2005 May

I've been on a short hiatus sataying staying with my Aunt and Uncle after a recent surgery. (No worries all is well and my recovery has been astoundingly quick.) I can't tell you how much it hurts to laugh when you have stiches but I can say it's making me heal faster.

Here's a bit of the latest conversation between my Auntie and I. Forgive my spelling of any word meant to be pronounced in Thai.

Her: (she holds up a tiny box containing a chocolate mini cake from Starbucks and looks at me and says) “Ka Nom”

Me: “What does that mean, chocolate cake?”

Her: ”No, more like dessert”

Me: “Ka Nom”, Ka gnome, Ka num?”

Her: She laughes her head off and says “it sounds like you're saying breast; or milk - depending on how you use it in a sentence.”

So we both burst into laughter.  I keep saying breast in Thai when I'm trying to say dessert and she keeps laughing.

Some how we get to the question of “How do you tell a woman she has nice breasts in english?” Hmmm - to me that was worth thought. I said well, if I were to tell someone close to me like family or a girlfriend I'd probably say “Wow, you have really nice boobs, girl.” But, if I were going to tell someone I'm not really close to I'd probably say “Wow, you are very rubenesque.”

She looked at me and said “What does very boobenesque mean?” OMG - I nearly busted a gut! Boobanesque.

How do you eat your chips? If you have a big bag do you stick your hand in the bag? Or, do you pour them in a bowl before chowing down? I have one friend who has a fit if you stick your hand in his bag of chips. “That's it” he would say “These chips are contaminated!” then proceed to dump the refuse in the nearest receptacle.  I'll admit I still think twice about that “scene” each time I stick my hand in the bag. As I stuck my hand in a bag of cheddar flavored kettle chips my uncle Chai spied on me and ended up teaching me a new way to eat them. It wasn't that I took them straight from the bag that caught his attention it was the fact that I was on the computer. So, you know the drill. Eat chips, wipe hands on napkin, type a sentence or two, repeat until either a new napkin is needed or you have greasy keys.  His way of eating chips ROCKS. I'm not talking drummer sticks, I'm saying CHOP STICKS!!!  No greasy fingers to touch my keyboard and I can munch away. Now that's cool… why didn't I ever think of that before?

Thank you for the condolences and warm thoughts. Tragedy has a way of grounding people and making them think twice about their lives and where they spend their time. We all certainly have. We have spent more time together and shared our thoughts more in this past 13 days than we have in many years. My Step Mom would have really appreciated that.

My step-mother Teresa has suddenly passed away. Our family is in a state of shock. We are getting through this rough period together.

The circumstances were unexpected and my father prefers us to keep this matter in the family. Thank you in advance for your understanding and condolences.