I'm spending this weekend at my parents place (only a short hour and fifteen minute drive from my apartment in Concord, CA). They live in the same house I grew up in from age 8 to 18, and spent the summers in when I was attending college. Nowadays I only go home for holidays and some other occassions. In honor of my stay, I'll write about my parents.

Come to think of it, I don't know a huge amount about my parents. We're not a very communicative family. My grandfather moved to Peru from mainland China when he was young. My father, uncle, and aunt were all born in Peru. My mother was born in Indonesia, where her mother and some sisters still live. Both my parents are full Chinese.

Mom went to college at Sacramento State University (CSUS) in Sacramento, California. She stayed with a foster family, who we still keep in touch with (they're almost like an extended family). I'm not too sure where my dad went to college, other than it was in the US also.

Mom and dad met in Utah, where they were both working in the summer. That's as far as I've gotten the story from them, although I do know that they were married in October, some seven months before I (the eldest child) was born. Rather suspicious if you ask me.

Anyway, mom didn't finish school, only dad did. (Mom did finally graduate from Sac State 8-9 years ago.) They moved to Peru where I and my sister were born (she's 2 years, 5 months younger than me). So that's pretty much it before I came into the picture, so we'll stop with the life history there.

As I've intimated, my parents and I are not very close. I do love them, and they love me. But I don't know them that well -- not as much as my brother and sister. My parents are... parents. They try to run my life (and I let them a little), they're there when I need advice or if I get in serious trouble.

One of the things I really hate about coming home is being here. Being around my parents is quite a chore. I feel that I have to act in a certain way, I'm not really being myself. I watch what I say and do so I don't shock them with my gaming habits and other things I don't think they'll ever be ready for.

As a result, by the end of my stays I'm ready to go back to my apartment and sleep. There are several times that I've decided to start heading back at midnight rather than spend another night here.

Not to suggest that I don't love them, because I do, dearly. But they can be so... annoying at times. And I'm sure I'm quite exasperating too, not quite living up to their expectations and wishes. I don't know how my sister feels about this subject (my brother still being in high school and living with them), but I think it's close to the same, although not as bad.

My parents have instilled a lot of their morals and attitudes into me. And I've also developed some personal beliefs that are designed to be different than theirs, so I guess they've influenced those in that way. I hope I've improved on some things: being kinder to strangers; giving more to the community; not being as concerned with the details of live that drag you down, intead concentrating on the wonderfulness of life; not being so conscious of money as a motive for my career or actions.

As a closing note, I think my parents did an excellent job in raising us kids. I've met enough messed up people to know that childraising is quite an undertaking and easy to get wrong. I think I'm a good human being and a positive member of society. And I owe that to them.