MH 2012 & Boston

After less than a week back in Cali, we flew red-eye to Boston on Tuesday evening last week. It was our first time back together in Boston/Cambridge in more than six years. (The last time was '05 for a "reunion week" before MH&J's wedding in Rhode Island and K had been back once during the interim for a college recruiting event ('07?).)

The reason for being in the area again after so many years was Mystery Hunt, a crazy weekend of little sleep and lots of puzzles.

K found Codex back in late '08 and started hunting with them remotely during the '09 Mystery Hunt. Then, I joined for the 2010 one (also remotely). Last year, 2011, Codex won, meaning the team had to put on this year's hunt. We arrived Wednesday to help with pre-hunt prep and then were on campus during the hunt itself working various roles. K dealt with submissions related to one of his puzzles and worked the phones while I was mostly involved with productions-related activities (it was a musicals theme based loosely on "The Producers" and teams had to write and perform several mini productions during the hunt itself). I had a TON of fun! ^o^

Of course, putting on the hunt was a HUGE undertaking, with work underway starting last January, shortly after the end of the previous hunt. K spent just about every day of the year working on the hunt, resulting in 20-some puzzles that made it into the hunt itself (about a fifth of the total # of puzzles in the hunt). Something like five out of seven days every week researching, writing, revising, testing, etc. puzzles and ideas would not be an understatement (or seven out of seven oftentimes). If it wasn't work or a social event, then it was puzzles. This included the weeks we were traveling; after a full day out walking and sightseeing, we would return back to our hostel/guesthouse/hotel and he would log in to the hunt writing server.

In comparison, my contributions to the hunt during the year were minuscule. Sure, I helped test-solve some puzzles, contribute to a couple, etc., but really, just a tiny, tiny mark. But, I realized during the hunt that puzzles were a big part of my life during that year as well. I heard about ideas, triumphs, failures, bits and pieces, drafts, progress, just about anything, really. It's an odd feeling. I was mostly on the periphery but after it all ended, I felt the happy/sad feeling you get when you're at the end of something big. Despite my tiny, tiny mark, it was after all, a big part of *our* lives for the year.

I had briefly struggled with the decision of maybe not traveling to campus for the hunt but I went with my original thought of going (how often will you get to see a hunt behind the scenes?), and I'm really happy I did. I wasn't useless (^^), had fun (^o^), and met a lot of nice people (\^o^/) (though not all of the 60-or-so people at HQ). I had probably worked on a few puzzles with some of them in the past but I'm pretty bad at remembering names and usernames. Now, I know their real names and faces, but then, I'll see them online next year with their usernames and wonder whether it's someone I met this year ^^;; Having met and gotten to know a bunch in person makes me really look forward to next year's hunt and want to get better at puzzle solving in the meantime (and hopefully K won't turn around and say we're joining another team >_<).

Cambridge/Boston. It was a bit odd being back. Things remained mostly the same, with a few changes here and there. We ate at Mary Chung's (which now offers brown rice) our first day and Penang our last day (in between was just whatever food was most convenient). Back in the day, we bought tokens for the T from a teller; now, it's tickets dispensed from automatic machines. We still remember when the price of tokens went from 85 cents a token up to $1. K bought a couple hundred tokens before the price hike went into effect. We used all of them, too, before we graduated, cheerily sharing our lower-priced tokens with friends whenever we went out. Now, each [non-discounted] ride is $2.

We know few people still in Boston, but J&K were kind enough to let us stay at their place for the week and weekend. I hadn't seen them since their wedding in '06 and was really looking forward to seeing them again. But coincidentally, J was actually out of town the days we were there, in SoCal from the 5th and returning the morning of the 17th, exactly the morning we would be leaving! He told me earlier that he would be back the night of the 16th, meaning we would at least have that final night to catch up, so I was really bummed when he later told me he had, in not-atypical J-fashion, misread his flight info. He wasn't getting back to Boston the night of the 16th but flying out of LA that night!

Though we would have crossed paths with Kr (she flew out to meet J the day after we arrived), our non-normal schedules meant that we didn't see her after all. In fact, I didn't even see their roommate C until our last night there! K and I had odd schedules the whole time ^^;; Seeing H would have been nice, too, but time was not on our side.

It was the mildest Boston winter we'd ever experienced, but as we coming out of the T that last night, it had started to snow! The first time since '03 for K to see falling snow! (We still managed to fly out the next morning, too ^^)

We traveled Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia for seven weeks, flew directly to NJ at the end of the trip, attended N&R's wedding on NYE, spent time with friends and family, came back to Cali, did a bit of cleanup and unpacked, re-packed and went to Boston for Mystery Hunt, and now, we are, finally, back in Cali for longer than a few days (well, probably months ^^;;). So, the end to our 2011 travels ^^

coming home

I've never felt so good coming back home to Cali after traveling! It might have had something to do with already being back in the U.S. for the past week+ but still not back to *our* home.

Brief recap:

• T Dec 27 4am Singapore time: Flag down a taxi to go to the airport
  
• T Dec 27 10pm Eastern: After more than 24 hours of travel, arrive at parents' house in NJ (yes, we flew directly to JFK from Singapore without stopping off in Cali)
  
• W Dec 28: R arrives home but due to having gotten no shut-eye the previous night, sleeps through the afternoon (like us)
  
• R Dec 29: D finally arrives home, too! ^^
  
• F Dec 30: K and I drive to PA for N&R's wedding rehearsal
  
• Sa Dec 31: N&R's wedding!! ^o^
  
• Su Jan 1: A lazy morning & afternoon of chatting with N's family, packing, and then heading out to drive back to Jersey a little before sunset (~4:30pm???)
  
• M Jan 2: A little bit of weird mom-related drama, but we won't go into that. Despite drama, manage to get ourselves to NYC. D-R-CL and I browse Book-off (really cool!) & Uniqlo. Dinner with grandma-grandpa and aunt-uncle (XW's parents, which was a happy surprise!).
  
• R Jan 5: 6:30am Eastern, leave Jersey house. 9 hours later, 6:30pm Pacific, arrive Cali home. ^o^
  

The reason we didn't come back to Cali first was because it maximized the amount of time we could spend traveling while still making it to N&R's wedding, and it was much less expensive overall (round-trip SFO-EWR flights during the holiday season were the highest I'd ever seen them).

I'm really happy I got to spend a weekend with N&R over the summer. Since they stayed in a hotel the night after their wedding and then left in the morning for their honeymoon, I only got to see them during the final decorating, getting ready, etc before the wedding. 'Tis always how weddings are though.

During all this, K & I were sick. Actually, we're still sick, which I would say is the longest I've ever been continuously sick. It started, roughly, Dec 19th-ish, which means, yes, it's has been 3 weeks! I think we caught a new cold either just before or during our travel day from the East Coast back to Cali though. I distinctly remember feeling better and better as NJ winded down but then feeling much worse our first evening back here T_T

"home"

Visiting back 'home' usually comes with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I'm super-excited to get to see my brothers (and semi-excited to see my parents). On the other hand, I get to, once again, be entrenched in the quiet war zone of my parents' marriage. And, I know there's a decent chance I'll get into at least one argument with my mom.

'Home' is in quotes because it really felt different this time. My first couple of days back was an adjustment period. It felt more like I was on travel/visiting than being back in the comfort of home. The feeling of 'not being home' was a big shock, actually. Maybe it's because I haven't visited in over two years >_<

Arguments with mom, yes. Two this time. Except unlike the past, I wasn't alone in my plight. It was the three of us -- me, being reminded of just how important it is to keep my Chinese from deteriorating, D, trying to assert himself as a fully-aware adult with his own thoughts and opinions, and R, always analyzing and being quietly observant. I'm not sure we actually got any of our perspectives across, but I always hope that we really are making some minuscule progress, even if it's not immediately evident =/

The upsides include, of course, seeing family. And it felt sooo good. Visiting grandma and grandpa and seeing CL, JL, JX, and aunt and uncle. The last time I saw JJ/JM was probably more than eight years ago! Why so looong?? I always thought of myself as being independent and doing whatever I wanted, but in retrospect, maybe sometimes I was too afraid. I think it was hard for me to resolve my own mental block from all that drama during high school. I just wanted to escape, maybe.

We went out with my dad one morning to see his daily swimming routine. His diligence is absolutely amazing. Warm-up was jump rope. He didn't quite make 900 jumps like he'd hoped, but the 800+ jumps certainly made us tired just watching him. Then, he stood on the ice (the whole pool was frozen over) and re-made his little hole from the previous morning so that he'd have a place to dive in. And there he went, in and under. Wow.

Mom made a lot of good food. Unfortunately, my system wasn't ready for seafood meals every day T_T She also had some homemade wine to share, a really strong one from green grapes and a much sweeter, lighter one from red grapes. The latter one was really good ^-^

D, R, and I spent a lot of time together, watching stuff and just chatting. That was the one thing that really finally gave me a feeling of 'home'. D&R ^o^

home #2 for a few days

Yep, still the psychologist/listener for both my mom and dad, separately, of course. Sigh.

My dad is still swimming in the pool everyday (30-some degrees outside). D looked it up and apparently my dad isn't totally crazy... there are supposed to be health benefits to "winter swimming". He's lost over 20 pounds and no more big belly, so I guess I'm proud of him. Whatever works.

My mom is funky as always. Don't eat too much food that's been microwaved because the microwave sucks out all the nutrients (though she doesn't realize that simply cooking your food on the stove does this).

Lots of sleep... way over what I would need, minor jetlag, I think.

DDR... the hookup is still here from last year and my dad says he plays for a bit after he does his swimming. DDR on a big screen with pads that don't shift as you play... yay! R is crazy good now... well, much better than I am (probably even 'or ever was'). He usually plays on heavy with the extra option of arrows accelerated 1.5x when they approach the top of the screen. He also does pretty well on funky songs that have "non-arrows", i.e. you lose life if you step on the "non-arrow", or songs that require both feet and hands (no way to get all the arrows otherwise).

a dreamy week at home

My grandparents usually bring my little cousins to come play at my house during the holidays when they get a week off school, but I missed out on seeing them this time around... my poor grandpa was still recovering in the hospital from his recent tumor removal. Being old and lacking English doesn't bode well for being stuck in the hospital =(

No cousins, but home certainly doesn't lack comforts and good times... highlights this time around...

• movies (asian, of course)... The Myth, Arahan, Election
  
• sleeping until after noon almost everyday
  
• breakfast (@ a diner, of course) and catching up with the other Melissa
  
• walking around Red Bank and chatting in the cold cold night with Herb
  
• H & AJ trying to order me drinks... amaretto sour & fuzzy navel got past the initial taste (smoking is allowed in NJ bars... bleh)
  
• pre and post christmas shopping with my brothers
  
• being introduced to R's 2 new Pumas... one killer (literally) and one cheetah
  
• D updating me on the latest chinese pop artists (7 gigs in the process of being transferred to my mp3 and music video arsenals... Jay Chou, Wang Lee Hom,...)
  
• R teaching us a hiphop dance routine into the wee hours... I have no style, but it was tons of fun anyways
  
• anticipating R getting his PS2 to USB adapter so we could DDR to no end... of course, it wasn't delivered until right after I left  >_<
  
• getting another 1% done on my cross-stitch project from years ago
  
• my dad going gaga over 'Typing of the Dead'... a typing game based on 'House of the Dead 2'
  
• my dad going gaga over DDR
  
• yummy dinner at Crown Palace with my family
  
• spending 2 hours browsing Pearl Arts with R&D
  
• seeing V and chatting until the wee hours ^o^  ^o^  ^o^
  

eh?

I saw L today, aka Ms. L. My brothers think it's weird that I met with one of my high school teachers, but it's all the same to me. Who says you can't foster relationships with previous teachers? It's just another person you've crossed paths with in your life. We went out for ice cream. The "ice cream" was an interesting texture... it was supposed to be sort of italian ice + cream mix. It was fun; we just chatted about random things (we talked for longer than when I saw N the other day...?).

R went to his friend's graduation up in north Jersey today. He spent all last night making her graduation present. It was cool to see him in action...

food at home

I mentioned to my mom that the 'luo bo gao' she made contained quite a bit of oil. She said my dad likes to have them pan-fried... of course, pan-fried, but it worried me that the pool of oil left in the dish was a lot more than if you got a plate of luo bo gao at dim sum, for example. She says, "it's vegetable oil", as if vegetable oil is supposed to be a great thing. And she said it's only occasional. Well, I've noticed that every dinner at home so far has included one dish that is fried -_-

Food and... wine. We have a plum tree in our backyard, which produced so many plums last year that my parents decided to make their own plum wine. My mom makes it sound really easy. I guess they must know what they're doing, because she gave me a taste of it and I'd say it was as good or maybe even better than the plum wine I tried at Ginza (the only other place I've ever had plum wine). My grandpa (mom's dad) used to make his own wine when I was young, so I guess he must have passed on some of his knowledge.

empty nest to come

R's graduation today... and now all 3 of us are done. Short graduation ceremony, but my dad still managed to lose the perfect-fit camera case that I bought him only a couple of weeks ago.

The pictures...

Several tries before he was FINALLY satisfied with his tie...


Tying a tie is tough work... need to get some zzz's...


My brothers all grown up...


I look like a midget next to them...


Wearing a graduation gown over a long-sleeve shirt in 80-degree weather... but now we're all done...

bff

I saw N for a little bit today. Actually, I was a bit disappointed because I was really looking forward to seeing her and catching up. Instead of a nice long walk down the Jersey shore, it turned out to be a short one hour thing. I hardly got to know her life since after high school. When I see her, I still feel like I can tell her everything, but we don't talk enough to even barely tell everything. Is this how all long-distance friendships will end up?

start of week at home

Friday -
D and I drove out to my cousins R and S's graduation in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania... 2 1/2 hours, not too bad. It feels strange seeing everyone graduate; I remember them all being 3 feet tall... almost like it was yesterday. My two aunts from Rochester came down, too... and it was fun to see them. Lots of older generation family being together makes things lively. They all talk really loudly and the more happier things are, the louder they are. For any stranger watching us, they'd think we were fighting (especially since they wouldn't know what we were saying... speaking in some random Chinese dialect).

I'm really proud of both my cousins... it's tough to find people their age who are as responsible as them. I don't doubt R's intelligence since most of my family says he's really smart, but I hope MIT will strip away his little bit of arrogance. I'd never heard of this award until the graduation, but he did get honorable mention in the USA Today 2005 Academic All Stars. He's also doing the NSA Stokes Scholarship Program. I think he's crazy for committing to a 6-year requirement after college graduation right now, but I guess it's a pretty sweet deal. (Haha, yea, I do the horn tooting for all my family.) We are all paying for R's college tuition, so he better do something extraordinary.

Saturday -
Woke up at 8am to drive back to NJ for R's last violin recital. I give myself a pat on the back for being able to stay (mostly) wide-awake during the whole recital. R got to do a duet piece in addition to his solo. Oh, and it was the first time I got to see him with his glasses on for an extended period of time.


I'm going to catch up on sleep tonight...
Wedn night - lots of cleaning up & organizing - 4 hrs of zzz's
Thurs night - red-eye flight + 2 hrs of zzz's after it
Fri night - 3 hrs of zzz's
...so I'm really looking forward to it ^o^