Leaving On a Jet Plane.

Emotional rollercoaster continues, and today is quite the low day. It's so strange because things are going more or less swimmingly. Especially after last weekend, I really don't have that much to complain about... or at least anything NEW to complain about. Maybe going to Taiwan this weekend and seeing my family will snap me out of this unpleasant cycle.

Ah, right... I'm going to Taiwan for four days this week. My cousin "Terry" is getting married. I put her name in quotes because I'm not entirely sure it's her actual name, nor am I sure about the names of any of my relatives. Actually, that's not quite true: I know all the names, I just can't match them to any faces. See, I haven't been to Taiwan since I was 10, so even if I did remember faces, they would be 13 years out of date. That's over half the lifetime of most of my cousins. The image they have of ME is probably something like a morbidly obese 10 year-old with a ricebowl haircut wearing plaid boxers over my tighty whities thinking they're normal shorts. Here's some context that should fully explain that last part:

"Mommy, these shorts are weird. There's no zipper!"
"That's just the fashion these days. Let's go."

Thanks, Mom. Add in the fact that my Chinese was stuttered and barely comprehensible and the image of a mentally handicapped "cousin-we-don't-talk-about" is complete. If my relatives have changed half as much as I [hope I] have then it's going to be one tough match-'em-up game this weekend.