Mild Amusement

I think I've mentioned it before, but I do speak a tiny bit of Chinese. It's usually just enough for me to pick out when people are talking about me, but unfortunately, that's not enough for me to really understand what people are saying. There's not enough context at that point for me to piece together what's being said. When people are talking about me, at least, I have the advantage of knowing the subject matter (read: me) better than anyone else. But other than that, it's very much a crap shoot. Luckily for me, I grew up with my Chinese grandmother around, so I managed to pick up some of the various words that she would say to us. Most of that is what I consider "table talk" (think along the lines of "pass the salt"). However, there was one word that I learned to appreciate quite a bit: kwai. Now, that's my English bastardization of the Cantonese, so if you actually speak Chinese, that might sound weird to you. Regardless, that...

I've mentioned it in passing before, but I think certain things have a ring of truth to them. If you don't know what I'm talking about, pretend that you've been doing something your whole life. Let's say that you've never had any kind of a mobile device, and you're having issues with people not being able to get a hold of you with timely information. Now, let's further stipulate that one of your friends tells you about the wonders of a smart phone. Think about the first few moments after this friend has revealed to you that this technology exists. It'd be immediately obvious to you that this technology could solve your problems, but moreover, your entire world view would be changed. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that your mind had been blown at that point, and you were suddenly readjusting your conception of what is possible. That's more or less what I think of when I refer to that "moment of truth." As it turns out, I...

At work, my cubicle has a little closet for hanging up your coat. It's not very big, and I doubt I could fit more than two or three articles of clothing in there (there's only one hanger in there, though). Now, I know many of you might be commenting that I at least have a closet, and I don't deny that it's a nice little extra feature. I've actually never had one before, so I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into that cube and realized that I had my own mini closet. Since it was new to me, though, it took a while to build up the habit to actually use the thing. I've walked into a cube and hung my jacket on the back of my chair for years now. And even though I fully intended to take advantage of this new closet, I kept forgetting to do it at first. Of course, habit die hard, but they do die eventually. So I gradually got into the habit of hanging up my jacket (I always wear a jacket to work since I get up at the butt crack of dawn ), and I was mildly plea...

Funny things tend to happen to me at restaurants. I've had a waitress try to shove food in my mouth , friends of mine object to what I order , and someone decide that my order was no good . I always laugh it off when it happens, because, well, it's funny. C'mon now, when's the last time someone tried to stick food in your mouth without your consent? And now, I have another story to add to the list. It all started with a Korean restaurant that the Mild Ex and I decided to try. As we were perusing the menu, I noticed a few interesting items that caught my attention. For example, there was this skate  (it's like the sting ray's cousin) dish that sounded intriguing. We negotiated a bit on what we wanted to eat, and ultimately, we included that skate dish in our selection. The waitress took our order, and everything was looking good. I don't quite remember why, but the Mild Ex then had to excuse herself from the table for a few minutes. It was no big deal, ...