Kudos and a dayum for them eating the bittermelon in its natural raw, satanic form.

The picture shows balut but they don’t eat that.

Many of us have the dirt of other lands on our feet from when and where we’ve come from. I speak as a Native Hawaiian, an Asian, a Caucasian with some dabs of stuff we’re kind of iffy on where exactly.

I am the friend of people who are one ethnicity and of those with many, some more than mine.

I’ve eaten the foods of many a people, some I’ve liked and others I have not. I have eaten the foods of my own people, some I’ve liked and others I’d sooner scrape my tongue raw than eat again.

America is at its best a nation of people. At its worst, it is a nation of people.

We are all shades from pink, ivory, yellow, brown and hints of green… my apologies to my youngest sister for dyeing her skin with food colouring one Halloween because she wanted to be the Hulk and my mother left us unattended with access to a snorkel, a bathtub, food colouring and a gallon of white vinegar.

We speak many languages and even if we speak the same language we struggle to understand one another. And sometimes we even give up trying to understand one another. We shouldn’t. But we do.

We love cats. Or dogs. Or both. Some of us have children. Others cannot even imagine having a goldfish. We drink coffee or tea and sometimes hot chocolate. Some like juice and others love milk. Some do not turn on the lights after Friday’s dusk and others have an altar where a knife stands for fire and a wand is for air.

We’re all different. We’re all the same.

Tomorrow, perhaps say hello to someone you do not know. Smile and nod at a stranger. Hold the door. Or let someone into the lane you’re driving in. Don’t yell at the kid crossing your lawn. Perhaps understand the person in front of you in the line to get coffee might be struggling to keep themselves together.

Remember that perhaps you are the happiest person in the room or maybe one day you won’t be the saddest.

Listen to music you love. Take a deep breath of a scent that reminds you of someplace you think of as home.

Carry yourself across the threshold. Marry your own soul. Love your own heart. Do not be ashamed of your tears.

But most of all, don’t forget how to laugh. For God’s sake, breathe for just a moment and don’t let your mouth forget how to smile.

Heh. Because I just came back from the frozen tundra that is New York (state). Also…. puppehs!

Today is the beginning of the Year of the Rooster and I am visiting Greg Tremblay in Ithaca, New York. It’s a milestone birthday for him and well, there’s snow. A lot of snow. But it’s falling gently and right now, it’s lovely. I have no intention of going outside in it until later but it’s pretty.

Wanted to wish you all a very happy New Year! May you enjoy health, wealth and happiness.

Seriously, these are damned cool.

There was a guy who used to do this in Little Tokyo. A long time ago. I had a dragon. Which I kept in the fridge. And my sister ate while I was out one day.

I no longer speak to this sister. Grudges. Hard hard grudges.

As I’m slogging down the hallway to the end of this book, I sometimes take some time out to breathe my brain out. Okay I do this in every book, not going to lie.

One of the sites I tend to hit up every other day or so is ListVerse. I love the tidbits of weird and lists are often a fantastic thing. I have no idea why. Just roll with it. I’m easily amused if someone tosses trivia at me.

So, I encourage you to head to ListVerse and see what’s there. I often fall down the rabbit hole…which is a horrible thing I avoid doing while writing. Horrible. *nods* (In case my editor is reading this)

http://listverse.com/

Nice. Kudos to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.