Holy shit, it’s been another several weeks since my last post. Honestly, who can keep up with time? He’s such a fleeting bitch!! So let’s see, quick recap: My deal closed last month and for two weeks I tried to schedule a meetup with my people. You know, after the transaction, you have to do the push– asking for referrals and recommendations. Apparently, that’s the cycle, according to the trainers/coaches. As it turned out, every damn time I called/texted, my family was too busy. So fine, one day I just pulled the “pop over” technique. I texted that I was in the area (which was true) and I would be by in ten minutes. Done.

I showed up and thankfully they were all home, including one of the sons who barely even acknowledged my presence. I mean, I get being intense about your work (hello UTI!). I get being in the zone, but Jesus, I walked into the kitchen where he was reading something on his laptop at the kitchen island, and he barely lifted his eyes to say hello. No, no, please. Don’t bother to get up out of your seat either! SMH.

Thankfully, I get along great with the mom, and she and the hubby showed me some of the progress around the house. I gave them the gifts with some explanation (I did a combo of items), and the mom commented on my thoughtfulness (yay!). Then at the very end, I went in awkwardly for the ask (mind you, all of this is in Chinese, so I’m not as eloquent as I am normally… haha!). She and the hubby just stood there and stared at me all confused, like, “What is a recommendation letter?” Who is it for and what do we write? Yeah, so to make the odd situation even more uncomfortable, I had to explain how it’s a document where they share their experience working with me and then I use it to show other people who are considering working with me.

I mean, I should have anticipated all this: I had mentioned the rec letter to my dad a few weeks earlier, saying I was going to be making the ask to my clients and he was super quiet about it. Is it a cultural thing? That’s what’s kinda frustrating about my parents being immigrants. I mean, it’s like, I have all the disadvantages of them being culturally illterate about assimilating into American culture and life yet, at the same time, they are totally NOT helpful for Chinese stuff bc they have been out of THAT culture for so long too, you know? So they’re basically useless in the career advancement arena. Anyway, as I’m explaining to my clients, they’re pretty much like, “We don’t know what to say or how these things are written…” Yes, beforehand, I had thought about providing a sample, but I couldn’t find any on the Chinese agents’ websites. Argh. So in the end, my clients just said, “You write what you want and we’ll sign off.” Yup, seriously. Getting compliments is like pulling teeth. So Chinese, right?

In their defense, I suppose the stress of writing a review/rec is not totally unheard of… Some agents in my office say they have staff reach out to clients and provide a bulleted list of things to mention in their testimonial… I dunno. The whole thing is just bizarro. And then I left. Shrug.

In other news, Bentley is fully recovered now post-surgery. I mean, I’m totally clueless about medical shit. I read all the pre- and post-op instructions but honestly, I’ve already forgotten what exactly the neutering entails. Was it a vasectomy? Was it the removal of his testes? All I know is that he came home, and I was totally surprised and disappointed to see his sack still in tact. There was a 1-inch incision at the base of his shaft. Sorry, I don’t want to use too many terms that might suggest via search terms that my post is pornographic in nature… Initially, it appeared to be healing great, scabbing over and all. Then, just as I thought we were out of the woods, it started oozing and looking gross. I tried to put neosporin on the incision, and he went bonkers again. Thankfully, it all just healed over time by itself. I asked Nathalie about the situation… I mean, I was totally expecting him to be eunuch. She said with full blown adult males, there might be some shrinkage but pretty much, that’s just part of the deal. If dogs are neutered much younger, things shrivel up and go away. Not in my case. Ugh. So I mean, it’s not the end of the word, but clearly, I’m a bit immature and squeamish about the dangling bits. I can’t help it: that shit is obnoxious and unsightly, esp for a 70-lb dog. And when I brush him with the slicker brush, I always have to be careful not to prick him. Oh well, I suppose I should just be happy the job is done and he’s healed.

His personality is also starting to shine more. He’s becoming more confident. I’m not sure if it’s the operation or him just passing the 3-month milestone with us. Thankfully, he is hiding a lot less and everybody is getting along. Buster was over for a few days last week. This week, Carla is here. I do love having our very own pooch again.