OD: I’ve never seen a boy’s urinal.

YD: I have. I’ve seen daddy’s.

I’m not sure which is harder to attain:  the simultaneous “o” (gotta keep it clean, this is a family show) or the simultaneous finishing of the shampoo and conditioner.

I finally figured it out.

While having dim sum today (did I mention how much I love dim sum?), I finally figured out the Chinese restaurant hierarchy. You know what I mean right? Who is allowed to take your order; who is allowed to bring food to your table; who is allowed to refill your teapot; who is allowed to give you your bill, etc. And everything has a specific level and those below cannot do the jobs of those above, but can only relay the information to those above so that everyone does the right thing.

Well, I finally figured out that more clothing = more power.

The top guy wears a suit.

The middle guy wears a vest and tie.

The bottom guy (usually a woman) wears an apron-y thing.

We also discovered the perils of ordering off an all-Chinese character menu. We were able to match up the numbers and English with the Chinese on the order form (or so we thought). All was going well until “steamed duck tongues” showed up on our order, instead of “spring rolls.” I have images of thousands of quackless ducks. Is it just me?

I recently had to write to my daughter’s teacher about “goals I would like her to work on this year.” One of the things I mentioned was that I would like her to focus more on the process of learning, rather than just on completing assignments as quickly as possible.

On reflection, I realized that this is also soooo me, (is it everyone?). I’m constantly looking to “the end,” with the process as something to get over with. I just want the job, the grade, the piece of paper, the satisfaction. And when I look deeper at what I really want, it usually is that feeling of satisfaction. The “check mark” that says it’s been done and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

I remember my dad and brother having a discussion about being in process, while my brother was in university. My dad wanted my bro to value his educational process, and to look at university as a process of “delayed gratification.” My bro’s retort was “as opposed to premature gratification?” My brother always had a way of ending a conversation, and getting his ass out of the sling, by making my dad laugh. (Yes, I’m still bitter).

So, what’s my point? My point is that perhaps this is our natural human (cultural?) tendency. We want to “check off” life’s laundry list of activities in order to swiftly move on to the next item. We resist the process. Is it because it’s less definable? Less describable? Less valued? I’m not sure. I’ll have to keep processing this one.