Unsettling

I've been playing a lot more Settlers of Catan lately. For the uninitiated, it's a board game I started playing a few years back, introduced to me by my friend Verde and company. My brother happens to be very good at it, and I don't think I'm terrible either.

The object of the game is to garner 10 points, gained by building structures and other things. The main driving force of the game, however, and its main appeal stems from the trading aspect of it. Players can trade resources with one another, which leads to various peculiar situations involving loyalty and kindness, or lack thereof.

I have thus begun a reputation for being devious and manipulative. In real life, just the other day, I was told that I would not convince Danny with "my words." He used quotations in real life too, which I thought was bizarre.

So what do you think? Do I use my words to manipulate too much?

Fresh

So the semester officially starts tomorrow, at 8AM. With Biochemistry. Like the previous semester, I'll be doing things a little differently this time around. Primarily, I plan to shave this week. I'll take a few before and after pictures hopefully so you, my groupies, can see the change.

I also plan on blogging more, hopefully. As most of you can see, the layout of the blog has changed a bit. I don't really like the color scheme with the theme. Personally, I'd prefer a grayer feel to it, but we'll see how it turns out.

In addition, if you frequent the gym, you might be surprised to find me there. I have developed quite the muffin top and plan on bringing it back down. I peaked around 188 pounds over break, and as proud as I was about my new high, I can't but help to think that it is a result of sloth, a vice I need to vanquish.

Alliteration aside, I am also going to be active in AXΣ, my chemistry fraternity. Hopefully I can get a little, but if not, it should still be fun. All this change has little to do with the New Year. As some of you know, I detest New Year's resolutions because I think if you want to change something about yourself, it should be at any moment, not shelved until imaginary forces compel you.

After all, shitmydadsays sums it up perfectly:

"Universe is 14 billion years old. Seems silly to celebrate one year. Be like having a fucking parade every time i take a piss."

Perhaps

Perhaps
we are all poets
a little inside
we feel the undertones
the undercurrent
of a silent river
flowing
silent, but always flowing
and we feel the current
within us
even though we know not
the name of the river

perhaps
we are all musicians
and the songs of the winds
are just echoes
of our souls
and we chime in
we chime in when we run
and we listen for the breeze
like notes

perhaps
we are all artists
creating and making
as we have been made
have been created
and as all things are made
differently
so too are we different
but it is all still art
it's all still art.

Century Gothic

This is my 100th post on this blog. I don't know if that's a lot, or if it's one of those, I don't know, milestones waiting to happen. It's like driving 100,000 miles in your car. It's probably going to happen, but you take note of it anyways.

I wish I had a car, though.

Or maybe it's like reaching a certain age. Like when I turned 20. On that day, I noticed that I felt special, even though I had convinced myself that it was just another day and any uniqueness was simply a matter of perspective, that billions of others saw it as another day. Still, that day was unique to me, even if I publicly denied it.

Like New Year's. We have an arbitrary calendar, with an arbitrary beginning and end. So really, the beginning of the year could have started anytime. I guess we just need that day, a day to remind us that there's still hope for the future, that life isn't some unending and mundane linear progression, that if time can start afresh, so can we.

But look at me, running on with my sentences.

This is my 100th post. I should be writing about something profound! Something U-NEEK!

Or I could just sit here and stare blankly at my computer screen, switching my tab occasionally to Facebook, and continue my AIM conversations.

Or I could talk about what's on my mind. When your love life is this stagnant, sometimes writing about it is the only outlet. I don't know if I want to talk about my love life (or lack thereof) but I do want to talk about the perceptions of my relatives and their love lives, especially those Baby Boomers.

My Aunt Van has three kids, Henry, Bridgette and Christopher. Chris is in third grade so his time will come, but Henry is in his mid 20s (I'm being a bit generous, here) and Bridgette is a senior in high school. Naturally, my mom likes to talk about boys with her, and as anyone with a parent knows, talking to people who are 20 years older about relationships is not only a lost cause, but may incur permanent psychological damage.

Once, we started talking about how strict the family was, how only Vietnamese, Catholic options are allowed into the family. But my aunt wanted to clarify a bit further while still pretending to be opened minded.

My aunt says, "Bridgette, you can date anyone, as long as he's Vietnamese or Vietnamese and Catholic."

"So you're just saying she can date Vietnamese guys?" I ask.

"No," she replies. "Actually, she can date other Asian boys too."

We listened and she continued. "Japanese, okay. Korean...maybe. Indian, okay as long as he's rich. But no Chinese."

What?

"No Chinese, I said!"

Apparently, Vietnamese people are still mad at the Chinese trying to invade them 2000 years ago. My mom and my aunt then got into a big rant about how Chinese people always oppressed Vietnamese people. Talk about a grudge.

Recently, Bridgette visited the West Coast and Andy, aka Leroy (long story) took her on a tour of a few schools. My mom, being the classy matchmaker she is, suggested they get married. Pure tact.

But they were good sports about it...until we had our family reunion. We kept giving Bridgette a hard time about it and I think she was truly annoyed. But when has that ever stopped the ever-endearing Nguyen family?

We got to talking about couple names. Henry and his girlfriend Thu are HenThu, which I thought sounded like "hentai" (Mat: You've ruined their couple name forever Andrew. FOREVER.) and my grandparents' couple name is "Ong Ba." Yeah, we were really creative on that one.

But the best one would have been Leroy and Bridgette.

Ledgette.

Letting Go

As the new year rolls around, ready to pounce on us like a LOLcat on a ball of yarn, or just any cat really, it's easy to feel both nostalgia and hope. That's what year-end festivities do to us. They make us happy, but they make us recall the year that's been, and sometimes the years before the last.

I appreciate nostalgia as much as the next person. In fact, just yesterday, I hung out with two of my friends from St. Justin's. It wasn't weird, but I think they felt that I changed. For one, they thought I was smart still. Also, they were in the midst of me and my brother, so we were singing a lot...Needless to say, it must have been an almost surreal experience for them. Then we watched Scrubs, and I think I fell asleep because I woke up to Samantha about to suffocate me with a pillow while Francesca (quiet Francesca!) was recording.

Thus, I am not unused to nostalgia, as few people are, since it visits us every day. We don't always see it, but it does. And for those of us that do see it, and dwell on it, I contend that it's healthier to let things go. This doesn't mean that we should forget what makes us who we are, but if we live our lives in regret, won't that impede our future? Won't that even impede our present?

We need to let things go. Even as a culture. We gotta stop talking about Michael Jackson's death and Tiger Woods's infidelity (for the first, it's been 6 months, the second, who really cares?). I know how hard it is to let things go. That baby picture of your ex, that letter you wrote to me when we were 14, that prom picture we took that hangs out behind my closet. These things don't have to be thrown away, no. But they do have to be removed from our subconscious so we can move on with our lives.

Regardless of our need to move on, though, I really hope you threw away my thong. Please. Just throw it away.