wanderer

(being told this is supposed to be confidential.)

Art invited us to his house for some ping-pong game and watching football on the weekend. It has been a while I haven't seen him, and it has been a little longer that I haven't visited his home since he finalized his divorce with his ex Chinese wife, I'm delighted to go. Now there is a new hostress, MJ, I'd love to see how the home decoration has been altered, and get the chance to chat to MJ more. I believe the couple would love to have people come over occasionally, to create some noise and pleasant mess in the otherwise dreadfully quiet and uneasily dust-free home in the suburb.

Art is a type of guy who keeps a list of all coleagues' brith dates, and sends small gift or card to the birthday person. And I suspect he also has certain level of Asian complex among American white guys, for MJ is half Vietnamese and half American. When we walked into the house, MJ was taking a shower inside, so we quickly took the tour to the living room and kitchen. The red paperboard lantern was gone, so was the long hanging doublet and centerpiece drawing on the wall. 'All Chinese related stuff has to be cleaned out.' I joked to myself. Art was eager to show us the poolball room upstairs and suggested a game. While guys randomly hit the balls on the pool, nobody seemed to be enthusiastically interested. We played a while until MJ greeted a loud 'Hello' from downstairs, we all went down to meet her.

MJ is paraplegic due to a skiing accident. that means her body below waist has no feeling, she uses walking sticks and handicapped van to move her around. She used to be a sport frantic, kayaking, hiking, biking and snow activities, which is a perfect match to Art. And she still is. When she was in her Ph.D program in Hawaii, she entered the triathlon competition on wheelchair and became a local sensation. MJ and Art have lived here for long, known each other for years. It was my wild guess that Art was an intimidated admirer of hers back in their younger age, maybe he tried to date her and didn't succeed. He went on to marry a Chinese woman setup by a mutual friend. The marriage last 6 years and ended with a gruelingly long and nasty divorce.  MJ, on the other hand, has been staying single all these years. It can't be overestimated how much that fatal accident has changed MJ's life, but she went through all the adversities, standing proud and independent with her petite figure. She finished her study and came back the continent. Now new challenges met her: she couldn't land a job. After dabbling at two temporary positions, she returned her hometown for opportunity. This gave Art better chance to ignite the old flames.

MJ looks the same as we saw her the first time during the summer, her eyes still piecing and her mix-blooded face beaming with a smile. She blamed Art not telling her we were coming, 'I could have prepared some authentic Vietnamese cuisine.' she said, 'now I can have some appetizer dishes for you guys. Does fried spring roll sound Okay?'  I hurried a reply, saying anything is fine, we were just happy to hang out. Then I asked her the trip with her mom back to Vietnam two months ago. It was her mom's first trip back home since 1975, when she brought MJ and her two brothers to the US as refugees. She must have had found plenty of broken memory down the road. MJ's mother met MJ's father, a GI Joe, in Saigon and gave birth to MJ and her younger brother. The father then left Vietnam. Two years later, he went back, asked the mother to marry him. She refused. The Vietnam veteran went back to US and married another woman and had a family. In 1975, MJ's family escaped the war-torn Vietnam and began their new life in New York. MJ managed to see her father a few times, now a retired fed officer in DC area, but the twisted family history maintains. MJ's mother holds strongly biased opinion on men in the world: All men are either gambler, alchoholist, or womanizer, Art is no exception. We joked about this sorry perception and forcefully put him into womanizer category.

We had the freshly fried spring rolls for appetizer and delivered pizza and chicken wings for dinner. Then Art popped the ping-pong competition. With little effort, I swept him three sets. I didn't tell him that ping-pong  is regarded as China's national sport, any Chinese person would have ping-pong skill good enough for recreational games. Instead I ask him why he likes it, rather than something else. 'Well, it's my family thing,' Art replied, 'my grandparents set up the ping-pong table in the basement long time ago, kids in our family play ping-pong for fun...Come here.' he pointed some family photos hung on the wall, a picture of his ex wife's niece Susan was still there. I was surprised, maybe Art is too lazy to remove it, but I know Art so loved this little chubby Chinese girl, he asked her to attend school here and live with them for a year. Then the divorce was filed, Susan left. On the wall, there were other photos, Art told me who's who. When pointing at one of his sisters, he said, 'This is Mariah. She works at the county office. You know, she gets up at 4am, makes a cup of coffee, then go running for 8-10 miles...Everyday.' Art was smiling at me, he knows I have a marathon aspiration, and went on, 'Mariah had a couple of marathons. She went to Boston Marathon,  she ran marathon here too, her best performance was runner-up for the city's marathon this year...'

It was snowing in the evening, weather forecast predicted 4-6 inches of snow overnight.  We decided to take off because MJ was seen yawn though excited. She said joyfully: 'We are going to ski tomorrow. You can't just miss such nice snow on weekend.'  Art is a window, he opens us up some amazement.

Holiday is over. The greetings on the hall way or over the counter is still 'happy new year', everyone seems to sport a sluggish smile, with visible traces after exhuastion and excitement. The ladies behind the cafe stand had a hectic moment preparing their business this morning, the cashier register malfunctioned, and the line was getting longer and longer, they declared the coffee and bagel are free.... it is good to back to work.

I was almost on the wheel again for a tempting road trip with friends, all the way down to South Carolina, a near two-thousand-mile drive. I backed down against the invitation at the last minute, so I stayed at home for the winter break. I decided to 'get a life', get away from computer and enjoy all the mundane joy everyone is having. On new year eve, my friend and I ate at the notorious Chinese buffet, at least give me a fully loaded stomach if it is not fully fulfilled achievement for the year 2008. But the trend of food craving is Vietnamese noodle, dubbed 'Pho' by native tongue. On the chilly new year's day, we went to downtown, turned into the shaby corner in the old and ill-maintained neigborhood. The same buxom watress greeted us, the difference is 'no tea', nor the jalapano peppers. But it is still a delightful moment to hold the 30cm-in-diameter noodle bowl by hands in cold weather, the light basil aroma arose with the vapor out of the hot soup and whetted the appetite. The form of happiness is simply---if I have to draw narcissistic symbolism---guzzle up and feel warm.

Next let me spoil myself with all the TV programs. 'Need to know', bunch of long-face guys sat together to discuss blah blah blah, switch; college football, Clemson fought Nebraska for a bowl with some stupid name, hmm, interesting; I was a coach potato now. Two hours later, I was drawn; I went on to mop the kitchen floor, that was all the grimes left in 2008, better have a clean start; the easy errand was not as easy as it looks like, with this powder and that spray, the floor was not as shiny as I wanted it to be; All right, Let it be; I had a beer, went back to TV again, college football, Michigan State vs. Georgia, why were they so hyped like being doped? sigh, college kids...what else can I watch? local news, some gun shoot somewhere, commercial; world news, Gaza bombing continued, commercial; Eintainment tonight, the hottest celebrities in the year 2008, stupid; Two and a half men, silly; Double Jeopardy, Ah, I only got two right; Next, primetime show Bones, what are they doing? why the commercial is aired again, I saw it 9 times already. The box with voice and varying image is definitely an evil invention, it sucks a normal human's attention and tranforms it into a pervious bonehead. I hate TV.

I decided to do something different the next day. I drove to the lake. Open waterfront has always been fascinating to me, the wide and slightly bent water horizon is the scene I'm never tired of. It turns out only wild ducks were there by the pier. The wind blew sharp, thanks to the rising temperature a few days back, large chunks of ice and snow melted away, I don't see the startling ice wave frozen on the fence cables and the huge ice and snow mixture along the pier route in the past winters, lopsidedly piled up by the west wind. This condition let me manage to walk a little deeper along the way, the wind became piecing on face, I pressed on until I saw the dividing line between the water and floating ice. It's a fake outdoor activity, yet good enough to feel the excitement in the wild. On the way home, I took the route to downtown, stopped by the local coffee shop that I haven't been for a while. As many  people as surprising were in and enjoyed the rare shunshine over the glass wall, some were glued on laptop computer, mainly Mac brand; some chatting; a local band was doing reheasal upstairs, drums and guitar reverbrated  vaguely out of the study, this venue is famous for urban artisan youth gathering after all. Under the sunshine, the wore-out floor surface and uncleaned old sofa were on candid exposure, not necessarily to be like that for aesthetic purpose.

After wandering several stores, home again. I played some loud music and started cooking. Still hate TV but it seems that's the only destiny after dinner. Local news, weather forecast, car accident somewhere, commercial; national news, drug commercial, Dow Jones report, car commercial; Eintainment tonight, phone commercial; Seinfeild, law firm commercial; It is just a load of crap, why would I watch TV, huh?! Then primetime program, and ABC was airing 'Sleepless in Seattle'! I have to confess, I love this highly successful and highly feminine romance (Notting Hill is another one). Okay, I settle with it tonight...Annie was driving, attracted to the call-in by Jonah...Sam answered the call, Annie was obsessed...Annie told her pal, two thousand women were asking Sam's phone no....sh searched for Sam Baldwin, funny screen shot on pre-google age....lied to her beau for planned trip...Jonah rolled eyes on Sam's date, 'Hyena's laugh', Jessica's assuming air ticket search...Annie read the returned letter by Jonah. Annie and Sam met across the street in Seattle, no  contact (I heard imaginative sigh by women around the world)...Sam's sister visited, blubbering of the  romantic  movie, then the men's turn...Jonah took the flight to NY, Sam went nuts, Annie ditched her innocent white-collar fiance on Valentine's night, she's on the way to Empire State Building...Sam hugged his son...Oh they just missed (women in the world were shrieking), Annie stayed on top, found Jonah's schoolbag... Sam and Jonah came back, two pair of eyes were discharging and sparkling......Give me comedy, then I'll take your sissy romance.

Should I add some masculine entertainment to maintain my manly status? TV offers whatever you want. Professional American football is in the playoff stage on Sat. and Sunday, the fastest guy on the field is chasing the thrown ball and then dodging the hardest hit by monster-like big fella, even the air is fraught with testosterone smell. First my favorite Arizona Cardinals took down the Atlanta Falcons, then a bode of bolt from San Diego killed the gangs led by arrogant Peton Manning in overtime. 8 hours in a row, I almost can recite those sickening commercials, I really have had enough. Skip the other two, absolutely.  TV is like the candy given to a kid, when he has had enough, he also gets sick of it. On the other hand, staying at home with nothing in mind is like a kid being sent into a summer camp, it looks fun, but soon it becomes boring and tiring. I became temperamental, I hate squandering the time but in the meantime, had no mood doing anything serious. Obviously I didn't plan well for the winter break, it also holds true too much life like this is low life.  

Yes, it's good to back to work.