reunion

Last weekend was one of the first full Sundays I spent at home in a long time.

My dad came home around 5. Dragging his dirt-stained boots past the threshold, he told me to get dressed. I was in the living room, as awake as I was three hours ago when I first dragged myself out of bed.

We were going to a family get together. A death anniversary. Catholicism with Vietnamese-Buddhist mysticism suggests that in order for an ancestor to be able to ascend into heaven, their children must leave them fruits, incense sticks, and prayers. It's a final responsibility.

Shower. Jeans. Tee shirt. I got ready in fifteen minutes. Ten minutes later, I'm still waiting. Mom's gotta get ready. Twenty minutes later, still waiting. Nephew's gotta get ready. An hour later, my sister gets home. Time to go.

My sister announces she's going to walk and volunteers me. My nephew comes along. My dad puts away the keys. We all walk the two blocks to get there.

When we get to my aunt's house, I navigate the driveway of cars to get to the door. Going in, I don't see anyone.

They're in the back. I forgot my aunt built an extra room specifically for the ping pong table, which could double as a party room.

There were two generations in three different strata: the parents, the toddlers, and the college students-post grads.

There, I had a real conversation with my cousins. The first real one in probably three years.

It was nice. Plenty of food. Meat in all forms. Oysters on the half-shell. Kids loud. Parents chattering. Cousins reminiscing about old times.

My sister's planning to move to Chicago. I don't know the names of my younger cousins.

After that first generation is gone, after those immigrants are all dust, I wonder which one of us will be responsible for making sure their souls are taken care of.

Day 1 - Day 13

I've been taking pictures for quite a while but I've uploaded little of it outside of Facebook. I skipped about eight days of picture-taking in my last month or photo-ing so I'm going to have to cheat and backlog them. I promise there will be enough variety. Warning, the "Days" are arbitrary, some of the pictures I included here came from the same day/set. I only doubled/tripled up to compensate for some of my missed days.

Beginning on August 19, 2008:

Day 001



Guess Outlet at Great Mall in Milpitas, CA. I was waiting for my boyfriend to finish in the dressing room when I saw this sale section behind the register.

Day 002



San Francisco, Glen Point, outside the BART station. Looked for the zoo, but the journey was fruitless.

Day 003



BART station in Fremont. It was about 8:30 pm. Few days left of summer.

Day 004



1 AM ish, Brian's. He got himself some shoes and he got me a stuffed animal from UC Irvine.

Day 005



My sister zipping up a beautiful purple dress for my mother to try on at a family party. The mole on her back is a remnant of a skin cancer scare fourteen years ago. I remember, as a four year old, my mom was sitting on the doctor's inspection recliner: in her eyes were tears and a terrible fear. I remember being frightened.

Now, at nearly 50 years old, she still wears decadent dresses and clothes as if the world was her award show. Go ahead mom, let them stop and stare. I'll be sad the day you retire to be frumpy.

Day 006



This is the window high up near the ceiling at Brian's. I thought it was an interesting contrast, the small prison of color and the severe shapes and angles of the white. I'm here way too often. I wonder if his parents complain about it.

Day 007



Old man watching a baseball game. I wonder what he's thinking about.

Day 008



Tree at the park in Brian's neighborhood. The lichens are the snow of summer.

Day 009



An overview of Berkeley at the rooftop of Sharmeen's apartment. Views like these send tiny pangs of regret down my spine.

Day 010



John being acquainted to Miranda's dogs. They were large, fascinating creatures. Taller than me.

Day 011



There was a scent in Brian's room that we couldn't quite place. After digging around for a bit, we uncovered some Tupperware that had been festering in his room for some time. And this isn't the first time: we found a Kurtz-ified banana once.

Day 012



Here are Brian's expensive shoes walking, walking, walking. It's something people need to do more often.

Day 013



Calapalooza at Berkeley. It was invigorating and got me excited for prospects of UCLA.

And that finishes off August! Onto September.