Growing up you never realize what you may be missing if you never experience it. People would always ask me if I miss not being able to drink or how do I deal with that. Me being a jackass would then ask them do they miss crack cocaine or heroine. They would then understand, if you never really drink or experience something, you can not really ever miss it. I never felt that I missed out on anything and we have tried to make sure that there are some basic experiences that the kids got. I think one of the biggest things growing up that we “missed” out on was never going on a big trip to somewhere like Disney World or Disney Land. I am not sure if all of my friends went there, so it was not that big of a deal. When we decided to go to Disney World I told Mel that I would prefer to go all out and really experience things as I was not planning on going back. We got a nice 2 bedroom suite in one of the hgher end hotels. Initially we were going to stay in the African Safari area but at the last minute there was a discounted price at a hotel that was just as nice for significantly cheaper and I could not justify that increased expenditure, as the one we chose had something that I really love. A large jacuzzi tub that I could soak in. Every night I took a bath and I loved it. Olivier did as well even though it was in our bedroom. In Asian households when you bathe, you fill a basin in the bathtub and you use that water to wash yourself. You do not have the shower on all of the time or fill the bathtub with water. That is seen as wasteful. When we were growing up that is how we washed ourselves. When we became teenagers and my dad built a shower downstairs that changed, but that is what we knew and we did not really know any different. Mel and I made sure that our kids at a bare minimum knew how to ride a bike and know how to skate as we live in Northern Ontario and there are a lot of different events growing up where you end up going to the arenas. I am not sure exactly how I learned how to skate, most likely from the school, but I do remember that my first skates were the tube skates that were donated to me by someone at the church. I had those skates for a very long time. You grow up happy with what you have and we never had any envy or jealousy that we did not have things. I am surprised that we had grown up in a middle class home considering where my parents started from with having no money to their name and relying on the kindness of others. Today I received more money in the GoFundMe, from an anonymous donor. It has been quite sometime since we started the GoFundMe, but it seems that every month there is something that stumbles across it and donates money.
Today my mother sent me a message wishing me a happy birthday and saying she loved me. She called me afterwards and i think that when we had spoken on Sunday and I had said we were not going over for dinner on Monday that it slipped her mind that it was my actual birthday. My parents are lovely that if I ever reqest any help in making dinner they will always happily help me out anyway that they can and deliver food even if the weather is horrible outside. I think that is a lot of love considering that my father tries to avoid driving at night now. He knows that his vision is poor at night and that he should not drive at night so he avoids it. We take them with us to Toronto when we can and I think that they enjoy it when we do not spend too much time walking around as they get tired. It is rather amusing though that they are significantly older than me and they can travel more. I have never known how hold my parents were, but my sister told me a trick on how she remembers. My dad is 30 years older than she is, so now I can always remember how old my dad is. He is 48, because my baby sister is 18 in my head and looks eternally young because she is Asian. When she gets older she will all of a sudden look like she is 90 years old. That is the Asian way.
It was a bit rough for me today and I am not sure why. Around noon I had so much difficulty staying awake that I had to take a nap. After getting up from my nap I knew that I had to eat and went out of my room. Xavier was gone to the gym so it was just Olivier and myself. For some reason I was in a cold sweat and Mel and I were chatting and she made me take my temperature to check for a fever. I was fine, but I did not feel well at all. I felt so tired like I had all of my energy drained from me and I struggled to move around and tried to remain stationary and had Olivier bring me gatorade. Once I had some fluids I felt a bit better but I was still so tired. It took a couple of hours before I regained my energy levels to make things more tolerable. I am not sure exactly what happened, perhaps I have some brain-infecting trematodes that are draining my physical energy reserves. Now that would be an exciting twist to my cancer. Olivier came running into the house worrying if he was bitten by a tick. Those can also siphon off nutritional energy. There are so many possibilities of why I was tired. I was better after a couple of hours and was able to make dinner for us. I made some bacon and I wanted some french toast, so I made a couple slices of panko crusted french toast. I think it would have been better with brioche bread but Mel wanted me to use the bread we had. I ended up making her some french toast when she got home, Xavier had a 3 egg omelette and 3 slices of French Toast. Olivier had a panko crusted French toast as well as a a hash of tater tots topped with cheese, scrambled eggs, bacon and shallots. I should have made him a hollandaise sauce for it. While I was working this morning I wandered out to get some food and I see Olivier there with a bunch of ingredients out and I asked him what he was doing. Mel found him a recipe to make a chocolate loaf and gave him permission to bake. I was hesitant at first and worried that he would make a mess. He did quite well and what he made was tasty and he cleaned up after himself. I was quite impressed. He cut up the shallots and ended up making his own dinner. Soon enough I think that we will let them try and cook dinner for the family and we will see how this turns out. Olivier asked my wife how I learned to cook so well and she said practice and just experience. He is under the impression that everything that I make is good. I have made some things that have been atrocious and I have thrown out. Mel has seen me do this and I have made some bad dishes before that I would not try again, but that was when I was younger. Experience comes with age and I tend to not make those mistakes now as I have better technique and know what to do. My kids are young and they will get there soon enough.
Q