I have this buddy, who’s Mexican, and every time her and her brother greet each other they kiss each other on the cheek/side of the lips.

Can I do that with my brothers? No way.

I also have this boyfriend, who’s mostly French and Filipino, and every time him and his parents greet they kiss each other on both sides of the freagin’ cheeks!

Can I do that with my parents? lol.

Let’s just put it this way: When my mom informed me she was cooking bun xao, I decided to do the unorthodox by giving her a big bear hug because I loved eating bun xao so much, and I was in a real happy mood that day.  After I hugged her it was pure…awkward…silence; and her face, god her face, it made me wonder, sorry but did I just hugged you or punched you?

Never doing that again.

My family, as well as other traditional and conservative Asian families, aren’t exactly your conventional Brady Bunch type! They’re really not into the whole hugging and kissing deal. Needless to say, my parents do love me, and I hugged, kissed and cuddled with them during my youngest most vulnerable times, but when you hit junior high–or earlier–preschool, all of that stops because now it’s a whole different kind of love which you have to give back to them.

So far I’ve been living with my parents for 22 years and not once have I ever had a real conversation with them that lasted for more than five minutes (hence the lack of my Vietnamese vocabulary), thus for the last decade of my life, they’ve never given me a hug or a kiss, or even patted my back.  Do I feel sad and neglected? I’m far from it.

Regardless of all that, there’s an odd connection and bonding that sparks between my parents and I whenever I succeed in something.  When I do well in school and get straight As, that’s me showing affection to my parents and saying to them, “I love you.” When I become a doctor, lawyer, or a pharmacist and I make enough money to support my family including my parents, that’s me saying, “I REALLY love you.” And when my mom cooks me the best bun xao, that’s her saying, “I love you too.”

As odd or fucked up as it may sound, it’s still love–it’s a different kind of love.

I think my boyfriend took my writing and artistic creativity away. I don’t know how, but he did (shame on you Matt).

It’s a silly thing to say but ever since I’ve been with him, I’ve been slowly running out of things to write about.  Trust me, I would love to update this blog regularly like I use to (when I was single ha!), but I suppose when you’re me, being a girlfriend doing girlfriendy things, the creative part of your brain simply shuts down and replaces it with a big sodding writer’s block.

Now that I’m creatively inept and retarded, I only can show you what I’ve been up to lately by sharing a few pictures:

(ate a monster turkey leg at Renaissance Faire in Irwandale)

(visited San Francisco and other cities around it)

(saw “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour. Look! Katy Perry and Russell Brand are in this picture)

(went to E3, met LeVar Burton! Yes, the reading rainbow guy and La Forge from Star Trek)

(went to an Iron Maiden concert)

(had a blast at Comic-Con ’10 and got to meet Michael Sheen!)

My boyfriend took me to all of these exciting events (except the first one) this year and I am very grateful. Oh yes, I have an awesome-mind-stealing boyfriend.