of the "boy code" things to do is to talk about how much of a "player" they are and which great desirable woman they want to have sex with.

The desire to have the overhyped product that is sex is what makes dating so hard, as tons of good-intentioned seekers of their true love have to wade through the people that are just "dating casually" and "wanna have a good time," going for a hookup. These people might say they are looking for a relationship and not just a good time, but isn't that what you would say too if you were only looking for a good time? It's deceptive but it's the nature of the "game" nowadays, and men aren't even that criticized for that sort of misleading behavior. The "pump and dump" has become too accepted in society. The impetus of all this is that my co-workeer recently went on an online date and liked the guy she dated because he mentinoed about going to a concert months later and meeting his father and friends, which all seemed to point to intentions of a relationship, but then when she refused to go into his house with him, he didn't contact her anymore. It's one of many horror storres I've heard and it's important to note that this originated from online dating and online dating is a whole beast in itself, but it does illustrate a sad case of how sex drives people's desires instead of the more important things about finding one's partner, like compatibility, mutual interests, shared goals, etc. Sex or physical compatibility shouldn't be high on that list of priorities if one is really seeking to find someone.

I really do think too much of the world's energy and resources is devoted to the pursuit of trying to have sex. If humans *especially men) were conditioned not to be so desperate for it, more attention would be focused on ending world hunger, curing cancer, stopping domestic violence, gun control and awareness, etc., etc. among a host of societal problems. Instead men (and some women!) devote their energies to try to "play the dating game" and get into women's pants. It's disappointing, and I think one of the solutions is to de-hype the motion that sex will solve all one's problems (it actually probably causes more problems, especially if the right protection isn't used). Make it not seem like the end all be all, make it a small bonus, the cherry on top of the cake of finding someone you like and might spend a long time together with.

Other things in this world that are overhyped: going to bars, drinking a lot, trying to hook up with girls (coincidentally very associated witht he pursuit of sex, and the reason why people do it, the outside chance of hooking up drunkenly). It's like the alcohol industry benefits indirectly from everyone's strong sexual desire by creating the night scene for singles to meet up and pursue those goals. I personally don't get much from alcohol, and the aftereffects far outweigh the minimal boost I get from having drinks/ getting wasted. It doesn't even taste that good! It gets you dehydrated, and it causes many accidents and death as a consequence of drinking and driving. And it might not even lead to sex. Overhypped.

What's not overhyped, I've learned through my wonderful relationship with my girlfriend, is having a wonderful girlfriend! Lots of benefits to that that go beyond sex, including talking out these things and ranting about the world to a ready listener (thanks for listening and understanding!)

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan