Enough about me... let's talk more about me


9.3.2002 Cousin Bong's Stay


Cousin Bong was here for five weeks and it was great to hang with him. Actually, words cannot express the feelings one has when first, realizing they have such close relatives who reside in other parts of the world, and second, getting to know them.

Over the course of the last five weeks, we've had some interesting conversations and it's so neat to know that we have so much in common, including the love for technology. Yes, alike myself, Cousin Bong is a gadget monger too—although he is probably more careful than I am. I usually mull something over a couple of times, before really desiring it, then purchasing it only to play with it a couple of times before feeling guilty that I even bought the thing. Whereas Cousin Bong would probably take the classier route making sure that he needs something first. (Note—this is one of the symptoms noted in a previous entry where I state that I’m not that good with money—now you know why).

All in all, both Cousin Bong and I have a deep interest in technology, both as a vehicle for paying the bills (for me—that has incurred by purchasing technological gadgets), and as previously mentioned, for fun. Over in Hong Kong, he works as a professor teaching Computer Science courses, whereas myself, here in the States, I apply Computer Science courses in my daily job. Pretty neat huh?

The other thing that we have in common is a natural curiosity for sightseeing. It probably wasn’t obvious to him while he was here, seeing how I’m used to the local sights here, but I did have a lot of questions of Hong Kong and China. I’ve always seen so many pictures of what things are like over there and it all seems so amazing. The mountains and landscapes are different—the rock formations are so high and jagged, almost surreal for there is not anything like that here.

Him being over here, his curiosity was more naturally obvious. I found his endurance level to be very impressive. While he was here in New York City, during the hottest period of the season of one of the hottest record-breaking summers, he was able to trek mile after mile in this sweltering heat. He covered the length of Manhattan Island over a two-day period. On a different day, within the period of one hour, he was able to walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn across the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, walk over to the Manhattan Bridge, and then, back over to Manhattan. That's right--all within one hour. I really think that is a new world's record or something. It has to be. That’s truly amazing.

I’m very thankful that Cousin Bong was able to come over to visit us here in the States and that I got to hang with him—this time as an adult. I think that in the near future, hopefully sooner than later, we’re going to try and plan a trip over there to visit.


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...One thing is that no matter how old I am, I probably will not like being called sir or mister, for they have always seemed too far out of reach...

  

 
 

 
 

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