i'm eighteen years old!

besides the fact that i am no longer a minor, i am legally able to do a plethora of things.

i think i might buy some lottery and scratch tickets, and test my luck, possibly winning millions. i could also DECLARE MY INDEPENDENCE and own property, sign my name for purchasing through the TV or internet, CALL 1-800 NUMBERS!!! and order on pay per view, get married without the consent of jet li + madre, DONATE MY BODY TO SCIENCE, and go to jury duty....??????

i can purchase tobacco now, because i am a HUGE smoker, clearly. i mean, i wasn't hospitalized for my severe coughing fits or anything when i was younger, and i don't have asthma, plus i love smoke in my lungs! i'm totally going to buy me some cigs today.

not only can i appear in pornographic material, which i am jumping all over this amazing opportunity, i can buy the pornographic material i appear in, or any other pornography that i don't appear in. that means i can go into the back room at the movie rental store downtown, woo hoo! life is grand. oh, and i can legally consent to any sexual relations. and in case i accidently get knocked up, i can get an abortion!

life as an eighteen year old is great. now i just have to wait another three years before i can legally drink and purchase alcohol, too.

i'm not really doing anything for my birthday today. the fireworks festival for fourth of july in my town is usually on the third, but thanks to the massive amount of rain we've been getting for the past two weeks, the fields were probably way too squishy for comfort, thus was pushed over to the raindate - my birthday! therefore ruining all birthday plans. originally a few of my friends and i were going to go out for sushi and just hang out and have a sleepover, but that'll be postponed for some time later.

but for now, i think i'm just going to go to see the fireworks with my dear lovely boyfriend.

pce out. life as a minor is now over. kbai.

weekdays, my parents generally aren't home,  since the both of them are working. i tend to have the house to myself, and typically, i go out. i'm not much for spending time alone.

kevin wanted to hang out today, so we decided to go to my house. he hasn't met my parents yet, and is quite terrified to do so, because he's heard stories about my dad, or as we, and the other guys, like to call him - jet li. he knows that jet li is quite the stern fellow, and very much serious. thus, he thinks it is best if he is clear away from jet li's visual vicinity.

usually, jet li doesn't get out of work until four in the afternoon, arriving home at four ten.

kevin wanted to leave my house at three fortyfive, just to be safe, and without a single chance of jet li's arrival home. but i didn't want to leave until three fifty.

which was a bad move on my part.

it was three fifty, and we were in my room, when suddenly i heard the garage door opening. i wasn't sure if it actually was my garage, because it was too early for jet li to be returning home. but as i walked into the living room to peak into the garage, there it was.

his black mercedes.

"SHIT!" i screamed, and ran back to the hallway where my room was, where kevin was walking out, and i told him to hide in my closet, because jet li was home.

i was freaking out. i didn't know what to do. i could feel my heart pounding a thousand beats per second.

jet li walked through the doors from the garage, and into the house, as i ran back to the hallway.

"what're you doing?" he asked me. of course it looked suspicious that i was suddenly running back to the hallway. i picked up my hair straightener, and looked at the plug.

"i thought i left my hair straightener on!" i replied, "but looks like i didn't. phew!"

jet li began telling me about what his doctors found out at his appointment today.

oh yeah. he had an appointment today. that's why he was home early. shit.

although i was fully engrossed in my conversation with him, i was also thinking about how i would get kevin out of my house, and back home to his, without getting caught.

after jet li walked away to get the mail, i ran back into my room, to tell kevin the plan was for him to jump out my window, and run down the street, and i'll call him when i get into my car. but the thing was - he'd be without his shoes, considering they were by the door to get into the house. before he could say anything, i walked away to grab the swiffer vacuum.

"i'm going to vacuum my room, then i'm going out to staples!" i told my dad, as i was about to walk back into my room.

"WAIT!" he yelled, and i stopped short in my tracks completely, thinking he had caught on to my act, "what do you need at staples?" i told him i needed printer paper, "i have some downstairs!"

. . . oh.

"well, i need to run errands, too." and i made a list of things i needed to do. he rolled his eyes at me, asking why i couldn't do it earlier, and i scurried off to my room, closing the door.

i turned on the vacuum, as i moved my bed away from my window - because my bed's headboard blocks the opening of the window. as i opened my window higher, and moved up the screen, too, kevin climbed out of my window, and went down the street.

i quickly grabbed my wallet and keys, and ran out my room, noticing my dad went downstairs to the basement.

"bye!" i shouted, "i'll be back!" he told me to drive safely, and i sprinted out of my house, grabbing the chucks by the door, only to see kevin, shoeless and miserable.

i turned on my car, drove up to him, and he jumped into the passenger seat.

"we are never doing that again," he told me.

we could only help but nervously laugh with one another over what had just happened.

yesterday, the wind blew by us so fast, i felt myself lift off of my feet. it was like a hurricane, minus the disaster.

as the rain flew by on and off, on and off, the clear blue sky would occasionally attempt to peak out from behind the gloomy clouds.

kevin and i sat in my car, at our parking lot, waiting for planes to land, watching the rain brush my windows.

we decided to get some ice cream down the street, while it wasn't raining. we drove down to the parlor, getting whatever delicious dairy goodness we felt like having, turned around, and there it was.

the rain.

and once we drove back to our parking lot, we saw all that seemed magnificent.

we could see the arc, from beginning to end.

and at that moment, everything seemed okay.

there is this genuine happiness when i'm with kevin.

and i really, really, really like this feeling.

yeah. that's all i had to say.

this morning, i told my parents about kevin. these past few years, they've known i've dated a few people, but they also knew that it never got serious, or went anywhere.

my mom woke me up around ten in the morning to shower and take my car to the service for maintenance. after i pampered myself and made myself visible for public display, i walked out into the kitchen, where my mom was readily pouring gelatin into individual sized bowls, and my dad was sitting at the dining room table, mixing up a few tracks for their next big mid-life-crisis-asian-rave-party.

i hovered my mom for a good two minutes before she looked over her shoulder. "what do you want?" she asked.

she knows. after many years, she's come to realize that when i hover, i want something, or i have something important to tell her.

"uh," i paused, looking around the kitchen as my mom focused on pouring the gelatin mix perfectly into the mini-bowls, "i'm dating kevin now."

she stopped pouring, and looked up.

"huh?!" my mom began to say some things in vietnamese quickly, and under her breath, "my baby?!?! my baby girl?!?!?! dating?!?!?!?!?!" my dad took off his headphones and looked over.

"what's up?" he said. i walked towards him, and repeated. "oh." he didn't say anything for a whole sixty seconds. i held my breath, expecting him to blow up and say something outrageous.

i've been dreading the moment i'd tell my parents i'm seriously dating someone, kevin, for a good three weeks now. in my mind, i've imagined multiple scenarios as to how they would react.

my first imagined scene would be me telling my mom first, and my mom telling my dad, then my dad taking a pile of plates - five to be exact, and slamming them onto the floor while screaming, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" and storming off.

my second imagined scene would be me telling my parents, together, at once, and them saying "let's meet kevin." their initial reaction would be serene and peaceful. but as soon as i bring my parents and kevin into the same room, then i picture my mother hovering him, seating him at the dining table, and shoving all of her wonderful homecooked meals down his throat while my dad attempts to talk golf, golf, and more golf. as soon as he leaves, my parents would tackle me saying "we don't like boy." or something like that.

my third imagined scene would be me telling my mom who would tell my dad which would lead to me on the streets. kbai!

as i stared at my dad, while he zoned out for a good minute, he looked at me, almost laughing, and says "i already knew that."

HUH?! what does he mean he already knew that?!

in the meanwhile, my mom was wailing in the background about her baby all grown up, while my dad smiles at me and says "well, you're at the age when you need to really start dating anyway. get some experience, you're growing up."

he proceeded to tell me the story about an abusive couple he saw while on his cruise last week with my mom, and how apparently there was a young couple, in their mid to late twenties, arguing on the ship. my mom was up on the deck tanning while my dad was walking laps on the rooming floors. the woman in the relationship screams "FUCK YOU. GET AWAY FROM ME. YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING." while the man in the relationship yells back "I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT BECAUSE I'M DATING YOU."

then my dad ended that example with "don't let him do anything you don't want to do."

and that was that.

my parents are a riot. i never know what to expect next.