Story #25 - When It's Over

Every time I saw Silvia in our office, I was magnetized towards her. She would come to each floor of our high rise building and do a little cleaning. Sometimes, she’d proudly show photos of her grandchildren on her old silver flip phone. Other people said she spoke about retiring soon, after having been working at the building for 25 years. Yesterday, she was found on the 12^th floor of the building and Paramedics tried to revive her, but she had passed away from a heart attack. It felt so unfair that she passed away at work just before retirement.

Story #24 - The Comforter

On a dark street, I quickly pulled into a driveway to back up and turn around when I heard a loud crunch like I had rolled over a tree branch. I shrugged my shoulders, drove forward and then there was a man thrown over the hood of my car. I jumped out of the car and screamed hysterically at the man, “ARE YOU OK?!” He spent his time comforting me that he was fine in a thick French accent and blamed himself for not having a light on his bicycle. He hobbled away with his bent bike into the night.

Story #23 - Recycle, Reduce and Reuse

I thought of myself as a little poet when I was nine. Of course, I only wrote poems that rhymed. I would write a poem on a Post-It note every single day and hand it to my fourth grade teacher. I’m not even sure if she read them and I’m pretty sure I gave them to her so I could be a teacher’s pet. I submitted a full-page poem I had written, called “Recycle, Reduce and Reuse” – my best work - to the popular children’s magazine, Highlights. At age nine, I received my first rejection letter on official Highlights stationary.

Story #22 - Advice from Mom

Mom: “Don’t be so honest. You need to lie more.”

Mom: “Don’t have too many friends. You will just end up losing a lot of money.”

Me: “On what, Mom?”

Mom: “On birthday presents.”

Mom to me (in private): “You should be more like your sister and listen to what I say.”

Mom to my sister (in private): “You should be more like your sister and be more independent.”

Mom: “If you eat any more Oreo cookies, your skin is going to turn really dark. You’re already dark.”

Mom: “Come over and eat these pig brains. They’ll make you smarter.”

Story #21 - Gunning it

My friends and I got our first taste of freedom riding our mopeds down a curvy and empty highway. One of the boys started zigzagging and popping wheelies. I was surprised he was so adventurous. He pulled over to the side of the road, tossed aside his moped, and scrambled to rip the helmet off of his head. He shrieked and shook his head. A wasp had flown into his helmet and when he tried to fish it out with his finger, it stung his finger, and then stung his temple.
“Is my brain going to be OK?!” he screamed.

Story #20 - That's Just How We Roll

One summer, I worked at a rock station that was having its last party bus giveaway, where we would pick up winners in a red school bus, drive them around to bars and get them drunk. The only people that showed up that night were beautiful lesbian models. All the guys on my promotions team were ecstatic. The girls got drunk, cheated on their girlfriends with each other, and danced topless by the end of the night on the bus kissing each other as we drove through the freeway. The cars next to us drove in unison with the bus.

Story #19 - Summertime Free Sprits

The first time my best friend and I felt like we fit in with the Japanese was when we bought yukatas, summer kimonos that were made of light cotton. Mine had a white background with large lavender hibiscus flowers covering it. We learned how to tie the obi sash around our waists into perfect bows on our backs, wore wooden sandals, and put ornaments in our hair. We stopped by the convenience store to buy some beer on the way to the river by the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka to watch the summer fireworks festival with hundreds of others.

Story #18 - No Fear

“It was different back then,” my mom said about living in Vietnam in the 1970s. “We were never worried about you kids running around the neighborhood. I don’t know why, but it never occurred to us that any of the kids could get kidnapped. Everyone was so poor anyhow, so why would they want to have another mouth to feed?” She chuckled.

“Your brother would play hide-and-go-seek at the cemetery at night with his friends. I would get so mad and yell at him, but he was so naughty, and would just keep going back. All the kids were fearless.”