July 21, 2009

  • ...tabula rasa...

    I think it's time I started blogging again, not because I feel the need to broadcast my life out to the world, but blogging was good for me as a form of thinking out loud, not to mention introspection. I've been letting the things in my life dictate how I live, and I think it's about time that I change that. I guess I have to accept the fact that life will always be busy, but taking a couple minutes here and there to reflect won't be the end of the world...

February 8, 2009

  • ...close to home...

    When I was younger, I used to have nightmares that never really made any sense to me. I saw horrible scenes of people screaming and crying in the midst of chaos, while others were being shot or bludgeoned to death. I saw the parched dirt roads drenched in a scarlet flood of betrayal as daughters and sons were made to turn against their fathers and mothers. I saw people walking around on stumps, deformed faces caused by the paths they'd chosen to walk on. This was my life before America. They were shards of a past that, even after more than 20 years have passed, I still haven't gotten over...

    I was flipping through the tv channels today and I happened to stop on MTV as they were airing an episode of True Life. I was immediately caught off guard and entranced by the eerily familiar images of dirt roads, bamboo huts, and the World Relief insignia. The title of this episode was "I'm coming to America." They were documenting the resettlement journey of a Burmese refugee family to the United States, all through the eyes of the eldest son.

    As I watched on and listened to his story, my tears began to flow like the Mekong during monsoon season. I couldn't help but connect to Thimonthy as I watched his story mirror mine. As he walked through the refugee camp, I walked with him feeling the suffocation and depression encroaching with each passing day. This was life in the camp, an endless battle to hold on to the hope that one day, you'll be one of the lucky few selected to breathe the air of freedom once again...

    As the bus drove away from the refugee camp and everything he had ever known, I understood his fear and apprehension masked behind a guise of hope that life in America would somehow be better. "No problem," Thimonthy said over and over again, hoping that with each time, it'd be more believable. Like Thimonthy, these same words were echoed by my father and mother. I'm not sure if it was because they lacked the vocabulary to truly express their feelings, but regardless, these two words have bound a community of survivors and heroes determined to find a better life, no matter what the cost or sacrifice...

    More than two decades have passed since my family and I left Cambodia, but I've not forgotten the struggles and hardships we've had to endure to get to where we are today. As an American, I think it's easy for me to take both freedom and hope for granted, but no matter where life takes me, I can never forget the texture of those bamboo huts, the pictures of those who preceded me, nor the moment when the bus pulled away and I watched as my extended family was slowly enveloped by the dust...

    Life is an impossible ocean to navigate through without having hope as our compass, and the past as our keel...

November 26, 2008

  • ...KevJumba!

    My friend, Will, got to attend YouTube Live and I had one small request of him, get KevJumba to say hi to me on video! Check it out! Wheeeeeeeeee! Thanks Will and hi KevJumba!!

November 16, 2008

  • ...the test of friendship...

    On November 4th, our country beared witness to both a triumphant victory and a morally crushing defeat. As we stood on the threshold of history, prepared to embrace the fact that we, as a people and as a country, had progressed far enough to elect the first colored President of the United States, we still were unable to transcend the homophobia and hate that still pervades our hypocritical society. As elated as I was about Obama's victory, I only wish that humanity could have shared in that same victory. CA Proposition 8 has torn this country apart. It has torn apart families, and for me personally, it has torn apart friendships...



    In the process of reaching out to my conservative and religious friends to try to bridge the communication gap that has been created by this issue, I find myself becoming a broken record, asking the same questions of each person that has voted "yes" on 8. Yes, you're certainly entitled to your beliefs and opinions, but how can you, as a friend, call yourself one when you were in effect denigrating me by voting "yes" on 8? How does this issue affect you? How does my ability to love and my right to marry infringe upon your rights, so much so that you would willingly and consciously vote to certify me as a lower-class citizen, to treat me as sub-human, with your vote. Is this what friendship is about? If it is, then I don't know if our friendship is really worth fighting for...



    How quickly we forget the pain and ugliness of discrimination that our parents, aunts, and uncles had to endure as people of color, people who were different from the status quo. They fought bravely so that we could enjoy the right to equality. How can you spit in their face, as well as mine, by destroying what they've fought for?



    This issue is not about religion. It's about equality.



October 22, 2008

  • ...apathy...

    I couldn't really sleep last night. The latest polls still have us losing the battle against Prop 8 by about 5 points. I was mulling over ideas in my head as to how I could help in this fight. I decided that I would reach out to as many of my friends as possible to encourage them to vote NO on Prop 8. This morning, I randomly pinged one of my friends to check to confirm that he had at least registered to vote. He hadn't. I was pissed. Beyond pissed. HOW COULD YOU NOT FUCKING REGISTER TO VOTE?!?!?!?! In what will be one of the most significant and historical elections ever where we can actually effect change, there are still people choosing to be apathetic?!?!?! WTF?!? I don't get it. What does it take for people to care? Is it not enough that our economy is in shambles and that we've had an idiot as our leader for the past 8 painful years? Maybe we just haven't wasted enough of the people's money or sacrificed enough American lives in the name of oil yet? Or perhaps people are regressing and actually do believe that separate is equal? WAKE UP AMERICA!!! I get that people have their own lives to live, and that they have other priorities, but we're seriously talking about undermining the very foundation that this country was built upon: freedom and equality for all. Please take your privilege seriously. Please vote, and more importantly, please vote NO on 8!

    "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" -- Edmund Burke


October 21, 2008

  • ...h8te...

    The Yes on 8 people are getting more and more irritating as we get closer to election day. They continue to propagate lie after lie, with no real justification for their hate and discrimination other than the fact that "...the Bible said so." I'm sorry, but that just doesn't fly with me. No book, no person, and certainly no law is going to tell me whom I'm going to love and whom I can marry.

    Almost every one of their arguments is obscenely flawed and discriminatory in nature. The sanctity of marriage? Really?! Such a thing exists? Well, anything that was sanctimonious about marriage was either destroyed when people got divorced, and/or when spouses abused each other. Come on, you're going to allow Britney Spears to marry and divorce any douche-bag she wants, but you can't extend the same privilege to civilized and law-abiding people of the same sex? Explain to me how that's fair without bringing God into it. Seriously, what is so wrong about PEOPLE of the same sex marrying each other? We're talking about HUMANITY here folks! Queer people are not animals who can be paraded around as pets, used for entertainment, and then discarded and dismissed the moment they begin to realize that they're humans as well. In case you've forgotten, this kind of discrimination eerily parallels anti-miscegenation laws that were ultimately ruled unconstitutional in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. Again, I beg the question that if PEOPLE are at the heart of this controversy, why is this an issue?!

    Moreover, I've recently been hearing children being used as a justification for these acts of cowardice and insecurity. Really people, can we start acting our ages and not our shoe sizes, please?! The fact that your kid OVERHEARD that gay people are marrying one another does not mean that the curriculum is changing, nor is it an excuse to ban gay marriages in general. Think of it this way: you'll allow them to play Grand Theft Auto where the goal of the game is to steal, shoot, and kill, yet you forbid them to hear about instances of love and commitment? Hmm, are you sure you're really fit to be a parent?! Is your goal as a parent really to teach hate and division?

    My last gripe is their argument about preserving "traditional" families. Who the fuck cares?! Seriously, is there a law/formula out there that stipulates that only when you have a man and a woman as parents can you have a functional family? As far as I'm aware, unless you're Ward and June Cleaver, this concept of a traditional family is complete and utter bullshit. The sole argument behind "preserving" a "traditional" family is that it would be a more loving and conducive environment for the child to grow up in. Is it really?! Are gay people not capable of loving their kids? Are they not capable of being good parents? What exactly is the missing gene or the physical impairment that makes them incapable of providing either?

    I'm not going to get into an argument on theology. You can quote Bible verse after Bible verse, but the fact of the matter is this: it isn't about religion, it's about equality. For those of you who aren't aware of it yet, equality isn't just about being blind to race or gender, it also applies to sexuality and love. To put it simply, no one likes to be told what to do, who to date, who to love, and who to marry, so why all the hypocrisy just because some people are insecure with their own sexualities. If you're that insecure and fearful of gays and their recognition as human beings (gasp), then why not just move to Iran.

    Vote NO on Prop 8!!!

October 14, 2008

  • ...snubbed...

    My dearest Poch!

    I remember it clearly. It was the 2005 Stephen, Tommy, and Dannydan (STD) birthday party. You walked in wearing a YSL fitted blazer. I thought you were cute, but decided to play it cool. You walked towards me and a slow smile started to form on my face as I prepared to introduce myself. You were a step away, but then you turned slightly and began talking to my friend instead who was standing right next to me. "It's okay," I told myself. "He'll probably introduce himself since I'm standing right next to who he's talking to." But you didn't, and I was snubbed. Yes, you snubbed me. I was going to write you off, but fortunately, you eventually came back to introduce yourself.

    It's been more than three years since that day, but my heart has never been more full, nor has it stopped racing since that moment. You've truly been a blessing in my life, and I can't possibly imagine life without you in it. I love you more with each passing day, and I never want to wake up from this sweet, sweet dream.

    I love you!
    Ty!

    Happy 3 Years! Mahal kita!

October 9, 2008

  • ...NO on Prop 8...

    Come November 4th, we have a couple of huge tasks at hand. We won't just be electing the next President of the United States, we'll also be in a huge battle to defend equality and a right that so many heterosexuals take for granted--the right to choose whom they want to marry and love. In California, we've finally taken a step towards true equality by allowing same-sex couples to legally marry one another. However, Prop 8 seeks to take that all away--our equality, our right to choose who we want to marry, and by extension, who we love. Please don't let this happen. You don't have contribute to the No on 8 campaign if you can't afford to, but at the very least, please go and vote NO on Prop 8 come election day. Better yet, spread the word and tell your friends to vote NO on 8 as well. We've come too far to lose now. Don't let them treat us as second-class citizens anymore.



October 2, 2008

September 29, 2008

  • ...sprouting...

    So as I had promised, here are some better pics of my budding saplings...

    I'm amazed by how quickly they've grown in the past couple weeks. I think they just needed some time to really get comfortable with their surroundings and really dig in their roots to stabilize themselves before they reached for the sky. Aww, I'm so proud of them! I totally feel like a parent, haha. I can kind of empathize with my parents now. My plants are my kids, and I worry about whether or not they're getting enough nutrients, particularly over the weekend when I'm not with them. I sucked at parenting fishes, so I'm glad that my plants have taken a liking to me. Yay for plants! Perhaps when they become more distinguishable, I'll give them names, haha