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encouraged by tafblogger andrew's LOL post to love non-taiwanese americans. cool!

today had some cool encounters:

rams is a teenager who plays on a street football team. it turns out all his friends are asian. so he's been picking up some vietnamese cuss words. hahaha. he also for some reason knows how to say 'black people' in cantonese. i asked why? and he replied coz his asian friends don't like black people. we had a discussion about this, and how the media negatively portrays different racial groups. and how my own aunt was a little wary about me moving to philadelphia because she heard that there are many black people here, even though my aunt and uncles' best friends and fellow elders at church are black. i'm nauseated as i think about this. anyway, i'm glad that rams is breaking some barriers. i hope to catch one of their games sometime. street league means: no refs. local kids make all the calls. no padding. tackle. 11 on 11. everyone must be under age 18.

saw rams' mom right after. and she says she likes that her son hangs out with the aZns because she believes that they keep him out of trouble. she confessed this to me apologetically as if to imply that she didn't want to typecast me as 'model minority' but she was going to anyway. i asked if he hung out with any puerto ricans, and she said, 'no! he'd prolly be on the streets by now if he did'. she was quick to diss her own people. but again, crime stats and media.

this afternoon brought j and little j. j is 17 and she is 3 yr old little j's mom. j is expecting another girl in november. dad didn't say much and appeared tough, but after a lot of effort i was able to make him crack a slight smile towards the end. he's prolly 19 or 20. but they both looked kinda old. i asked little j if she had any brothers or sisters, and she pointed to her belly while saying, "in here!" so cute! after we checked her teeth, she switches spots with mama and yells, "open your mouth now!" she then climbs on j's lap, and gives her belly a smooch. dah! more cuteness!

last notable of the day is 81 year old b, who is also a volunteer at the local christian school. she's living in the hood where we work. she is white. and her memory is super clear. she is sharp. she is the best. she loves the Lord. she writes thank you notes to our front desk. and she is awesome. too bad her teeth are decaying. ended up doing a very... lessay... creative filling to restore a molar.

in that moment i realized that i had crossed the line from being a T to an F, whereas in the past i was totally a T and was wavering back and forth the past few years. there's no way a T would do such herodontics.

tryin to have faith here.