Stereotypes.
We tend to have stereotypes, all kinds of stereotypes, and we all stereotype people to some degree. For me, I like to think that my son is smarter than my daughter and I tend to only focus on his study since he is in a higher grade level than his sister (3rd grade vs. kindergarten) and since his is a boy. Maybe it is not a stereotype but more an expectation on boys.
The Internet You
Is the internet you a more realistic representation of yourself or is it someone whom you pretend to be? Since we can’t see through the computer screen to interact with the internet you, would that push you to act as someone totally out of your character? For me, I tend to be more outspoken and speak my mind more bluntly since I don’t have to worry that I would offend a person who might be standing just right next to me. In real life, we tend to wear a mask to protect ourselves. Since there is already that screen protector between you and the others, do you then peel off layers and layers of your skin and reveal more about yourself? Or do you then pretend to be someone that you aren’t? Does that person who shows so much humidity behind the computer screen a real gentleman? Or is he just faking to be modest to earn your trust and respect?
If you have been faithful waiting for any new article from me, I am sorry to keep you waiting. I have been lazy. I will probably post something new sometime in December.
Taking for granted.
My husband’s high school classmate, whom he was neither close to at school nor have seen for almost thirty years, came here for a business plus pleasure trip. Let’s call him Tom for ease of identification. Tom indicated to my husband that he was looking for cheap places to stay. My husband was toying with the idea of inviting him to stay at our house. I told my husband that our house was kind of messy with toys everywhere and our kids not very well behaved. In addition, he might accidently let our cat out while we were not home. It might be somewhat inconvenient to have him stay with us; however, I won’t object if my husband truly wanted to invite him to stay. I am glad that my husband did not and there is a good reason after we met this classmate of his.
Can you imagine that I have never ridden a bike? Actually, I started learning new skills after I started working. I started learning how to swim and started picking up the sport of playing squash and racquetball. I started taking various dance lessons such as African movement, Jazz, Tap Dance, Flamenco and Arabic Dance. I was having the time of my life until I have kids and all the lessons and sporting activities stopped. It is a different kind of fun raising a family. Seeing my kids and my husband riding bikes in the park, I started wondering if I should learn to ride a bike. A few weeks ago, I told my husband that I wanted to buy a bike, short enough so that I could put my feet down if I wanted to stop the bike. I got a 24” bike. It helps to get rid of the fear factor.
I thought that if a toddler can learn how to bike, so can I. I will just do the same way as the toddlers do, gliding down the hill without pedaling, then gradually putting the feet on the pedals and starting to pedal. I didn't realize that it was so easy to learn to bike. It only took me 30 minutes to learn to bike. I should have done it earlier. I haven’t really mastered the skill yet as I still struggle to ride uphill being not good at switching the gear. Anyway, I just want to say that it is never too late to learn new tricks. Now, my problem is to get my daughter to bike with us. She used to enjoy teasing me for not able to bike.
Are we friends?
Have you thought of contacting your classmates, those whom you were not close to and have never kept in touch with since graduation? Sometimes, I wondered why people wanted to link up with classmates from senior high school, secondary high school or even primary school. I am not talking about classmates you were close to. I am talking about those who were almost strangers then and are total strangers now. Would you respond to emails from seemingly total strangers? Would you spill your personal life to total strangers? Would you have any urge to meet these total strangers? Would you if you have little to no recollection of the days at school? Would you if there is nothing to look back and reminisce? Would you if you couldn’t even name or recognize the faces of these so-called classmates? Would you if there is nothing in common that you share? How much do they know you when you are a complete stranger to the old you? People change. We are not the naïve little kids anymore. I have changed. Why do you want to get reacquainted with me when we barely knew each other then?
Are you a friend or a mere acquaintance?
When I worked as an intern at Norwest Bank (now Wells Fargo) right after I got my MBA degree, two of my colleagues of different ethnicities approached me. The ethnic Korean girl introduced herself to me when we first met in the elevator. The ethnic Russian girl introduced herself to me while I was rotating to the department where she was also working as an intern at the time. Both of them opened up to me right away, spilling details of their private lives to me. How much did they know me? The Korean girl told me about her previous occupation and wanted me to keep a secret as she deemed it to be unprofessional. How could she tell secrets to someone she barely knew and asked that person to keep a secret? I didn’t tell anyone of course because it was really none of my business. Maybe, underneath her outgoing personality lay a lonely soul. She later phased out of my life when she left the company after staying acquainted with me for about three months.
What’s New?
What’s new in our life? Nothing much except that our cat has officially become a rabbit killer and that we have recently bought two tablets.
How do I put it in a subtle way, so it is less direct? I am never good at soften my tone. I will try to write it as objective as I can, but keep in mind that I am a human being. Being subjective is always a flaw of being human. Anyway, what I want to write is the phenomenon we saw in Taiwan during the month when we brought our kids back to visit their grandparents this year. The phenomenon we saw raised alarm and caused us to question whether we should shorten the length of our stay in Taiwan in the future. Deep down, we wanted our kids to see the best in Taiwan, the Taiwan which we felt so proud of and eagerly wanted to identify ourselves with. So when our kids started to confront us with the contradictions they saw. What could I tell them? A few black sheep! Did they fall for it? The disbelief in my son’s expression said it all. What else could I say? The disturbing phenomenon we saw was the lack of manners, morals and courtesy in the general public especially in the younger generation. I know. Some of you might be shocked at my discovery when most Taiwanese pride themselves in being courteous. However, the actions I saw contradicted with that notion. Was my memory playing a trick on me when these were still considered as good virtues? By the way, since the majority of our stay was in Taipei, I can’t intelligently assess if similar phenomenon happens outside of Taipei.
Maybe I shouldn’t have filled our kids with images of Taiwan based on our memories. Our good old memories, my nostalgic feeling …… I am just being unfair as I compared the past with the present. Time changes, so does the culture. Nothing stays stagnant. What once viewed as good virtue may now be considered as obsolete.
Another Episode
If you have been following my blog, you will know the recent episode about my son. He came down with a strep throat which triggered his asthma. On top of that, he seemed to have contracted conjunctivitis (pink eye). We thought that it might be from the strep throat bacterial infection. It turns out that he has seasonal allergy. So for some time in the past few weeks, he has been on five different medication: Pulmicort Flexhaler and Albuterol Nebulizer for his asthma treatment, Cefdinir antibiotics for his strep throat treatment, Patanol eye drops to relieve his itchiness in eyes and Claritin for his seasonal allergy. My poor baby!
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