Routines & Traditions

it took me a little over 24 hours in san diego to have my first burrito and flautas meal and for those who grew up around here know just how absurd that statement is. 24 hours? my usual timeframe is within 30 minutes of arriving at the airport but this christmas trip home started off a bit different than the past years. and the difference is that jon isn't here. usually what happens is that jon will pick me up from the airport and then we always make the obligatory burrito pitstop with some boba to boot if i'm lucky. this time however, jon is in new york and not flying in until tomorrow so the task of picking me up was left to my mom and there was certainly no burrito stop on the way home. then i made grand plans to head to hotel pan and texted my excitement to anyone who would listen about how i desperately needed a flauta that very night but when push came to shove, it got late and i was too tired to make the drive out there and went to bed burrito-less. part of the issue also is i realized that without jon here driving me around i really have no idea how to get anywhere.

tonight i was determined to get some mexican and ventured out to hotel pan on my own and was so paranoid that i would get lost or would lose reception that i saved a screen shot of each page of the directions just in case. i made it just fine and maybe got a little over-confident on my way home as i somehow missed a turn and ended up driving 20 minutes out of the way before i even realized anything was amiss.

usually when i'm home i bitch and moan about how bored i am and how i can't wait to get back to sf but this time i am soaking it all up and loving it. part of it is because it's been a year since the last time that all of us, meaning my mom and jon, were home together and i found myself missing it. there's something to be said for tradition and routine and well, this is the closest to an annual family gathering that i've got.

i spent the earlier part of today getting a facial that my mom arranged for me and then we hit up a couple of stores afterwards for some shopping and then met up with my mom's friends son for a chaperoned dinner. now let me backtrack a bit. during dinner last night my mom inevitably brought up the subject of me getting older and settling down and dished out some sage advice (never date a married man for example) and spoke about her friend's son who was moving to shanghai and how it would be nice if i met him and we took him and his mom out for dinner. not really thinking too much about it i agreed because really what else did i have to do.

right after i could hear her making the calls and setting everything up for dinner the next night which was earlier today. so after our afternoon of shopping and such, she informs me that the mom is sick so it will just be the three of us out to dinner and when i protested a little, she came right back at me about my shitty attitude and ended with the phrase "fine if you don't want to go then don't" which of course had the exact effect she wanted of making me feel guilty and so off we go and while the dinner itself turned out to be fine i could not and still can't make head or tails of whether this was just dinner or if i've fallen for some type of mom setup again.

was my mom trying to set me up? some say yes but a part of me is skeptical since this guy is moving to shanghai in 2 days for work, something that mom is well aware of and so it just doesn't make sense to me. it was a little weird because him and my mom seem to get along really well and at times i felt like the third wheel and it was all very awkward as he would talk about me as if i wasn't even there like oh yes she is so gua (chinese for good/obedient) or she has pretty features and all the while i'm sitting right there and not really sure what i should be saying or doing. the best way i could describe him would be a smooth chinese businessmen but a little too smooth. such as when he told the waitress she had beautiful eyes in the hopes of getting our names higher up on the waiting list which didn't work by the way. and so that's how the night went. him and my mom speaking in mandarin about all sorts of topics while i sat there and interjected a word here or there and then when it was all finally over and we had dropped him off at home (oh yes did i mention that we picked him up at his house and that he came out wearing a pinstriped blazer) i was left very confused and not sure what the hell just happened.

and all this within the first 24 hours too! but it can only get more exciting from here on out as jon gets in tomorrow and the rest of the gang slowly trickle in throughout the week and i'm looking forward to finally having my chauffeur back to driving me around everywhere again.