A bit erratic with the timeliness of these posts, but no one gives a shit, so...
For today, thought I'd try to give a family update in the Christmas letter tradition. Receiving those from people is always hilarious and have wanted to send a funny one about how much of a disappointment the Boy is, B-doll being a candidate for beauty school, etc., but never did cause I didn't want to poke karma.
The Boy turned 21 a few days ago. Not many people on the planet that haven't had some landmark date or event occur during the quarantine and his 21st meant that no blackout/strip club antics were gonna happen. Pretty sure he has scratched all those itches as he's had a fake ID since he got to college, and was able to go clubbing here as the drinking age is 18, but felt a bit disappointed for him. To be honest, I have no recollection of doing anything on my 21st but I also had access to booze at 18 legally, so it wasn't any big whoop. He told us he walked to a friend's house at midnight on the day and drank a Budweiser, which is probably as lame a celebration as you could dream up.
He just finished year 3 and his cool summer internship that was at a drug manufacturer in Durham NC just told him that it is gonna be virtual...not sure if he'll still get paid. He was talking to B-doll a couple weeks ago and told her he just got back from a jog. We all laughed...and then we got worried about his mental state as we have never heard of him running just 'cause. One thing he has been doing with his extra time is teaching himself how to cook stuff, which is an admirable skill that travels well. His favorite desert has always been Apple Pie and he shared pictures of his latest efforts.
B-doll is a week and a half away from finishing her Junior year of High School and she is damn fortunate to be able to be attending classes in person. Her school was on-line for a couple of weeks, but other than that, they have been in session. She took four AP classes this year and the last few days have been those AP exams. Normally, these exams are given in different time zones to accommodate the worldwide student population, but this year, for reasons that I have been unable to discern, they decided to give one on-line exam and everyone takes it simultaneously. That means an exam time of 11am in California is 2am for Taipei. Effin' ridiculous and makes no sense. They have multiple tests usually, so what the fuck? It's a money grab anyway and everyone knows it, but you gotta play the game. Her final exams are next week, then she does 2 weeks of the T.A. (teacher's assistant) gig she has done the last two summers, and then has a 6 week internship at a research facility that sounds too good to be true. Don't want to say too much about it at this point, but she sourced it on her own and have come to admire her self-discipline with regards to her studies and keeping her shit together.
As for The Boss, no question that this is the longest stretch she and I have been in the same town since 2011. Her job is either traveling, or planning to travel, so she is not terribly busy at the office. To supplement her company knowledge, she arranged for her and her team to take turns working a week at the warehouse. They have a process for cycling through the office types to give them some experience in the different areas of the floor and today is day three of her week. So far, she seems to be having a good time...apparently, she caught a burglar yesterday and also claimed to be the first person in our family that has ever worked an honest day of labor. Rosie the freakin' Riveter. She is not used to being on her feet for 8 hours and told us she was going to bed early last night. Babydoll and I said in unison 'Goodnight Rosie'. It is good that she is doing a week of labor as I hope she gets back on a regular sleep pattern. Ever since we were quarantined, she has been staying up weird hours binging Chinese soaps. While that in itself is cause for concern, not having a regular sleep schedule can be a major factor in mental health. It has been relatively calm at home though, so I shouldn't complain.
As for yours truly...baseball season ended on Monday. We don't play a ton of games, but our last one was a rip snorter. We got up big early and the other team clawed back to tie us at 9. We were home team so had last crack, but we also had a hard time limit to finish and only 5 minutes to do what we could. A walk and a steal, followed by a shot to the gap to bring home the walk-off run as time ran out made for a great finish. Then we all went for ice cream after, just like the good ol' days. I felt pretty damn good about myself by the end cause we didn't play well the first couple weeks, but really pitched and hit well as the season closed. I know I am not a great coach, but think I am a pretty fair manager.
Walking to the baseball field on campus, pass by the elementary school classrooms and see their art projects displayed in the halls. Enjoyed a recent one where the kids drew self portraits of themselves wearing masks. I assume they were told to decorate the masks with meaningful things to them.
I think this kid likes sushi and cell phones
Not much more to share about me for now. I did see a news story yesterday that I found to be hilarious and endearing. I refer to the Taiwan News site often in this space. I know it is not whatever the Taiwanese equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize level of local journalism, but they share the virus updates regularly and the site does not seem to be inciting hatred, which is rare to see these days. It is the local news stories and how they are presented that tickles me on many occasions, and the headline of this one begged for further reading; Video shows Taipei cops arrest pandemic jerk.
The article starts by describing a woman on the subway being told to wear a mask by transit cops, refusing, and then when they ask her to leave, she loses it and starts attacking a female cop. Her male partner (Officer Liao) shows up and the woman starts wailing on him for a minute or two before he has to physically subdue her. Officer Liao says to the lady once she is pinned, "Have you had enough?" The article then describes the officer thusly:
Liao is a third-degree blackbelt in Taekwondo, stands 180 centimeters tall, weighs 85 kilograms, and is known by his colleagues as the Taipei Metro version of Holger Chen (陳之漢), reported Liberty Times. Liao said that he had tried not to retaliate against the woman as she assailed him and instead just focused on fending off her blows.
I know you are now asking, 'how tall is 180 centimeters, what is 85 kilograms in pounds, and who the hell is Holger Chen?"
5' 9", 187 lbs, and this fuckin' guy.
That was not a bad interview and the dude has well developed thoughts (in addition to being swole).
My favorite part of the pandemic jerk story is at the end when it says the Taipei Metro chairman praised Officer Liao for his actions and gave him 30 metro tickets and a gift box of chicken stock. This sounds like news from the Macon County Tattler rather than one from a city of 8 million people, but that is what makes it so endearing.
Okey dokey...smell ya later
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