LithoStyle

My wife’s family (who are native Chinese) and I went to grab some breakfast at McDonalds while on a day-trip this morning. Upon sitting down, a middle aged woman said to my wife and her parents very maliciously, “Can’t you all speak English?”

She continually glared at us and shook her head on occasion when my wife’s family spoke in Chinese to one another. I was shaking with anger for the rest of the meal, and asked my wife to take her family out ahead of me. I told the woman calmly that she was a racist pig, and an embarrassment to all Americans.

I feel dumb about it now. It was little more than a way for me to vent my anger when I responded to her. It’s not like it will change her. It makes me feel ashamed when other white Americans behave this way.

We are all a little racist sometimes, but it has a different meaning when someone specifically informs you that they despise your ethnicity.

Well, anyway, don’t tolerate racist behavior from people.

I was tagged in one of those 10 facts posts… so here we go!

10 Facts About Me:

1. My screenname, EmperorAtma, is the name of a character I started drawing in Junior High. He was a comical villain in my first webcomic (which was terrible, please don’t try to find it or read it). When I gave up any attempts to take that story further, he was one of a few characters that survived the purge and made it into my latest work, Discretional Valor (a much more serious original work that I hope to write into a series of novels). He is now named Emperor Nikolai Henrick of the Atman Empire. The word Atma, or Atman, means the higher self, or the soul in various in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is also the name of a really cool boss in Final Fantasy VI that was likely the predecessor of Ultima Weapon in future installments.

2. I like cooking very much. I believe that every food is capable of being delicious, it’s just a matter of figuring out what cooking style suits the food best for your pallette. I still haven’t figured out the right way to prepare dates so that I like them… I enjoy their flavor, but not their texture. I am also obsessed with pasta, and i become very sad when it is served over-cooked as opposed to al dente in restaurants.

3. My favorite animals, in order of priority are the following: frogs, cuttlefish, nautiloids, slugs, cats, and cows. There’s something funny about cows and they always have a place on the list.

4. Though I aspire to publish novels and comics, my first priority is always going to be my family. It is because of this that I chose to pursue a career in the petroleum industry as a geologist (which is my favorite natural science). In doing so, I am able to provide a very stable and comfortable environment for my wife, and eventually for our children.

5. I have been to China twice now with my wife to visit her family. It is an incredible place, and few things excite me more than planning our next visit.

6. My wife and I have a cat named Mr. Darcy. He is a Cornish Rex, and he’s a big troublemaker. We also love him like crazy!

7. I love victorian romances. The BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice, North and South, Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility; I eat that stuff up like pasta. Korean dramas come in at a close second.

8. I prefer skies to be overcast. I like the way that all of the colors outside are softer when the sky is grey.

9. I think that muffins are superior to cupcakes by design. Frosting is all too often just a way to cover up the fact that the cupcake below isn’t good enough to stand alone. A good frosting should be extremely light, and never overpower the delicate flavor of a good cake below. It is only meant to supplement the art of baking.

10. My mother’s family is uptight, they are all democrats, and though American, they have British roots. My father’s family is from the deep south, and they are all extremely conservative. As my parents are a testament to getting along with one another, acceptance of people’s differences is extremely important to me.