Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

A touch of curbing

One of the worst feelings as a car enthusiast is doing damage to your own car. One day you’re driving along, having a good time, and then boom. Apparently you took a turn too sharply, and the back wheel had a brief kiss with the concrete curb. And now your wheel has a rather nasty rash on it. And by you, I mean me. It seems there is no car in my ownership history that I’ve not hit the wheel on the curbs at least once.

Perhaps I should take up the finance manager on the extra wheel and tire insurance next time…

Speaking of driving: now that my dad is proper retirement age, it slightly worries me whenever he gets behind the wheel. It’s plain fact that as we age, our attention and reflexes deteriorates. It only takes one scant moment of inattention for something negative to happen. If I can carelessly misjudge a corner, then my father at twice my age is just that much more accident-prone. It’s not a value judgement, simply math.

Whenever I get in my friends’ vehicles, I never have to stress about their driving. I can afford to pay zero attention to the road, and have pleasant conversations. Not so when riding in my dad’s Toyota RAV-4. I am compelled to pay attention to the road for him, on the off chance that his total bandwidth isn’t enough to spy that rogue truck that is running a red light. Who knew that getting driven around can be so un-relaxing.

So I solved the problem completely: whenever I am on the road with my dad (my mother doesn’t drive), I will always be the one driving. This gives me peace of mind, and also puts my destiny in my own hands. If the BMW M2 gets damaged - a wheel curbing, for example - I want it to be me who did it. Then I get to stew in my own stupidity for at least the rest of the day.

It's up to me now

My dad is scheduled to retire after the end of this year. A well-deserved long rest after over four decades of toil. And I do mean toil: working in construction back in China, and then laboring in a warehouse here in the States, before ending up back in construction. It was non-stop, with scant vacations. Dad’s ceaseless work sustained our family through some tough monetary times. My current life would not be possible without his dedication to the family.

Now that he is retiring, it is time for me to return the favor. That’s the rule in Chinese culture: you must be filial to the parents. After my dad stops working, his only income will be from Social Security. There isn’t a grand retirement account to draw money from. Remember: our family was near the poverty line for a long time. Back then, the money coming in went straight to supporting a family of four. It was always going to be relying solely on Social Security after retirement - for dad and my mom.

Obviously, the monthly Social Security check is going to be far less than the paycheck my dad is getting from his job. That means the current lifestyle supported by that salary will either need supplementation, or hugely adjusted down. The day-to-day fixed costs - such as food and rent - can be covered by the Social Security check. Where I come in to supplement is during outings and special occasions. It’s up to me to pay for the that restaurant bill. Same with plane tickets and accommodations when traveling as a family. Need a new vacuum cleaner? That’s going to be me as well.

Good news: I have a brother to split the load! My parents sure are smart to have two offsprings to support them in their latter decades. Half-joking aside, I dutifully relish the opportunity to give back to my parents. It’s the least I can do, a just reward for a life sacrificed for the kids.

Great news!

(DJ Khaled voice) Big life change alert: my housemates/landlords are having babies. That’s right, plural. They’re expecting twin boys coming due around September. We are all very excited for this next stage of life for them, though those of us living under this roof are going to rue the departure of peace and quiet. It’s going to be a rowdy few years (at least) until the babies grow into kids who can behave themselves. Earplugs for everyone! Well, not everyone: just me. My housemates actually have to wake up when the babies are crying.

As a noted lover for all things peace and quiet, I think there was some concern that I would move out of the house on this baby news. While indeed I do prefer absolute quiet, there is no way I’m abandoning this place. The only constant in life is change, and if I run away every single time it does, that costs a lot of money. Speaking of money, if I do move out, it would be difficult for my housemates to rent it out to another person. Incoming twin babies living right above you is not so attractive on an advert.

It would be unkind to remove an income stream just as they need it the most. The joke is: they’ve only budgeted for one kid! Besides, there’s no way I’m giving up living close enough to work that I can walk there.

Another big life change later this year is my dad retiring from work. At which point I would be old enough to have two retired parents. A sort of weird milestone that you really don’t think about at all until it creeps up on you. After slaving away for nearly thirty years - after immigrating to America from China - just so me and my brother can have a better life, the pending retirement is hugely deserved for my father.

Meanwhile, my housemates are just about to begin that journey. It’s going to be chaotic around here.

Go back to where I came from

If things continue to go well, I reckon I can go back to China later this year. My home country seems to have finally given up the COVID zero dream. Citizens are allowed to move about the country freely, travelers from abroad need only a negative test, no more quarantining. All of this just in time for the massive Lunar New Year festivities (it’s this weekend).

Of course, a complete reversal of the previously harsh restrictions means COVID is running rampant in China. So much so the country is not even bothering with releasing numbers. They are essentially going through the waves we already saw here in the States and the rest of the world. The sad part is, the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) that we received are banned in China. They’ve only got the far least effective (effectively ineffective) home-grown Sinovac vaccine. Needless amount of the citizenry will be severely sick (or die) because of this.

This is why I have no short-term plans to visit China (after three long years away) to see family. I think it’s better let COVID run its course and reach a sort of equilibrium. Besides, my mother tells me those of us on the old 10-year tourist visa are still not yet allowed into the country. With the requirement that Chinese tourists coming into the United States must test negative (a logical move, honestly), China will certainly reciprocate in kind, if not even more restrictive, to U.S. travelers.

My father is scheduled to retire in July. The hope is that he will be able to return to China to live for a few months starting in autumn. I will then join him towards the end of December, my usual timeframe to go back home, back before the pandemic started.

Imagine that - I’m now old enough to have both parents retire completely. The seasons of our lives can seemingly change so suddenly.

Not so grand theft auto

A few weeks back, my father’s Toyota Corolla got stolen. Thankfully it wasn’t the strong-arm variety. The car was parked at his work when it got borrowed without permission. A vagrant waltz in through an open door and took, amongst other things, my father’s jacket. In it was unfortunately the car keys. I’m sure my father has learned his lesson of leaving any key unattended and away from him.

First order of business upon learning your car’s been stolen is to call the non-emergency police line to file a report. Then it’s a call to the insurance company so that whatever dangerous stunts the thief may pull, you’re not liable for. Then I guess you just wait to hear back from the police? Surely after a certain period (weeks?) the insurance would deem the car irretrievable, and cut you a check for the present value of the car.

That is, if the car is comprehensively insured.

Having to buy a replacement vehicle would not be the ideal outcome for us, because the car market right now remains insane. Due to the chip shortage, new and used car prices are super inflated. Even if the insurance check is large enough to cover the inflation, finding a car to buy is a challenge in it of itself. Car shopping these days is not fun at all, even if you’ve got the money. There just aren’t that many on the dealer lots to go around.

Lucky for my dad, police found the Corolla abandoned on a street some hours after the report was filed. It was then towed to an impound lot. It took about two weeks for the case to close, then we were able to go retrieve the car. No charge of any impound fees, which is nice and unexpected. The only expense out of this ordeal will be getting a new second key and recoding both at a Toyota dealership.

Immigrant dad

On a visit back home to my parents’ place, I noticed my father’s coffee mug has a large piece of gaffer tape at the bottom. I thought to myself: that it’s obviously broken! Why not buy another one? Then I realize my parents have that mentality that they won’t replace an item unless it’s absolutely broken. It’s that working-class, immigrant Chinese mentality. They wouldn’t dare to spend extravagantly on themselves, even if it’s just 20 bucks on a new coffee mug.

All (what little) of that disposable income go towards the children, and the future. Even if said children is fully grown (that’s me!) and the monthly paycheck isn’t so tight anymore.

So I had to step in. I went straight Amazon to buy a Yeti-branded coffee tumbler. The same one I’ve been happily using for well over a year. No more generic mugs from some random store in Chinatown for my father. He was so excited (in the Chinese immigrant dad sort of way, which is to say, not overtly) when I gave the Yeti to him. He immediately went to clean off the product labels, give it a solid scrub, then make a cup of coffee.

Finally. A proper mug.

A week later, my mom mentioned to me that father was very impressed with how long the Yeti tumbler kept the coffee hot. He’s really enjoying his cup of morning coffee these days. It wasn’t lost on me that it was mom who told me this, instead of father directly having a conversation with me. Some things don’t change! That’s fine, though: it makes me happy to be able to buy him something he wouldn’t have otherwise. A mere $30 dollar mug can do so much.

World Cup fever

It's World Cup season once again and it's always a special time because I get to enjoy watching the games with my father. Every four years we'd spend the month of June in front of the television taking in all the matches - or at least endeavor to. The 2018 edition is held in mother Russia and the time-difference makes things difficult: the games are held during the day our timezone so we can only properly watch on the weekends.

On campus the games are shown at the Student Union which is great because none of us need to work during the Summer, right? (Wrong).

Attending a World Cup game is on the bucket list so I am happy about the announcement the the 2026 games will be cohosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. it's Great news for America because Team U.S.A won't have to worry about not qualifying because host countries receive automatic berths - a genius move by our soccer federation. Anyways, I look forward to going to a live match with my father in eight year's time.

Might even kill two birds with one stone and go to a game in Canada because I've yet to travel to our northern neighbor.

FiveThirtyEight has a quiz that will tell you which team you should root for in the World Cup. I got team Deutschland so I shall root for them since USA is not in the tournament. Sadly Germany's first match against Mexico didn't go so well (spectacular game, though) but it's still early days for the defending champions.

The next three weeks should be quite exciting.