Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza

1. Peter Rabbit Escapes Mark McGwire

Now when I was 6 years old, the earliest English work (I remember) my mom reading to me was a story about Peter Rabbit, the title of which escapes me and no doubt you can infer what work I'm talking about from what I'm describing here. I know that it was in 1998 that I read it because that was the year where Slammin' Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were fighting for the home run record in baseball. For all of you non-Western Hemisphere and non-East Asian humanoids, think of baseball as Rounders, or a modified form of cricket. How is all this related to Peter Rabbit? I'm getting there...

So, in this Peter Rabbit story, Peter has a happy life with his mother. Then for some reason I forgot about, Peter found his way outside of his home. While he was away, he was chased by a human named Mc-something. I nicknamed him Mark McGwire because as a Chicago Cubs fan, you had to root for Sosa and boo McGwire. My mom always got a kick out of that, and never really bothered to correct me. Anyways, Peter Rabbit eludes Mark McGwire, and returns home where his mother was worried sick for him. At least, that's what I remember about the story. For all I know, I missed a few details but I was 6 years old back then. You expect me to have a photographic memory at 6 years old?

The point of me bringing this up is that this is one of my treasured memories where me and my mother would read a bedtime story together, with pictures no less! There's symbolic reasoning for this too. My mother's Chinese zodiac sign is a rabbit, and well I can't help drawing parallels between Peter Rabbit's mom and my own mother. Not to mention that I myself once got lost in the neighborhood and somehow made my way home. Thankfully, not chased by a roided up baseball player.

There are times where I wish though that there was a 1 million terabyte camera in our house to record this kind of stuff. Or something like a voice recorder. Because whenever I think about stuff like Peter Rabbit or Curious George, I remember instances and snapshots of me and my mother reading those books together. But I can't remember most of the conversations me and my mom had when I was a kid.

Peter Rabbit got to have an ending where he was with his mom. At least in that story. So for Peter, the end of that story is a happy one because they're together forever on the last page of that book. But us non-happy books, us mortals, there is no together forever. Not in this realm at least. A bittersweet ending at best.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Rivvy. I remember that summer well, and you know I was rooting for the Cubs and Sammy, too. Sending love and hugs. <3

(Also, not sure if you would prefer folks not to comment here - please let me know if so and I'll be happy to remove this.)

Thanks Tarawen. I love comments. Comment away!

Lots of love and thoughts Rivvy, those memories though will be with you forever at least and those for some reason are always my favourite part when I'm remembering those that are no longer a part of this realm physically.

Also am a massive fan of B Potters writing and got a complete collectors set for my niece when she was born so love those stories even if I am not a baseball fan/follower (I blame it on being Canadian and only having the Jays to cheer for)

@Fuin Elda Thanks Fuin! I hope to remember all of these memories forever. No wonder Beatrix Potter was a familiar name, I remember trying to pronounce it when I was a kid. You also had the Montreal Expos to cheer for in 1998, though they.... kinda sucked.


2. Forrest Gump and Cao Cao

On March 4th, almost two months after that morning, Forrest Gump was re-airing on TV. This was a movie I would always watch whenever I saw it on the TV schedule. My parents watched it multiple times and enjoyed it. Though apparently this time my dad finally understood one of the major motifs of this film. I hesitated before my fingers pressed the button to go to that channel, because there were two events in which I know that I was going to break down and cry. I'll leave it to you to figure out which 2 events. Another interesting thing that reminded me of my childhood through watching that movie was the "Curious George" book that Forrest was holding.

Forrest Gump... When I think of that name I think of the time my Uncle (mother's side) referred to me as Forrest Gump behind my back to my parents. This happened in either 2009 or 2010 when I was 17 or 18. This was not meant as a compliment. I think this opinion arose because I talked back to him on Facebook when he commented on my Facebook post why I was quitting something I was really good at? I saw through the question and knew this question actually was "you're only good at this one thing, why are you so stupid to desert it?" Naturally, I responded accordingly.

When my Uncle mentioned how I was Forrest Gump to my parents, I remember my dad hearing this as a badge of shame. When I told my brother that my uncle called me Forrest Gump, my brother was shocked. Henceforth, he saw our uncle in a much more negative light (and would always bring up this incident when my mom brought up my Uncle). My mom initially felt the same way and we had a conversation in Wal-Mart (where I was getting an eye exam) about it.

The beginning of the conversation I don't exactly remember, but I think the topic was on how I needed to improve myself, stop playing video games, sleep earlier at night, so that my eyesight would not decline as fast. This was also near the time where I made the unilateral decision on growing a ponytail in direct defiance of the then current Chinese trend of having short hair, which I saw as a slap to the face of our ancestors who had long hair and were proud of it. Looking back, my mom had good reason to worry about me. I was getting a little arrogant, though I still argue that this was still a good trait for me needed since it went against the stereotype of the "humble" and "meek" Chinese male that was prevalent around 2010.

Anywho, my uncle's comments were brought up and I immediately pointed out several things:

"Forrest Gump was a talented individual who did a lot of stuff in that movie (This was immediately shot down by my mom who stated that my Uncle was not inferring that.)"

"What the hell does he know? He hasn't even seen me, lived with us, and only knows me from when I was a kid." I remember saying in Chinese (in essence).

and

"Cao Cao had an Uncle too who complained about him to Cao Cao's dad. Cao Cao's dad initially believed the uncle but when he later talked with Cao Cao, Cao Cao's dad realized that his brother was completely wrong. He then never trusted his brother's word about his son ever again."

For those of you who have never heard of Cao Cao, he was an absolutely incredible, fascinating, and controversial human being in history. He was more talented than most of the people in any Mythology (and I counted 30 kids in his Wikipedia article, maybe more than Zeus). But he's much more known to China as a genius military general and a genius poet. In fact, two of his most famous poems were written while he was leading a military campaign.

Now I don't remember exactly how my mom responded to this. I brought up Cao Cao because we both were Chinese history nerds and she introduced me to the wonders that is Chinese history. I think she was correcting some of my Chinese first and maybe pointed out that comparing myself to Cao Cao was a bit farfetched. But soon after she would say something like this (in Chinese):

"My brother... your uncle. He's wrong about you. He only said it probably because he's ashamed of his own children, and is actually jealous of our family."

From that point forward, my parents no longer saw my Uncle as a credible source in terms of my character, much like the situation with Cao Cao 1800 years ago. Whenever my mom mentioned my Uncle, my brother would always bring up how "Uncle called brother, Forrest Gump."

"Dui a! (That's right!)" my Mom would say, "he's jealous of us because he's ashamed of his children. When I heard him say that I was so angry. Don't listen to your uncle, your brother is smart. That's why we call your brother, 'chongzi'."

Going to write about Chuck E' Cheese's next when I have time.

@The Elf Imperishable So your story about Forrest Gump and your uncle is both sad and wonderful at the same time since your family came about and stood behind you. I have to admit I don't know much about Cao Cao (I'm going to look into him) but seems like he's an excellent comparison for your family not trusting him anymore.

Also I want tor ead the Chuck E Cheese story (I have one of those as well from when I was a kid so I want to hear yours)