The Eleventh Little Indian Boy

Thursday, February 05, 2004:

I've decided to take some time off and concentrate on more tangible things.

Didn't want to take the beaten path by just ceasing to post altogether and leaving people out to hang.

Time for LIB to shake things up a bit.

I wanna be a cowboy baby.


"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. "

-Douglas McArthur


*This blog will self destruct in due time....=P



LIB // 11:48 PM

______________________

Wednesday, February 04, 2004:

Went to Costco last night for a quick dinner of polish sausage and soda. $1.50 has never been able to go as far anywhere else....=P.

While there I ran into a very bitter and vile old man. The Donut and myself were in line when I felt an icy jab right into the back of my arm. Upon turning around there was this little old Chinese man glaring back at me. He promptly raised two fingers into my face and demanded that we move forward (you see we were at the head of the line but stood a little bit further from the edge of the painted marker on the floor which indicated where to wait). Truthfully....I was pretty steamed....=P.

So the Donut moves on and I step up to the front of the pack in anticipation of finally getting my hands on some food. Suddenly, something brushes to my left and I quickly realize that the old man had deftly positioned himself right next to me at the head of the line. What the heck!!!? We were literally arm in arm! For the next few minutes he complains loudly about how bad the service was and menacingly waves his cane at the customer service reps zipping about behind the counter.

Eventually a register opens up and I felt great relief in finally getting away from this pest and rekindling the prospect of a nice cheap dinner. It wasn't more than two steps into my ascension when we locked horns again as he also moved forward towards the counter to order. This time I was pissed. I looked down at him and plainly asked him what he was doing. He responded in a very sarcastic and determined tone, "Oh, so I guess you're going to order first then?"

I just smiled and said, "Nah, you can go ahead."

As mad as I was it made no sense for me to quarrel with this person. I kept looking at him afterwards and just hoped that in some 50 odd years I wouldn't morph into the same type of disagreeable personality. It sparked a thought in my mind though. A concept of how different the times were for many of today's elderly generation during the primes of their lives. Adapting to the frenetic pace of present day America must be difficult for them. Especially the ones that immigrated over from a distant land (Ain't that right CHKLHG?). I'm also glad that Chinese tradition has taught me a certain type of respect for those that are considered elders. Too many times have I volunteered at various retirement homes and witnessed first hand how Western society traditionally deals with family as they get older. I'm not saying that this is wrong, but it makes me happy that we as Asians seem to place a greater amount of emphasis in taking care of our parents and relatives as the years go by.

I guess I still don't understand what that guy's problem was.....but in a wierd way.....I kinda do.


On a lighter note: Old couples that have been together for many years and still do all kinds of things in tandem totally rock.

WooHoo!!! I'm eating Japanese with the Capital tonight!! Sake Nigiri here I come!!!






LIB // 6:20 AM

______________________

Sunday, February 01, 2004:

Three unique tales of cars getting towed:

Story One: A little over a year ago Donut, J*NYCE, and myself decided to catch a matinee out at AMC 1000 in SF. The exact title that we went to view escapes me now, but the aftermath of the outing haunts me to this very day. While walking back to my car I notice that all of the cars had been cleared out from both sides of the street we were on. Donut gets a funny look in his eye and changes his stride into a full on run. By the time we get to a point one block away, we could clearly see a tow truck lifting my car up on it hind tires and begin to pull away. The three of us ran up to it as it was catching a turn and started to yell various things. The driver half smirked at us and simply replied...."Sorry".

Long story short....we had to run multiple blocks UPHILL to Shorty's house and borrow her car to bail mine out. When I think about it now the signs that the city posted were so close together (and spray painted) that it was easy to miss certain details in between the lines. No excuses though I guess....total cost including ticket: $250....=P

Story Two: A few weeks ago I got a late night call from JetSou as I was reading and getting ready for bed. It seemed that she mistakenly parked in a restricted zone and the DPT systematically towed her car upon discovery. Totally sucks right? We ended up driving down to Bryant street to pay the fines and spring her car from the impound lot. Luckily I was familiar with the procedure (hahahaha!) and it was almost no hassle at all for her to straighten things out. Both of us were in agreement that DPT was an evil empire and we were totally wondering how it was possible that people could be so cold hearted in indiscriminately doling out citations and other such annoyances. They don't even leave you any notice once your car is removed. As frustrating as such situations can be, DPT officers do have every right to issue punishments for most traffic violations....but why do they have to be so mean about it? Total cost including ticket: $250....=P

Story Three: Fast forward to this past Saturday evening. I was on duty as a volunteer for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce during Chinese New Years festivities. While driving a gigantic full sized van (to pick up a HK superstar that I had never heard of before), I came back to my reserved parking spot and found that some person had moved the reservation pylons on to the curb and taken the empty space. Pretty gutsy considering that the entire block was a white zone (filled with cars belonging to the Chamber) and those reservation markers were dotted everywhere.

Upon hearing of the events, a bevy of San Francisco's finest came rushing out of the event center to inspect the premises. In a very short time they decided to ticket the driver. Within 30 minutes his truck was off to the pound and I was safely nuzzling the whale back into its space. The one thing that was disturbing to me was that the cops seemed to have no problem living a little bit above the law, evidenced by alot of conversation which centered around how much of an &*$#(&*% the owner of the car was and what they were going to do to him.
Funny and concerning in the same breath. Total cost including ticket: probably $250....=P

It is really funny to me how I have experienced all facets (aside from the issuing) of the towing experience....personal....secondary....and accompanying. The bottom line remains that DPT sucks and I can't believe that they towed my car!!!! Right JetSou? Hahahaha.

A funny note on how my day unveiled itself. The weather was horridly cold and wet today. I went through atleast 6 or 7 independent stages of being wet and dry. How many times can a person get rained on in one day? Sigh.....I just hope that I don't catch a cold.

LIB // 9:36 PM

______________________