Dec 19, a week before THE big family Christmas gathering. I’ve been pretty ill for the past week and my mom’s been scrambling for Christmas gifts on top of work, family, and dealing with a sick child. i’ve been pretty drained out from the constant coughing (hacking if you will), nose blowing, urine releasing, waste defecating, etc. today was much better, temperature gone down, more of an appetite, and most wonderfully…jacq came directly from waterloo, after her final exam, to visit me 
. as i was saying, i was pretty drained out and i needed something to boost my energy level. i’ve been looking like a zombie all week, i just need a trigger of laughter or something…and that’s just what i got.
my mom sat around the living room laying out all the gifts. she whipped out a pack of tommy hilfiger socks she got for one of my nephews, who’s as old as jacq. my mom said, “he’s such an introvert. i don’t even know what to get him, so i got him a nice pair of socks. should i add anything else?” I said, “how bout a winter hat or scarf?” my mom replied, “but he so introverted, i don’t know if he’s going to wear it.” i think what my mom meant was that she doesn’t know his style, but it came out having to do with his “introvertedness”. my sister was in the middle of this conversion, eating late dinner (by late, i mean 11:00pm), she added, “i guess introverts don’t need to wear anything.” (note that everything up to this point is spoken in chinese) if you know me, i’m a pretty dirty person so i cracked up. as i was giggling i said, “I didn’t know introverts were naked.” my sister said (back to chinese), “yea, all they need to wear is a pair of socks” i laughed out even louder and almost rolled off to the floor. my sister said (back to english), “you were imagining, weren’t you?” yea, i confess that i was thinking much further than what i should have. after this conversation, i don’t think i remember what the meaning of ‘introvert’ is really. i just know i had a good laugh. maybe next time the word ‘introvert’ comes around, i’ll think of a naked boy wearing a pair of tommy hilfiger socks.
*lesson learned: don’t limit gift options because someone is an introvert. besides, who wants to be labeled as one.
Merry Christmas
