talking about childhood – Life, the Universe, and Lani

What’s your relationship with money?

I had a complicated (and unhealthy) relationship with money and like a lot of issues that need examining, this one starts with childhood. At home My mother is obsessed with it. My father was frugal, but beyond that he hasn’t influenced me like my mother because he died when I was very young. I knew…

04/12

Things I understand now that I’m an adult

Remember when you were a kid and you’d look up at all the things that adults did and you’d go – WHY? Well, I don’t wonder anymore. // Passing out after work

04/1004/10

What’s your relationship with change?

As a Taurus, I’m told I don’t like change. Yet, my life-line so far has been a series of interruptions and situations that have forced me to adapt. After college the longest I’ve ever lived in the same town was for about three years, and that’s not counting the times I moved within the town.…

28/0606/10

Can you cook Thai food?

Upon learning that I am half-Thai, folks want to know, “Can you cook Thai food?” When I was younger, the answer was no. As in why on God’s green and blue earth would I want to? My mom can cook wonderfully though, thank you. As I got older, I became annoyed by my mom’s badgering.

16/0416/04

How’s my driving?

Cambodian traffic is something to behold. (Is behold the right word?) This is because you pretty much can drive in any direction you please. Now, in Thailand, I thought it was crazy when you saw a renegade motorbike going against traffic, hugging the shoulder and occasionally I did it, too. Sometimes it makes sense, especially…

04/0214/05

What’s your relationship with television?

Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye. – Bill Hicks Television is chewing gum for the eyes. – Frank Lloyd Wright All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching? – Nicholas Johnson I knew 3 siblings in high school who were not allowed to watch TV.…

17/1227/02

Swimming

Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I’m swimming, sometimes I’m not sure which one it is. – Demetri Martin Can you swim? It’s an interesting question in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom and one that…

17/0205/09

What kind of reader are you?

There are writers who write within a genre and those who write outside of them, too. But what about the readers? How do you read? What do you read? Why do you read?

Cast of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat [circa 1991, Mililani, Hawaii]

09/0211/09

Why this Asian American never pursued acting.

Grace Rowe’s video message to Asian Americans reminded me why I never pursued acting after high school. She pleas for AAs to get into acting and she’s witty about it, too. I liked the video. But even in high school, I knew I wasn’t the right color for Hollywood or NYC theatre. I knew that…

14/1227/02

Was it really stealing? Stealing is wrong.

First of all, let me say that I’ve never stolen anything before. Well, that was what I truly thought until I started to write and then I began to remember my dishonest and theiving past. I was astonished, really. It’s funny what we forget and what we remember once we start writing. Forgive me and…

27/1116/07

What’s your relationship with food?

Eating as a kid – in the beginning, there was sugar. My brother and I pretty much had free range over the foods we wanted. But not in a “Do you want sushi or beef wellies?” kind of way, more like we rode the shopping cart down commissary food aisles with reckless joy throwing in…

30/0927/02

When I was 12…

When I was 12, I lived in a townhouse on Anania Circle in the town of Mililani, situated in the center of the island of Oahu. Our neighbor was a grumpy old man who would bang his fists against the wall whenever I practiced the piano. Soon we figured out that I could not, should…

26/0713/12

I’ve been discontinued.

So, I signed this petition (I’ve been signing petitions lately.). This one is by 18 Million Rising because American Girl® doll cancelled their only Asian American doll. 18MR basically wants American Girl® to create another doll that looks like us.

07/03

Latchkey kids (or latchkey kids make pizza)

Left alone hungry At night We make a pizza In the oven it goes Out the kitchen I leap Age 8 and 5 Stuck to the TV We enjoy Clint Eastwood’s Every Which Way But Loose Rapture The alarm screams We scream Kitchen running Thick smoke goes up out The wall is black I can’t…

07/1109/11

What’s that one special story?

I’m participating in iversity’s The Future of Storytelling which I learned about through Aerogramme Writers’ Studio. At the end of Chapter 1 (and I’m assuming this will be the case at the end of all the chapters) we were given a creative task. Here it is: Please think about which story you have read, seen,…

12/1023/10

Anania Circle

I’ve been greatly inspired with not enough time to write, so I’m depressed, moody and a little resentful. Good stuff. Last weekend I sort of attended the Asia Pacific Writers conference in Bangkok. JP and I were “too poor” to attend the real event, so I made a compromise and paid for a 2 hour…

27/0616/02

The art of note passing

09/1226/12

We’re Asian, we don’t do like that

Asians can be very harsh towards one another. They judge each other by a different set of standards. I’d say ‘we,’ but I don’t think I fall into this category.