Reunion

My parents were in town, along with several family members. I met up with them in Chinatown and spent most of the day hanging out with them. I also met some additional aunts I hadn’t known all that well, and our group did a lot of walking/touring. I got to hang out in a park designed by the son of one of my aunts (Keep in mind here that the terms "uncle" and "aunt" are used indiscriminately in Chinese families, so the exact lineage and relationship gets blurry sometimes). We also go to go into a really posh Michigan Avenue loft where the son’s office was, which had a spectacular view.

Art musuem for a few hours, walking around the lake. We packed a lot into one day, and I excused myself sometime around 7 PM.

I was in a rather foul mood though. When I walked into the restaurant, one of the first things that came out of my uncle’s mouth was "Hey, you’ve gained a lot of weight." Both uncles commented on this, actually. Sure, I’m not in the greatest shape of my life, but I also don’t think I’m THAT terribly overweight. What pissed me off is that I haven’t seen these uncles in about 10+ years. Sure, I could definitely stand to lose weight. But for fuck’s safe – does this have to be the first thing out of their mouths when I see them?

To top things off, I had everyone giving me advice on what I should be doing. People were commenting on web pages and telling me what sort of site I should create so I can make the most money. Going back to school is a frequent suggestion, so that I can study programming and get a degree. Because to them, programming is where the money is. And to them, having a degree means job security. Nevermind the fact that I might not want to study programming as a full-time occupation.

For part of the time, I had to keep myself quiet and basically just eat shit for a while. It’s not that I don’t appreciate suggestions and recommendations. But it’s given in such a way as to completely discount any sense of what I want, or what I think. It’s not a suggestion or a conversation so much so as it is their "telling me how it is."

Here’s one big thing. I hate being lectured on my line of work by someone who’s NOT in my line of work.

I know my family means well, they always do. It’s just that most of the times, when they try to offer suggestions and advice, it comes out as a description of what I’m currently doing wrong.