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Feb. 16th, 2010
Felt like an update is in order. Even though I'm starting to catch on to the facebook thing for little instant snippets of people's lives, it's still not the same as the more long-form journalling/sharing possible on LJ. I suppose if I support LJ, I should post more to contribute something back to the community.
Marriage
People often ask me "How's marriage?" To which I answer, "Awesome!" But let me expand on that. We enjoy each other's company very much -- I like doing things with Jono, anything from walking to In'n'Out while discussing Jono's Yuki comic, or watching Dr. Who and Justice League episodes, or reading Napoleon's Buttons together, or just going grocery shopping or getting boba downtown. We get into serious/silly conversations. I also appreciate Jono's thoughtfulness and kindness in daily situations. Last Thursday, I had to get home late (8pm) from the Mock Trial tournament. Jono had promised to have dinner ready when I got home. Not only did he make a yummy pasta dish, he also bought salami and chocolates when he was at the grocery store. Even though he had already sat through a dinner with a Chicago friend who was in town, he hadn't ordered anything so that he could wait for me.
There were also some things that we've had to figure out. For example, Jono approaches shopping for things in a completely different way from me. I tend to be indecisive with daily consumables like food and paper towels, and decisive/impulsive with long term products like clothes and gadgetry, Jono is the exact opposite. We both like to buy books, though, so I guess that's fine. I've also discovered that some of Jono's music drives me crazy (usually things that don't have a dominant melody), and Jono's discovered that the visual media is too absorbing for him. But that's okay. It means I watch more stuff and then pick out the good stuff for him, and he listens to his music mostly when hacking. And then we play MarioKart. We used to have an issue with dinner because we'd both be hungry and indecisive, but now we've divided the week up so that half the time I'm the "master chef" and vice versa. This way, we can still make dinner together, but it also leaves more time in the evening for doing stuff!
One thing that I still have to work out is that "evening for doing stuff". I usually need a few days to plan things, whereas Jono works more intuitively. So after dinner, he'd be like, "It's comicking time!" And then I'd be like ... "Hm... what should I do?" If I were just living by myself, then I'd have something planned out, such as visiting friends or working on a project or grading or something, but with Jono, it's "flex time". I do miss hanging out with my non-Jono friends, but I also see evenings as "couples time", even though half the time it turns into "project time". The "create something every day" thing that I've started has been helping me with the "flex time", but I should also start doing other things then as well.
So that's how opposite-married life has been. How is it different from just dating and living with Jono? I suppose it's the knowledge that (a) we like each other enough to want to be together forever, and corollary to that, (b) we are dedicated to working through our differences.
Travel:
So the thing with being a teacher and also a Chinese school teacher is that during the school year, I basically can't travel -- Chinese school always takes up the weekends. On the other hand, I have a 2 month break in the summer. On the other hand, Jono basically has 20 any-time days. In other words, his travel is better structured for extended weekend trips. My travel is better structured for long trips in the summer. This means that I am always looking for people who are interested in traveling with me for a week or so in the summers. In any case, I've mostly figured out my summer travel plans for this summer:
- First week of April: College visits with John (He got into UChicago, but really wants to go to MIT)
- ACen weekend: will have to get a sub for Chinese school... Excited about seeing JASers again!
- School is done June 7th, but from June 13-18 I'll be in a Summer Institute in Illinois. Then maybe Jono will join me and we'll visit family in Chicago and maybe go camping...?
- Two weeks later, I'll be flying east to Moscow. Will be in Russia with Pirate Lemur and Chief Snoring Bear from July 3rd to July 10th or 11th, and then will fly to Shanghai to be with family.
- Dad and John leaves Shanghai on the 14th, and then Jono shows up on the 18th, probably. Maybe I'll take a trip to Suzhou or Tibet in the meantime. We'll be there for a week to enjoy the World Expo, and then we'll fly to Tokyo on July 23rd or so.
- We'll stay in Tokyo from July 23rd to about August 9th. Jono will work from the Moz office there Mon-Thursday, and then we can Shink around Japan on the weekends. I suppose I'll play tourist around Tokyo during Jono's work days. I'll make sure to wear a Gaijin shirt.
Health
So around New Year's, mom persuaded me to go see a Chinese medicine doctor again. You guys all know that I have crazy-weird menstral issues, and thus far I've seen:
- A doctor in China, summer 2002
- A doctor in Burlingame for the summer of 2003
- A doctor in China, summer 2006
- An acupuncturist for 6 months 2006-2007
- A doctor in Cupertino for 3 months in 2007
- A doctor in China, summer 2007
For the 2007-2008 school year I lived with Stephanie and Renee, which somehow brought me a whole year of relative normalcy and regularity. That stopped after I started living with Jono.
So this time it's a doctor in Fremont. He said that he can fix it in 3 months, so I figured, 3 months is a nice finite amount of time. I can deal with boiling and drinking medicine and weekly doctor visits for 3 months. So that's what I've been doing for the last 6 weeks. Thus far, things have been improving! I have more energy, I no longer want to sleep in the afternoons, and my digestive health is stronger, too! We've hit a wall the last 2 weeks, but things seem to be working again this week. It might take more than 3 months, but I'm excited because this is the first time this Chinese medicine business has worked in improving my day-to-day life.
I've also been trying to exercise on some days, but I'm super self-conscious about it. Maybe because I didn't grow up in a culture of exercise. Makes me wonder about kids who don't grow up in a culture of reading books.
Anyways, I think I'll be saving School and Chinese School for a future update.
Marriage
People often ask me "How's marriage?" To which I answer, "Awesome!" But let me expand on that. We enjoy each other's company very much -- I like doing things with Jono, anything from walking to In'n'Out while discussing Jono's Yuki comic, or watching Dr. Who and Justice League episodes, or reading Napoleon's Buttons together, or just going grocery shopping or getting boba downtown. We get into serious/silly conversations. I also appreciate Jono's thoughtfulness and kindness in daily situations. Last Thursday, I had to get home late (8pm) from the Mock Trial tournament. Jono had promised to have dinner ready when I got home. Not only did he make a yummy pasta dish, he also bought salami and chocolates when he was at the grocery store. Even though he had already sat through a dinner with a Chicago friend who was in town, he hadn't ordered anything so that he could wait for me.
There were also some things that we've had to figure out. For example, Jono approaches shopping for things in a completely different way from me. I tend to be indecisive with daily consumables like food and paper towels, and decisive/impulsive with long term products like clothes and gadgetry, Jono is the exact opposite. We both like to buy books, though, so I guess that's fine. I've also discovered that some of Jono's music drives me crazy (usually things that don't have a dominant melody), and Jono's discovered that the visual media is too absorbing for him. But that's okay. It means I watch more stuff and then pick out the good stuff for him, and he listens to his music mostly when hacking. And then we play MarioKart. We used to have an issue with dinner because we'd both be hungry and indecisive, but now we've divided the week up so that half the time I'm the "master chef" and vice versa. This way, we can still make dinner together, but it also leaves more time in the evening for doing stuff!
One thing that I still have to work out is that "evening for doing stuff". I usually need a few days to plan things, whereas Jono works more intuitively. So after dinner, he'd be like, "It's comicking time!" And then I'd be like ... "Hm... what should I do?" If I were just living by myself, then I'd have something planned out, such as visiting friends or working on a project or grading or something, but with Jono, it's "flex time". I do miss hanging out with my non-Jono friends, but I also see evenings as "couples time", even though half the time it turns into "project time". The "create something every day" thing that I've started has been helping me with the "flex time", but I should also start doing other things then as well.
So that's how opposite-married life has been. How is it different from just dating and living with Jono? I suppose it's the knowledge that (a) we like each other enough to want to be together forever, and corollary to that, (b) we are dedicated to working through our differences.
Travel:
So the thing with being a teacher and also a Chinese school teacher is that during the school year, I basically can't travel -- Chinese school always takes up the weekends. On the other hand, I have a 2 month break in the summer. On the other hand, Jono basically has 20 any-time days. In other words, his travel is better structured for extended weekend trips. My travel is better structured for long trips in the summer. This means that I am always looking for people who are interested in traveling with me for a week or so in the summers. In any case, I've mostly figured out my summer travel plans for this summer:
- First week of April: College visits with John (He got into UChicago, but really wants to go to MIT)
- ACen weekend: will have to get a sub for Chinese school... Excited about seeing JASers again!
- School is done June 7th, but from June 13-18 I'll be in a Summer Institute in Illinois. Then maybe Jono will join me and we'll visit family in Chicago and maybe go camping...?
- Two weeks later, I'll be flying east to Moscow. Will be in Russia with Pirate Lemur and Chief Snoring Bear from July 3rd to July 10th or 11th, and then will fly to Shanghai to be with family.
- Dad and John leaves Shanghai on the 14th, and then Jono shows up on the 18th, probably. Maybe I'll take a trip to Suzhou or Tibet in the meantime. We'll be there for a week to enjoy the World Expo, and then we'll fly to Tokyo on July 23rd or so.
- We'll stay in Tokyo from July 23rd to about August 9th. Jono will work from the Moz office there Mon-Thursday, and then we can Shink around Japan on the weekends. I suppose I'll play tourist around Tokyo during Jono's work days. I'll make sure to wear a Gaijin shirt.
Health
So around New Year's, mom persuaded me to go see a Chinese medicine doctor again. You guys all know that I have crazy-weird menstral issues, and thus far I've seen:
- A doctor in China, summer 2002
- A doctor in Burlingame for the summer of 2003
- A doctor in China, summer 2006
- An acupuncturist for 6 months 2006-2007
- A doctor in Cupertino for 3 months in 2007
- A doctor in China, summer 2007
For the 2007-2008 school year I lived with Stephanie and Renee, which somehow brought me a whole year of relative normalcy and regularity. That stopped after I started living with Jono.
So this time it's a doctor in Fremont. He said that he can fix it in 3 months, so I figured, 3 months is a nice finite amount of time. I can deal with boiling and drinking medicine and weekly doctor visits for 3 months. So that's what I've been doing for the last 6 weeks. Thus far, things have been improving! I have more energy, I no longer want to sleep in the afternoons, and my digestive health is stronger, too! We've hit a wall the last 2 weeks, but things seem to be working again this week. It might take more than 3 months, but I'm excited because this is the first time this Chinese medicine business has worked in improving my day-to-day life.
I've also been trying to exercise on some days, but I'm super self-conscious about it. Maybe because I didn't grow up in a culture of exercise. Makes me wonder about kids who don't grow up in a culture of reading books.
Anyways, I think I'll be saving School and Chinese School for a future update.