After a full winter of feasting on Kettle cooked potato chips, chocolates and other sinful indulgence, when spring came this year, the pants I have been wearing for the last few years seemed to have shrunk at the hip. It has been a little hard to take. But I've finally stopped groaning. When my mom visited me in the summer, she agreed I was in fact, fat. The same summer, I picked up my sister who I haven't seen in seven years from the airport, she looked at me up and down for a while, and kindly shared her observation with me: "Your stomach is a little bit big." If you think it's just my family and that they say crazy things, wait till you hear this: There is an elderly Chinese grandma who walks her grandkids to the bus stop every morning. I haven't seen her since autumn of last year. I saw her this fall in the beginning of school year, after greeting one another, she said: "Hey, you look like you've gained weight."

If you remember, I wrote a farewell post about the ill manners of Sage. Afterwards, I rolled up my sleeves and went to work on training her to be a good citizen. I am happy to say that she is mostly pleasant these days. But of course, her being Sage, I should've known that she would save her treacherous ways for a more worthy foe - her elder sister.