June 27: National Sunglasses Day

This story has nothing to do with today's National Day.

That's ok. It's a good story. A great story now. The thing about stories, is that they are hardly great while they are actually happening. This one was panicky and nervous and could have ended up very bad.

It's been hot here. Like 100 degrees hot. My parents are currently out of town. (No, do not come to my house and rob me.)

This means I am in charge of watering the green house and other outdoor plants. My dad lives for his yard. He keeps it well manicured and he is constantly expanding. Then he complains it is a lot to keep up with, then he expands again. Anyways, whenever I am left in charge of watering, I am always slightly nervous. Because if I mess up, what would happen to me? So I always make sure to do a very good job.

I was watering the indoor green house. It was hot. It was even hotter in the green house because, well, it's a green house. I decided, that on this hot hot day, the plants would probably enjoy a 360 degree water experience. What exactly does that mean you may ask? That means, that I decide to swing the hose above my head like a lasso so it looks like a helicopter. Except, remember this is an indoor greenhouse. Which has an electrical fan. It is also rather small. KABANG the water hit the fan and the fan died with a squealing noise.

Huh. How about that.

I didn't think it was that big of a deal but I sent this text to my parents,

I almost immediately received a phone call. My parents had taken my grandma out to eat, but in the middle of dinner, an alarming text like that, required a phone call. Dad asked some questions like "Can you pull the string next to the light bulb and see if the light turns on?" Well, that required me balancing carefully on a brick to reach the string, but in the end, no, the light did not turn on. That meant I had lost the electricity connection and possibly turned off the whole outdoor watering system.

Dad made a long sighing noise but kept his composure. He would call me after he was done eating dinner. He may, or may not, have had another glass of wine before leaving the restaurant.

Dad and I would later spend 50 minutes on the phone as he tried to diagnose the problems. This involved me walking between different electrical boxes located in the garage and the barn. I checked the breaker switches, turned them off, turned them on, turned them off again, and then turned them on again. I hit a million different reset buttons. I would then listen to see if the cistern was being filled up.

 Oh and yeah, I have a fear of going inside the barn because I have a fear that a homeless man is living in there. I don't have a reason to believe that a homeless man is living in there, but hey, it's next to a green house (a food source), it is covered and indoors, it is next to a hose (a water source) and there is a ping pong table in there (an entertainment source). Upon entering the barn the first time, I yelled out "HELLO???" and Dad answers, "Yes, I can still hear you." I had to notify him that I wasn't talking to him, I was checking for intruders.

I pushed a half-million more buttons, turned on different switches, and finally, some combination of all that reset the system. The cistern filled with water, and those beautiful, glorious, life-saving sprinklers turned on once again.

We all learned several lessons this night.

1. It is important to leave a DO NOT list as well as a TO DO list when leaving me alone with the house.

2. Lassoing a hose above your head is never a good idea in an enclosed area where there is electricity.

I have to give my dad credit, he remained surprisingly calmed. He later informed me I would have had to hand-water the whole grass and all his plants which would have taken about 3 hours every day.

Ain't nobody got time for that!

But all is well, the grass is still green, and I am still alive.

Anyways, Happy National Sunglasses Day!

This day is in honor of my mom. She loves sunglasses. She wears them everyday of the year while driving, even in a snowstorm because of the "glare." Along with her love of sunglasses, comes a talent for breaking and losing them.

She has spent a lot of money on sunglasses over the years! It's risky to leave an extra pair of sunglasses in my car, because if she happens to be in my car, she also has most likely left her own sunglasses at home. Which mean she has to borrow them. Which means that she will probably lose a screw out of one side and one of the ear-pieces will fall off. I don't know if mom has a magnetic brain or something, but when she puts on the sunglasses, the screws tend to pop out. And those screws are tiny so it makes finding them difficult, if not impossible. If I break sunglasses, it's because they were in my bag and got squished. I have never lost a screw out of sugnlasses in my whole life.

Let's just call this a talent of mom's.

Mom and I are both wearing Disney sunglasses in that picture. We are also at Disneyland. Do you see the sunglasses mom is wearing? She bought two pairs last October. They are both broken now. Bad luck I tell you. I however, still have my pair. They are safe and sound and I am hiding them from my mom.

This is a picture of a picture so it is kind of hard to tell what is going on. The original picture was taken over 15 years ago. We had just moved back from Singapore. A friend of my mom's, had sent my mom a pair of sunglasses for everyday of the week! I'm not sure how long all these pairs lasted, but it wasn't long enough. Even other people know my mom and her infamous sunglasses issue.