When I was around seven years old, my parents\’ blue Cheverolet suddenly slowed to a halt on a trip back from the mountains. We were stuck on two lane interstate, mostly surrounded by tall redwoods. As my mom led my sister and me toward the town almost a mile away, I turned to my mom and asked nervously, \”Are there any three bears?\”

So I don\’t really remember that incident, but my mom keeps repeating it to me. Today on the way back from Oakland (Chinatown – yet another dim sum lunch with my grandparents), my dad\’s Acura Legend slowed down to a halt after we exited the Caldecott Tunnel. At first, I thought my dad was being the cautious driver he is, by always driving 10 miles below the speed limit. Then as we were sitting on the right side of the freeway, having the traffic rush by at 70+ mph (shaking the car), the car let out some smoke. Poor Bonaza (the name my sister and I christened the car more than 16 years ago)! And there I was, squeezed into a tow truck with my parents pulling the car back to our house with my dad saying how blessed he was that I was there (with a cellphone) and how it was a Sunday (rather than a weekday where he wouldn\’t have a phone)…how truly blessed.

I dislike empty promises.

I had horrible allergies today, recalling those dreadful days in high school when my face would turn into mush and I had no kleenex available. In those days, the teachers would never allow you to go to the bathroom without explicit permission. So quite naturally, I would suffer the entire class period trying to hold my dripping nose…IN.

A few days ago, I discovered that my philosophy TA supposedly had a sensitive immune system. When asked about spring break, one student said she got a cold. Immediately, the TA told the student to leave the classroom in respect of her sensitive immune system. The student asked outloud, \”Am I being kicked out?\” The TA didn\’t exactly respond, but turned to face the class, \”If anybody else is sick, please go.\”

For the rest of the hour, I was held in extreme anxiety. I was afraid she was going to mistake my allergies as a cold. Of course, the more anxiety I have, the more my nose started dripping.

So now I have a heated towel over my face in an attempt to ease my ever-dripping nose.

No April\’s Fool joke this year, sorry. But then…is that a joke itself?

Apparently livejournal has done its good deed by changing \”friends/friends of\” to \”stalked/stalked by\”. It\’s cool, because essentially that\’s really what it really is. People can\’t stalk me since I closed down my livejournal, but I can…stalk them!

And what\’s up with a controversy over the use of the word cali? I am a native Californian who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area all her life. And truth to be told, I started using the words cali and frisco only because people around me used it. But I don\’t see why it\’s a big deal. But then again, five years ago in high school, I was insulted when someone called me Jenn online (I always went by Jennifer). He said that he didn\’t want to type all eight letters of my full first name. Granted, nowadays I almost feel chastised when someone calls me Jennifer.

So Cali or not?