Tag: Life

Fear of snakes or just don’t like the view

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For about three weeks now, I’ve been looking at this piece of land with my mom.  For some reason, she can’t make up her mind about purchasing the land. For me, it doesn’t really matter since I may or may not live there.

In these three weeks, she’s been coming up with excuses after another.

  1. Don’t like the floorplan. My solution for her: Choose another one, after all, it’s a house that’s about to be built, not one that’s already built.  You get to make all the decisions.
  2. That house is blocking the view. Her recent solution: just move the house up the lot.
  3. Too expensive. That none of us has come up with any solution.  It’s a brand-new home, what did you expect?

After once again going out to the piece of land a few days ago as well as looking at a model home, another set of excuses were made.

  1. It’s too small of a house for such a big lot. I have to agree with that.  The model home was even smaller than our current home but it’s not an excuse to not get the land.  Just choose a bigger floorplan.
  2. The latest excuse and this one was the ultimate deal breaker.  Snakes!!!

wpid-dscf9574.jpg

After her colleague/potential neighbor told her that there are snakes in that part of the neighborhood, it scared my mom out of her wits.  She has been terrified of snakes ever since her high school classmates placed a tiny snake in her dresser as a prank.  I don’t know if that’s the true story, although I doubt it, her classmates are way too serious to pull any sort of pranks.

Anyway, I think that’s the silliest excuse I’ve ever heard.  There are snakes everywhere, does that mean you’re not going to live anywhere?

I also don’t believe in snakes just popping out from nowhere.  There has to be something that lures the snake to its destination (i.e backyard, garages, house). I told her, if you see a snake in the house, you would’ve been the luckiest person in the neighborhood.

That turned out to be the ultimate deal breaker, right after she demanded the agent to lower the price.  I think the agent might have a melt down after he tried so hard to negotiate the price.  She doesn’t want it!!!

I feel a little bad for the agent now. 😦 On the other hand, I kind of have a feeling from the get go that this wasn’t going to work out no matter how gorgeous the view is and I have no interest of getting in the middle.  The middle man always gets blamed whenever something goes wrong! I remembered how well that worked out when she purchased our current home.

More or less, I think her latest excuse is just the same as excuse #2.  She just might not like the view no matter how high the house goes.

8 pounds of ham and a whole lot of toothache

Published on by Yinglan3 Comments

My mom loves ham and all sorts of other meats.  When I first arrived in the United States and was in a car the very next day driving two days to my grandparents in Texas. Continue reading “8 pounds of ham and a whole lot of toothache” →

Title and Hook – Ways to Capture Readers’ Attention

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Everyday, millions if not billions of internet articles, books, journal articles, etc. are waiting to be read. However we don’t have time to read so many while some is just not appealing to us.  Therefore, as a writer and an avid reader, the first ten seconds is the most important. Continue reading “Title and Hook – Ways to Capture Readers’ Attention” →

The Unwinnable War

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This was it! For the past week, just about every other night, my mom and I have fought and fought leading up to last night’s little rounds of slamming doors. Continue reading “The Unwinnable War” →

The ups and downs of speaking your mind

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Some people are highly opinionated while some is strongly against speaking their minds in a public setting.  Those are two polar opposites while some of us lands in the middle where we open and restrict ourselves depending on the situation. Continue reading “The ups and downs of speaking your mind” →

Tantrums

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Tantrums. In my opinion, a risky thing to have especially around love ones.   Continue reading “Tantrums” →

Most Memorable Nights of a Lifetime

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Close up of a graduation cap and a certificate with a ribbonGraduation is one of the most memorable days or nights in anybody’s life whether you are graduating from high school or college, the ceremony itself just somehow makes you feel like for just this one day, you are the most important person and nothing else matters.   Continue reading “Most Memorable Nights of a Lifetime” →

My Conversations with an indecisive friend

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calvin_arguingOver the years, my mom has turned to her friend, Christina, for advice especially regarding my education since Christina has three successful daughters.   Continue reading “My Conversations with an indecisive friend” →

Moving on

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Every parent dreads the day when their son or daughter is leaving home to find a life for themselves.  They may try every way possible or maybe even give up everything to get their children to stay a little longer but sooner or later, they know they have to move on.  In fact, I believe that is exactly what is happening to me right now. Continue reading “Moving on” →

A world without color

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Sometimes, I wonder, what it would be like to live in a world with no color? Would it make picking clothes out of a department store easier? What about daily outfits? It’s just black and white, right? No need to decide between a rainbow of colors. Continue reading “A world without color” →

A Life of Endless Learning

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Yesterday was officially the last final of my academic career.  I could feel my brain sagged just a little the minute the TA collected the test papers from my hands.  I was like, “Yes! After 20 years, I’m finally done.” Continue reading “A Life of Endless Learning” →

Losing Weight

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My weight has always been a big issue for me but it wasn’t until the recent years when it became the problem of my life, the rock that’s keeping me from being happy.  Over the past several years, I’ve been trying to get back to the normal weight I’ve had when I first moved to where I am about 5 years ago but the weights just kept piling on.

When I first set foot in the United States 12 years ago, I was 4′ 3″ and weighed 85 pounds.  At the time, I was already considered “fat” by my family and my classmates but to people here, I was considered tiny.  That made me feel a little better because for once, I wasn’t called fat.  However, as the years passed and 6″ later, my weight went up dramatically and it didn’t do me any good.  You see, I was born with small veins  and because of my Albright’s Syndrome, I have to go get my blood checked every 3 months or so.

With the weight gain, so did the difficulty of drawing blood grew.  Last May when I had the surgery in my leg, I was 115 pounds and it took the anesthetist almost 30 minutes to do the IV on me and in the end he still failed.  They gave up and had to use gas to knock me out.  This was just the beginning.  Since then, I gained another 4 or 5 pounds and the last few times I had to do lab work, it took at least 3 technicians before one of them could nail me.

I told my mom about it and she blamed me for not consistently exercising and gain weight.  That made me feel even worse than before I told her.  To be honest, I’ve always wanted to exercise but due to the pain I suffer in my legs and the lack of motivation, I gave up after a week or so.  My mom didn’t motivate me at all.  I mean if she had exercised with me and we did some fun activities together, maybe I wouldn’t get so bored and quit.  No, we both did our own things and before I knew it, I was about 120 pounds and sitting at home all day doing nothing.

About a month, I finally had an epiphany.  I was on my way to my doctor’s appointment, it was 40 degrees out and I had to walk two blocks or so from the bus stop to the clinic.  When I finally arrived at the clinic and climbed the two flights of stairs to the doctor’s office, I not only was sweating and breathless but my heart was beating like a helicopter.  By the time the nurse called me into the little room, my heart was still pounding and she put that little clip on my finger to check my pulse.  It was still 100.

I leaned back in my chair and thought, damn what’s happened to me? I was never so out of breath climbing stairs before.  Then I knew that it was time for me to commit to exercising again, to slip back into the routine I had two years ago when my mom made me go exercising everyday.

But how?

I need motivation, a reason to keep going. Then I thought of one, my future.  I need to be in better shape in order to find a job, work, and even start a family, maybe.  I also thought of writing because writing was the first long-term commitment for me.  So I thought if I can keep writing for this long, why not commit to going to the gym for just as long?

Since the end of March, I’ve been committed to go to gym five days a week while taking a break on the weekends and let my muscles rest.  Since then, I’ve successfully gone back to the weight I was over a year ago and I’m still on my way to lose more.  Now, I’m not only feeling better than before but by exercising, I feel like I’m thinking more clearly and doing better in school.

Graduation

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I can’t believe it.  Today is exactly a month from my graduation.  I am so excited! Also, in three weeks, I’ll be at last done with school.  Wow, how time flies by! I can’t believe it, it’s been 5 years since I first enrolled for my first course, Calculus I.  It has not been an easy journey and that includes preparing for graduation.

I applied for graduation more than two months ago and my adviser asked me if I was planned on walking.  I wasn’t sure at the time.  Then when I asked my mom whether I should attend my graduation ceremony, she was like, “There won’t be anyone attending.  Why don’t you wait for your aunt and walk next year?”

I would’ve thought that confirmed my decision because for one thing, I won’t know anyone.  Most of the people I know had graduated last year.  For another, I cannot beg my mom to go to my graduation ceremony.  I remembered the last time I asked her to go, she blamed me afterward because she missed a meeting and didn’t get her promotion.  So, this time, I’ve learn my lesson.

However my friend, Laura, insisted that I go, that it was once in a lifetime and that she will go as a support.  So now, I have two
voices in my head.  One is telling me to do it and the other one was telling me to wait and see if I have another chance in the future.  For the past two months or so, those two voices have been battling non-stop that is until two days ago.

What happened two days ago?

My friend, Laura, came over to my home to study.  We began talking about the graduation because come on, let’s face it, our brains can get tired and need some time to absorb the knowledge.  She showed me pictures of her graduation ceremony from last year.  Don’t even ask how she’s still in the same class with me after she graduated, the answer is we had a horrible professor last year.

Anyway, I saw what a big deal it was.  By then, that tiny voice that is telling me to go was starting to take over and soon it took over.  I began having visions and daydreams of what my graduation ceremony would be like.  Then in one breath, I’ve decided.  It’s once in a lifetime and I should attend my own graduation.  So, today, I have officially purchased my cap and gown and a stole of gratitude for my mom for all her support over the years.  I don’t know if she’ll keep it since she’s not sentimental like me but I will still give it to her as a thank you.

Preparing for the Big Day

To prepare for my momentous day, there are several things I am going to try to achieve in order to fulfill my picture perfect moments.

1. Lose at least 10 pounds.  At this moment, I’ve already successfully lost 2 pounds and since my mom left for her training
yesterday, I have put myself on a diet where I do a protein shake in the morning, a light lunch (maybe), and a light dinner as well as an average 500 calories loss in exercise daily.  I think if I have an important goal, I can probably stick to it.

2. Buy a dress and new pair of shoes.  I think since I now have paychecks, I can afford to buy myself a more age appropriate dress and a pair of high heels but at the same time, I can’t get something that is over $50 since I’m still saving up to buy a car.

3. Beautify my appearance.  Right now, my face is breaking out for some unknown reason.  I’ve been using astringent every night and it gets better but somewhere else would start breaking out.  I don’t know what to do about it.  I have these white spots that’s popping up all over my nose area.  I guess when the time comes, I’ll just have to cover it with makeup.

Now, a question for my readers, yesterday, an email was sent to me saying Commencement is May 1 and Convocation is May 2.  I’m not sure what it means.  Can anyone tell me what’s the difference between Commencement and Convocation and do I need to go to both?

Thanks for reading!

January’s gone, February’s creeping by, can’t wait for March

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As I sit here at my desk thinking and thinking and I realized, it’s almost the last week of February and I still haven’t written a single post for this blog this whole month.  It’s strange to think I’ve done so much this past week let alone this past month.  Hmm, what to write about? Ding, a light bulb lit up in my head, let’s summarize how 2014 has been for me so far; sort of like a timeline I can look back at the end of the year.

January: 

First of all, 2014 started on a light note. On New Year’s Day, I had the house all to myself as I sat on the couch in my pajamas watching the Rose Parade which I enjoy watching every year.  Then on the second week of January, school started and I was incredibly excited to see my friend Laura, who I haven’t seen since we took the FE back in October.  Speaking of school, it started that same week at Layton Christian but I wasn’t back at work until the last week of January.

Of course, there’s happiness in life but it has to also have some anger and sadness to even it out.  So there wasn’t much sadness during the month of January but there was plenty of anger that went with it.  You probably know this from my post at the end of January, on the eve of Chinese New Year, I called home to China and well, got into a bit of an argument with my grandparents.  Now, I’m betting that they’ll never want to speak to me again.

On to February:

February was and is still a bit of an annoying month for me.  The Winter Olympics seemed to taken all the joy of watching television

Guess it applies to my work. Great quote!
Hey, it does applies to my work. Great quote!

from me.  Everything’s on rerun and there are hardly anything to watch.  Guess that just leaves me more time to do my homework and work on my writing.  The most annoying thing of all is my mother, she got into a little mess at work and she felt she has to tell me not once, not twice, not three times but repeatedly every single night for the past week.

I’m like, I know already.  Just stop talking about it, please. But still, I find her muttering the same thing to herself every night while cooking dinner or just surfing the internet.  Otherwise, February’s been an interesting month for me, a bit slow but good.

On another note…

Earlier this month, I’ve finally decided to just hell with it (pardon me) and posted the entire fantasy novel I’ve written last summer onto booksie and hopefully receive some comments.  You can view it by clicking here.

Also late last month, I’ve posted a supernatural romantic novella I’ve written at the end of last year.  It’s basically the prelude to the fiction series I’ve been doing on this blog working titled “Fiction time.” You can read it by clicking here.

Best news of all, at least for me, I quit my tutoring job and found a so much better substitute, translation/quality control.  I don’t know how long this one will last but it’s so much more stable than my job with the Li’s family.  Hopefully, I can rack up enough hours these few months to buy myself a newer used car.  My current car is almost 20 years old and it’s dying.

As for school, well let’s just say I don’t want to jinx it.  I’m doing so well right now and hopefully I can keep it up and get a good grade. Let’s just say I want to graduate from my program on a high note.

As for this blog, I will try to post more than one post next month or maybe I’ll even start perhaps next week.  Who knows? I’ve been itching to write a post about money or maybe a snippets of a new fiction I’m working on.  We’ll see.

Grandpa Always Wins

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Arguing and picking a fight with old people can never end well.  They will always say they’re right and you’ll most likely be forced to admit it in the end.  Most of the time, those arguments and fights will most likely lead you nowhere.   Continue reading “Grandpa Always Wins” →

Club Goals for 2014: Start Building

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Please Help!

Yinglan's avatarToastmasters Energizer Club #2439

Since 2014 has arrived, I believe it is time to make some new goals myself and even for our beloved homeless Toastmasters club.  At the end of 2013, we have gained a club coach but lost three members in the process.  As the VP Membership, I can’t say that I’m pleased at the result of a club coach.  After all, a club coach is supposed to help the club gain members, not lose members.  However, the lost of our club members is not the club coach’s fault.  Our beloved members left for a reason, they left because of jobs, school, and family matters.  Due to the lost of those three members, our club is now down to five members and a coach and our goal for distinguish club is now nowhere in sight.  That is why we need to set some goals for the new year.

Goals:

#1 Reach Distinguish…

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2014, What am I going to do with you?

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2014 is upon us, well, 13.5 hour-ish.  So let’s give 2013 a look-back to see what I’ve accomplished.

Let’s see…

February

This blog was started.  I had an idea that I just couldn’t resist writing it down and that’s when I decided to start a blog about random things.  But then something happened and made me quit.  I’ve got some interesting entries on it before I quit though.

The Influence of Culture on Food – Learn about what I’ve found out about bagels and other interesting foods

A Wild Wild January – It has been a wild January, freezing rain and the ridiculous number of snow depths, my neighbor even managed to make a car size dog!

…a gigantic snow dog

The Difference between Stubborn and Polite – Some people tend to confuse between two.

Traditional Chinese New Year Delicacy – The most “Liked” blog post to date.

August

I completed my summer semester with two “A-” and I even got on TV.

September 

I started this blog again because I was bored at work and I happened to have some stuff I wanted to get off my chest.  Since then I’ve managed to keep going which I would consider to be a miracle because I don’t have a lot of patience when it comes to writing and work.  Here are some of my memorable blog posts from September:

The Incidence with Public Manner – My boss did gross things everyday at work and I just want to get it off my chest before I threw up on anyone.

What is the Difference between 21 and 22 – A post where I dissect the different privileges that a 21-year-0ld has that an 18-year-old don’t have.  Also should I feel any different now that I’m 22 maybe older and wiser?

Fiction Time: Gretchen’s Run – This post helped me gain quite a bit of followers since it’s a serial fiction and all.  So far, #6 is in the works and it should be posted at the end of this week or next week. Be patient.

October

Government shutdown.  My mom got furloughed and she spent the time in the backyard putting up patio bricks while I chauffeured my boss’s wife everywhere. Also it was the month that I had to take my engineering licensing exam again for the third time which by the way, I failed again.  Anyway, here are some of that month’s posts:

Day #3: No work Govt shutdown stinks – How did my mom take the news that she didn’t have work the day.

Do these people ever care about price tag? – I took my boss’s wife shopping and she just grab grab grab without ever looking at the price tags.

Am I Anti-social or Do I just like to be Alone? – A lot of people call me anti-social, well this post will show them why I’m not.

November

I remembered all my students were already thinking about the holidays.  I don’t blame them, I was losing it as it is with tutoring, school, and work.  That was when all began, Thanksgiving week.  Bad luck just came out of nowhere.  Fortunately, it seem to be gone now, I haven’t tripped or fall for no reason and I haven’t misplace any of the important things.  That month’s memorable posts includes:

Sunshine Award – Thank you again Jennifer Windram for nominating me.

Fiction Time #4: Tatianna’s story – Well that post got a lot of “Likes,” I guess people wanted to know what it’s like to be stuck in a house for 50+ years.

December

Well I completed a four-part arc and posted on different places.  That got mixed reactions but most of them were positive.  Also, my mom’s high school friend came to town and we went skiing with my boss’s family except only my mom’s friend’s son skied.  My boss’s family prep for everything and even before we helped them sign up for classes, they got chickened and so we traveled back down as soon as the next bus got here.  How shame and all because of a comment made by my student’s sister about someone fall and broke their leg during a beginner’s lesson.  I guess my most memorable post for the month is the “Last Memories”.

Goals and Resolutions

I know I made some goals at the beginning of 2013 that I can hardly recall.  Sad news is those goals never got accomplished.

Now what are those goals again? Oh yeah, to get back to 110 lb, not to fail any classes, and to complete the two beautiful Chinese painting jigsaw puzzles downstairs.  Well, I never got to that and as for the pounds, my body seemed to have stopped at 113.5.  So I’m stuck at that no matter how hard I exercise and how less I eat.  As for the third goal, I did fail one class during the spring semester of 2013 but that’s because the instructor was cruel.  40 people took that class and he failed half of them.  Good thing he’s not teach the class this semester.

For 2014, my goals remains the same except instead of setting a weight limit, I will try to exercise more consistently.  As for my goals for this blog, I will try to write at least entry on this blog each month.  No matter how many words, just a minimum of one post each month.  Also right now I have 65 followers.  For 2014, I want my followers to reach 100 and I will try to get more likes, I guess because right now, I keep on getting only a maximum of 7 likes.  Odd!

Reminiscence of My December 21

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December 21 is a very special day.  It marks the day of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.  It is also the day I steppedcalendar_December_21 onto a Boeing 777 at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport and stepped off of the same plane 11 hours later at LAX.  Thus, this day makes it that much more special to me.

Even after 12 years, I can still remember it perfectly and through the years, I’ve spent this day at home with peace and quiet as I commemorated the journey and adventures I’ve had since I’ve been in the United States as well as celebrating the holidays.  Some of the years had been fun like flying to Texas or driving to Las Vegas while there are the one where I was ill and had to spend overnight in an emergency room.  That was not a pleasant experience for me.

It all began second to the last day of school before winter break.  I was in seventh grade, by the way.  As I went back to class after lunch, I began feeling chilly even though it was 70 degrees. My head suddenly felt so heavy.  I thought maybe I’m just tired after lunch.

I sat down at my desk and let my achy head rest on my arms while waiting for the teacher to call the roll and get on with the lesson.  After a while, my head became so heavy that I couldn’t even lift it up anymore.  That was when I knew I was coming down with something but I just thought it was a minor cold or something.  So for the rest of the day, I did the best I could to concentrate on the lesson while my head pounded with my heart beat.

By the time school ended, my mom came to pick me up, I was pretty sure I was running on a temperature by this point.  As I rode home, I told mom how awful I was feeling.  She said, “It might be just a little cold.  You’ll be okay tomorrow.” She didn’t even bother with feeling my head.

It wasn’t true.  The next day, that “little cold” became much worse and my parents decided that I wasn’t fit to go to school even though it was the last day.  After they took me to a doctor in the morning, I spent the remaining of the day in bed, feeling bored as the bones all over my body burnt and ached, preventing me to do anything including move.

My step-dad constantly came into my room, urging me to drink juice and water while periodically fed medicine to me like I was a baby.  The fire in my bones was temporary put out not long after I ingested the awful tasting syrup but it came back after about 30 minutes.

For the next three days, I took my medicine and drank an undesirable amount of water at one time while spending my time in bed, drifting in and out of sleep.  I had no appetite to eat anything either as I never got hungry lying in bed all day.  Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have to eat.  Mom fed me liquid food when she could, trying to make me feel better.

By Monday evening, I was still feeling feverish. My condition had not improved at all since I began taking the medicine three days ago.  My bones still ached, so I decided to take a hot shower and just head to bed hoping tomorrow would be better.

While lying here in bed, my vision suddenly became slightly blurred as I stared into the light.  I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but I involuntarily opened my eyes again.  That’s weird, I thought, there’s nothing in front of me, it’s all white light.

I blinked and the image warped.  It warped into a spinning image of my room.  Why is my room spinning or is my bed spinning? I tried to grab the bed to hold on but all my muscles seemed to be locked and uncontrollable.  What’s happening to me?

Suddenly, distorting voices came into my head include my mom and a voice I haven’t heard in a long time, my dad.  I know that sounds scary and I don’t think I was imagining things but sometimes these situations can do things to you.  Anyway, it was my dad telling me to hang on in my native tongue.

“Daddy?” I wanted to say but my mouth was working.

“Don’t give up.  Keep hanging on. Relax.” He kept saying.

I tried my hardest to relax and hope my muscles would come back to me while a new voice chimed in.  “Wake up, please, wake up.” It said.

My mom’s worried face suddenly filled my sight. “What happened and what’s the noise outside?” I asked.

“You had a seizure.  We didn’t know what to do.  So we called the ambulance.” She pulled me up and wrapped me in a hug.  “You scared me to death.  How did this happen?”

“I-I don’t know.” I stammered.

My step-dad came in with two firemen.  Mom pulled me to the side of my bed while one of the firemen tested me to make sure I didn’t have any brain damage.  I followed his finger as he moved it and stated clearly my name, address, and birthday.

After a few minutes, he concluded that there’s no damage to my brain but I do need to go to the hospital for a check-up, at least to make sure everything’s fine.  One thing’s for certain though, my fever is finally going down.

So my mom and I waited in the emergency room until after midnight by which I’ve already taken a nap even though my step-dad advised against it.  They put me on a bed and started me on saline and for the first time in four days, I felt better.

About three hours later, the doctor came back with the result from my blood test.  He said my calcium level is way below normal and that was what caused the seizure.  He prescribed some medication to help with the flu and recommended me to drink more juice and milk and I was allowed to leave.

As mom drove home, I stared out the window thinking about my dad’s voice during the seizure and then I’ve decided I would never let anyone know for the fear that they might think I was out of my mind.  “Are you okay?” Mom asked as we were approaching the apartment gate.  I nodded quietly.  She glanced at the clock and said, “You know, you’ve just spent the first few hours of your special day in an emergency room.”

She smiled and it suddenly came to me that it’s already December 21.  I’ve just spent the first 3 hours of my third anniversary in the United States in the hospital.  I gave a soft chuckle.  This has been the weirdest experience of my life.

What have We become?

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As I mentioned before in a previous post, my mom visited China in October and one of the places she went to was Nanchang, a city located in the province of Jiangxi.

Continue reading “What have We become?” →

Annual Christmas TV Programs: What’s not to Like?

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Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there’s always hardly anything to watch on TV.   Continue reading “Annual Christmas TV Programs: What’s not to Like?” →

The Beach

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seeking-godThere are no words to describe what I’m feeling right now.  I lean my head sideways to get a look at the dashboard to check the time for what feels like the millionth time on this trip.  I wish my mom would just park the car already. Even though it’s been the most exciting day I’ve had in a while but it’s also been longest day I’ve had in a while. Right now, I have just got to get out of this hot and stuffy car.

“Why can’t they make bigger spaces?” Mom mutters frustratingly at the wheel as she passes yet another spot.

It isn’t that the spaces are too small for her 1984 Toyota Cressida, it’s because she doesn’t know how to back-in parallel park.  Apparently, her friend, Simon, up in the front doesn’t want to help either.  He just keeps giving her suggestions and want to take no action to help.

My mom turns on her blinker, another round, here we come, I let out a quiet moan and rest my head on the headrest.  Hot flash anger ascends on the inside as I drum my fingers impatiently on the door handle.  My left arm remain sweaty and pin down by the arm of the giant baby snoring soundly in the middle.

“Maybe you should just try parking in the parking lot.” Simon suggests.

Uh oh, he is one suggestion too far.  All day long, he’s been making suggestions to my mom.  Don’t leave the AC on in the car, it will ruin the engine.  Keep the speed at 65, it’ll save some gas.  I can feel my mom has just about had enough.  Her grip of the wheel tightens and her eyes stare straight ahead, maybe too straight.

She is like a volcano about to blow, a grenade with the cord pulled.  Don’t blow, mom. Don’t blow.  I try to send the thought to her as our eyes meet in the rear view mirror.  It doesn’t work.

“If there are no parking out here, there definitely not going to have any parking in the parking lot.” She snaps.

The car suddenly becomes ghostly silent. I can hear the engine humming tiredly as my mom directs the car to the end of the block again. This time, instead of turning on the right blinker, she turns on the left and swerves into the left lane.  She stops at the light with her blinker still blinking.

I didn’t dare ask any questions since she is so close to losing it.  I concentrate on the tic tac tic tac of the blinker and stare out the window. It’s then I suddenly realize, there isn’t anything to turn left to.

We are under a sky-walk and to the left was lined with sidewalk.  Where is she going to turn left to? Has she gone crazy with anger?

The light turns green and she slams her foot on the gas pedal. The car lurches forward. She lightly taps on the brakes at the approach of the next light.  The left blinker remains blinking and no one in the car dares to ask her why.

When the light turns green again, she releases the brake and lets the car slide forward. About three feet later, she stops again.  What now? I wonder and lean against the window to stare at the green light.

Soon, the light turns yellow and the incoming traffic slows.  Then she does something I never imagine she would do on such a narrow road.  She turns the wheel several rounds and steps on the gas.  In a matter of seconds, we are on the other side of the road.

My heart pounds with fear and adrenaline while she executed the turn.  It is by far the most thrilling thing I have experienced on this trip and it takes my mind off that we’ve been circling the block for 45 minutes looking for a parking space.

After the turn, she resumes her position in the right lane and lightly dips on the gas to cruise the car smoothly on the road.  That smooth driving was soon interrupted when she suddenly slams her foot on the brakes propelling me forward.  Thank god I wore my seat belt.

This time I know exactly what’s happening, she has found a large enough parking space. She switches on the right blinker to signal the cars behind her as she slowly steered the car head-on into the space.  I sigh with relief as I press the release button on my seat belt with my free hand.

I open the door and step out, sliding my left arm from under the snoring kid in the middle. It is unbelievable that what happened just now didn’t wake him.  He let out a sound that resembled a pig as I slide my left arm from under his arm.

I roll my eyes and step onto the sidewalk.  My sleeping legs wobble beneath me while my arms numb and sweaty swing freely beside me like noodles.  A short time later, I lift my arms and stretch to the sky, shaking off the numbness from sitting in a car for the last two hours.

“This is Huntington Beach.  Everybody, please follow me.” My mom calls after everyone are out of the car.

I walk behind everyone and glad to see my mom’s mood lightened. After we cross the street, She was once again chatting with her friends.  By the time we hit the sand, excitement course through me again as I immediately take off running toward the water. I’ve been waiting for this moment all day, ever since mom said we were going to beach this afternoon.

When I finally reach the water, I let the cool breeze come over me as I marvel the beauty and endlessness of the ocean.  I finally made it.  I stretched my arms into the sky and whispered, I am here.

Image: shellycalcagno.wordpress.com

Do these people ever care about the price tags?

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Can my English be declining or is it just my imagination?

Published on by Yinglan3 Comments

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