OOJ: Puppets, Bradley International Airport, CT

i'm seeing lots of cool stuff in airports these days. BDL has an exhibit on puppets. these are from bali, thailand + UCONN (but i don't remember which ones are which):

UCONN's puppetry program

from bali?

and this is a concourse in O'Hare, where i found the best airport food i've ever tasted: Frontera. 

i recommend the yucatan pulled pork torta w/roasted jabanero sauce.

OOJ: layaway santas

no photo can capture today's OOJ, b/c the layaway santas are anonymous. apparently some ppl are walking into kmarts and offering to pay off other ppl's layaway accounts. 


i love the idea that ppl are stepping up to help strangers. in abq, i've noticed that many families seem to think along the lines of "i don't have much, but someone else has less than me, so i'm gonna give what i can." one of my kindergartners, who lives in a 2 room trailer w/3 other ppl, told me he was giving away some of his toys to "kids who don't have any toys." i can't imagine what toys he's giving away b/c i know he doesn't have much, but he told me this in such a matter-of-fact way, as if: of course that's what you do with your toys. when i was a kid, i clearly remember being super jealous of other kids who had more toys, + i fiercely clung to my toys. even as an adult, i admit i'm still possessive of my "toys"- i don't know that i would freely give away my laptop, my car, or my kurzweil without knowing that a replacement was coming. i do happen to know that this kindergartner has more toys coming his way (his family is on a couple of "adopt-a-family" holiday lists at local nonprofits), but i am still in awe of his attitude.

OOJ: ABQ Sunport Airport Employee Gingerbread House Contest

passed this display at the airport on my flight out to hartford + couldn't resist snapping some pics. 

 

i like the more is more aesthetic- no minimalism here.

this one reminds me of Kamekona's beach-side shrimp shack (any Hawaii Five-O fans?)

tip of the day: packing

my favorite part about packing is figuring out how to do it so i come home with less stuff than i left with. it's part of my eternal quest to GET RID OF STUFF. here's how i do it:

• pack lots of gifts! most likely you won't get as many gifts as you give out.
• bring all the magazines you don't have time to read. read them at airport or on the plane and then leave them on a seat for someone else. this is especially satisfying b/c mags are so heavy. on my trip back to CT today i brought ESPN, Essence, and several weeks worth of NYT mags.
• pack almost-empty bottles of toiletries- toothpaste, shampoo, etc. use them up on your trip (incentive to have good hygiene, which is something i need b/c washing my face + brushing my teeth is SO BORING) then toss them before you go home.
• bring books that you own (NOT library books!) + give them to someone else when you're done reading them. 
• pack lots of snacks- then eat them!

notes from the field: Sunport Airport Mail Facility, ABQ, NM

4:42 PM
the line to the counter stretches out through the double doors. i count 12 ppl in front of me, 4 more join the line during the time i shoulder my way in to get customs forms for my package (smoked salmon + piñon nuts to taiwan). i carry only one package, which is not the norm for this line. one man has a dolly stacked to the top w/priority mail boxes. another woman pushes a mail cart someone lent her, also full w/boxes. the woman behind me looks like she came straight from the mall, shopping bags surrounding her as she stuffs priority mail boxes. the post office music is mercifully barely audible- i say mercifully b/c i suspect it's holiday music. the soundtrack in my head is playing gym class heroes "back home". 


one might expect the mood at a post office the weekend before xmasto be tense, terse + taut, but this is abq- ppl still make eye contact + smile. there's not as much chitchat between strangers as usual- maybe that's a sign of holiday stress setting in, but customers still offer to hold another's place in line so that person can go seal up their package on a nearby table (have you ever tried to tape up a medium-sized cardboard box while standing in line? it's not easy). i fill out my customs forms as the line shuffles forward. i don't mind the wait; i've brought the arts + leisure section of the times from last sunday. plus i like seeing so many ppl mailing packages. i'd like to think that mailing holiday gifts is not a tedious obligation (like family dinners), but something ppl do w/love + anticipation for the recipient's reaction. at least that's how it is for me, but i don't have many packages to mail. 


32 minutes later, i'm out the door. even though this post office officially closes at 5pm, they've left the doors unlocked + ppl are still joining the line. i make eye contact + smile at the guy who's entering as i'm leaving. he smiles back. 

a holiday tradition i actually don't hate

i'm a pretty big scrooge this time of year (inescapable holiday music- hate. xmas-dominated episodes of my fave TV shows- hate. family obligations- don't get me started.) but one thing that still manages to fascinate me is lights. in abq, stores + homes decorate their front walkways with luminarias- lit candles in sand in paper bags. it's a cool effect, especially when you see hundreds of bags lining the sidewalks of old town or perched on top of church steeples. if you're ambitious, you can even punch out designs in the paper bags. 

i also look forward to going back to new england every december, where ppl put electric candles in their windows. something so simple + un-colorful, but somehow reassuring + welcoming, even though i'll never meet the ppl in those homes.

eye candy: harry shum jr.

so i don't usually drool over bare chests, but this is a big deal to me for other reasons... and yeah, he's pretty easy on the eyes. my friends, i give you: harry shum, jr.

on one level, i'm happy to see an asian american male being highlighted as a sex symbol. i'm tired of seeing asian guys portrayed as asexual/non-threatening/quirky/laughable characters (exceptions that come to mind: bruce lee + any asian guy that shows up in the never-ending fast and furious franchise). current asian guys on TV, off the top of my head: aziz ansari, parks + rec; ken jeong + danny pudi, community; daniel dae kim + masi oka, hawaii five-o;  john cho + b.d. wong, various cameos; the neighbor on king of the hill. these guys rarely get laid in TVland, even though many of them are fine. instead, they're often the funny, off-beat goofballs who crack jokes + act crazy while their white male counterparts act rugged + tough + end up with hot women in their beds.


on a more emotional level, i remember how hard it was for my brother + many of my asian guy friends when we were growing up + trying to figure out how to be cool in a world where there were so few cool asians in mainstream media to imitate. top gun came out when my brother was 5; we wore out our VHS copy, which was in heavy rotation until he was 10, maybe even after that (at that point i stopped spending time at home). i believe he would have given anything to be Maverick- to be rugged + tough, but most of all, to be universally admired by men + women. he developed an insecurity that i think i've noticed in other asian guys too, even long after they've left the torturous teenage years.


and then, decades later: harry shum, jr! someone anyone would love to hang out with- funny, an amazing dancer, good-looking, and cool. in TVland, he also plays a nonthreatening/quirky character, but that description applies to most of the guys on glee. in real life land, he's getting a lot of attention for his abs (seems like every magazine photo of him has him shirtless, as if his torso is allergic to fabric). i emailed people magazine to ask how many asian men have been selected for sexy man honors, but i doubt i'll get a reply. at any rate, i'm pretty sure the answer is a number under 10. which is why i'm adding harry shum, jr. to my "things that i'm thankful for" list.

we have too much time on our hands

the following is a transcript of a convo between me + my PR this morning:

me: i heard someone rap about top ramen on the radio yesterday (B.o.B. ft. Lil Wayne "Strange Clouds")


PR: at least they're not rapping about a G6. i hate when they do that. [side note: PR gets irritated by all the commercial rappers who sit around rapping about how rich they are + all the luxury items they own, like a G6 (which is a fancy fast plane i think)]


me: what if someone raps about eating ramen on their G6?


PR: yeah! like if they spent all their money on their G6 so all they can afford to eat is top ramen.


me + PR (together): i'm eating ramen in my G6/cuz all i can afford is this pair of chopsticks




i love sunday mornings at home.

OOJ: snow!

baby, it's windy outside

yesterday + all night, we were hit w/winds of over 50 mph. it was pretty unreal + unlike anything i'd been in before- i learned to stop talking when outside otherwise i'd end up w/a mouthful of sand. i also tried to keep my eyes shut, but it's hard to walk like that, so i settled for a good squint. parts of the city lost power; the worst that happened to us was that the wind blew some roof off our garage. small potatoes, i know, but as i lay in bed last night listening to the dragon wind, i wondered what i'd do if the roof got ripped completely off my room. have you ever thought about that? it's not like a flood or fire that instantly destroys whatever it touches, but at the same time how do i put weights on all my stuff to keep it from blowing away? i could throw a tarp over as much stuff as possible + put weights on that, but have you ever tried to control a tarp by yourself when it's windy? the tarp always wins. it's a humbling experience, to be beaten by something that doesn't even have a brain. in the end, i decided i'd follow my basic fall-back emergency plan- grab my document envelope + my laptop + my stuffed polar bear + run to the car. the car seems like the safest place to be in so many disaster scenarios. thank you, car.