A quickie.

1. So despite having only one elitist surly kitty and a rambunctious clingy puppy as my companions, I still had a great birthday thanks to wonderful friends, family and a Schmoobins. Thanks to all! So I didn't need to drown my sorrows in liquor and messy drunken blogging after all. Everybody wins!

2. Speaking of birthdays: Happy Birthday to my older brother Tardo* today! He is currently (at least I think he still is) in Vancouver celebrating being an old man with his new, surely fabulous girlfriend. I say "surely" because I have not met her yet and only recently learned of her existence through casual conversation with my mother and not through my actual brother. Harumph. Uh, hellooo Tardz, you're supposed to tell your sisters about these things so that they can simultaneously approve of your choice in females and bust your balls at the same time. Doy. Anyway, Happy Birthday! Way to know two years in advance to not exit our mother's womb a few hours earlier than you did so that we would not be forced to share the same birth date every year!

3. So, when I was at dinner at our friends' house the other night, we were looking through some of their old pictures (for their wedding DVD) and Jen said something about one of Mason'sold drum corps pictures being with an "Oriental girl." I didn't say anything, because I've come to realize that a lot of times - especially depending on where a person is from and their, let's say, lack of experience living in other parts of the country - people don't mean to be offensive, they just haven't learned what is considered appropriate or not. But then, later on that evening, either I or Mason said something about me being "Asian" and then Jen (who happens to be a Texas-born-and-raised Mexican) asked, "So...you're not offended by that term? 'Asian'?" And then I believe I said something like, "Nooo... I mean, well, 'Asian' is the politically correct term these days, isn't it? That's what I thought anyway..." I just thought it was interesting that she thought "Oriental" was okay and that "Asian" was offensive. So I said, "Honestly, I'm not really offended by either term. I just think 'Oriental' is more...outdated." If anything, it just makes me feel as though I am suddenly in a production of The King and I or something. In any case, I just found it to be interesting. Oh, Texas...

And anyway, as I've mentioned before, real Asians don't even classify me as Asian. So surely that means I'm not "Oriental" either. So what the eff am I? A Hybrid? A Not-Quite-Asian? An Almost-Asian? A Definitely-Not-White-But-Can't-Quite-Put-My-Finger-On-It? How about "One Who Tans More Easily Than You"? Ha. 

* Not his real name...