Monday, July 03, 2006

Soccer Dad: I never heard of "meme" before this day

1. I am:
A yonsei Japanese American defensive midfielder but lately I’ve been playing forward.

2. My kid is:
Noisy. Cuter than yours. Half Japanese-1/4 Korean-1/4 Irish. There's a joke there somewhere.

3. I first realized I was APA when:
None of my non-Asian friends served rice with dinner and would act like rice was a big deal when they came over my house to eat.

4. People think my name is:
All through high school, every teacher with half a brain asked if I was related to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D - Hawaii). Mine’s spelled I-N-O-U-E you dolts! But in Hawaii, someone asked if I was related to Enson Inoue, the ruthless MMA ass kicker from the islands. That was refreshing. “Yeah, that’s my cuz, so you don’t want to eff with me.”

5. The family tradition I most want to pass on is:
Respect for elders, appreciation for sports and being unfailingly on time.

6. The family tradition I least want to pass on is:
Stoicism and apolitical stances (I was the first in my family to vote)

7. My child's first word in English was:
A toss-up between “ball” and “papa”

8. My child's first non-English word was:
Not there yet, but it might be “agua,” or hopefully, "more natto and kimchi please."

9. The non-English word/phrase most used in my home is:
“Unko” and “Shi-Shi” referring to BM and urine, respectively. Even the dog knows. Cosign on Zen’s family use of “pau.”

10. One thing I love about being an APA parent is:
The uniqueness of being an Asian parent with an Asian kid, instead of Angelina Jolie getting all the props.

11. One thing I hate about being an APA parent is:
The universal complaint about lack of sleep.

12. The best thing about being part of an APA family is:
Aunties, aunties, aunties!

13. The worst thing about being part of an APA family is:
An assumption that your kid is on some fast track to education greatness. Maybe that's a good thing, but you know what I mean.

14. To me, being Asian Pacific American means:
The ability to wild out to New Order's “Bizarre Love Triangle” whenever it comes on, even if its for the 900th time. Rooting for the Asian person in reality shows, Olympics and professional sports.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can relate to your #14 answer! So funny because it's true!

Soccer Dad said...

You mean the New Order thing, right? I wrote a long ass article on the whole BLT-Asian American phenomenon in Hyphen magazine (Fall 2005). Try and peep it sometime.