(no subject)
So my mom's coming in less than forty eight hours! I'm excited. I know I've been commenting on her coming/being excited frequently during the last few days (and not only on LJ, I mean, but also in emails etc to friends) so I s'pose it'd be fair of you guys to wonder how I'll survive college, but I really don't anticipate much homesickness ahead of me. And, yes, it's entirely possible that I'll be eating my words in October or so (well, not really, 'cause that's Parents Weekend) but I think that after being myself for eighteen years, I'm entitled to what I consider a realistic hypothesis.
I think one reason I've been really looking forward to seeing my mom is 'cause I've spent this entire summer with my dad and brother. And, quite frankly, they don't listen as closely when I just feel like talking, but (to be fair) also because being in such close contact with any two people for a long time can be quite difficult.
Tonight, Andre was put in the doghouse (figuratively, not literally, of course. I wish we had a dog here.) when he told my dad that he didn't want to run cross-country this year. And I guess my dad was a little frustrated, not really at An, really, but more at the fact that we can't really seem to find anything that catches Andre's interest, you know? Like he's not really into academics; that's pretty clear. He's not really athletic. He's much better at sports than I am, you know, one of those people who just innately is good at athletics, but over the years, as it takes more and more to play in a league, he's gotten less interested. I mean, you know, when you're ten and playing TAC basketball, you just play for the love of the game. No one's cut from the team, no one has to work out extra to make it. You just play. So he likes sports recreational-ly like that, but while his fellow teammates are running cross country and attending bball camps during the summer to get in shape for the season, he's not that keen on doing so. (And personally, I fully support his not doing cross country. It looks tiring enough to watch it; I can't even fathom running it.) So let's cross out athletics, then, from his list of things that really grab him. So that's what my dad was frustrated about - he can't seem to find anything that An really likes. I guess for my dad, my interests became clear relatively quickly - first French, writing, and a bit of history, and later on, of course, I saw the light and turned to math and science. =P So it made it easier, then, to help me grow. He found me summer programs that I really loved, and he put a lot of work into helping me think about which colleges made the most sense for me. But Andre's a whole different track, and it's been quite hard to see what excites him. At his age, I had just finished Smith's Summer Science Program, and college-wise, we were thinking small Liberal Arts Colleges with good bio programs. Pre-med, I was thinking back then. Smith, Haverford, Brown...I remember visiting those two years ago. But we've no idea what direction Andre wants to head in, college-wise, interest-wise...so it's been hard on Dad, who's been struggling fruitlessly to find something for An, and hard on An, who doesn't know what he wants, is trying his hardest to please his Dad, and to some extent, lives in the shadow of his big sister.
So thank goodness my mom's coming in a few days; she'll smooth things out. I put a band-aid on things this evening, when I reassured Andre that he's much more like our favorite aunt - she was never really academic; did two years in college before dropping out, and while she, like Andre, was gifted athletically, it wasn't to the point where she would think of turning pro or even playing in college. Now, she's opened a high-end pet store (Cosmopawlitan, cute name, huh?) in her neighborhood, and I presume she likes her work, and I think the business was a pretty big success. Not to the point that any of us would see a store cropping up in Shibuya or something, but in her town/surrounding county, I guess she's doing quite well. So I reminded him that plenty of people fall outside the worlds of athletics and academics, and at sixteen, we're not really exposed to much more besides those two worlds in high school. So some of us get lucky and really find our niche, but many of us just discover our abilities later on.
I think one reason I've been really looking forward to seeing my mom is 'cause I've spent this entire summer with my dad and brother. And, quite frankly, they don't listen as closely when I just feel like talking, but (to be fair) also because being in such close contact with any two people for a long time can be quite difficult.
Tonight, Andre was put in the doghouse (figuratively, not literally, of course. I wish we had a dog here.) when he told my dad that he didn't want to run cross-country this year. And I guess my dad was a little frustrated, not really at An, really, but more at the fact that we can't really seem to find anything that catches Andre's interest, you know? Like he's not really into academics; that's pretty clear. He's not really athletic. He's much better at sports than I am, you know, one of those people who just innately is good at athletics, but over the years, as it takes more and more to play in a league, he's gotten less interested. I mean, you know, when you're ten and playing TAC basketball, you just play for the love of the game. No one's cut from the team, no one has to work out extra to make it. You just play. So he likes sports recreational-ly like that, but while his fellow teammates are running cross country and attending bball camps during the summer to get in shape for the season, he's not that keen on doing so. (And personally, I fully support his not doing cross country. It looks tiring enough to watch it; I can't even fathom running it.) So let's cross out athletics, then, from his list of things that really grab him. So that's what my dad was frustrated about - he can't seem to find anything that An really likes. I guess for my dad, my interests became clear relatively quickly - first French, writing, and a bit of history, and later on, of course, I saw the light and turned to math and science. =P So it made it easier, then, to help me grow. He found me summer programs that I really loved, and he put a lot of work into helping me think about which colleges made the most sense for me. But Andre's a whole different track, and it's been quite hard to see what excites him. At his age, I had just finished Smith's Summer Science Program, and college-wise, we were thinking small Liberal Arts Colleges with good bio programs. Pre-med, I was thinking back then. Smith, Haverford, Brown...I remember visiting those two years ago. But we've no idea what direction Andre wants to head in, college-wise, interest-wise...so it's been hard on Dad, who's been struggling fruitlessly to find something for An, and hard on An, who doesn't know what he wants, is trying his hardest to please his Dad, and to some extent, lives in the shadow of his big sister.
So thank goodness my mom's coming in a few days; she'll smooth things out. I put a band-aid on things this evening, when I reassured Andre that he's much more like our favorite aunt - she was never really academic; did two years in college before dropping out, and while she, like Andre, was gifted athletically, it wasn't to the point where she would think of turning pro or even playing in college. Now, she's opened a high-end pet store (Cosmopawlitan, cute name, huh?) in her neighborhood, and I presume she likes her work, and I think the business was a pretty big success. Not to the point that any of us would see a store cropping up in Shibuya or something, but in her town/surrounding county, I guess she's doing quite well. So I reminded him that plenty of people fall outside the worlds of athletics and academics, and at sixteen, we're not really exposed to much more besides those two worlds in high school. So some of us get lucky and really find our niche, but many of us just discover our abilities later on.