Today, two events happened that made me question my age:

1st: I get on the tram, and a young Korean boy gets up and offers me his seat. I don’t refuse, but after I sit down, I think “dang, how old do I look?” (or maybe it’s just that he knew I was older than him and deferred to me.)

2nd: After hanging with the youth today for “youth group”, one high school kid asks me “so, you wanna party?”  (by the way, what does this mean nowadays?)

Rose: how could I have been so stupid?
Dorothy: Oh Rose, maybe it was something you ate… like food.

Dorothy: (walking in with a box of pizza) Hi Rose, we brought dinner.
Rose: What did you bring?
Dorothy: (sarcastically) A bucket of chicken.

Sophia: What I forgot, you’ll never know!

(Dorothy invites Sophia’s doctor on a date, to show him around town)
Doctor: that sounds great, I’d love it!
Rose: I’d love to go, too!
(Dorothy kicks her)
Rose: … except I have to wash my hair… every day… for the rest of my life. It’s very oily.

(Talking about the man Dorothy is dating, right after he has made a pass at Blanche.)
Rose: there’s something about that man I don’t trust. I can’t put my finger on it. 
Blanche: I can, he’s a lech…
Rose: no, that isn’t it…

Blanche: Elliot made…(hesitates)… Elliot made… (hesitates)… Elliot made…
Dorothy: What did Elliot make? A ship in a bottle? What!

(Dorothy and Sophia are in bed together, about to go to sleep)
Dorothy: what’s that smell?
Sophia: I don’t smell anything.
D: are you wearing something?
Sophia: a little ben gay on my knees…. a little vicks on my chest… a little deep heat on my neck…
D: what are you trying to do? Pickle yourself so you’ll live to be a hundred?
(D moves around in bed, trying to get comfortable. The bed is shaking.)
S: Keep it up, I’ll need a Dramamine.

(Sophia slaps Blanche’s grandson after he misbehaves.)
B: Is that all you Italians know how to do, scream and hit?
Sophia: (proudly) no, we also know how to make love and sing opera!

(after Sophia slaps Blanches’ grandson and he stomps out)
Rose: this is like a long day’s journey into light!
Dorothy: (correcting her) Night, Rose!
Rose: Night, Dorothy (goes to bed).

CLASSIC.

I never thought I would receive MYSELF as a present:

(not sure what I’ll do with this, but anyway..)

The night’s activities included..

Eating… posing…

… hearing things like “Lana is a good cook but she leaves a mess…”
(that’s Andrey, husband of the “ugly” girl I wrote about a few entries ago..)

.. pondeirng whether or not I lied about falling in love for the first time in 1st grade..
(everyone asked me a question and I had to give one false answer; they had to guess
which one was false)

It was a good way to celebrate my 32nd year of living!

Here are the people I share a birthday with:

(Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Michelangelo; Rob Reiner; Beanie Sigel; Obafemi Awolowo, former pres of Nigeria; Sleepy Floyd – Houston Rockets)

Also:

(Cyrano de Bergerac; Composer Rimsky-Korsakov; Moira Kelly)

And, most importantly:

(Beanie Sigel, for those of you who aren’t gangsta, like me)

Edit: And nothing is more gangsta, I’m sure you’ll agree, than having a limerick written in your honor!

TLG continues to grow… it’ll be interesting to see how they grow up…

Will these two be as fashionable and witty as their momma, Jo?
(Lyla, to the left, is the first TLG bebe.)

Will this girl be as ambitious and energetic as her momma, Sejal?

Will this little guy be as optimistic and hardworking as his momma, Juddi?

Will this latest little one be as funny and confident as his momma, Mel?

Today, I learned that in the late 70s, early 80s, one of my local friend’s aunts stopped learning Spanish because she excelled in it… Being able to speak a foreign language very well in those days under that regime meant possibly being recruited to be a spy!  My local friend told me that when her aunt told her this, she laughed incredulously – as I did – but her aunt was very serious — back then, it was a reality!

My sister ckimchi can vouch for my amazingly terrible sense of direction. It works like this: if I think it’s one way, then go the opposite direction, and it will be the right way.

Anyway, today, I met a friend and then needed to get to another part of town. Although taxis are very convenient, sometimes I’m tired of the conversations.  So, I decide to take the tram.  “13″, she advises me, and I figure I’ll know where to get off.

Of course, I don’t.. I end up WAY past my stop and have to take the opposite tram back.

Then, I want to go home on public transport as well.  This time, the tram pulls up and it’s a #6. I think “well, there are only a limited # of places a tram could go.. so.. I’ll just take this one and I’m sure I’ll find a familiar place”.  WRONG.  I end up in some far edge of town and am smart enough to get off at a busy stop so I can figure out how to get back home.

I decide to take a random bus, which takes me to a familiar place (victory, at last!) and then I take the metro home. 

A 15 minute trip by taxi took me 2 hours.. but you know what? I enjoyed it all the way.  And noone even suspected that I was lost or a foreigner.

On a random note: Congrats to the CHANGS for the birth of their new baby son, Caleb Carter Chang!!!! 

My local Russian friend went today to her dentist, a local Korean.  She was asking him about straightening her teeth, which are a bit crooked.  He advised “yes, we can do it.. but then the rest of your face won’t match.. you’ll look ugly. therefore, I would advise you to also get your chin and nose fixed as well“.

!!! 

Her hubby was NOT very pleased and vowed to go with my friend next time she visited this guy.

Here is the supposed “ugly” girl.