Happy birthday, mom. Or … well, happy belated birthday, since I lagged until way after midnight to post this. You would’ve turned 75 today. It’s weird … and sad … (well, mostly sad) … that I have at least another two decades to say, “you would’ve been X years old today,” every year on your… Read More 75
My band got hired to perform at a 50th birthday party last weekend. Birthday girl Ethel is one of our biggest fans, and she and her husband Richard have been to almost every one of our shows. In case you haven’t kept up with my musical shenanigans the last few years, the name of my… Read More Trolling the Birthday Girl
It was as though time had been frozen here since 1992 — the year I moved off to college. My parents left my childhood belongings virtually untouched for 30 years. For 30 years, I could go home to Irvine at any time (yes, I always referred to it as “going home”), peek into my bedroom,… Read More The Hardest Decision I Ever Had to Make
Because Valentine’s Day was four fucking days ago. What kind of slacker makes their annual Valentine’s exhortation four fucking days late? Certainly not me. And that’s why this isn’t a Valentine’s Day Post. Rather, I just wanted to share these two selfies from a couple weeks ago … Because these two pics pretty much sum… Read More This is Not a Valentine’s Day Post
While cleaning out my parents’ house, I found this letter my mom sent from Taiwan to my dad in the US almost exactly 43 years ago, down to the day …
It’s been over two years since my mom died, and I’m still baffled — literally baffled — by the things I end up finding meaning in. Someone offered to take my mom’s bedroom set today. This kitschy retro-looking rattan-like (but not actual rattan) dresser, chest, and headboard: I never expected that someone would actually want… Read More The Meanings We Find …
At 7:36 pm tonight — roughly an hour from when I’m writing this — it’ll have been two years since you died. I’m running out of things to write about you, but I still think about you every day. Every day, I walk by these photos sitting in our living room. And every day, I… Read More Two Years
Every time I’ve performed as part of Nightmare, I wonder what my mom would have thought of it.
I think she would’ve gotten a kick out of Nightmare. She was never into rock or pop music, but the sheer theatrics we put on — yeah, I’m pretty sure she would’ve enjoyed that.… Read More Something Bittersweet
I came across this photo last summer, when we were cleaning out my parents’ house … The only information I have on the photo is the date printed at the bottom — 7/17/2011. Aside from that, I have no idea where this was taken, or who the people with my mom are. Still, I really… Read More Random Photo, Random Thoughts
Happy birthday, mom. I still think about you every day.… Read More Happy Birthday, Mom
Whether you consider Trump leaving office to be cause for celebration or despair, I hope we all can agree that we still have a huge problem — namely, that a tangible segment of his supporters are Nazis.
I see so many conservatives using this caveat as a way to continue tolerating the presence of Nazis on their side, to weasel their way out of what I seriously hope is the deep discomfort that they are on the same side as Nazis.… Read More When the Nazis are on your side
My mom died one year ago today.… Read More Waves of Sadness
Today is the one-year anniversary of my mom’s death.… Read More One Year … sort of
This album is more for me than anyone else. It certainly isn’t for my mom, as she never liked being the center of attention. And it certainly isn’t for anyone out there on the internet, as these photos will undoubtedly mean nothing to you (though it would mean something to me if you actually looked at it).
Yet, for me, something about the idea of putting these photos out there, in public view, on an internet notorious for things being impossible to delete off of …
It’s like a form of security.… Read More Memories with Mom
I created a page with responses to the most common arguments you’ll come across: https://dennis.blog/masks/ You’re welcome.
For my mom’s part, I know she was just happy that I was excited. I guess it makes sense now that I’ve realized how much dancing was a part of her entire life.… Read More Like Mother, Like Son
Ultimately, we chose to depend on each other. In the same way that partners in an arranged marriage can choose to love each other and become a family, we chose to love each other as well. We were arranged as a Marriage and Family Therapy cohort, but we chose to become a family.… Read More An Arranged Marriage …
Anyone who’s been to my parents’ house in Irvine knows about my mom’s fruit garden. Over the course of the 34 years she lived in that house, she slowly transformed a tiny stamped concrete-laden OC tract home back yard into a trove of exotic fruit trees — everything from apples and oranges to starfruit, guava,… Read More My Mom Was Dr. Frankenstein
I was a mama’s boy. For literally my entire life, my mom and I were super-close, and it started partially from necessity. When I was two years old, my dad left Taiwan to pursue a new opportunity for us in the United States. The only snafu was that it took more than three years before… Read More Nobody to Everybody Else
I love this video from January 2015, when my dad was just starting his recovery from his aneurysm. It was a rare moment of affection and playfulness from my parents. The parallels between my mom and my dad were uncanny. Both suffered mysterious and catastrophic ailments that left them completely incapacitated and in the hospital… Read More Parallels
Dennis Hong's Attic 