(backdated from a blog written back in 12/21/07)

"Men reach their sexual peak at eighteen. Women reach theirs at thirty-five. Do you
get the feeling that God is playing a practical joke?" ~ Rita Rudner

ever wonder why people go into their certain respective careers?  for example, why do some people with above average intelligence hold blue collar jobs when they're capable of so much more?  why do some lean towards their current profession with mediocrity when they could've excelled at other arenas pertinent to their real interest?   did the decision to pursue their career orginate from financial circumstances, parental pressure, personal interest, or a combination of many things?

tonight was 1 of those night that i had a chance to ruminate about this all over again. my current career was always what i had wanted to pursue for as long as i could remember.   when i was first fitted into a pair of glasses, it was -4.00 diopters (e.g. couldn't even see the big E on the chart) or thereabout.   i had  my yearly exams with my optometrist then and was aware of what the job entailed.  my career aspiration developed from an early exposure to the field  because of my poor eyesight.  nowadays when patients ask, i facetiously tell them i pursued this profession primarily out of self-help.  while in my teenager years,  i also had the good fortune of spending every month with my orthodontist for the next 4 years (to be read with bitter sarcasm).  both fields seemed conducive to the lifestyle that i wanted to lead and something that I could see myself doing well into my golden years.   i debated and wavered over the 2 professions passionately and wondered which would be a more suitable career for me.  however, back when this momentous decision took place, i might add that i was actually still in grade school to be more exact, and not during high school when students were scrambling to decide which schools to apply to and which career paths to follow.

i'll never forget the key factor that prompted me to make up my mind.  we were assigned an essay in mrs. henry's 6th grade class.  this very assignment caused me to acknowledge my interest in the field and was the harbinger for my professional aspirations from  that day forward.  the assignment was simple; we were asked to write about the topic "what i want to be when i grow up".  we had a week to turn in the assignment.  i recall with much amusement the wide range of professions that my peers chose.  one of my best friends at the time, hoang, wrote "when i grow up, i want to sit on a thorn" (her spelling, my emphasis).  i suspect her real ambition at the time was to be either a queen or princess, and not a rose, or at least not a masochistic benchwarmer. 

another big dreamer, a male classmate (much like the governator) wrote "when i grow up, i want to be the president of the united states".  during that essay assignment, however, his ambition was crushed by the fact that he was still taking esl classes since he was born in europe to non-american citizen parents (spanish descendants i think). 

anyway, then came my essay.  "when i grow up, i want to be an optometrist." that blew mrs. henry away.  here was this 11 year-old gal who not only knew what an optometrist was, but had the correct spelling, she teased.  she was impressed. ever since that incident, i think i really earned my nerdhood.

so anyway, last night i decided to get coco some early x-mas scoobie snack gift last night.  it was nearly midnight when i finished finding the items at walgreen since it was the few stores open that late.  i had just returned from my late night shopping, thank god for the extended holiday hours every where.   as she was ringing up the items on the counter, the friendly clerk appeared very interested in making conversation. 

"you finding everything ok?

"yeah, thanks."

"you're shopping pretty late tonight."  the voice belonged to a cute  pale black girl whose freckles made her look no more than in her mid 20s.

"yeah, at least i'm shopping.  you have to work. stuck with the night shift, i see. "

"yeah, i've other aspirations but for now this pays the bill.  i'm tired of this job. i've other plans though," she said, almost apologetically.

"what do you want to do then?" the wannabe counselor in me asked. i glanced at her name tag.  carrie, the gray plastic tag read.

"you're gonna laugh at me," she said hesitantly.

"no," i immediately replied, thinking that she's probably going to mention a career in  a male-dominated field, like engineering, movie directing, etc.

"i want to be a sex therapist."

"oh!  whoa baby!" did i say that aloud, i thought. i was waiting for the punchline. it never came. she was dead serious.

"yeah, see? i told you it's shocking."

"so you want to be another dr ruth!  how did you come to this..um...decision?"

"i've always wanted to help people who have problems performing."
 

i was hesistant to ask, but continued anyway, "ok…so...um, how does one go about getting started preparing for this career?   what training, preping or studying would you need to get there?" i asked, unsure if the questions came out correctly.

so as she's rattling off having to finish her current college degree, and getting a doctorate, i thought...wow, what happened during her childhood/adulthood that inspired her to go after such a  a taboo field? and if she's anything like me when it comes to choosing a career, i thought with a snicker, was this also a self-help curriculum?

the exchange above took about 5 minutes.  i paid, got into the car, still perplexedly thinking about her unusual aspiration as i turned on the ignition. a song was currently playing in the radio as soon as the engine came on.  i could hear the soulful voice of marvin gaye in the middle of his classic.

"And when I get that feeling
I want Sexual Healing
Sexual Healing, oh baby
Makes me feel so fine
Helps to relieve my mind
Sexual Healing baby, is good for me
Sexual Healing is something that's good for me"

*can the timing be any more perfect?
*disclaimer: i don't embellish stories -- this would've taken too much creativity, an area which i seriously lack haha.

once upon a time in a calm, drought-free, wildfire-free, snow-free, and tax-friendly republic far, far away, there lived an well-intentioned but neglectful mama:

her baby was born on may 21, 2006. baby was small and was not allowed to go home until 8/1/2007. mama had started a new business during about this time (may 15, 2006) and so had other tasks to tend to.

since baby was growing rapidly as a healthy, inquisitive (and sometimes mischievous) little girl, mama completely forgot about the updating baby's annual vaccines. she knew of the importance of baby's health but grew sidetracked and overwhelmed by the new challenges of running a business on her own.

one day, in november 2007, mama had to take a short 1 day trip out of town to visit baby's grandma and her friend's baby shower in austin. mama tried to enroll baby in some 'daycare' places since traveling with baby would be too much of a hassle.

unfortunately, baby was REJECTED at every place that mama wanted to enroll her at, not because she wasn't well-behaved (surprisingly!), but because her shots were incomplete. apparently, the folks at daycare didn't feel this way at all:

fortunately, mama had some great friends in town - the hoangs (or the nguyens, whichever you prefer):

the lovey-dovey couple, who just recently celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary, came through and volunteered out of the kindness of their hearts to babysit baby not once, but 2 times during the month of november (november 11, and november 17-25 to be more exact). actually, it was mrs. hoang who decided to graciously volunteer her husband for the duty. this kind couple had no children of their own (although they had a gaggle of nieces, nephews and cousins they treated as their own) and was in the process of starting a family. this explained their frequent vacations to get the traveling bug out of their system before settling down.

somewhere out there in europe

tahoe

needless to say, baby was very well fed and cared for during the time mama was away during the second leg of her trip out of town. baby was even allowed to sleep on the same bed with the adopted parents. she was living in hog heaven until she inadvertently trampled on adopted mama q. baby was then placed in her own sleeping area with a luxuriously soft pillow near their bedroom. during the day time, baby was mostly in the care of her newly adopted foster dad, tony (aka lyba, barney, etc):

yao ming's good (and much friendlier) twin brother

since adopted dad was a skilled chef in the kitchen, baby had the fortune to sample his turkey also while she lived in luxury over their place since this happened to coincide with the traditional hoang thanksgiving reunion.

all's well that ends well. baby came home to mama slightly plumper, happier, and with a new toy from foster dad.

and mama...well, she also came home from her garland trip plumper, happier, no new toy but a boy toy, having met the other half's family.

ladies and gentlemen, making her 1st myspace debut,

it flooded so badly yesterday while i was heading to work.  the rain was an aftermath of a storm from galveston i believe.  the downpour probably lasted 15 minutes but inflicted enough damage that a few freeways were blocked off.  my usual 10 minutes drive to work took over an hour today.  cars were slowing down and even turning around to avoid getting into the high water.  many streets in the heart of the medical center were in chaos -- wailing sirens of firetrucks and ambulances were on the scene; streetlights were down.  it was a 4-way stop for some intersections.  

on university blvd the streets had flooded badly.  it didn't look too bad from afar but by the time i had passed morningside, both sides of the street closest to the sidewalk were flooded with at least water 2 feet deep.  a car with its emergency light on had stopped right in the middle of the street, hesitant to go forward.  i honked.  the driver attempted to drive in reverse.  i honked again. he finally proceeded forward in possibly 2-3 feet high water.  i followed quickly through and i finally arrived at the front of the office at a lil past noon, an hour later than the typical 10 minutes drive.   

i entered the office slightly fearful for the state of the carpet and hardwood floor.  i had been meaning to get flood insurance this past week but never got around to doing it.  the carpet is dark so i gave it the touch test.  every room was dry. it was slightly damp against the very back wall.   one of the many sources of my anxiety during the construction phase actually proved to be helpful the last few times when it had rained hard.  there used to be a door by the back wall which lead outside to a small patio area in the back.  because of severe flood damage from hurricane alison in 2001, the landlord decided to seal the back door shut a few years ago.  when i had assumed the property jan 2006, i was afraid we wouldn't pass city inspection without a second exit.  we were told by the fire marshall that it was ok since the occupancy was less than 50.  aside from the possibility of not having a 2nd exit in case of emergency, the blockaded back door has prevented a lot of flood damages so far since i've been here. 

the neighbors' fate were much grimer.  all their spaces had back door that lead out to the flat grassy area.  i visited all 4 neighbors.  3 had severe water damage; 1 space had over an inch high water on the carpeted retail show room. the hair salon personnels were still mopping the water from their linoleum floor.

despite the horrible weather, all 3 patients showed up -- albeit 2 hours later. the new prada rep and a prog called to cancel.  surprisingly a lot of the parking spaces were full of cars.  goes to show that severe weather or not, shoppers will be shoppers.

more pictures to be posted shortly.

university blvd between morningside & kelvin

the sidewalk that's parallel to the bushes on the far right is normally about 12"  higher  than  the street.  it's not visible in this pic. 

water is covering about 1/2 the truck's rims as the driver attempts to bypass the flooded street and onto a higher ground (parking lot of open mall).