Year of the dragon

Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year! It was this time last year when I started this blog. Oh how time flies. If you are a believer of the Chinese Zodiac and/or crazy superstitious, this is your lucky year. But how lucky can it be if the world's supposed to end according to the Mayan calendar. What am I to believe? None of the above.

On Saturday we went over to my parents house for Tet (Vietnamese New Year) to celebrate with my side of the family. It was also time for our long awaited rematch in flag football. I, unfortunately, have been on the win-less side. But this time it was different. We were focused. We were prepared. We were hungry. Even with the addition of the most pessimistic/negative teammate ever (who will not be named), we managed to keep it close. We were down at one point but came roaring back. I made Brady-esque throws and my other teammates ran perfect routes and we took the lead at 6-5 (first one to 7 wins). But then came in the ringers. Two guys who were watching us play wanted in. So they joined the other team. That's when the tide had turned. The bigger guy was Xzavier. The only reason I know the correct spelling of his name is because I Googled it. He is a freshman running back on his varsity football team. We called him "The Beast". He played on another level. A bunch of thirty-somethings trying to cover him was nearly impossible. The game soon ended at 8-7 and we had lost once again.

Picture from David's phone.

The fun continued inside the house. Our family is notorious for ridiculous and random games. From stacks to LCR. This year it was Mindflex Duel. The object of the game was to move the ball towards your opponent... with your mind! By wearing a futuristic looking headband, it reads your brain activity, which then pushes the ball towards the person with the lower reading. When I lost, I walked away feeling stupid. Someone had just defeated me with their mind.

Welcome to the ridiculousness that is Mindflex.

Total concentration.

Sunday was spent at Lynn's side of the family. Here there's no gambling or craziness. The oldest "kids" not counting Lynn's siblings are in junior high with the rest being in elementary or in their diapers. Food at Lynn's grandma's house is always Vietnamese, almost too Vietnamese. More than half of the food there I could not eat (intestines, liver, noodle soup with heart, weird meat with a brown powdery rub). It's surprising because there are so many kids there, I mean what are they to eat? What am I to eat? Pass the gio please.