The roses are blackened
The violets are dead
Your liver is poisoned
By sugar and bread.
The news is disheartening
An Orange Cretin is King
Republicans gloat
And won’t do a damned thing. Continue reading An Anti-Valentine for America (#175)
Category: Wedding
Cakes & Bellwethers (#138)
When I started working as an assistant for the Empress of International Film and Television Sales, it was a temp job, to make ends meet while I tried to make it as a screenwriter. But the Empress was soon addicted to my organizational skills. I was soon addicted to my paycheck and health insurance.
I worked long hours. In at 7-8 AM to deal with Europe, out at 7-8 PM after dealing with Asia. Right before film markets, the hours were even longer. At film markets and festivals, you were on duty 24-7. There were perks, though. Tables at the best restaurants had to be booked months in advance, with a deposit. If my boss got invited elsewhere, guess who got the pre-paid table? Me, and three friends. Sometimes it was me and some random people I’d literally just met. Continue reading Cakes & Bellwethers (#138)
Ice, Dance, and Drama (#112)
When my parents divorced, my dad got the TV. I lived with my mother, TV-less, for several years. (And half of my American readers thought I was kidding about being a poor and hungry child. Nothing like the lack of a TV to really bring poverty home, right?) But don’t pity me. Sure, I totally suck at pop culture references in Trivia games, but I discovered books. I lived on the prairie with Laura Ingalls and on the Island with Anne Shirley. Life was good. Continue reading Ice, Dance, and Drama (#112)
The Menu and the Message (#101)
My new in-laws, Sunny and Jay, insisted on a Chinese Wedding Banquet a month after our traditionally western wedding. They took us to beta test the restaurant two days before the banquet. It went…poorly.
Sunny and Jay found a new banquet location the very next day. As neither in-law sought my opinion on anything ever, I was shocked when Jay sat down next to me with a menu.
“What courses you like?” Jay asked.
I shot my new husband a suspicious look: Is this a trap? Continue reading The Menu and the Message (#101)
The Pie (#91)
On the weekends, I wake before Andy. I shuffle into the kitchen, turn on the coffee maker, and scoop the oatmeal into bowls. Invariably, one scoop is bigger than the other. Invariably, my hand always reaches for the bigger bowl first.
It is instinctive.
It’s also as unusual as hell. Women – especially in LA – are all about small portions. Continue reading The Pie (#91)
Surname Siege (#80)
Last you heard, our interracial lovers got married and flew off into the sunsets of Playa del Carmen.
It should be the end of this blog, right? I mean, West met East, fell in love, got engaged, and got married, and lived happily ever after. End of story.
In fact, the battles had only just begun. Continue reading Surname Siege (#80)
Honeymooners (#77)
On our honeymoon, the other guests were also mostly honeymooners, and young ones at that. It was a little like high school. No one spoke to anyone else.
This suited Andy fine. “If we meet someone new, you’re going to tell them all the same boring stories I’ve heard a million times. How we met. How you thought I was a terrorist because I had a beard, how I stole you from Ethan, and all that.” Continue reading Honeymooners (#77)
Me Neither (#75)
Married persons —
Do you remember all the lovely food at your wedding? The cuisine that you carefully selected in advance? The hors d’oeuvres of bacon-wrapped scallops, chicken satay, or asparagus goat cheese brioche? Can you recall the taste of the prime rib, or the mushroom ravioli?
Yeah, me neither. Continue reading Me Neither (#75)
Baby Hog (#74)
When Andy and I got married, I had two nieces that I adored. There was First Niece, daughter of Judgmental Genius Doctor Sister. First Niece was a flower girl in our wedding. When I met First Niece as a baby, I had her out of her carrier and in my arms in under two seconds. She repaid me with a massive diaper blowout (while her parents laughed for ten minutes), but all is forgiven when you are First Niece. Continue reading Baby Hog (#74)
One Beastly Dance (#73)
My Chinese-American husband and I met in the competitive partner dancing world. My boyfriend/ partner at the time (Ethan) didn’t want to compete anymore. He said, “Hey, you should dance with Andy.”
THAT was a tactical error. Continue reading One Beastly Dance (#73)