AmericanNationalist

Wow...a lot has changed. I remember when you told me everything was well and good. Sorry to hear that it's taken a major swing downwards. Hopefully you'll sell your house soon.

No, during that time frame I was in and out of Panama and South America supporting drug interdiction missions. Mostly during the years 93-94. I did Southern Watch when I was in Saudi in 94. That was my last big commitment before they pulled me off my aircraft and into the office.

My semester was killer! But I graduated, so now I can afford to spend more time here. =)

Still building houses?

I don't know of anyone that lives up the coast. Heck, I think I have relatives scattered around this country, but I only bother remembering the ones that I saw frequently.

Cali

I do hope this nation will live much longer than another 100 years. I just hope it doesn't fall apart and turn into some third world nation.

Hmm. I can't really put a name on it. I might have to ask one of my parents when I get the chance. Well, there are different grammar and slang usage between Mandarin and Cantonese. Some words, phrases and sentence structures will only work for one of them, but usually, most of the times, they will work for both. The real difference between the dialects is how you make the tone, or uhh note of the word you are saying with the context. Just imagine saying aunt in different parts of the country. If this was a Chinese word then you have to be very careful on how you pronounce it. Some parts of the country may take ANT to be aunt and others parts may take ONT to be aunt and be completely baffled if you pronounce aunt as ANT and may have another word assigned for that pronunciation. I can say "wa" or "li" in 4 different tones (or 1 or 2 more I think) in mandarin and each way I pronounce it will have several different meanings and written characters assigned to it depending on how it is put in a sentence.

I can understand three dialects, Mandarin, Cantonese, and some other one I don't know what it's called.

I don't consider myself Vietnamese. I don't speak a bit of it. Four to 6 generations ago ( don't remember how long) my family had moved down to Vietnam then my father and mother came back up to China before coming to here. I think I should stop my story here. I don't want to get into too much details when I am just on the Internet.

Yes, I am Chinese, but I am an American also. I really love this place, the people, and how it works. I consider myself very lucky to have been born and raised here. Not everyone gets to live in a first world country, especially if it's America. Just comparing America with many other countries and the stories my parents told me of Vietnam and China and how hard they had to work just to get most of it taken away. It's a blessing to live this way in America.