No respect

So last night a few of us went out for some drinks and said our final goodbyes as most of us K-town peeps are going to be heading back to our respective home cities after this weekend. Some of you must be thinking, why would one choose to stay in Kingston for the summer? Well, I really only stayed here for half the summer... but really, Kingston is an awesome city. There are so many great restaurants (Woodenheads is one of my all time favourites) and the waterfront is so beautiful - perfect for kayaking in and walking on when Lake Ontario freezes over in the winter (fo serious).

Last night I also stayed up to work on a speech for my sister's wedding which is on July 23rd. The date is approaching so fast! I really want to highlight how much my big sister Yen Vi shaped my life and character (I'm convinced I never would have liked school or attended university if it wasn't for her). Most of all, I want to hone my comedian skills (nonexistent) and make everyone laugh with some cutesy anecdotes. I think this will be hard considering 90% of the guests are my mom and dad's friends and they don't really speak or understand English. Oh well, at least I'll be able to entertain people at two tables?!?

Reminiscing last night reminded me of my first ever encounter with the hospital-medical world. I was ten years old (before my little sister Rose was born) and I had to be operated on for appendicitis. I won't bore you with the details of how much pain I was in or the three consecutive days where I barfed everything I ingested, including water and Chinese porridge called congee... and how I could have had a much worse outcome (i.e. burst appendix) if family friends hadn't suggested that I go to the hospital (I don't blame my parents, I realize that they were playing it safe and hoping my symptoms would go away like all the other childhood stomach problems I had).

The following describes the basic events of my operation:

PERIOPERATIVE NURSE: Okay honey, don't you worry, we're going to tell you everything that's going to happen, so don't be scared.

BETTY: (blink)

PERIOPERATIVE NURSE: We're going to tell you exactly what we're going to do, so just relax.

BETTY: (blink)

PERIOPERATIVE NURSE: We're definitely going to tell you everything that's going to happen very soon.

(At this point I was like, yeah, okay, I'm ready for the elusive details... next thing you know they put me to sleep!)

... A couple hours later I'm being wheeled to my room and my big sister Yen Vi sees me in the hallway...

YEN VI: (with concern) Betty, how are you feeling, are you okay?

BETTY: (uncharacteristically grumpy) Go AWAY! Leave me ALONE! I'm so TIRED! Just go AWAY!

YEN VI: (very hurt and confused)

BETTY: Just go away! Let me sleep... wah... I'm so tired...


I learned a couple things from this experience:

1) The nurse completely lied to me and to this day the deception still stings. Lying to kids is not cool, especially about Santa Claus.
2) Man, was I a grumpmaster from the anesthetics they gave me. I have a feeling in the thirteen years since my operation they've found better drugs that actually make people happy when they wake up and from what I've seen, this is mostly true.
3) For some reason, I still feel tired all the time.
4) I felt really bad for treating my sister the way I did, because she made my hospital stay so enjoyable - she bought me my first ever novel (the latest release of the Babysitter's Club - I'm not ashamed!) and Disney comics for me to peruse. Isn't she the best? I tried to be a lot nicer to her after the surgery... but that didn't last very long (just like banana boys, elder Chinese daughters get no respect).