[Now Playing]: Brandy - Full Moon

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Sippin' on Viet coffee @ the Vietnamese restaurant for Father's Day. Cheesy Vietnamese elevator music in the speakers. Noticed my head unconsiously bobbing. I thought to myself: "...and since when exactly does my subconscious decide to get down and dirty to music I would not consciously condone getting down to?..." I listen closer to the instrumentals. I identify the song as Cake's "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps." They're making elevator music remixes of CAKE now?! Was this my cue to feel old and un-hip? We've officially entered teh Twilight Zone.

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Anyhoo, the point of this entry? Well, here's me giving the lowdown on the significance of my night w/ Jae last week. I've known him for a while now. My freshman year in hs, the "Canton Crew" was born (as in filipino Canton cooking noodles...long story that I don't care to go into). We all kicked it from time to time but eventually drifted apart over the years.

Senior year, Jae & I crossed paths at a party and did some catching up (read: macking on the sly). We talked for a while, and later in the month when I found out about my scholarships to Berkeley, he offered to take me out to dinner. The thing was, at the time we were both getting over relationships we'd been in since the birth of the Canton Crew, which served as the topic of a good number of our conversations. At dinner, we found ourselves both in the same boat - developing ourselves spiritually and as people before jumping into other relationships.

But yah, for the record, I really liked him. I considered the possibility of taking the relationship up a notch, but the same old "going away for college" song and dance kept playing through my head. I'd be off to Cali and him to UT - Austin. Why wasn't I thinking convenient summer fling? Jae never was that. He's "the one you marry, not the one you date." (Whoa, whoa! Watch yoself; this isn't one of those "he's the one for me!" entries. Just making a distinction) ...and I sure as hell was not ready for anything involving ones you marry.

Moving on. A couple days later, my cousin, Lisa informed me of a little chat she'd had w/ him. He basically reiterated the previous paragraph to her in his own words.

The end product? At my cousin, Lisa's graduation party a few weeks later, Jae and I saw each other again...only this time I introduced him to my new boyfriend, Jeremy. Why Jeremy? Honestly, I saw him as the "one you date" at the time and was not minding the summer booty. But I know, I konw. Lotta borderline shadiness on my part. I had eaten my words like an Ethiopian. I felt like a shit. Everyone mentioned to me how uneasy Jae seemed that night. Good one, Val. There really wasn't anything I could say/do about it, though, short of: "Yup, I ate my words. What?? I was hungry." P>

Since then, we haven't talked much at all. The occasional hi or bye online. The occasional convo at a party here or there. So damn, was I surprised when he called a couple of weeks ago to reunite the remaining Canton kids. Long story short, the "reunion" ended up being just the two of us. Damn ppl kept backing out. I thought I was the brunt of some cruel cosmic joke. But this time I was pleasantly surprised. I had a great time. Same old Jae - spiritual, smart, cute, funny, motivated, mature, and still poking at my ideologies. ...Ballsy as ever; I scare most people. *looks around* After the movie we watched, we decided to go back to my place to chat...heavy, interesting stuff. The kind I like.

So what now? He's in Cali for vaca and is going to call when he gets back. He burned me a CD in the meantime, and it's still in my car system (read: Yah, I like him). Jeez, I even refrained from using the stupid line Crystal and I came up for the Cute Starbucks Boy . Scoping one man at a time. No, that generally hasn't been my style when it comes to priming the fellas, but I suppose I'm attempting to make it up to him in a way. Whether or not anything happens (or ever will), Jae's always going to be a special one. As the saying goes: "Do not treat as gold everything that shines as gold." You treat gold as gold (read: Yah, I like him).

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