Asian People, Change Your Names!

I was reading the local Austin newspaper recently, and I read a story about a Texas lawmaker, Betty Brown, who is suggesting that Asian people change their names to make it "easier for Americans to deal with."

Here's a link to the article online:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6365320.html

Here is her actual quote:

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?

“Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

The Asian community, naturally, is furious over these comments. But, in a way, it's kind of understandable. I can't tell you how many times my wife's Chinese name is mangled by the local populace. It's just easier to call her "Christy."

Most importantly, the Asians are being hypocrites, because they do the same damn thing to us foreigners when we live in their country. As soon as I got a job in Taiwan, I was required to choose a Chinese name, or else have one chosen for me. Until I got married, I was known by the Chinese government as "KEN-ISH-SHA." That was the name the government gave me. Then, once I got married, I changed my name to "CHEN DA FOO." I adopted my wife's last name of "Chen", and she helped me pick the first name.

Did I want to be known by these ridiculous names? Hell no, but I did it to make it "easier for Chinese people to deal with." Plain and simple.

What goes around, comes around
.

(Picture: Betty Brown, Texas lawmaker who doesn't want to try to pronounce "Chen" or "Wong" anymore)

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kyle celebrates his 2nd birthday today, April 13th. Just 20 days after Sara's birthday.

Kyle, like Sara, didn't have much of a birthday party, but the four of us still celebrated with a cake and some presents.

We gave Kyle a "Thomas the Tank Engine" train and we took him to his favorite restaurant here in Austin, "Luby's."

I don't know why Luby's is his favorite, but whenever we go there he seems to enjoy eating everything we put in front of his mouth, and he dances in his chair. The waitresses usually give him a balloon, too.

Easter

Yesterday, at the hospital where I work, they had an Easter egg hunt for the children of employees. Since both Sara and Kyle are at that age where they enjoy stuff like that, I decided it might be a fun idea for them to go.

I was right. They loved it.

I can only remember doing this as a child one time in my life. It was at this place called "Apollo Park" in Downey. I must have been around 8 years old, maybe younger. We just ran around picking up Easter eggs, then we counted them, and traded them in for some sort of candy. It was fun.

Since then, my family has never really celebrated Easter, other than my mom giving us some chocolate rabbits (or, in my brothers case, marshmallow "Peeps".)

Easter is one of those bizarre holidays that I had to explain to my students when I was a teacher in Taiwan. They wanted to know how the days when you're supposed to remember the death and resurrection of Christ turned into bunny rabbits and eggs. I honestly have no idea how this happened.

(Pictures: Sara, Kyle, and the Easter Bunny at the Easter Egg Hunt.)

The Boss in Austin!

Last night I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Frank Erwin Center here in Austin. It was the first concert I've been to since 2003, when I saw Simon & Garfunkel at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, before I had left for Taiwan. I had seen Bruce Springsteen in concert before, and this time, just the like the last, it was not disappointing. The guy still knows how to put on an amazing show.

I've probably been to about a hundred concerts since my first one back in 1985. Some of them bring back really good memories, and some bad ones. Some I can't even remember going to. I remember my first concert, which was "Foreigner" back in October of 1985. They were still famous back then, riding high on the success of the single "I Want to Know What Love Is." I remember the show was at Irvine Meadows, and when the first chords of "Feels Like the First Time" came on, I felt a slight chill. It wasn't necessarily because I was in the presence of greatness (as Foreigner certainly is not), but I was having a new experience....a concert!

Over the next 20 years or so, I would see much better bands, even most of the legendary, classic bands I grew up adoring. I saw Pink Floyd (several times), The Rolling Stones, The Who (before John Entwistle died), Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Paul McCartney, U2, Eagles, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, Peter Gabriel, Guns N Roses, Rush, Neil Young, and many others, some not so legendary.

I remember the Guns N Roses show pretty well because it was the time when they were the opening act for the Rolling Stones. Before lead singer Axl Rose began the first song, he went into a long rant about how this would be the last show because too many of the band members were on drugs. I remember the Metallica show at the Forum in L.A. It was during the "Black Album" tour and my ex-wife and I were nearly hit by flying chairs. It was almost like being in a controlled riot. U2 was probably one of my least favorite concerts. It was at Dodger Stadium, it was freezing cold, and the sound system sucked. I never want to go to another concert in a baseball or football stadium. They just aren't fun to me in any possible way.

I saw Pink Floyd at a football stadium once. It was the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1989. My only memory of that show was when the band played "Comfortably Numb." The entire football stadium literally became lit up by thousands and thousands of lighters. It was an incredible sight.

This leads me back to the Springsteen show Sunday night. After Bruce played his anthem "Born to Run", and left the stage before the encore, the theater became lit up just like the Pink Floyd show. However, this time it wasn't lighters. It was....illuminated cell phones!

It's amazing how things have changed in the last 20 years. Cell phones have replaced the lighters at concerts now. Whenever a great song comes up, you hold up your cell phone, or iPhone, or whatever electronic gizmo you're carrying. Sign o' the times, people.

The show itself ran 3 hours. Not as long as the marathon shows Bruce used to play in his 80's heyday, but still pretty long for someone his age. He played most of the songs I wanted to hear: Born to Run, Jungleland, Because the Night, Badlands, 10th Avenue Freeze Out, Glory Days, The Promised Land, and even a rarity from his Live 1975-85 album, Seeds.

There was one moment during the show I thought was a bit funny. During a quiet break in the show, he told the story of the first time he and his band came to Texas.

"This was back in 1974." he told the mostly young crowd. "Was anyone in the audience even alive in 1974?"

He noticed a couple of teenagers in the very front row.

"When were you born?" Bruce asked.

"1990." the kid replied.

"1990?? I was already old by then."

Yeah, just another reminder that our musical heroes are getting old.

If I had any gripe about the show, it's that whenever Bruce talks to the audience lately, he acts like he's a preacher in some old time gospel revue, instead of just talking. He didn't always do that in the past. Also, he took the great song "Johnny 99", a stark, acoustic piece on his all-acoustic album "Nebraska", and turned it into a 50's style rocker. I didn't dig that. I also didn't particularly like seeing how much concert T-shirts cost these days. $35 to $40 bucks for a simple T-shirt you can probably buy at any store for $10. That's just insane.

Still, overall it was a fun night, and I should thank my wife for giving me time away from the kids to get out and enjoy myself. Well, whenever Jolin Tsai comes to town, I'll let her go to the show.

(Picture: Bruce in action. For a clip from the show, plus the complete set list in Austin, you can visit www.brucespringsteen.net)

Kyle Video - Slide

One of my favorite videos of Sara is from December, 2006, when she went the wrong way down a slide. You can see it here if you want:

http://kenberglund.blogspot.com/2008/04/sara-video-1-december-2006.html


Yesterday I made a new "slide" video, but this time of Kyle. And this one is pretty funny too.

Temples and Flea Marts

This past weekend we explored Austin a little deeper. This time we visited a local "Flea Mart" and a Buddhist temple, both within about a 10 minute drive from where we live, and both discovered by complete accident.

I think Christy thought the "Flea Mart" would be something like a Taiwan "Night Market", but it was actually just a big outdoor swap meet. There were around 500 little shops in the Flea Mart, but most of them were selling the same stuff, and most of it was crap. We bought the kids a couple of yo-yo's, but one of yo-yo's broke almost immediately. It was probably made in China.

The Buddhist temple was a bit more interesting. I couldn't believe such a place existed in the heart of Texas. Walking into the temple, I really felt like I was back in Taiwan. We were immediately approached by an Asian woman who began talking to Christy like they were old friends. She was from Tainan and they both told their stories of how they ended up in Austin. I'm sure Christy will end up going back there.

(Pictures: 1. The front of the temple, which reads "International Buddhist Progress Society-Austin" 2. Another shot of the temple. 3. Sara posing in front of the temple. 4. People dancing at the Flea Mart. 5. Pinatas for sale at the Flea Mart.)

Happy Birthday Sara!

Sara celebrates her 4th birthday today. Since neither Christy or I have family or friends out here in Austin, we didn't really plan any big party for her, but we still tried to make her day seem special. She had a special birthday cake. She got a new dress, a "Little Einsteins" book with a rocket toy, and a new teddy bear that we got from a store called "Build a Bear."


The "Build a Bear" store is pretty fun for kids. It allows them to build and create their own teddy bear. After they pick the skin of the bear, they can stuff it and clothe it themselves. Sara picked out the bear you see here in the pictures.


(Pictures: Sara celebrates her birthday)