The house that mint built

Ever since I was a kid, any time I got any kind of little burn, bug bite, or bee sting, my parents would give me some ointment out of a little metal jar that has a picture of a baby dressed up as a nurse on it. Judging by the label, the stuff was called Mentholatum, but I could never conclusively confirm nor deny this. It looks and feels more or less like thick Vaseline, and as you might expect from the (hypothetical) name it reeks of menthol and burns like it too.

Then, a few years back, my grandma got some of that deep heating cream for her feet. I was amazed to find that it too was made by Mentholatum, which I now understood to be a brand name. With a name like Mentholatum, though, it couldn't just be any brand name; no, it must be some kind of menthol monopoly.

Growing up in a Chinese family, I always thought that there were only two paths to a career in which you make money: accounting/business and computers. Of course, this might have to do with both of my parents working in computers, but I don't think this was an isolated case. Some of our family friends were recently very obviously proud of themselves for getting over their own reservations and finally accepting that their youngest daughter liked to draw and wanted to go to (and eventually got into) the Emily Carr Institute. Note that they didn't sound proud of their daughter, but proud of themselves, because it appears to be a real feat for old-school Chinese to accept things like that.

But as I grew up and became interested in computers again, the dot-com bubble burst. More than that, I started to see that a good portion of arts students don't starve after they graduate. Some of them actually make more than the not-so-sweet cash made by underappreciated code monkeys living with their parents. And they don't all become teachers. No, they find weird jobs not directly related to English/sociology/economics/political science, like rating porn flicks for the Film Board, or supervising sanitation of Safeways all over the province. I was aghast.

Consider Mentholatum. Three generations ago, someone in Wichita wanted to open a business. I bet (s)he grew up being told to invest in gold, or oil, or... no, probably oil. And yet somewhere down the line, this person decided that no, the family fortune would be built on mint. Does it sound crazy? (Maybe, I don't know what the state of medical science was at the time, but for the purposes of this argument, let's say) Yes. And yet they've grown into the (probable) world leader in menthol related ointments.

(What would it be like to grow up in that family? I imagine they have a very green-themed house. They don't settle for any crappy after-dinner mints, instead importing their own -- or even making their own! They drive their neighbours and visitors crazy talking about the soothing powers of menthol. Their kids rebel by dressing entirely in red and extolling the wonders of cinnamon.)

The moral of the story? People pay money for things other than accounting and computers, which is something new generations of Chinese should remember. Just ask Mentholatum: the house that mint built^*.

^* This title may actually belong to the makers of YORK Peppermint Patties, I don't know.

Current Music: Spoon - Gimme Fiction

What's Wang This Week

It looks like I'll be sitting in with a little informal jazz combo on New Year's Eve. Plus, they want to play some rock songs. I feel so professional. Unfortunately, feeling professional obligates me to be professional, so I guess I have to learn a few songs in the next day or two. Does anyone have a copy of "You Shook Me All Night Long"?

Tonight, after failing to find Derek, the rest of us LUGs strolled into town and had some sweet mussels from Brussels (thanks Victor) at Stella's, on Commercial. They also had some very fancy-sounding -- and good, mind you -- Belgian beers there. After drinking them, though, Jowen and I both decided that we'd be better off saving $6 and sharing one $10 Unibroue beer instead, such as the awesomely named La Fin Du Monde, or the almost-as-awesomely named Trois Pistoles. Those were some excellent mussels, although they've got nothing on these bad boys! (Picture me flexing as I say that, it works best that way.)

Then, miracle of miracles, Derek was there when we returned to his apartment. Thank you, Santa! In all the excitement of finding out Derek is still alive, though, I totally forgot that I had to return a DVD, and now my mom has late charges. Pfft, as if the guy who drinks $8 Belgian beers is supposed to remember that.

COME ON!

Current Music: Van Morrison - Moondance

Merry Xmas

We had both turkey and ham tonight for dinner -- we truly live in times of great affluence. Also, I remembered that you're supposed to add ice/water to ouzo which makes it more palatable.

I was once told that X is the symbol for Christ in Latin, which makes the "crossing out Christ" argument moot. I wish I were famous enough to have Bill O'Reilly slam me for saying that. I suppose it's impractical to wish for fame for Christmas, especially at this stage of the game, but maybe for next year.

Anyway, Merry Christmas.

Olympic team announcements

Why were kids standing in for the men's players during the announcement? Were they the players' children/sisters/brothers/next of kin?

Good lord, did Gord Stellick get Botox injections?

Current Music: Spoon - Metal School

Okay, that's it

I don't have the energy to decide whose blog I like the best. I have to take care of this somehow.

You have three days to vie for position, by changing your name to Aaron Aaronson. Then: I sort.

Current Music: My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus

What's Wang This Week

I just remembered I owe several among you cashews. I'll buy a big tub of them and have it with me when I see you, if you remind me.

I have to get a new passport, as my current one expires in April. It's a lot more work than I expected... well, no, it's about exactly as much work as I suspected. I hate paperwork. I can't even print out the forms myself because I don't have bond quality paper, which according to the website is a must. If I get to the office and find out that my form isn't valid because I crossed out the parts where I didn't print in block letters and because my signature doesn't stay in the small box on the 2nd and 3rd pages, I'm going to be pissed.

And why does it cost so damn much to get a passport? We're trying to exit the country; they should be grateful that we're consuming fewer Canadian resources.

After a week or so of planning we crashed Derek's place to force the issue and make him spend some time with people, and to use his GameCube. Unfortunately, he wasn't there. I'm still not sure why none of us even considered the possibility that he might not be there, but it just seemed like a given; don't we have egg on our faces.

I've also been watching a bunch of Arrested Development. If I had one of those "Dickolas Recommends" columns on the sidebar, I'd put it on there.

Current Music: Oasis - Talk Tonight

Disappointment

I just waited 50 minutes watching MuchMusic waiting for Green Day's cover of "Summer of '69" to come on. Just before the commercial break after which it was to come on, they played another bit of the video and I realized "Hey, that's not Summer of '69." It's just some song that rips off Bryan Adams.

I was genuinely disappointed. I really wanted to hear Green Day play "Summer of '69". I wouldn't care to hear their version of the Broco Auto Glass jingle though.

Current Music: Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia