About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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June 12, 2008
I’m normally pretty blase about the graduation thing. I’ve even been thinking that, if and when I finally go to graduate school, I’m not going to walk when I graduate. I’m not particularly comfortable with all that attention, pomp and circumstance. And really, who isn’t bored at graduation ceremonies? Still, I paid my good-cousin dues yesterday, literally and figuratively, attending my little cousin’s high school graduation.
Man, that kid’s impressive. He’s this gangly kid that I’ve watched grow up, tolerated Power Rangers for, hung out with every Thanksgiving and suddenly he’s graduating from high school as a valedictorian, National Merit Scholar and … *drumroll please* a Presidential Scholar!
Holy. Crap. Seriously, holy crap. He even gave the best speech of all the speeches. I’m not just biased, it was funny, irreverent, and so not full of himself and his memories like everyone else’s typical “I remember first walking onto this campus four years ago….” Oh, the references to “four years ago” were rampant. My favorite line of his? “In the end, I’m just that Asian kid with good grades, whose speech you won’t remember a word of tomorrow, but for tonight at least, I hope the teachers have a sense of closure and know that they’ve done their best with us.”
I’m so proud of him I could burst. But he’s always going to be my little cousin. And the look on his face when we got home, before he got ready to leave for Grad Night, was priceless: “Wow. No more high school.” Heh. Yep.
From my jaded post-college, workaday experiences, I almost replied, “Yeah, and that confidence, that top of the world feeling you’ve got? Enjoy it now, because it’s going to be a while before you’re that flush with pride and surety again.” I didn’t. For one thing, that’s mean. And for another, it’s probably not true.
I know he’s going to face some tough times eventually, but I get the feeling that it’s going to be a while yet. He’s whip-smart, he could make air bleed, he’s so sharp. He didn’t coast to the top, I know he worked hard, so he won’t be shocked by having to work in college like some of my smart friends were. Lordy, I remember my friends and I at that age. We were so very much not life-smart; I could only wish I were half as smart as he. We were so immature, and had so much to learn. And despite the astounding academic achievements, he’s the same way: he’s still so young and a little naive. He’s even following his big sister to college because he wants to be where she is. I’ll never say this to him, but how cute is that?? I hope that they never lose that relationship, because every really smart person always needs someone to look up to and keep them grounded.
Is this confidence really just my need to believe that for him, at least, life will continue like a dream?
Maybe it is, but I feel pretty maternal about my little cousins, and it’s my job to hope that nothing ever goes wrong for them.
P.S. For the first time ever, I was totally prepared for a graduation: sunglasses for the sun, dress for the heat, and my beloved trench for when it got cold three hours later. Perfect! I think my CPW on that trench has now dropped below $1/wear. Yesssss.
Do yourself a favor and save yourself a really uncomfortable visit to the dentist. I don’t mean skip it entirely! Even though I didn’t have a copay, I was levied a toll of the worst dental pain ever on Monday. As a rule, I like the dentist. Admittedly, this is because I’ve been fairly lucky and have had very few cavities. Also, the dentist pales in comparison to the torture of the orthodontist under whose heel I suffered for years.
So, coming from someone who doesn’t fear the dentist and enjoys dental visits: please, please floss right or you will quickly learn why people rate fear of the dentist second only to public speaking.
Turns out that there is a wrong way to floss: my way.
I’ve been using a Reach flosser because I always complain that my hands are too big to fit inside my mouth. It’s been so long that I’ve given away all my free regular floss from all those Walgreens FAR deals. I might have an old dusty box hiding in a supplies box somewhere, and I’ll have to break it out now.
This is how you floss correctly:
1. Take a long string of floss, wrap it around your fingers.
2. Wrap a section of the floss around your tooth in a C shaped, and scrape it so that you’re hitting the front and back of your tooth. (Ugh, I don’t like the thought of scraping. But it’s better to floss that way than have the dentist doing it later!) Do the same for the other side.
3. Use a new section for every tooth. This prevents you from just moving bacteria from one tooth to the next one.
It’s pretty simple, but I sure wish my dental school friend had told me this earlier!
June 11, 2008
Wow. I was suddenly overwhelmed by fluttery feelings of anxiety, stress, fear? Deep (yoga) breathing and playing my Italian podcast for a soothing background helped a little. I thought taking work with me would be helpful too.
I’m definitely stressed about the mountains of work on my desk, not getting done, because there was a miscommunication about my cousin’s graduation that is not tomorrow. It’s today! I can’t believe how close I came to missing it. Thank goodness I checked the ticket this morning, otherwise I’d have been fielding a phone call after the ceremony to explain what an idiot I am.
Anyway, this work on my lap isn’t precisely occupying me, nor is anything quite distractionary enough.
I need a nap!
LB interviewed a high schooler for an internship today. But his dad not only brought him here, he’s sitting in on the interview.
Huh?
I remember a handful of interviews from high school, and a parent may have driven me to each one, but they certainly never accompanied me to the door, walked me in, or interviewed with me. Then again, I was a latchkey kid, and pretty independent early on.
Is it just me, or is that weird?
While exploring my points hoards further, I made the discovery that, by golly, Starpoints are actually quite nice! I wish there were a faster way to earn points than the standard 1 point per dollar on regular purchases, and 2 points per dollar for stays and SPG-related purchases.
The key (not the standard free hotel stays) awards that caught my fancy:
1. Nordstrom GC: 14,000 points for $150/9,500 points for $100/5,000 for $50
2. Banana Republic GC: 9,500 points for $100/5,000 points for $50/2,800 points for $50
3. For BD, Starbucks: 9,500 points for $100/5,000 points for $50/2,800 points for $50
4. Westin at home (if you want a Heavenly Bed): 14,000 points for $150/9,500 points for $100/5,000 for $50
5. 50% off rack rates (if you can’t get a deal at your popular destination): 1,000 points for 50% off rack rates for up to five nights. Good for up to Category 6 (read: most luxurious) hotels.
6. Nights and flights: 60,000 Starpoints for 50,000 airline miles and five free nights at a Category 3
7. Amtrak Guest Rewards: convert your points into train miles.
This makes me want to re-evaluate my credit cards portfolio and figure out where I can shoehorn in the Starwood card again. I’m content with my current mix, but I may want the flexibility of such rewards in the future.
June 10, 2008
It’s not all selfishly motivated: one of my 20 chores is to walk the dog which I’ll be too tired to do after hauling my heavy bag for 25 minutes. She’ll be so disappointed because we missed yesterday’s walk too.
It’s a beautiful day out. The sun’s shining, sky’s blue, it’s warm, I remembered to use my new sunscreen this morning. But I don’t want to walk home from the train station. I usually enjoy a nice quiet walk, it’s good exercise, it saves gas, but I just don’t want to. I’m tired and have twenty things to do when I get home and just want to be picked up. If my awareness of how bratty I’m being were less acute, I’d call my uncle and ask for a ride.
But no. I oughtn’t even be grumbling. I’m lucky to live a mile away so that it’s perfectly walkable. Just being a bad pf blogger today. Guess I’ll walk off the grumpiness!