Mom and Dad,
Lately, I’ve been wondering how you’d respond when asked where your son is and what in the world is he doing.
I’m pretty confident you’d get the answer to the first question right. Of course, I’d rather you told them Kyoto instead of Japan. You know how undesirable thoughts usually spring to people’s minds whenever they hear of a "Filipino in Japan." And Mom, the next time that nosy old bag next door starts talking about her niece waitressing in a seedy subterranean pub "also" in Tokyo, poke her in the navel with the tip of your umbrella, will you? Dammit, ignoramuses like her should know a thing or two about geography, and the world in general. Kyoto is not part of Tokyo, nor is it Tokyo with the syllables reversed. Kyoto and Tokyo are as different as Manila and Iloilo, me and cousin Rex, a jackfruit and a durian.
Now, the second question’s a bit tricky. Tell them I’m trying to get my Ph.D. Depending on the situation, elaborate by saying I’m majoring in applied mathematics and physics. There’s no need to mention that I’m in the Graduate School of Informatics, as that usually gets people confused. Remember last Christmas when I was so grumpy because you Mom dragged me to church and after the service, right below the statue of St. Vincent, Dad’s fishing buddy and his wife and son greeted us all a merry Christmas and after an exchange of pleasantries, the wife asked about me and you Dad said I was majoring in maths wherein you Mom promptly added that I was from Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Informatics, which got the son, who happened to be a computer science major, all excited that he started telling me all at once about his programming projects and I had to rest my head on St. Vincent’s feet because his litany of lessons and schoolwork, which was to last seven minutes more than the Christmas homily, was boring me to death because it was totally unrelated to what I was doing? Such terrible situations could be avoided by simply giving people the basic facts the next time they ask about me.
Well, since nobody’s gonna ask you about it anyway, I think there’s no need for me to tell you about the progress of my research. But oh, how I want to! ‘Cause wouldn’t it be nice if the next time I call I could say, "Hey Dad, I’ve finally proven the local convergence of my algorithm!" and you could enthusiastically reply, "Oh yeah? So now, all that’s left is a series of numerical experiments on the test problem collection, right?"? But I dunno, I think I prefer talking about the lovebirds and the bunnies in the backyard instead. Discussing issues of no direct consequence appeals more to me since it obviously requires less judgment and rationalization.
There. I guess that’s about all I wanted to say. I hope this finds you both in good health. I’ll try to call you on Sunday. That is, if you promise to talk about the bunnies again.
Missing you,
Me
Ordinary Thoughts of an Extraordinary Mind 