Thoughts at the steering wheel

In the last month, I've been in two accidents. The first as a passenger with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephews. I saw it coming as we rear-ended a car on the I-5 heading north. Both airbags were activated and the car was totaled. Luckily, no one was injured but the accident definitely left a dent in our psyche. The next morning, Elliott, my 5 year old nephew, unexpectedly burst out into tears at the breakfast table remembering the trauma of the accident. It's interesting... that with any other sort of trauma, you would avoid whatever activity that led to it for some time... but with driving, you're back on the road almost immediately whether it may be as a driver or passenger without much time to process it.

A couple weeks after this accident, once again, I was in a car accident. Except this time Dave and I were rear-ended on the 210-W heading to work. Again, not much time to process it. Ever since these two accidents, I have been on edge whenever I see brake lights or when we change lanes. I had a dream a couple nights ago that we were spinning on the highway and a bus T-boned us.

I want to have something profound to say about the fleeting nature of life and about the need to seize the day! But.. mostly, I just want to say... wear your seat belt.

Americans for a night!

Last Saturday, Dave performed at Uncle Reds Pizzeria in Bellflower. Suzanne and Danny Gallego, whom we met through Cornerstone, have been inviting us to try their delicious pizza for ages and finally they suckered us in by asking Dave to perform at their Uncle Red's Acoustic Brew. BTW, their pizza lived up to the wait. The musicians got free pizza and beer for their groupies!!

My cousin, Grace, performed with him for a couple songs and invited her family. I'm so glad my uncle and aunt got to see him perform. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone in my family has seen him perform live (except for Tim who opened for him at the Jameson Brown gig). Uncle Peter exclaimed, "We get to drink beer and eat pizza like real Americans!"

Dave did wonderfully. He was witty, charming and very talented. He's been recording songs for his new EP at home, DIY (do-it-yourself) style and I think the quality of his recordings has improved drastically, not to mention his stage manner too. I'm glad to see him so happy doing what he does. And I'm glad my family got to see what he does too... American style!

My Grandfather's wisdom

Dave and I had the day off yesterday... and with some dilemma as to where we should go on a day trip, we decided to head to Orange County to have lunch with Grandpa and Grandma. While Dave and Grandpa talked about their family histories, I helped Grandma go through her meds and medical history and made a little pocket list for them to carry around. Apparently, she was admitted in January for an angiogram. I had no idea! So much for their RN granddaughter.

We then spent the afternoon with Grace, my cousin, in Huntington Beach... Lena, my other cousin, joined us for dinner at Tokyo Table and we ended our evening chatting at Grace's house with the family and Danny. We shared stories of our times with Grandpa.

Uncle Peter gave us a story of when they had just moved to California. Peter had finished junior college and was working, helping out with their landscaping business, making nearly $5000 a month. Pretty good for the 70's. He remembers Grandpa advising him to save up for a year and make a down payment on a house, or even two. Grandpa had run many businesses in Korea and knew it was a great time in the housing market to invest. At the time, Peter thought it was such a ridiculous idea... but now when he thinks back, it could have potentially been one of the best moves he may have made in his lifetime if he had. Grandpa was a wise man.

I then said to Uncle Peter, if we follow the logic that Grandpa is a wise man, then the advice he gives now must be even more valuable since he has lived the bulk of his life. Looking back to our lunch with him, I remember all he kept repeating to Dave and me was to hurry and have children. "Nothing is more important than having children and expanding your family."

Thoughts at the kitchen sink

What an interesting culture and generation I live in. In which, at times, I unconsciously and passively participate in. Society tells us to go to school for higher education to have higher paying salaries so that we can pay back what we couldn't pay for in the first place. We need to buy a house we can't afford, borrow money to do it, and spend our lives paying it off.

I would hate the day when my job wasn't something I enjoyed but became just a means to pay off what I've borrowed.