an early valediction.

First off, happy birthday Hann! Hope you've partaken of something yummy that looks like this (which I'd gladly attempt to make in secret while "taking Latin dancing classes"):


Anyway, I promise I'm not always up this early, although I've paradoxically been getting a lot less sleep at home than at school (but no all-nighters yet =P). At school, I felt like sleeping all the time; here, I never feel like sleeping. There's too much fun stuff to explore, and no psets or exams to worry about. Oh man, la vida loca indeed. The reason I'm conscious at this hour, though, is that my cousin and her kid JonJon (Jonathan) had a 6am flight today. Since she's pretty much my favorite relative, and he's definitely the cutest child I've ever seen, I'm already missing them lots.

It's weird-- you guys know I'm not as easy with kids as say, Jackie and Liz, but JonJon's been a welcome anomaly. Even when he was a baby, it wasn't hard to tease him or get him to laugh; this time around, he was always running to my brother ("Dinny!") or me ("Aa-shu!") for entertainment. The kid's a natural showman: usually, he'd end up amusing us at least as much as we amused him. He's two-and-a-half now, speaking a hodgepodge of Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English and often breaking out into spontaneous dancing or singing. My cousin taught him to imitate different emotions (e.g. angry, sleepy, scared) and animal sounds as well, and he's a very very good actor. For some reason, he likes pink a lot (Jackie you've got a follower!) and kept asking to try on pink dresses and skirts at clothes stores. Perhaps it's because his four-year-old girl cousin made him pretend to be her bridesmaid and watch too many princess movies in Taiwan. Man, I wish I'd gotten videos or something because I can't even start capturing his hilarious performances in words... He's also fiendishly smart and knows how to read people-- he'll plead for help from bystanders if his mom is trying to punish him, and he often complains that "Mommy 打, Mommy 捏" when she's not there (she doesn't, really) and denies doing so when she asks. He'd spout "oh man oh man" and try to hide in the closet when his mom got super-angry. Ah, clever kid =P.

In any case, he's basically been a big part of my past three weeks at home (has it been that long already?!) and probably helped me establish a normal routine for working/playing. Mornings were for rapid and semi-focused studying, until the point when JonJon woke up to 吃包包. Then, my cousin'd tell me stories about how JonJon had nightmares about geckos and "bad men" coming from the ceiling. The early afternoon was frolicking-with-JonJon time, a.k.a walking around Barnes and Noble or Walmart/Target or TJ Maxx/Marshall's for a few hours. After JonJon's mid-afternoon nap, we'd all head to the park, where JonJon had fun sliding and swinging and my brother and I ran around playing tennis, frisbee, or ping-pong. Cooking for dinner commenced at sundown, when the playground grew too dark, and my cousin supportingly sampled my concoctions. We had fish every night for a while because JonJon doesn't really eat beef or pork yet. He had this especially funny habit of chirping "好吃嗎?" numerous times at my brother, and for some reason, he would randomly scream "走開啊!" (go away!) at my mom. The night then concluded with my friend Anthony coming over for extended board gaming -- Settlers of Catan, Speed Scrabble, GrabScrab, Trivial Pursuit, chess -- preluded by extreme romping with JonJon ("tickle Ninny!", "飛高高", "玩犀牛"). I think Anthony turned out to be one of JonJon's favorite people; JonJon'd always yell "Annie, Annie, Annie!" when he came, and scamper to perch in Anthony's lap. Come midnight, JonJon'd retreat to bed with a "goo-nigh!" to everyone, and roughly two hours later, I'd collapse in my bed to read until I passed out. Rinse, repeat.

But now for some pictures =).

And voici, the results of my sketchy kitchen experiments (I left Chinese/Taiwanese dishes to my mom, who's way better at making 'em than I am):


Oh my goodness I am confuddled by html!