The Prodigal Card & Cultural Exposure

Today’s post is for mature audiences only.
I am beginning to think I am cursed. Tuesday afternoon I left my ATM card (you remember, the only one we have) in the bank machine. I have never done this before. Ever. I was distracted, this is true. I realized this [...]

The Key to an Effective Apology

Yesterday was a bu hao (bad) day. Slogging my way through insurance claims, poking in boxes, staring at 7 pages of emails to either file, delete, or respond. Monday malaise set in and lodged in that perhaps hormonal part of my brain that does not want to do a thing. [...]

100 Bottles of Beer

I tuned out at 82, was jolted from my daydreams at 74 by the view from the Yangpu Bridge, drifted off until 50, again until 24, and paid attention for the last five bottles as the six sixth grade boys, birthday party guests, sang in the back of the minivan headed to [...]

Ty-phooey

Just a quickie. Am running out the door on my way to a Tai Tai (housewife) afternoon: mani/pedi/massage, all in the name of Tai Tai recruiting for Mr. Understanding.
The rumor is true: they need to put the phoon back in typhoon. Barely a sprinkle. The rain on our first weekend [...]

Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head

Mood Ring Mama commented to me over the phone this morning that her friends, some of them commenters on this blog and others, thought I was hating my new life in Asia. Not quite yet. I think all of the grousing comes along with moving in general, although if I had moved to [...]

Tongues Will Gag

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a picky eater. Seafood makes me swoon with nausea - the smell, the texture, the whole bit. Having grown up in a coastal village with a gourmand for a mother, eating fish, be it soft and white or pink and crunchy, is a challenge for [...]

U & Me

Five minutes ago, at 8:30 in the morning, a team of 3 Chinese men came back to move an armoire the rest of the way up the stairs. I sent them away last night at 7:00 p.m. because they needed an extra hand. They argued with me but I prevailed, shutting the door [...]

Drawin’ A Blank

My post on 9/11 got eaten by the internet and I did not have the energy to start all over. My bad. I typed directly into the website instead of cutting and pasting from Word as any thinking person would have done, especially one living in an internet unfriendly country. The internet [...]

The Other Mother

There are many ways I could start this story.
“If I have to come down there once again, I am going to have to spank you!” (Opener 1)
“Well, no wonder!” (Opener 2)
“Ay, Senora, of course this is your baby!” (Opener 3)
“I heard a disturbing story about your baby at the hospital. Do you [...]

Voldemort is Dead

“You Know Who doesn’t know what you are saying, does he, Mommy?” Thing 3 asked me from the back seat the other day.
“Why no, as a matter of fact, I do not think he has the faintest idea what I just said.”
“Let’s just call him Voldemort. He’ll never get that reference.” Thing [...]

Wake Me Up When September Ends

I swear to God my brain is parked and taxi’ing outside my body. Clearly, I cannot think anymore. Perhaps it is the mountains of stuff, stuff, stuff, surrounding me, waiting to be put away. The moving casualties are growing, spawning more mess in their wake. My garage door remains to be [...]