I landed in John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California (Orange County). Chu Huan and Huy were there to pick up me and jimmy. After getting back and meeting Khoi and Co Nga, we went out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant in Viet-Town. I hurt my back a little carrying my luggage, but I'm okay. I was also able to get in touch with Hau, and I hope to meet with him and Chung sometime in the future. We are resting soon so that we can wake up early to go camping. I will be back sunday afternoon.

Saturday, August 18, 2007 (Day 1)

We Woke up early in the morning to go camping. Chu Huan's family and 4 other families go camping every year (he also tells me that they always go abroad and skiiing annually). They have been family friends for almost 30 years. It turns out that most of the families went to the campsite on Friday, but my relatives are arriving a day late so that they can pick up me and Jimmy and bring us along. Chu Huan and Co Nga were very scared that i would feel left out since i did not know anyone, and i was only related to Huy and Khoi out of all the people there. But I got along with everyone very well, and I had a great time.

When we left in the morning, we went a small vietnamese restaurant and Viet-Town to get some breakfast. We went with some other people - Patrick(Vin), who is Chu Huan's nephew, and Julian, a hyper 7yo family friend. We ate dinner with them the night before, and they stayed over Chu Huan's house. I ordered Com Tam Bi Thit Nuong, but my food came late, and i wasn't able to finish with my food constraint. I also order soy milk, but the first one i drink was bad. If you've ever left milk out for too long, you know what i'm talking about (Khanh has seen this before). The milk turns into a jello-y type thing, and the water separates from this. I pretty much drank that water, and it was disgusting. I order Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio for Jimmy, and he downed it really quickly. After we packed up my leftovers, i got my first attempt at taking photos. I'm horrible at taking photos pretty much because i can't ever remember to take out the camera. But here's some of my first pro photos:

I couldn't get a family shot because everyone was all over the place, but i at least got one with my relatives. I've notices that i really need to work on my smile.

After driving off, we stopped at an outlet mall for about two hours where i met a lot of the people we would be camping with. I didn't talk to them much at first, but Co Nga was introducing me to everyone. It was like they were all expecting me to be there, which they kind of were... you know. I didn't take many pictures because i left the camera in the car. But all you really need to know is that it was like 100 degrees out there. And the mall looked like Pueblos. We stayed in Cabins outdoors without electricity, but we had running water. You can see kind of what they look like in the gallery. I'm not going to put them here because they're pretty self explanatory. Let's see who i can remember out of the 50 people there. There are my relatives, Nam (my homie), Chelsea (gf - I'll explain that later), Patrick (Vinh), Jamie, Amanda, Anthony, Julian, Timmy, Kelly, and Andrew. Those are pretty much all of the kids +3yo, and i don't remember the names of any of the adults... accept maybe Bac Ha.

That's Nam. He's the smallest 12yo you'd ever meet, but he's awesome. I tell him he's going to be a chick magnet. I hung out with him the most... he's such a smart and nice kid, and he's fun to be around. Behind him you can kind of see *left to right* Khoi, Anthony, and Chelsea. But Nam is the man. After Jamie got back from fishing, he still had two hours left on his boat rental. So Nam, Jim, and I biked to the docks and took the boat out. None of us had boat riding experience, but it wasn't too hard to learn. We took turns driving it (i was the main man), and we tried rowing the boat too. We went ashore an island in the middle of the lake, huge lake by the way, anchored it and everything, walked around a bit and left. That's where you see Jimmy on that high rock. Nam and I actually tried to ditch him, take the boat, and leave him stranded on the island. We did it too, but felt bad and came back. Going back to the docks, Nam docked our boat.

Getting back to the camp, we relaxed a bit, and then Khoi, Nam, and I went to explore the campsite. We climbed the highest pile of boulders, and when we reached the top, the view was beautiful. Most of the scenic pictures, Khoi took because he really liked it. I promised Nam that we'd go back in the morning prior to going home.

Okay, so now let me explain the girlfriend thing. I was casually speaking with Chelsea, and I asked her if she had a boyfriend. Fair enough. She said no and then asked me if I had a girlfriend. Khoi puts his arm around my shoulder before I could answer and asks Chels if she wants to go out with me. I was going to say something, but before I could, Chelsea said yes. What was I supposed to do?? She's a pretty girl, but she's only 15. I thought it'd be fun, nothing serious, so i told her that we'd have to break up tomorrow though. She agreed. Fair enough.

It got dark so it was hard for me to take any pictures. Most of the fathers played guitar, and they sang vietnamese songs together all night long. Most of the kids played poker all night with an oil lamp. I'm not that into cards (except if you're playing at Berkeley), so i made a fire with Jim, Chels, and a couple of others and tended it all night. I also picked up a guitar and sang a couple of songs, like I sernaided Chelsea with Hey There Delilah, even though it didn't make sense for me to do that, and it was probably my worst performance. She still liked it. A lot of us got to know each other around the fire, and we just shared a lot of stories. It reminded me of bonfires that i used to throw with friends. They're awesome, and a great bonding experience. I also got a share a few beers with Chu Huan. Hope Mom doesn't kill me!

I went to bed around 2PM. Jim and I had a cabin all to ourselves. The first one, which is far away, and segregated from the other five.

That's Huy up there. On the walk to our cabin, he brought with him a butcher knife and said it was for protection. I told him that he could explain to his dad why we have a butcher knife in our cabin in the morning.

Sunday, August 19, 2007 (Day 2)

So it turns out the that campsite has it's own showers. Chu Huan took everyone in our cabin there to wash up in the morning. Yea, that's his back in the first picture behind his BMW. Man, everyone in SOCAL has a nice car. Anyway, i went back to the rock with Nam, and we brought a bunch of people along. Here's me and Chelsea:

I'm a nerd! They won't believe me, but really. Ana Luz knows it. I don't know what she sees in me. If i were a girl, i wouldn't date me.

There's one with Hung, and a great view. He took this picture for us:

That's Anthony on the left, and i'm wrapping Chelsea and Nam.

So We got back to the campsite, cleaned up, packed up, and drove home. The car pics in the gallery were pretty much Huy making homosexual gestures to Jimmy, but he claims that he's not gay. I got a picture of them holding hands. Also in the car, i had nice chats with Co Nga about her history. I was also able to talk to Hau and Bac Nghiem a bit on the phone. We're trying to setup something for later this week. We stopped at a chinese restaruant to get some stuff to eat. We pretty much split into three tables. I've never done this before so it was weird, but we had like a +21 Table, a +13 table, and an everything-below table. The food was pretty bad, but I told Co Nga that it was good. Okay, I admit, I lied. Glad to get that off my chest.

After we got back, most people were tired, but I wanted to go to the beach. I've never been to a hardcore California beach before to hang out, so I wanted to do that. I went with Jim, Patrick, Huy, Khoi, and Chelsea. We played frisbee, football, built sand castles (or bowling balls), and got each other wet in the water. Yes, I splashed Chelsea with water, but I was just trying to have some fun. When we were ready to leave and it came time to take some pictures, i asked some dood to take pics for us. We had some of the best pictures, but the guy messed up and didn't take the picture! People still don't know how to use digital cameras these days. And what sucks is that for some reason, All of the pictures started getting very blurry, which is why you see that in the gallery. I should take some of those out, but i'll leave some on so you know that i'm not bullshitting. I mean, those are just random shots to test out the camera. The very last picture of Khoi is when i finally got it working again. I just removed the battery, put it back in, and turned on the camera again. It worked. Take it from an engineer, that's how you fix 60% of electronics.

Anyway, all camping, Jimmy, Khoi, and Huy kept this boyfriend-girlfriend joke going. And they didn't give up at the beach. They wanted me to take a picture with Chels. Why wouldn't I? Only someone yelled out, "Kiss Him!" and she did! I got a kiss on the cheeck, but that wasn't enough. Jimmy didn't take the picture so we had a retake. Man... from a 15YO! This is the best we got:

Yea, I look happy, but who wouldn't be. Except i think Co Nga sat down with me, and we agreed that this joke was a bit too out of hand. So i got to make sure i'm not leading her on or anything. You know, kid stuff. It's all good.

Afterwards, we went to get some food at TK Burger. Huy says it's the best burger place on Huntington Beach, but if you ask me, i'd take a Big Mac anytime. I treated everyone out to dinner. They just wanted ice cream for dinner, but you know, i had to make sure that they ate something for real before they had ice cream. I was like their father, or just an older, older brother.

Got back, shot hoops, showered, played poker. Chu Huan played also which was kind of whack. The whole thing reminded me of WSOP because there were so many vietnamese (and the broken english). I lost in the final hand to Huy. Everyone was supposed to give him 5 dollars, but instead, I gave him a Zune. Not like he wasn't expecting that since two months ago. Spent the rest of the night setting this page up, but i need to rest to wake up early and pick up my car tomorrow. I gotta be on time because Chu Huan is taking off of work for this, I think.

Monday, August 20, 2007 - Day 3

The camera got really bad, so most of these pictures are horrible. I think I'm going to borrow Jimmy's camera for the rest of the week, maybe. I had to wake up early in the morning again to go get my rental car. I ended upp getting this white Daewoo, which i'm guessing to have 2 cylinders and 50 horsepower. The gas door doesn't close either. Maybe it wasn't that bad, and plus, it was all that i really needed. We found out later that they were trying to cheat us by subtract mileage from our starting odometer reading and claiming that gas tank was full - there was a little less than a quarter left of gas. So my uncle rented the car under his name, which means that i have to be extra careful making sure that i don't pull any california stops. The roads here are really different. Personally, i like them a lot more than the roads in NJ because there are usually around 4 lanes, which gives you a good choice on how you want to get to where you're going. And they've got a U-Turn lane at every intersection. You literally just make a U-Turn in the middle of the road when the left turn light is green. The center dividers are kind of tough though because everyone i see a McDonald's or something on my left side, i have to make a U-Turn to get there.

After getting the car, Chu Huan went off to work, and I drove back to his place. It was my first time driving since I had left NJ. I crashed the car only three times, but don't tell him. I'm just kidding... You can tell him. Upon getting home, I woke everybody up to have lunch. I was able to get Trang, my younger-sister-cousin to have lunch with us. Right before i left to her house, Hau call me telling me that he could do lunch. My mother would not let me drive more people than there were seatbelts in the car, so Bac Chau let me borrow her Mercedes. Of course we took a picture at her house. Look how big Trang got!

So now we're driving from Bac Chau and Bac Nghiem's house (he was working) to go pick up Hau who is living with his friend. We got lost. I typed in the address, Park Center Ln, in google maps, but it gave me the directions to Park Center Dr. So we spent a good hour trying to find this. I had to call Fred back in NJ to help navigate me to Park Center Ln, which was only about 5 minutes away. He had the same problem with google, but mapquest did the trick. On the way, Chu Nghiep had called me, and when he heard that we were having lunch, he wanted to join in. So when we got to Hau's place, we waited for him. Chung called, and he said he was going to come for lunch also. We were waiting outside and we saw this banged up car coming into the parking lot with screeching tires. It made a turn and hit the wall. We all looked and were like... wow. And then Chung walks out of the car. I was like, "That's my cousin." Chu Nghiep was like, "That's my son."

We ended up eating at a vietnamese restaurant. It was Chu Ngheip, Co Mi, her mother and son Quin, Huy, Khoi, Trang, Jim, Hau, Chung, and Tori. I had met Tori about five years ago, the last time i went to california, but he doesn't remember me. Chu Nghiep payed for our meal, and Chung had to leave early to get back to work so we took some shots (photo) in the restaurant.

And afterwards i took a picture with my uncle and his new fammily:

On the way home, we were halfway to dropping off Trang. In the car, i remembered how disgusting my feet were. Trang and I decided to go get pedicures, so we called her mother to make sure that it was okay, and then we left to the salon. We had to drop off Huy first, and when we went into the house we forgot to turn off the alarm. We tripped the alarm, but everything ended up okay. I apologized to Co Nga and Chu Huan for worrying them. Afterwards, Trang and I went to get pedicures.

I thought that was cool since she's the cousin that i spend the least time with. We have a lot of catching up to do. My aunt commended me for getting her to talk because i hear that she doesn't normally talk to people much. I feel like she's the younger sister that i never had, so she's like my baby-sister-cosin, or something like that. We had a great time, but the ladies couldn't help my feet.

Upon returning, i had dinner with Bac Nghiem's family along with Chu Huan's. It was cool because i haven't seen my uncle in a very long time. He's lookin good. It was funny because i was talking to Tony on the phone and when i suddenly saw Bac Nghiem, i was like, "oh man, Tony. i have to call you back something serious just came up." He was cool about it.

Afterwards, Jim and I left directly from the restaurant to LA/San Garbiel/Arcadia to see Nathan. It was a quick drive, but the whole day got me tired. At around midnight, we went to get some In-N-Out, and i went to sleep soon after. Chilling with Nathan is cool, he's a friend that we met in Berkeley. For the last few days, i've been the older cousin. So i had to take care of all the kids, it was my responsibility. So now, with Jim and Nathan, this is the start of my real vacation where I can relax and let loose.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 (Day 4)

Finally got to sleep in late. I know i've only got a week here so i should use the time well, but man did that sleep feel good. I haven't had more than five hours of sleep in a couple of weeks because of finals and the family rush. So I woke up around 10am. We left and when to McDonald's for lunch. i haven't had that in over 2 months. But let me include this pic to introduce Nathan:

Nathan is on the right. He's a friend that we met at Berkeley. Nathan took us out after lunch to go see LA. We drove around the city seeing stuff like downtown, little tokyo, and the staples center. No picture because it was a car ride. Afterwards, we ended up in Ventura where we met up with our friend Sarah and had a picnic in a nice park. We also met her at berkeley. She made us sandwiches, and we ate fruit. We talked and went on the swings for a sandal tossing competition. I was improving with each toss, but i was no match for Nathan is his secret technique. He doubled my distance! I used to physics to calculate my tossing distance. Forty-five degrees is optimal projection range, andt he higher you swing, that faster your initial velocity would be at that angle. Okay, who cares.

Afterwards, i decided to go visit my old home in Simi Valley. On the way there, i noticed that there were many farm lands nearby. The area was very calm and easygoing - nothing like Edison. When we got the house, i knocked the door and a white kid who was like 15 years old opened the door. I asked him if his parents were home and he said no. I explained to him that i wanted to look around but i told him that he shouldn't let me in since his parents are not home. He was creeped out. Nathan couldn't stop laughing at how much i scared the poor kid.

I was kind of disappointed that i didn't get to see inside the house, but the outside brought memories. I saw the dead-end street where me khanh and khoa used to ride our bikes up. I was pretty fast with training wheels. I then drove to Park View Center Elementary where I went to kindergarten, and i surprisingly remembered so much. The pictures kind of look like random shots, but they actually aren't. I took pictures of every part that i remembered, so i can tell you what each picture is. The first few is where my mom used to pick me up. The cafetorium is the magic castle, and the long stretch of rooms is where my class used to be. Mine was the second to last, and around that corner is the bathroom.

Afterwards, we drove to hollywood and checked out the walk of fame. I'd have taken some more pictures, but i wasn't in the mood. This is me and Nathan in front of the kodak theater:

That's the most famous area in hollywood, and we ate there also to see how the stars dined. Not the best i've ever had, but probably the best all summer. Nathan then took us to UCLA so that we could look around. Honestly, UCLA probably has the best campus i've seen yet. I thought Berkeley was awesome, but UCLA is pretty up there.

That's me with their mascot, the bear. We drove by Santa Monica beach and Nathan showed us where the hottest shopping malls are. We didn't look around much since i didn't want to spend money buying things.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Today, i woke up early in the morning to pick up my cousins to go to Disneyland. I got there a bit late because of the traffic on the freeway, and when i got there, the parents wouldn't let me drive because they didn't trust my driving. That's okay because i understand that trust should be earned. We got to disneyland around 10pm and stayed there until midnight. Disney was...

What else could i say?

When i go to theme parks with my friends, we're usually all over pretty quickly catching as many rides as possible. My parents used to think that it was so tiring, and i never understood why until this day. I was looking after 5 kids, and every once in a while, one would stray off or another would walk to quickly. And i know, they're all kind of old, so i didn't want to be like.. we all have to stick together, but you know, i was responsible for them. So every 5 minutes i was counting heads making sure that everyone was present and accounted for, and that was really, really tiring. Most people go to Disney to feel like a kid again, i went to feel like an adult... And i realized how hard it'd be the very first ride when Chelsea was like... i'm too scared to go on. Normally this is when we'd break into two groups, riders and non-riders, but i couldn't just go on the ride and not look after the others. I was lucky at first that Huy was a chicken because he's 17, and he could look after those who didn't go on rides. But later Huy left for a bit to see a couple of friends, and pretty much when one person didn't want to go on the ride, neither could i. imagine if Nam came along!

But you know, even though i make it sound like such a burden, all of that made the day that much more fun for me. I had so much fun, i became closer to my cousins and my friends, and it was awesome that they got along. I walked behind everyone at all times, and at one point i saw Trang and Sujie walking arm to arm, and it was amazing how my 15yo vietnamese sister-cousin who doesn't speak much could click so well with my 23yo korean berkeley friend who was just learning english. Good times. When i finally got into bed, there was no measure to how fast i knocked out.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Today i messed up with my camera, so i only have one picture. That's why you won't see a gallery. I woke up in the morning to meet Bac Phat and Tony at a 7eleven at the intersection of Magnolia and Bolsa. We ot together and had lunch. We mainly talked about that side of the family and a huge reunion that Bac Phat is planning for the near future. I hope that this works out and that we could unite. i let him know that if there is anything that i can do to help, he just needs to ask. Afterwards, i hung out with tony for a few hours. He took me to a place where he bought a whole bunch os desserts and we got to talk. I wanted to treat him since it was his birthday, but he treated my because of Vietnamese tradtion. He knew that we wouldn't finish the food, but we tried, and it was pretty good.

Me and Tony =)

Afterwards, he drove me back because he had to go to class. I hung arond with Huy and Khoi for a while, and then we went to eat some sushi at Taiko where we had great discussions about raising children. Afterwards, i went to see my friends at downtown disney, and headed over to Nathan's to party for one last time. This is where my first strike of bad luck was. I parked in the parking lot of Disney, and when i got back, the side of the car was a bit scratched and there was a big dent on the side door. That really sucks, i couldn't believe that it happened. I called Chu Huan immediately to see if he might want me to come back, but he said that it was no problem. But man, i feel horrible for putting him through all this headache. I got part of my luck back, though. Because i opened the door to the car, and when i closed it, the dent popped out! Oh man, i couldn't believe it.

Friday, August 24, 2007 (Day 7)

Today is my final day in California. I woke up and had a final meal with Nathan and Sujie. Afterwards, we drove back to Huntington Beach to return the rented car. They saw that there was paint on the side, stuff that you could take off with tar remover. Chu Huan talked to them and worked something out, but i'm not sure exactly what it was. I couldn't believe it, i mean my last night with the car, and even though i know that i'm not to blame, some part of my driving credibility is definitely detrimented. Damn, i'm still learning to accept this, and i know my parents won't let it down.

After doing that, i started packing to go home, and i hung out with Huy and Khoi. We then went to eat, and we had one last final meal with everyone. This place was my mom's favorite place to eat in the OC, and i heard that they make the best Cuon rolls. The food was good, and the meal was very lighthearted and fun. I kept making Trang eat, but after some point she completely refused. But that's okay, because i know how tough it is to have someone keep forcing you to eat (Chu Huan).

We then returned to Chu Huan's house to hang out and say our goodbyes. Sujie and Nathan came by after their trip to Newport and Long beach. I introduced them to my aunt and uncles; they had already met the kids at Disney. We then played poker together for a while. I lost to Nathan, who eventually went on to win the whole thing.

Saying goodbyes are difficult. I first had to say goodbye to Chelsea. I had only met her a week ago, and she shares no blood relation to me, but we grew close, and she's important to me for other reasons. She went home early, and i know that i'll remember her. I definitely hope that our paths will cross again some time in the future when we're both older.

Nathan and Sujie then began to leave, and we went out for a last drink to share all of the memories that we've made this summer. Good times. I know that i'll see Nathan again in the future; he's just that kind of guy. And Sujie will be delaware, so we can always hang if i'm willing to do the four hours. After returning home, Tony then called me to go grab something to eat before i returned to NJ. We went to Denny's where i was too beat to do much. My words were starting to slur, and i don't even remember what i said to him. Hope i didn't sound like an idiot. But we both had a great time, and i let him know that i'm around if he needs me. He may come over to NJ/NY this winter, and I hope that he does. I said goodbye to him, and prepared to get home.

Saturday, August 25, 2007 (Day 7.5)

No pictures because... well, i'm just really tired. I'm writing this entry whiel i'm on the plane going back to NJ. And wow, i ran into so many problems getting back.

First off, we woke up early again to leave, and i had to say bye to Khoi, Co Nga, and Chu Huan, which was tough, but we managed to get that out. At the airport, it was like a 45 minute wait to check in because the line was so long. After Jimmy had checked in, his baggage tags didn't print, so he had to wait some more. His bag was 1 lb over the maximum limit, but the lady let him go fortunately because she knew that he had been waiting for a while. The Line to the security booth was even longer, but it moved a bit quicker. Only, when i got to the booth, security found a small switchblade in my laptop case. my LAPTOP case. HOW DID IT GET THERE?! I was so surprised, and i couldn't believe my luck! I thought i was going to get lucky because one of the guards was like, just let him go since the blade was only like... an inch long, but the other guard was for serious. I had to sit and wait as they wrote a report (it was standard procedure). That was incredibly stupid. you'd figure i'd know better since i'm from NJ, but really, i don't know how it got there. They were asking me stuff over and over again like what was i doing with it, how did it get there, who's is it. I was on the phone with Tony, and he was helping me out a lot. I told them that it was my cousin Tony's, and they're going to give him a call to confirm. I know all that was so messed up and unnecessary, but after all that, i'm grateful to have Tony as my cousin. Thanks, man.

That wasn't the end though. Boarding for my flight was 11:35, and departure was 12:05. They finally let me go at 12:00. Jim and I ran to our gate about 30 seconds after they had closed the doors. So we had to rebook our flight. Our options were either wait another day, or rush to LAX airport and take a flight that would go straight to Newark. I called Tony, and we decided to do the ladder. Had to burn like 80 bills to take a shuttle to LAX, and when i was there i called my mom to tell her about what happened. I called Khanh and told him to pick me up a bit later.

But then when i got on the plane, we were going out into the runway and they found that one of the fuel injectors were not working. After half an hour, we had to return to the airport, and switch planes. Just my luck. It was like about an hour and a half delay before i finally got on this plane. And that means that Khanh will have to come get my even later. So after all that... Wow. Just Wow. But after 9 weeks in California, after a few more hours, i'll be home.

Epilogue

My entire SOCAL trip was quick, and it was very happening. I wish i could have spent another week, but i'm happy for everything that i was able to do. At the beginning of the trip, i had really wanted to meet with my family, but i was very uncertain on how to do this. It was somewhat of a theme for my week over here. I don't see my family often, and though we share the same blood, they don't owe me anything. I've always debated the significance of sharing the same blood, of an extended family, because i did not grow up with any relatives in New Jersey. I mean, i see that other families are close to their uncles and their cousins, but that's because they always keep in touch. With me, i have no relationship with my relatives independent from my parents, so the only reason that we are meeting is because we are from the same bloodline, but why is this important?

I was also hesitant and curious to see which group i belonged to. You can easily say that there were two groups, adults and children. For my entire life, i've been in the ladder group forming no such relationship with my elders. I had only known them through my paretns so it was awkward for me at first to call them and ask to eat some time. The language barrier also created unneeded difficulty. I know that i will always be the child of my mother and the nephew of my uncle, but i was very happy to discover that i could converse freely with my elders, something that's very difficult to do as a kid.

I've found that while i'm only nineteen, and nineteen is still very young, i can begin to understand the intensions of our parents while not letting go to do feeling of being a child. It's like i'm somewhere inbetween a kid and an adult, and inevitably, as i grow older, i'd veer in the ladder path. But at this age, it's difficult to form any speculation about a conflict of these two groups because if i were to side with the adults, the kids would look at me as being no fun, and if i were to side with the children, then the adults would view me as being immature. Naturally, i side with neither, but it's important to know which side to pick at the right time because in the end, we all have a mutual goal - to get something we want.

Being out here, i got to speculate a bit more on how my family works compared with these others. I was able to see how others who are in or were in the same or similar situations that i had encountered would react. Only, there are still so many things that i vehemently disagree with about the way that we were raised, about my tradition and culture. But i know that i have my own choices now, and that there's a significance in the history of our parents.

The one thing that i truly hope to retain growing older is my idealism. I had a debate with my second uncle about the dangers of liberalism and how it can poison a dhilds mind into thinking that he can do anything. I understand that this world is difficult if you are not a realist, but i believe that this world is meaningless without ideals. I'm still young, but i do believe that i'm old enough to have my own opinions about life. And i do believe that i had kids, i'd want them to believe that they can do anything in the world. Maybe the path that they are taking will lead them to failure, and maybe it will make their lives difficult, but it will never make their lives meaningless... because i don't want to determine the purpose of my kids life. I believe that we no longer live in a world where survival is our life's purpose. I don't want to raise them to be happy or successful. I want to raise them so that at some point in their lives, they can make this decision themselves, and if they end up disappointing me, the world, or even themselves, they would have had created their own purpose, and that alone would make me proud. Just remember that no matter how positive you are that you are right, there is always a chance that you are wrong. There's always another side, and we tend to forget that the older we get.

So these nine weeks, i've been learning in the classroom, on campus, and with family. I've met many people whom i'm uncertain if i'll ever see again, but i'm happy that i've met each and every one of them. I'm happy and grateful for my family and my life. So i can't wait to see where we'll be a few years from now. And you know, no matter how old you are, the rest of our lives is a really long time. So within this time, whether we meet again or not, we hold each other in our hearts, and that gives each of us some meaning no matter where we've been, where we are, and where we'll be. And that's my significance in family.