May 16, 2025 • 47 mins
This episode talks about my small hiatus. Alex's birthday and what I did on mine.
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Support the Podcast Give us a 5 Star review as well as share it with your friends or enemies.
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https://linktr.ee/nc1781
Support my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@randomfactsofboredom
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-buddhist-af-podcast--6119082/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Buddhist af Podcast. I am
your host, no chance to be souk and glad that
you guys are joining me little hias because my birthday,
If you guys have been listening for some time now,
it's been what three years now, Basically, I go to
(00:24):
a really really bad place when the holidays roll around,
or especially when my birthday comes around, because they I
have well, I had a twin and she didn't make it.
So there's just an emptiness there that I'm already aware
(00:52):
of and I have to deal with every year, and
so I usually try to be alone as much as
possible during my birthday. I don't really like celebrating my
birth I never really liked celebrating my birthday very much.
But Mary and Alex, you know, they're they're here, They're
(01:16):
a part of my life, so you know, I just
can't get rid of them, and so I'm actually glad
that they are around, and they they do understand. Mary
understands what I go through. Alex not so much yet,
but he does know that Papa isn't right during his birthday,
(01:40):
and so he he doesn't he doesn't jump on me
as much, so that that's why I haven't been on
since the last episode. I believe that was the Delaware episode,
if I can remember correctly. I haven't checked actually during
(02:01):
the hiatus, I really don't check any of the stats.
I hope they did well. I got paid by speakers,
so that that's nice. But what happened, So, yeah, that's
that's what. That's where I went.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I went.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Into myself and so here I am.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I am back.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm feeling a little bit better. So I am here
back with you guys, and I appreciate the patience. But yeah,
if if you're new, just know that once in.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
A while, I do go on a little hiatus.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Not nothing against you guys, obviously, but I do take
time to myself. And yeah, so again, here I am.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
And so.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Alex's birthday was at the beginning of the month. May
second is Alex's birthday. So happy birthday, buddy. I know
a lot of people wished you well on Facebook and
on Instagram as well. And so we have a tradition,
a yearly tradition in which we go to my dad's house.
Boo is what what Alex calls him. Boo means grandpa
(03:21):
in Lao. If you are on the father's side, so
obviously he's my father, so he is alexis boo if
he if he was referring to his mom's side, of
his mom's side was was Laoh, he would call his
grandfather Patau, which just means old dad. So I would
(03:42):
rather be a boo than a plaut because it just
sounds better. It carries more weight too, obviously because of
the father's side. And so, yeah, yearly tradition ever since
maybe his second year, yeah, second birthday.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
We always go to my dad's house.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And my dad and my stepmom just love love Alex
and so they basically just you know, roll out the
red carpet for him. He has no rules when he
goes to Tabulu and Yah's house. So Alex loves it.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
He is ridiculously attached to my dad and I think
I talked about it briefly in the Delaware episode, But
my dad is just completely connected to Alex in in
ways that transcends talk. They can just sit in a
(04:43):
room and just watch TV and they'll be completely just
one person. Alex loves helping my dad in the garden.
He loves praying with my dad morning and night. Uh
if you are a Buddhists. You you offer breakfasts to
(05:07):
the ancestors and you pray, you know, for for a
good day. And then you at night you offer dinner
to the ancestors and you you you thank them for
for having a good day, for getting through the day.
And Alex loves doing that with with Blou morning and
(05:28):
night like he reminds him that it's it's time to
go pray.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And so.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, I'm obviously, I mean, this is gonna be weird
to talk about. But you know, when when my dad
eventually passes, hopefully you know, a very very long time
from now, I believe in my heart that he won't
(05:57):
leave Alex. And that's how close they are. And so
even after my dad passes, I think he's going to
stick around to make sure Alex is is okay, that
he's going to be protected. And I believe Alex will
be protected by his grandfather.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And so.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You know that's something that I've I've already made peace with.
We're gonna have to deal with my dad even after
he's gone. So you know, I always tell Alex, and
I've said this a few times already, that chance of
VI six never walk alone even after I'm gone, even
(06:40):
after Boo's gone, Like, Alex is not going to be alone.
And so, like I said, I believe that in my
heart that you know, he will be fine. He will
be good even without us, because obviously we're still going
to be sticking around. The ancestors will still be sticking
(07:02):
around kind of like kind of like Mulan, you know,
just just hanging around talking junk about each other. But yeah,
Alex loves going to Rochester every time we every time
we go to Rochester, Alex wants to move to Rochester,
New York. And he said it again, like obviously I've
(07:24):
said it that we were going to move, and Alex
has picked Rochester, New York to Mary's Sugar in because
obviously Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, they get a lot of snow.
And I'm perfectly fine with it because I'm used to
the snow. Like you know, New England, what the storm
(07:50):
of seventy eight, I want to say, I don't even
know anymore. To Rochester Buffalo Syracuse people, that's a Tuesday
that does scarce. Like I drive my little Honda Fit
all the time in the in the storms, rainstorms, snowstorms,
doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Like I will get through it.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Speaking of Vittoria, my AC went out today actually driving
an eighty degree weather, nice cold AC blasting, and all
of a sudden it just got hot, really really hot,
and instantly I just I knew like and then Honda's
(08:32):
are notorious for AC failure. So luckily it is a
very very small compressor, so I'm pretty sure I can
probably just find one at the Junkyard or something, so
it shouldn't be too expensive, probably four five hundred bucks
(08:53):
tops to get done completely, so I'm not too worried
about that.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Anyways.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Back to back to Alex bring his birthday at the
beginning of the month, we.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Went to Rochester, New York.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
We went to his favorite place aside from Booze House,
is the Strong Museum of Play and it is also
the Toy Hall of Fame, so that's pretty big. If
you you know, I have seen any toy in your life,
I'm pretty sure you have. That's where all the toys
(09:27):
go for the Hall of Fame. And about three two
three years ago they also opened up the Video Game
Hall of Fame, which I'm a personal fan of and
I've already posted some photos of that, and we spent
got four hours in there. I don't even know how
(09:47):
that happened. That we spent four hours at the Toy
Museum slash Hall of Fame, slash Video Game Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
We just did.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And we had a black and so.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We were hungry, and.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
We went to this Korean place and no, no, no, wait wait.
Before that, we went to the Lego Expo, which I
didn't even know was happening, and Alex had a budget
of a hundred bucks. Yeah, I know, it's his birthday,
so and he blew through that in like fifteen minutes.
(10:28):
So he was talking about, you know, he's very good
with money and he knows how to budget. And I said, buddy,
you just bought a figure for like thirty bucks just
by looking at and go, I want that. Didn't even
check the price, which I mean, you know that's how
ballers roll. But he didn't even check the price. Thirty bucks,
(10:48):
slams it down, let's go give me that thing, put
in a little baggy and fifteen minutes in one hundred
bucks down. So yeah, I have to I have to
take care of his finances for now. But yeah, it
was it was a wonderful surprise because the Toy Museum
wasn't open yet. It didn't open till like ten o'clock,
(11:09):
so the the expo was actually early, and so we
got in. We spent maybe an hour hour and a
half there. It was really really big. I didn't expect
it to be that big. And they were selling like
kids that were that were already like out of print,
(11:29):
not out of print, but discontinued.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
They were already discontinued, like a lot of Lego stuff.
Of course, it's Legos, a lot of Star Wars stuff, which,
come to find out, one of the Lego Bombers that
I bought for Alex for his I want to say
sixth Christmas birthday, No it was his, Uh no, it
was his birthday because he only he alway gets Legos
for his birthday. That was discontinued, obviously, and I remember
(11:54):
buying it from from Best Buy when I when I
was working there. I can say it now because you know,
I'm not gonna say the Big Blue Electronic story, because
everybody I know knows that I used to work a
Best Buy.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And the reason why I say is because they don't
sponsor me.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
But I have learned to free give and so I
bought it there. I got a discount obviously, and now
it's three times as much as what I paid for it.
So I just walking down that aisle of like seeing
discontinued sets and action figures, and I'm staring at a
(12:34):
couple of action figures right now.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I have.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
If you if you guys follow me on social media,
I am a big fan of the five Oh First.
We'll talk about that in a later episode in which
we myself and a group of friends started a dodgeball
team and we called ourselves the five Ole First and
(12:58):
that's how it started, and that's how it started our
love of the group the Flabo First from Star Wars
and a funny story about what Alex meeting an actual
member of the Fable First Battalion at a at a at.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
A kids museum.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And yeah, So I'm staring at these action figures right now,
and we priced them out, and I'm sitting on I
have a Captain FAsMA, by the way, she's leading my
legion because Alex has my Anakin somewhere and it's it's
probably completely destroyed. But Captain FAsMA and four Flavo First
(13:42):
figures are sitting on my desk right now, and I'm
looking at probably eighty bucks just from these guys alone.
I'm not sure what print that FAsMA is. There's a difference.
She is not the chrome one, just a regular gray paint.
The chrome one is a little bit more expensive. I
(14:04):
probably lost like thirty listeners already just talking about this,
but yeah, it The amount of money that is spent
on Legos when they almost went bankrupt like twenty years
ago is crazy. There's another place we went to that
(14:27):
also sells out of print Legos, and I'll get to
that later. But back to this Korean restaurant we went to,
I forget the name of it off the top of
my head right now, but they had this weird shaved
ice bird that looks like one of the birds from
(14:49):
what's that game with the mobile slingshot Anger Birds. Yeah,
so it looks like one of the Anger birds. And
Mary was just delighted to order this thing. It wasn't
even about the food. It was just past, let's just
order food, let's eat the food, bypass the food, and
let's just rereat to get to the dessert. And by
the time we got to the dessert, it was a
(15:11):
little disappointing.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
One of those things where it's like it looks good but.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Doesn't taste like it looks nor does it taste like
it costs, I want to say, And I'm saying this
because I'm the one that paid for it, and yeah,
not good at all. It was like a mango leachy
something and neither of those flavors are my favorite flavors,
so I didn't care too much for it. And then
(15:42):
we went to the to the Museum of Science, which
I was a big fan of because I'm a big
fan of science space full disclosure, space turns me on
and yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Asked Mary.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And we went to the to the space, not the
space in museum. See again, I'm thinking already thinking about
space again, but the Museum of Science, And unfortunately they
closed an entire an entire floor, but they still charge
a full price, obviously, because.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Why not.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And we unfortunately went during a school field trip and
so didn't really get to enjoy it as much. Lots
of screaming kids. I don't mind screaming kids, but when
there's an entire museum full of screaming kids, it's it's
(16:39):
a little hard, especially in a museum when you're trying
to read things and and they're playing like you know,
they're playing guided tours over the speaker system and you
can't even hear that. Yeah, it kind of takes the
flavor out of it. So we got out of there
pretty quickly. Didn't get our money's worth there unfortunately, And
(17:02):
then we went to to Powtermill Park in in. Uh
it's not Menden is it. I think it is men Yeah,
Mendon Pond. We went to Powtermill Park and fed the trout.
Alex loves doing that and it's really cool if you
guys never been there before. It's basically a hatchery for trout.
(17:23):
And a lot of the kids back in the day,
myself included our kids our age backfan knew of this place.
A lot of the older Asian adults didn't. And I
believe it was an unwritten rule that the kids never
(17:44):
told the adults about this. Because if if you grew
up with Asian people, any your neighbor, your your your parents,
people you knew in life if they were Asian they
love fishing and if they can get lots of fish
real quickly, they would. And so we as kids, as
(18:09):
as teenagers and as young adults made a a an
unwritten rule, a pact that we would never tell our
parents about Powdermill Park, no matter how beautiful it was,
because you literally can just take a net and just
(18:30):
scoop up a bunch of trout and then just go.
It's not protected, it's not enclosed, it's not fenced in.
I mean there's like a chain to stop the cars
from going into a parking lot at night, but I
mean you can just drive up there, take a net,
one big scoop into a garbage bag, and you're you're
(18:51):
good for like a week, if not two.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So we made a pact.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
We're not even saying a word to each other without
even knowing each other. All the all the young Asians
just didn't tell our parents about Pottermeil Park until they
got older. And so my dad has never gone to
Pottermill Park to look at the trout, and so we figured,
(19:17):
why not, why not? Why not take my parents this
time around. I mean, my dad's in his seventies, mid seventies,
my stepmom's in her late sixties, and so what's the harm?
What's the harm in this? So we took them to
Pottermill Park and they walked around and they fed the trout,
and you know, watched Alex feed feed the trout as well,
(19:41):
and they had a kick out of it. And my
dad comes up to me and goes, how come you
never told me about this place? And I just looked
at him and I go, because I know, you tell
your friends, and then they would tell their friends, and
then they would tell their friends and so.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
There wouldn't be any out left.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And he just looked down and had like this like
sly smirk come across his face, and he didn't say anything.
He didn't say a single thing, but he didn't have
to because he knew and I knew.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
That I was right that.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
We as young adults, were the keepers of the trout
at Pottermill Park. And I mean, he's too old to
do now. He doesn't remember how to get there. And
that's what it's like for all of our parents now,
like it's too far. All of our parents live either
(20:43):
twenty minutes or so away. So when you get to
a certain age, especially as an Asian, you don't want
to drive more than fifteen minutes. If it's more than
fifteen minutes, even if it's six ten minutes, it's not
worth it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
It's too far.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
And you don't want to do it. And so in
Rochester there are lots and lots and lots of Asian
grocery stores within two miles of each other because they
have to be strategically placed so that they're never more
(21:24):
than fifteen minutes away from old Asian people. And that's
not an exaggeration, that is the truth. Like you, if
you are in Rochester right now, think about it. Guys,
if you're listening to me in Rochester right now, think
of where your parents live and then find the closest
Asian grocery store to them, and I bet you it's
not more than fifteen minutes driving.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Think about it.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
If you live in Henrietta, you have the Asian grocery
store on Brian Henriette town line, or you have Lee
Orient that's in the same spot where Palmers is. If
you are in the city, there's three four grocery stores
(22:15):
within a mile. And so, like I said, Asian people
don't like to drive far, so that's why they usually
stay where they are.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I mean, my dad's traveled near and far when he.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Was younger, but now that he's older, he's in Rochester,
New York he's like's in the mid seventies, shovels the
driveway every year, complains about it every year. But it's
the closest he's going to go any further. Walmart is
(22:51):
thirteen minutes away. Yeah, so Walmart, Wegmans within ten to
thirteen minutes. That's the farthest he's going. He's not leaving there.
I'm going to have to drag him out of that house.
So that's just that there's a little bit of insight
(23:11):
to my dad there. So Potter Mill Park and then
we went there twice, once just Mary, Alex and I
and then the second time we brought my parents and
then you know, it was time to say goodbye. Like
we had his party. Alex doesn't like parties. He doesn't
like being the center of attention, and so we didn't
(23:32):
really have a birthday party for Alex. We just kind
of just had to get together and we have pizza
and wings. And here's the funny thing about pizza and
wings is that it is a treat for my family
because my mom, my stepmom, does lots and lots of cooking.
(23:56):
She cooks all the time, even while we're asleep, she's
up cooking. She goes to bed at seven o'clock. She
wakes up at like one or two starts cooking.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
You know, she also cooks for the monks tow so
she's up early and she's cooking all sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And she loves it.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
She loves it, and you can tell she loves it
because it's fantastic. And around four in the morning, Alex
will wake up, and usually my parents are done, they're
done with their early morning activity already, so he opens
the door, he peeks his head out. He doesn't see
(24:41):
any commotion downstairs, so he comes back to bed. All
the while, my parents are in their room waiting for
him to come in at four in the morning, and
so they're opening their door peeking their head out to
see if Alex is peeking his head out. And I
can hear this because I'm a very light sleeper, so
I can hear doors opening and closing, opening and closing
from four in the morning till five in the morning.
(25:03):
And I'm not asleep anymore. I'm just I'm just waiting
for that moment to happen. And so when the magic happens,
when the two doors finally open at the same time
and they meet each other's gaze. Alex just takes off.
He doesn't close the door after himself. He just takes off,
runs into a grandparents room, and then just turns on
cartoons and then just has it for for four five
(25:27):
hours at a time. And we wake up and there's
breakfast ready for us, because yeah, I's already been up
cooking god knows what, but you know what, it's fantastic.
Sometimes I don't even know what she puts in front
of me, but I'm going.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
To eat it because it's it's good.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And so to us, that is a that is a
treat because I, while I do cook love food, I
don't cook a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I don't cook a variety of it.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
There's it's I know certain recipes and those are the
ones that I cook.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
And so when we go to my parents'.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
House, obviously I gain a lot of weight. In fact,
I gained three pounds when I was there. And so
that is a treat for us. But in reverse, when
Alex comes to celebrate his birthday, that's when my parents
order pizza and wings. And that's a treat for them
(26:24):
because they have al food all the time. And while
yes they can order pizza. The language barrier is still
a thing. My dad still refuses to acknowledge that he
does speak English fairly well. But he likes to be
you know, he likes to pretend he doesn't, and so
he doesn't order pizza until we're there. So he waits
(26:46):
a full year or half a year to get his pizza,
and he gets a lot of it, like two sheets,
and he doesn't eat very much, but you know, he
does get down on on on the pizza and the wings.
And so that's what we had to celebrate Alex's birthday.
(27:07):
And it was time to go, and of course Alice
was sad, and you can see it in him. He
didn't he doesn't want to talk the entire time we're
getting ready. And the same Kubi said for my parents,
like they they know they don't get to see him
very often, and so they're sad as well. And it's
(27:30):
it's bettersweet, you know, we get we get to see them,
they get to see us, and but unfortunately it does
feel good, fortunately, and unfortunately it does feel.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Good to come home.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
And even though I hate this town, I hate this apartment,
I hate the people in this building that isn't us.
It does feel good too, to sit in your own chair,
to lay down in your own bed and put your
head down on a pillow that is yours.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
And so.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
When we get home, I call my parents, tell him
we're here. But that's it, because any more than that
it gets emotional. I mean, like I said, Alex and
my father are very close, very attached, and so when
(28:34):
they get used to seeing each other every day, like
every second. Wherever my dad is, that's where Alex is.
And when they finally have to separate and we're home,
I don't FaceTime.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I don't I don't do video calls.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I just let them know that we're home, and Alex
will say goodbye, you know, He'll say hi, he'll say
good bye, and that's about it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
He doesn't.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Want to think about not being without his grandpa.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And so.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I realized that a couple of years back when he
first got super super attached to my dad. And I
remember one time when my dad went to the temple
without him, and Alex doesn't like going to the temple,
but my dad went there without him, and he was
just upset. He wouldn't talk to us, he wouldn't talk
(29:35):
to me, he wouldn't talk to Mary. He wouldn't even
talk to my stepmam. And my dad came home and
Alex just sat there brooding, and my dad goes, what's
wrong with him? I said, well, he's kind of pissed
at you because you went to the temple with Autumn.
And my dad went over and apologized to him and
gave him a big hug and a kiss, and things
(29:55):
were good again, you know, they're they're back to being
buddies again. And when we had to say oah goodbyes,
Alex got teary eyed. And we got home and a
video called my parents and said that we're home.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I said, hey, Alex, come say good you know, say
hi to and he just looked at the screen and
he just stared at the screen. He didn't say anything,
and I knew that he was just like he would
rather be there with them than just stare at them
through the screen. And so I since then, I don't
(30:37):
do video calls after we get home. Like I can
do a video call right now and if they pick up,
they'll talk to each other perfectly fine, because it's not
they've had time apart, and so the bond is a
little bit less. I guess you can say, but when
(30:58):
they just separated, it still takes a toll on him,
and so I know not to do that anymore. But
then we came home and then we we kind of
just went to bed because the next day we woke up,
we had to drive to Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, because Mary
(31:21):
had something planned. She had rented a hotel room for
the day in Plymouth and she was gonna get him
more Legos for his birthday at I forget this place
what it's called, but it's a place that sells figures
and discontinued Legos again, and so she.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Bought him a.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Marvel iron Man set I believe that was discontinued, and
a police station that was discontinued.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
And I don't like to think.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
About it, but it was over two hundred bucks. And
I made him keep the box in good condition. I
made him what the pieces back in the box when
he was done, kind of like a lego, kind of
like a puzzle. You know, when you're done with a puzzle,
you put all the pieces back in the box and
you put them on the shelf. That's what I told
him to do. Like, we spent a lot of money
on these. Well, Mary spent a lot of money on it, and.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
You know appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
So when you're done building it and you don't want
to display it anymore, take it apart, put it back
in its packaging, and we'll put it on the shelf,
and if you want to do it again, we'll do
it again. We have a Razorcrest black addition in his
closet that my cousin bought for him. If you don't
(32:37):
know what a Lego Mandalorian Razorcrest Black addition costs, look
it up, because yeah, it says ages ten and up.
So I let him get the figure, let him get
a man, let him take the figure out of the box.
But I haven't let him take the Razorcrest out of
(33:01):
the box yet because I said that we're not going
to build it until we have a house, until we move,
and so it is still in the closet. Razorcrest Black addition.
We're gonna do it eventually.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
But it is it is very expensive.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I'm probably going to superluit and display it.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
But we got that. We got those legos.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Then we went to the trampoline park and we trampled
around for an hour.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I was tired.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I was just tired because not because I'm old, well
partly because I'm old, but I had been driving for
a very long time, driving from Rochester, New York to Dairry,
New Hampshire, which is about six plus hours, going to sleep,
waking up, and then driving from Dairry, New Hampshire to Plymouth, Massachusetts,
(33:56):
which is another three hours because traffic, because you got
to go through Boston, and I hate it. I hate
driving through Boston. I hate everything about Boston really. I
hate Boston teams, I hate Boston Baked Beans.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, all of it.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
So we get there and I completely was oblivious. I
love history, and I was completely oblivious to the fact
that Plymouth, Massachusetts is where the Pilgrims landed. And so
when we finally get there, we settle in. There was
a small party gathering happening at the hotel. I really
(34:37):
didn't pay too much attention to it. And we walk
on and go, oh my god, we're in We're in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
We're We're where the Pilgrims landed. I have to see
Plymouth Rock. I've never seen Plymouth Rock before, and again
in my head, Plymouth Rock giant, huge boulder. I know
for a fact that it is a tiny, little little thing,
(35:00):
but in my head, I'm building it up again. And
so we got something to eat. It got cold, and
so Mary and Alex went back to the hotel room.
So here I am eating a double burger and two
servings of fries, and I got full, so I took
the fries to go, and I just kept on walking.
(35:22):
I was I was fine. I had just walked a mile,
so I'm fine. I'm nice and warm, like the sun
is just setting. It's one of those perfect New England
harbor towns. Like if you if you picture New England
sunset harbor, like all of the all of the catalogs,
(35:46):
all of the YouTube videos, all of the things that
you see that you picture New England harbor town, that's
exactly what Plymouth, Massachusetts looked like at that time. That
that is the New England that I fell in love with.
Like that's what brought me to New England. Not the city,
not the horrible accent, not the dunkin Donuts at every corner.
(36:07):
The harbor town is what made me fall in love
with New England. And I was just taking it in
like it was just beautiful. It was breezy, not too cold,
not too hot.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It was. It was perfect. It was.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
It was a perfect time. And I just kept walking
and I stumbled upon the the Plymouth Rock I was.
I wasn't even looking for it. I figured it would
be farther away, but I was right there. And I
looked down, you know, looked down at it and looked
(36:42):
at the little jettiway that that the boat would have
came in and landed on said rock, and I just
imagined what what it would be like like just boom,
crash land on the beach boat. There you are, and
there's this little rock. This it's this is just sitting
and it might not even be the actual rock. It
(37:03):
could just been a legend, but carved in it is
sixteen twenty and I guess that's when they landed. And
there we are Plymouth Rock.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Hooray.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
It's about the size of my computer desk. And it
was really cool to see. And again I know people
were like, oh, it's disappointing. I thought it would be bigger,
but it's still history. And again I love history, and
so I saw it. I wish I could have touched it,
but I did take a picture of it.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
I'll post it on.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Instagram, and I got Alex to stand next to it
the next day and take a picture of where his
ancestors landed. So that was really nice.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
And so.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
The night after I saw After I saw Plant Rock,
I went back home, not home, but I went back
to the hotel room. I had already eaten all the fries,
so I came back empty handed. But I got Alex
a little cupcake for his birthday because that was actually
his birthday day. We celebrated at my parents' house, but
wasn't his actual birthday, so I got him a cupcake,
(38:16):
and you know, we just settled into the room. I
went out for some reason. I think I forgot something
in the car, so I went out, and then I
saw what the little gathering had turned into. I didn't
know at the time, but I saw a gentleman dressed
(38:37):
in an American flag with a cowboy hat. I saw
another woman dressed as an American flag, and then I
saw that it was being hosted by bad Lands Media,
independent thinking, like minded individuals, and I thought to myself, hmmm,
(39:06):
let's look a little more into this. So I go
over to the little table that they that they had
spread out. They had a nice little spread there. They
had hats and t shirts and and and hoodies and
all that, uh lots of white hoodies, which was odd,
I thought. And then I read the uh that I
(39:28):
read about it a little bit more and they were
celebrating the the one hundred days of Trump in administration,
and I I, oh, that's what that was. And so
I I went back and I went back to the
(39:50):
hotel room and I said, uh, I don't think I
don't I don't think I should be out in the
hallway right now to Mary.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
And she's laughing. She's like why.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I go, well, let me show you a picture. And
so I showed her a picture that I took and
she goes, what is this?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
So I had to google. I had to google.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Bad Lands media and she goes, no, yeah, yep, she goes,
it can't be I go, no, no, it's true. It
is the Great American Restoration Tour from May first to
May fourth at Plymouth, Massachusetts. And what's funny about it
(40:40):
is the hotel didn't say anything about the Great Restoration
Tour on their events calendar. They kind of just kept
that under wraps, but.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
It was there.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
It was interesting. I didn't talk to anybody there. But
they were having a grand o time, and I said,
I'm just gonna stay in this hotel room until it's
time to go. And then I thought about it.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Uh I, I think.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
They were they were they were staring by the way
they were staring at me, and I just had a
white T shirt on and black shorts, and uh I
just walked around like I owned the place, really, and
so they probably saw me as like a tech millionaire
or something like that. And he's cool, He's cool, he's
a tech millionaire. But then I thought, I'm not the
(41:37):
one that should be worrying.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
It should be the housekeeping staff that.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Should be worried. Luckily, nothing nothing, no big incident. But
I just thought that was funny. And yeah, that that
was a That was Alex's birthday and he had a
good time. He was very sad that his his birthday
was over and so it's not special anymore and he's
just going back to his normal, boring days. He had
(42:06):
to go back to school and yeah, so he had
a little bit of little little shot of brattiness where
he was allowed to do things. It was kind of
like the purge. He was allowed to get away with
certain things for a little bit, but had to snap
him back to reality. Thanks Eminem and no. Overall good
(42:28):
time and hopefully created some core memories for him. He's
still playing with the legos, so that's that's good. He
hasn't destroyed them yet and so good times. I'm glad,
Like I'm glad I got to share those times with him,
(42:48):
even though even though he was quite annoying during his birthday,
I will say, but no, I mean my son, I
love him. He's annoying because I'm annoying, And no, I'm
glad I got to share this time with him. And
that's why I do enjoy my work. My work is
pretty pretty easy for me. I mean, I do a
(43:11):
lot of talking, which is what I do now, so
I'm pretty good at it. And it also allows me
to spend a lot more time with Marianne with Alex,
and so I appreciate the Deutsche Telecom. So yeah, that
was That was Alex's birthday. My birthday again, I kind
(43:36):
of just kept myself. My birthday was just recent May fourteenth,
thirteen and fourteen, by the way, both legal. I think
I explained that a couple times already. My birth certificates
is May thirteen. My immigration certificates is May fourteen, so
both are legal documents, and so I have two birthdays
a year, and no, I do fall into a deep,
(44:00):
dark depression where thoughts do you creep into my head,
especially as I get older. Especially when I promised myself
when I was twenty three years old that I would
be dead by the time I was forty five. Twenty three,
(44:20):
I was in a really, really bad place, and I
think if you listen long enough, you already know where
I was at that time and place in my head.
But you know, I doubt I don't see forty five
as the end anymore, but in the back of my head,
(44:43):
I still keep that as a as as a milestone,
like I have to get to forty five, and if
I get beyond forty five, bonus time. I mean, episode
three of this podcast will tell you that I have
(45:07):
gone to the very bottom. There is no rock bottom
after episode three. So that's why when I'm out in public,
when I'm with friends, when I'm with family, I'm enjoying
(45:27):
every single bit of it. I might not look like
I'm enjoying it because I have that face. I have
that face where it's either as Mary puts it, it's
either very simple or very angry looking. And I'm an
old Asian man, what do you want? But no, I
(45:48):
enjoy everything because when you're when you've gone that low,
everything else is up. And so I appreciate everything. I
enjoy everything. I got bit by an ant today and
I didn't kill him, so I felt something. Now I
(46:14):
got bit by ant today and I just flicked them off,
So yeah, every thing is bonus time. Now I forget
what I saw today. It was like a quote that
I saw today that really really hit and I'll look
it up eventually, but it was something along the lines
(46:38):
of trying to trying to say this without making it
sound too like too corny. It's something along the lines
of you can't get you can't add days to your life,
(47:00):
but you can add life to your days.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And that was like super profound. Like even me now.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Living a fairly decent life, I can't complain. I won't
complain about it. But when I read that, I'm like, damn, yeah, yeah,
that's right. So that's where we're gonna end it, guys.
I'm living a good life, living my best life right now.
Forty four years old. Hoof man, everything still hurts, but
(47:36):
I appreciate you guys listening. I appreciate you guys hanging around,
and even after my hiatus, I'm back. So thank you
for listening and I will see you guys next week.
As always, well being young, all right, Bye,
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Buddhist af Podcast. I am
your host, no chance to be souk and glad that
you guys are joining me little hias because my birthday,
If you guys have been listening for some time now,
it's been what three years now, Basically, I go to
(00:24):
a really really bad place when the holidays roll around,
or especially when my birthday comes around, because they I
have well, I had a twin and she didn't make it.
So there's just an emptiness there that I'm already aware
(00:52):
of and I have to deal with every year, and
so I usually try to be alone as much as
possible during my birthday. I don't really like celebrating my
birth I never really liked celebrating my birthday very much.
But Mary and Alex, you know, they're they're here, They're
(01:16):
a part of my life, so you know, I just
can't get rid of them, and so I'm actually glad
that they are around, and they they do understand. Mary
understands what I go through. Alex not so much yet,
but he does know that Papa isn't right during his birthday,
(01:40):
and so he he doesn't he doesn't jump on me
as much, so that that's why I haven't been on
since the last episode. I believe that was the Delaware episode,
if I can remember correctly. I haven't checked actually during
(02:01):
the hiatus, I really don't check any of the stats.
I hope they did well. I got paid by speakers,
so that that's nice. But what happened, So, yeah, that's
that's what. That's where I went.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I went.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Into myself and so here I am.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I am back.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm feeling a little bit better. So I am here
back with you guys, and I appreciate the patience. But yeah,
if if you're new, just know that once in.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
A while, I do go on a little hiatus.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Not nothing against you guys, obviously, but I do take
time to myself. And yeah, so again, here I am.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
And so.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Alex's birthday was at the beginning of the month. May
second is Alex's birthday. So happy birthday, buddy. I know
a lot of people wished you well on Facebook and
on Instagram as well. And so we have a tradition,
a yearly tradition in which we go to my dad's house.
Boo is what what Alex calls him. Boo means grandpa
(03:21):
in Lao. If you are on the father's side, so
obviously he's my father, so he is alexis boo if
he if he was referring to his mom's side, of
his mom's side was was Laoh, he would call his
grandfather Patau, which just means old dad. So I would
(03:42):
rather be a boo than a plaut because it just
sounds better. It carries more weight too, obviously because of
the father's side. And so, yeah, yearly tradition ever since
maybe his second year, yeah, second birthday.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
We always go to my dad's house.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And my dad and my stepmom just love love Alex
and so they basically just you know, roll out the
red carpet for him. He has no rules when he
goes to Tabulu and Yah's house. So Alex loves it.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
He is ridiculously attached to my dad and I think
I talked about it briefly in the Delaware episode, But
my dad is just completely connected to Alex in in
ways that transcends talk. They can just sit in a
(04:43):
room and just watch TV and they'll be completely just
one person. Alex loves helping my dad in the garden.
He loves praying with my dad morning and night. Uh
if you are a Buddhists. You you offer breakfasts to
(05:07):
the ancestors and you pray, you know, for for a
good day. And then you at night you offer dinner
to the ancestors and you you you thank them for
for having a good day, for getting through the day.
And Alex loves doing that with with Blou morning and
(05:28):
night like he reminds him that it's it's time to
go pray.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And so.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, I'm obviously, I mean, this is gonna be weird
to talk about. But you know, when when my dad
eventually passes, hopefully you know, a very very long time
from now, I believe in my heart that he won't
(05:57):
leave Alex. And that's how close they are. And so
even after my dad passes, I think he's going to
stick around to make sure Alex is is okay, that
he's going to be protected. And I believe Alex will
be protected by his grandfather.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And so.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You know that's something that I've I've already made peace with.
We're gonna have to deal with my dad even after
he's gone. So you know, I always tell Alex, and
I've said this a few times already, that chance of
VI six never walk alone even after I'm gone, even
(06:40):
after Boo's gone, Like, Alex is not going to be alone.
And so, like I said, I believe that in my
heart that you know, he will be fine. He will
be good even without us, because obviously we're still going
to be sticking around. The ancestors will still be sticking
(07:02):
around kind of like kind of like Mulan, you know,
just just hanging around talking junk about each other. But yeah,
Alex loves going to Rochester every time we every time
we go to Rochester, Alex wants to move to Rochester,
New York. And he said it again, like obviously I've
(07:24):
said it that we were going to move, and Alex
has picked Rochester, New York to Mary's Sugar in because
obviously Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, they get a lot of snow.
And I'm perfectly fine with it because I'm used to
the snow. Like you know, New England, what the storm
(07:50):
of seventy eight, I want to say, I don't even
know anymore. To Rochester Buffalo Syracuse people, that's a Tuesday
that does scarce. Like I drive my little Honda Fit
all the time in the in the storms, rainstorms, snowstorms,
doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Like I will get through it.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Speaking of Vittoria, my AC went out today actually driving
an eighty degree weather, nice cold AC blasting, and all
of a sudden it just got hot, really really hot,
and instantly I just I knew like and then Honda's
(08:32):
are notorious for AC failure. So luckily it is a
very very small compressor, so I'm pretty sure I can
probably just find one at the Junkyard or something, so
it shouldn't be too expensive, probably four five hundred bucks
(08:53):
tops to get done completely, so I'm not too worried
about that.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Anyways.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Back to back to Alex bring his birthday at the
beginning of the month, we.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Went to Rochester, New York.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
We went to his favorite place aside from Booze House,
is the Strong Museum of Play and it is also
the Toy Hall of Fame, so that's pretty big. If
you you know, I have seen any toy in your life,
I'm pretty sure you have. That's where all the toys
(09:27):
go for the Hall of Fame. And about three two
three years ago they also opened up the Video Game
Hall of Fame, which I'm a personal fan of and
I've already posted some photos of that, and we spent
got four hours in there. I don't even know how
(09:47):
that happened. That we spent four hours at the Toy
Museum slash Hall of Fame, slash Video Game Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
We just did.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And we had a black and so.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We were hungry, and.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
We went to this Korean place and no, no, no, wait wait.
Before that, we went to the Lego Expo, which I
didn't even know was happening, and Alex had a budget
of a hundred bucks. Yeah, I know, it's his birthday,
so and he blew through that in like fifteen minutes.
(10:28):
So he was talking about, you know, he's very good
with money and he knows how to budget. And I said, buddy,
you just bought a figure for like thirty bucks just
by looking at and go, I want that. Didn't even
check the price, which I mean, you know that's how
ballers roll. But he didn't even check the price. Thirty bucks,
(10:48):
slams it down, let's go give me that thing, put
in a little baggy and fifteen minutes in one hundred
bucks down. So yeah, I have to I have to
take care of his finances for now. But yeah, it
was it was a wonderful surprise because the Toy Museum
wasn't open yet. It didn't open till like ten o'clock,
(11:09):
so the the expo was actually early, and so we
got in. We spent maybe an hour hour and a
half there. It was really really big. I didn't expect
it to be that big. And they were selling like
kids that were that were already like out of print,
(11:29):
not out of print, but discontinued.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
They were already discontinued, like a lot of Lego stuff.
Of course, it's Legos, a lot of Star Wars stuff, which,
come to find out, one of the Lego Bombers that
I bought for Alex for his I want to say
sixth Christmas birthday, No it was his, Uh no, it
was his birthday because he only he alway gets Legos
for his birthday. That was discontinued, obviously, and I remember
(11:54):
buying it from from Best Buy when I when I
was working there. I can say it now because you know,
I'm not gonna say the Big Blue Electronic story, because
everybody I know knows that I used to work a
Best Buy.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And the reason why I say is because they don't
sponsor me.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
But I have learned to free give and so I
bought it there. I got a discount obviously, and now
it's three times as much as what I paid for it.
So I just walking down that aisle of like seeing
discontinued sets and action figures, and I'm staring at a
(12:34):
couple of action figures right now.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I have.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
If you if you guys follow me on social media,
I am a big fan of the five Oh First.
We'll talk about that in a later episode in which
we myself and a group of friends started a dodgeball
team and we called ourselves the five Ole First and
(12:58):
that's how it started, and that's how it started our
love of the group the Flabo First from Star Wars
and a funny story about what Alex meeting an actual
member of the Fable First Battalion at a at a at.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
A kids museum.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And yeah, So I'm staring at these action figures right now,
and we priced them out, and I'm sitting on I
have a Captain FAsMA, by the way, she's leading my
legion because Alex has my Anakin somewhere and it's it's
probably completely destroyed. But Captain FAsMA and four Flavo First
(13:42):
figures are sitting on my desk right now, and I'm
looking at probably eighty bucks just from these guys alone.
I'm not sure what print that FAsMA is. There's a difference.
She is not the chrome one, just a regular gray paint.
The chrome one is a little bit more expensive. I
(14:04):
probably lost like thirty listeners already just talking about this,
but yeah, it The amount of money that is spent
on Legos when they almost went bankrupt like twenty years
ago is crazy. There's another place we went to that
(14:27):
also sells out of print Legos, and I'll get to
that later. But back to this Korean restaurant we went to,
I forget the name of it off the top of
my head right now, but they had this weird shaved
ice bird that looks like one of the birds from
(14:49):
what's that game with the mobile slingshot Anger Birds. Yeah,
so it looks like one of the Anger birds. And
Mary was just delighted to order this thing. It wasn't
even about the food. It was just past, let's just
order food, let's eat the food, bypass the food, and
let's just rereat to get to the dessert. And by
the time we got to the dessert, it was a
(15:11):
little disappointing.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
One of those things where it's like it looks good but.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Doesn't taste like it looks nor does it taste like
it costs, I want to say, And I'm saying this
because I'm the one that paid for it, and yeah,
not good at all. It was like a mango leachy
something and neither of those flavors are my favorite flavors,
so I didn't care too much for it. And then
(15:42):
we went to the to the Museum of Science, which
I was a big fan of because I'm a big
fan of science space full disclosure, space turns me on
and yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Asked Mary.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And we went to the to the space, not the
space in museum. See again, I'm thinking already thinking about
space again, but the Museum of Science, And unfortunately they
closed an entire an entire floor, but they still charge
a full price, obviously, because.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Why not.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And we unfortunately went during a school field trip and
so didn't really get to enjoy it as much. Lots
of screaming kids. I don't mind screaming kids, but when
there's an entire museum full of screaming kids, it's it's
(16:39):
a little hard, especially in a museum when you're trying
to read things and and they're playing like you know,
they're playing guided tours over the speaker system and you
can't even hear that. Yeah, it kind of takes the
flavor out of it. So we got out of there
pretty quickly. Didn't get our money's worth there unfortunately, And
(17:02):
then we went to to Powtermill Park in in. Uh
it's not Menden is it. I think it is men Yeah,
Mendon Pond. We went to Powtermill Park and fed the trout.
Alex loves doing that and it's really cool if you
guys never been there before. It's basically a hatchery for trout.
(17:23):
And a lot of the kids back in the day,
myself included our kids our age backfan knew of this place.
A lot of the older Asian adults didn't. And I
believe it was an unwritten rule that the kids never
(17:44):
told the adults about this. Because if if you grew
up with Asian people, any your neighbor, your your your parents,
people you knew in life if they were Asian they
love fishing and if they can get lots of fish
real quickly, they would. And so we as kids, as
(18:09):
as teenagers and as young adults made a a an
unwritten rule, a pact that we would never tell our
parents about Powdermill Park, no matter how beautiful it was,
because you literally can just take a net and just
(18:30):
scoop up a bunch of trout and then just go.
It's not protected, it's not enclosed, it's not fenced in.
I mean there's like a chain to stop the cars
from going into a parking lot at night, but I
mean you can just drive up there, take a net,
one big scoop into a garbage bag, and you're you're
(18:51):
good for like a week, if not two.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So we made a pact.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
We're not even saying a word to each other without
even knowing each other. All the all the young Asians
just didn't tell our parents about Pottermeil Park until they
got older. And so my dad has never gone to
Pottermill Park to look at the trout, and so we figured,
(19:17):
why not, why not? Why not take my parents this
time around. I mean, my dad's in his seventies, mid seventies,
my stepmom's in her late sixties, and so what's the harm?
What's the harm in this? So we took them to
Pottermill Park and they walked around and they fed the trout,
and you know, watched Alex feed feed the trout as well,
(19:41):
and they had a kick out of it. And my
dad comes up to me and goes, how come you
never told me about this place? And I just looked
at him and I go, because I know, you tell
your friends, and then they would tell their friends, and
then they would tell their friends and so.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
There wouldn't be any out left.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And he just looked down and had like this like
sly smirk come across his face, and he didn't say anything.
He didn't say a single thing, but he didn't have
to because he knew and I knew.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
That I was right that.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
We as young adults, were the keepers of the trout
at Pottermill Park. And I mean, he's too old to
do now. He doesn't remember how to get there. And
that's what it's like for all of our parents now,
like it's too far. All of our parents live either
(20:43):
twenty minutes or so away. So when you get to
a certain age, especially as an Asian, you don't want
to drive more than fifteen minutes. If it's more than
fifteen minutes, even if it's six ten minutes, it's not
worth it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
It's too far.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
And you don't want to do it. And so in
Rochester there are lots and lots and lots of Asian
grocery stores within two miles of each other because they
have to be strategically placed so that they're never more
(21:24):
than fifteen minutes away from old Asian people. And that's
not an exaggeration, that is the truth. Like you, if
you are in Rochester right now, think about it. Guys,
if you're listening to me in Rochester right now, think
of where your parents live and then find the closest
Asian grocery store to them, and I bet you it's
not more than fifteen minutes driving.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Think about it.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
If you live in Henrietta, you have the Asian grocery
store on Brian Henriette town line, or you have Lee
Orient that's in the same spot where Palmers is. If
you are in the city, there's three four grocery stores
(22:15):
within a mile. And so, like I said, Asian people
don't like to drive far, so that's why they usually
stay where they are.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I mean, my dad's traveled near and far when he.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Was younger, but now that he's older, he's in Rochester,
New York he's like's in the mid seventies, shovels the
driveway every year, complains about it every year. But it's
the closest he's going to go any further. Walmart is
(22:51):
thirteen minutes away. Yeah, so Walmart, Wegmans within ten to
thirteen minutes. That's the farthest he's going. He's not leaving there.
I'm going to have to drag him out of that house.
So that's just that there's a little bit of insight
(23:11):
to my dad there. So Potter Mill Park and then
we went there twice, once just Mary, Alex and I
and then the second time we brought my parents and
then you know, it was time to say goodbye. Like
we had his party. Alex doesn't like parties. He doesn't
like being the center of attention, and so we didn't
(23:32):
really have a birthday party for Alex. We just kind
of just had to get together and we have pizza
and wings. And here's the funny thing about pizza and
wings is that it is a treat for my family
because my mom, my stepmom, does lots and lots of cooking.
(23:56):
She cooks all the time, even while we're asleep, she's
up cooking. She goes to bed at seven o'clock. She
wakes up at like one or two starts cooking.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
You know, she also cooks for the monks tow so
she's up early and she's cooking all sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And she loves it.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
She loves it, and you can tell she loves it
because it's fantastic. And around four in the morning, Alex
will wake up, and usually my parents are done, they're
done with their early morning activity already, so he opens
the door, he peeks his head out. He doesn't see
(24:41):
any commotion downstairs, so he comes back to bed. All
the while, my parents are in their room waiting for
him to come in at four in the morning, and
so they're opening their door peeking their head out to
see if Alex is peeking his head out. And I
can hear this because I'm a very light sleeper, so
I can hear doors opening and closing, opening and closing
from four in the morning till five in the morning.
(25:03):
And I'm not asleep anymore. I'm just I'm just waiting
for that moment to happen. And so when the magic happens,
when the two doors finally open at the same time
and they meet each other's gaze. Alex just takes off.
He doesn't close the door after himself. He just takes off,
runs into a grandparents room, and then just turns on
cartoons and then just has it for for four five
(25:27):
hours at a time. And we wake up and there's
breakfast ready for us, because yeah, I's already been up
cooking god knows what, but you know what, it's fantastic.
Sometimes I don't even know what she puts in front
of me, but I'm going.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
To eat it because it's it's good.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And so to us, that is a that is a
treat because I, while I do cook love food, I
don't cook a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I don't cook a variety of it.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
There's it's I know certain recipes and those are the
ones that I cook.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
And so when we go to my parents'.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
House, obviously I gain a lot of weight. In fact,
I gained three pounds when I was there. And so
that is a treat for us. But in reverse, when
Alex comes to celebrate his birthday, that's when my parents
order pizza and wings. And that's a treat for them
(26:24):
because they have al food all the time. And while
yes they can order pizza. The language barrier is still
a thing. My dad still refuses to acknowledge that he
does speak English fairly well. But he likes to be
you know, he likes to pretend he doesn't, and so
he doesn't order pizza until we're there. So he waits
(26:46):
a full year or half a year to get his pizza,
and he gets a lot of it, like two sheets,
and he doesn't eat very much, but you know, he
does get down on on on the pizza and the wings.
And so that's what we had to celebrate Alex's birthday.
(27:07):
And it was time to go, and of course Alice
was sad, and you can see it in him. He
didn't he doesn't want to talk the entire time we're
getting ready. And the same Kubi said for my parents,
like they they know they don't get to see him
very often, and so they're sad as well. And it's
(27:30):
it's bettersweet, you know, we get we get to see them,
they get to see us, and but unfortunately it does
feel good, fortunately, and unfortunately it does feel.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Good to come home.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
And even though I hate this town, I hate this apartment,
I hate the people in this building that isn't us.
It does feel good too, to sit in your own chair,
to lay down in your own bed and put your
head down on a pillow that is yours.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
And so.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
When we get home, I call my parents, tell him
we're here. But that's it, because any more than that
it gets emotional. I mean, like I said, Alex and
my father are very close, very attached, and so when
(28:34):
they get used to seeing each other every day, like
every second. Wherever my dad is, that's where Alex is.
And when they finally have to separate and we're home,
I don't FaceTime.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I don't I don't do video calls.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I just let them know that we're home, and Alex
will say goodbye, you know, He'll say hi, he'll say
good bye, and that's about it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
He doesn't.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Want to think about not being without his grandpa.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And so.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I realized that a couple of years back when he
first got super super attached to my dad. And I
remember one time when my dad went to the temple
without him, and Alex doesn't like going to the temple,
but my dad went there without him, and he was
just upset. He wouldn't talk to us, he wouldn't talk
(29:35):
to me, he wouldn't talk to Mary. He wouldn't even
talk to my stepmam. And my dad came home and
Alex just sat there brooding, and my dad goes, what's
wrong with him? I said, well, he's kind of pissed
at you because you went to the temple with Autumn.
And my dad went over and apologized to him and
gave him a big hug and a kiss, and things
(29:55):
were good again, you know, they're they're back to being
buddies again. And when we had to say oah goodbyes,
Alex got teary eyed. And we got home and a
video called my parents and said that we're home.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I said, hey, Alex, come say good you know, say
hi to and he just looked at the screen and
he just stared at the screen. He didn't say anything,
and I knew that he was just like he would
rather be there with them than just stare at them
through the screen. And so I since then, I don't
(30:37):
do video calls after we get home. Like I can
do a video call right now and if they pick up,
they'll talk to each other perfectly fine, because it's not
they've had time apart, and so the bond is a
little bit less. I guess you can say, but when
(30:58):
they just separated, it still takes a toll on him,
and so I know not to do that anymore. But
then we came home and then we we kind of
just went to bed because the next day we woke up,
we had to drive to Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, because Mary
(31:21):
had something planned. She had rented a hotel room for
the day in Plymouth and she was gonna get him
more Legos for his birthday at I forget this place
what it's called, but it's a place that sells figures
and discontinued Legos again, and so she.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Bought him a.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Marvel iron Man set I believe that was discontinued, and
a police station that was discontinued.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
And I don't like to think.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
About it, but it was over two hundred bucks. And
I made him keep the box in good condition. I
made him what the pieces back in the box when
he was done, kind of like a lego, kind of
like a puzzle. You know, when you're done with a puzzle,
you put all the pieces back in the box and
you put them on the shelf. That's what I told
him to do. Like, we spent a lot of money
on these. Well, Mary spent a lot of money on it, and.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
You know appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
So when you're done building it and you don't want
to display it anymore, take it apart, put it back
in its packaging, and we'll put it on the shelf,
and if you want to do it again, we'll do
it again. We have a Razorcrest black addition in his
closet that my cousin bought for him. If you don't
(32:37):
know what a Lego Mandalorian Razorcrest Black addition costs, look
it up, because yeah, it says ages ten and up.
So I let him get the figure, let him get
a man, let him take the figure out of the box.
But I haven't let him take the Razorcrest out of
(33:01):
the box yet because I said that we're not going
to build it until we have a house, until we move,
and so it is still in the closet. Razorcrest Black addition.
We're gonna do it eventually.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
But it is it is very expensive.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I'm probably going to superluit and display it.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
But we got that. We got those legos.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Then we went to the trampoline park and we trampled
around for an hour.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I was tired.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I was just tired because not because I'm old, well
partly because I'm old, but I had been driving for
a very long time, driving from Rochester, New York to Dairry,
New Hampshire, which is about six plus hours, going to sleep,
waking up, and then driving from Dairry, New Hampshire to Plymouth, Massachusetts,
(33:56):
which is another three hours because traffic, because you got
to go through Boston, and I hate it. I hate
driving through Boston. I hate everything about Boston really. I
hate Boston teams, I hate Boston Baked Beans.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, all of it.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
So we get there and I completely was oblivious. I
love history, and I was completely oblivious to the fact
that Plymouth, Massachusetts is where the Pilgrims landed. And so
when we finally get there, we settle in. There was
a small party gathering happening at the hotel. I really
(34:37):
didn't pay too much attention to it. And we walk
on and go, oh my god, we're in We're in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
We're We're where the Pilgrims landed. I have to see
Plymouth Rock. I've never seen Plymouth Rock before, and again
in my head, Plymouth Rock giant, huge boulder. I know
for a fact that it is a tiny, little little thing,
(35:00):
but in my head, I'm building it up again. And
so we got something to eat. It got cold, and
so Mary and Alex went back to the hotel room.
So here I am eating a double burger and two
servings of fries, and I got full, so I took
the fries to go, and I just kept on walking.
(35:22):
I was I was fine. I had just walked a mile,
so I'm fine. I'm nice and warm, like the sun
is just setting. It's one of those perfect New England
harbor towns. Like if you if you picture New England
sunset harbor, like all of the all of the catalogs,
(35:46):
all of the YouTube videos, all of the things that
you see that you picture New England harbor town, that's
exactly what Plymouth, Massachusetts looked like at that time. That
that is the New England that I fell in love with.
Like that's what brought me to New England. Not the city,
not the horrible accent, not the dunkin Donuts at every corner.
(36:07):
The harbor town is what made me fall in love
with New England. And I was just taking it in
like it was just beautiful. It was breezy, not too cold,
not too hot.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It was. It was perfect. It was.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
It was a perfect time. And I just kept walking
and I stumbled upon the the Plymouth Rock I was.
I wasn't even looking for it. I figured it would
be farther away, but I was right there. And I
looked down, you know, looked down at it and looked
(36:42):
at the little jettiway that that the boat would have
came in and landed on said rock, and I just
imagined what what it would be like like just boom,
crash land on the beach boat. There you are, and
there's this little rock. This it's this is just sitting
and it might not even be the actual rock. It
(37:03):
could just been a legend, but carved in it is
sixteen twenty and I guess that's when they landed. And
there we are Plymouth Rock.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Hooray.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
It's about the size of my computer desk. And it
was really cool to see. And again I know people
were like, oh, it's disappointing. I thought it would be bigger,
but it's still history. And again I love history, and
so I saw it. I wish I could have touched it,
but I did take a picture of it.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
I'll post it on.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Instagram, and I got Alex to stand next to it
the next day and take a picture of where his
ancestors landed. So that was really nice.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
And so.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
The night after I saw After I saw Plant Rock,
I went back home, not home, but I went back
to the hotel room. I had already eaten all the fries,
so I came back empty handed. But I got Alex
a little cupcake for his birthday because that was actually
his birthday day. We celebrated at my parents' house, but
wasn't his actual birthday, so I got him a cupcake,
(38:16):
and you know, we just settled into the room. I
went out for some reason. I think I forgot something
in the car, so I went out, and then I
saw what the little gathering had turned into. I didn't
know at the time, but I saw a gentleman dressed
(38:37):
in an American flag with a cowboy hat. I saw
another woman dressed as an American flag, and then I
saw that it was being hosted by bad Lands Media,
independent thinking, like minded individuals, and I thought to myself, hmmm,
(39:06):
let's look a little more into this. So I go
over to the little table that they that they had
spread out. They had a nice little spread there. They
had hats and t shirts and and and hoodies and
all that, uh lots of white hoodies, which was odd,
I thought. And then I read the uh that I
(39:28):
read about it a little bit more and they were
celebrating the the one hundred days of Trump in administration,
and I I, oh, that's what that was. And so
I I went back and I went back to the
(39:50):
hotel room and I said, uh, I don't think I
don't I don't think I should be out in the
hallway right now to Mary.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
And she's laughing. She's like why.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I go, well, let me show you a picture. And
so I showed her a picture that I took and
she goes, what is this?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
So I had to google. I had to google.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Bad Lands media and she goes, no, yeah, yep, she goes,
it can't be I go, no, no, it's true. It
is the Great American Restoration Tour from May first to
May fourth at Plymouth, Massachusetts. And what's funny about it
(40:40):
is the hotel didn't say anything about the Great Restoration
Tour on their events calendar. They kind of just kept
that under wraps, but.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
It was there.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
It was interesting. I didn't talk to anybody there. But
they were having a grand o time, and I said,
I'm just gonna stay in this hotel room until it's
time to go. And then I thought about it.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Uh I, I think.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
They were they were they were staring by the way
they were staring at me, and I just had a
white T shirt on and black shorts, and uh I
just walked around like I owned the place, really, and
so they probably saw me as like a tech millionaire
or something like that. And he's cool, He's cool, he's
a tech millionaire. But then I thought, I'm not the
(41:37):
one that should be worrying.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
It should be the housekeeping staff that.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Should be worried. Luckily, nothing nothing, no big incident. But
I just thought that was funny. And yeah, that that
was a That was Alex's birthday and he had a
good time. He was very sad that his his birthday
was over and so it's not special anymore and he's
just going back to his normal, boring days. He had
(42:06):
to go back to school and yeah, so he had
a little bit of little little shot of brattiness where
he was allowed to do things. It was kind of
like the purge. He was allowed to get away with
certain things for a little bit, but had to snap
him back to reality. Thanks Eminem and no. Overall good
(42:28):
time and hopefully created some core memories for him. He's
still playing with the legos, so that's that's good. He
hasn't destroyed them yet and so good times. I'm glad,
Like I'm glad I got to share those times with him,
(42:48):
even though even though he was quite annoying during his birthday,
I will say, but no, I mean my son, I
love him. He's annoying because I'm annoying, And no, I'm
glad I got to share this time with him. And
that's why I do enjoy my work. My work is
pretty pretty easy for me. I mean, I do a
(43:11):
lot of talking, which is what I do now, so
I'm pretty good at it. And it also allows me
to spend a lot more time with Marianne with Alex,
and so I appreciate the Deutsche Telecom. So yeah, that
was That was Alex's birthday. My birthday again, I kind
(43:36):
of just kept myself. My birthday was just recent May fourteenth,
thirteen and fourteen, by the way, both legal. I think
I explained that a couple times already. My birth certificates
is May thirteen. My immigration certificates is May fourteen, so
both are legal documents, and so I have two birthdays
a year, and no, I do fall into a deep,
(44:00):
dark depression where thoughts do you creep into my head,
especially as I get older. Especially when I promised myself
when I was twenty three years old that I would
be dead by the time I was forty five. Twenty three,
(44:20):
I was in a really, really bad place, and I
think if you listen long enough, you already know where
I was at that time and place in my head.
But you know, I doubt I don't see forty five
as the end anymore, but in the back of my head,
(44:43):
I still keep that as a as as a milestone,
like I have to get to forty five, and if
I get beyond forty five, bonus time. I mean, episode
three of this podcast will tell you that I have
(45:07):
gone to the very bottom. There is no rock bottom
after episode three. So that's why when I'm out in public,
when I'm with friends, when I'm with family, I'm enjoying
(45:27):
every single bit of it. I might not look like
I'm enjoying it because I have that face. I have
that face where it's either as Mary puts it, it's
either very simple or very angry looking. And I'm an
old Asian man, what do you want? But no, I
(45:48):
enjoy everything because when you're when you've gone that low,
everything else is up. And so I appreciate everything. I
enjoy everything. I got bit by an ant today and
I didn't kill him, so I felt something. Now I
(46:14):
got bit by ant today and I just flicked them off,
So yeah, every thing is bonus time. Now I forget
what I saw today. It was like a quote that
I saw today that really really hit and I'll look
it up eventually, but it was something along the lines
(46:38):
of trying to trying to say this without making it
sound too like too corny. It's something along the lines
of you can't get you can't add days to your life,
(47:00):
but you can add life to your days.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And that was like super profound. Like even me now.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Living a fairly decent life, I can't complain. I won't
complain about it. But when I read that, I'm like, damn, yeah, yeah,
that's right. So that's where we're gonna end it, guys.
I'm living a good life, living my best life right now.
Forty four years old. Hoof man, everything still hurts, but
(47:36):
I appreciate you guys listening. I appreciate you guys hanging around,
and even after my hiatus, I'm back. So thank you
for listening and I will see you guys next week.
As always, well being young, all right, Bye,
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