I, like many Asian Americans I know, turned lactose intolerant a few years ago. Right around the age of 30. And it totally sucked ass.
No more Cold Stones and Ben & Jerrys. Goodbye Pizookies. Hello estrogen-laden soy milk. (Reduced sex drive what??)
You know the Wear Sunscreen Speech, right? If not, where have you been? Under a rock buried in the sand behind an outhouse on an island with dark sunglasses at night? Tsk tsk.
The Wear Sunscreen Speech—sometimes simply known as the "Sunscreen Speech", but originally called "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young"—was written by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich way back on June 1, 1997 as a fictional commencement speech that she'd like to give if she were ever asked to.
For some reason, a mischievous student decided to send the speech around as a MIT commencement speech given by Kurt Vonnegut. Weird, huh? If you've seen that email, now you know who really wrote that speech—Mary Schmich and not Kurt Vonnegut (though Vonnegut could have certainly written something just as witty & profound).
"I look forward to growing old."
"Are you insane?" Lisa gasped. She regarded me like a little puppy that just ate his own poop.
I want to be a grandfather who tells stories to his grandkids one day. Fantastic stories. Stories about how I fought off legions of rogue ninjas who swarmed the family mansion with just a rusty butter knife.
Sitting across from me in Borders Books is an elderly couple. The husband is reading a book on economics and sipping hot coffee. The wife is flipping through a magazine and eating a slice of chocolate cake.
"Young people today," the wife announces. "They're so quick to get divorced. They don't understand the value of marriage anymore."
As his eyes rose to the sun-brazen sky, he thought to himself: "Yup, today is a good day to make amends."
The old man staggered down the steps of his porch. Each worn board creaked out a different tale. He stomped onto the sand and puffed dirt into the sky. His cane pressed into the ground and left behind a solitary mark.
What is maturity?
Realizing how uncommon maturity is can be a sobering thought, just like realizing how uncommon common sense is. This awareness is often coupled with the recognition that age and maturity share no mutual bonds.
I'm currently in training. It's for one of the toughest classes in life. It's called Raising A Family.
Surprised? You shouldn't be. In a way, we all are in training for this class.
It's been truly disheartening to talk to so many married couples lately. Not because I feel any pressure to get married myself, but because so many of them seem to be unhappily married.
I'm at that age now where a lot of my friends are dropping like flies (er, I mean getting married). And at this age, if you're single, you'll feel some of that the marital pressure. If your married friends aren't trying to set you up, they're asking you, "So when are you going to settle down?"
Weekly random rambles, musings & writings of Mike Lee in San Francisco, CA