jenmin1314

I dreamt of Claire Bennet in Heroes. I dreamt I was with my brother and sister watching Heroes together. Then I woke up and stared into the darkness of my hotel room and realized we will never get to watch shows together again. At least not regularly.

I went into the shower and thought about how long we’ve been doing this. And I remembered the photos our dad took of us watching shows. Since before my sister was borne (just my bro and I ) and when my sister was just a baby (that’s the three of us), we’ve been watching shows together (Smurf, Jam, Sesame Street, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles…).

Then I remembered at 10 we started watching shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer together. I never understood their jokes then.

At 15, we watched my ‘first’ anime – Trigun. Of course 2008 December during the Doraemon promotion in Queensbay did I only realize that my first anime was Doraemon, not Trigun. But since Trigun we haven’t stopped watching. Cooking Master Boy, Yakitate Japan, Haibane Renmei, Great Teacher Onizuka, Full Metal Panic… They were countless.

At 17, my brother left to UK. My sister and I got busy with senior years in high school, training, college… We didn’t watch much together, other than Peach Girl. I was pretty sad at the time, having left Yakitate Japan half-watched and my brother gone. But those days my sister and I grew closer. I also found Guo Yi.

In 2007, when I was 19, my brother graduated and came back. I was so happy that we could continue Yakitate Japan! That was so much fun. We also watched a lot of new stuff, this time more mysterious scary shows instead of the usual high school romance and crazy comedy (although we watched a few of those too like Nodame, Clannad and Slam Dunk). We also moved into American shows, now that there are so many good ones out there, such as CSI (usually without my sister) and Heroes and House! All those memories!  There were so much fun, night after night gathering in my brother’s room at 10 for more shows.

Then this morning I woke up  in the dark and realized that things wouldn’t never be that way again. By the time I return in July my brother would be in the two years full time training. After those two years, I’m not sure how the future would be. Maybe one of us would no longer stay with our parents. And hence the gathering can no longer happen. I took those days for granted, never realizing that they were reaching their end.  Before I knew it, it ended. And here I am waking up in the morning without them around.

RIP our 11 year nightly gathering…