I was born in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan on November 27, 1973. Remember that date. Jot it down if you have to. Gifts are appreciated. =) I don't remember much of those days when I was in Taiwan; actually I can't remember anything about it at all. Not that it really matters much since at the tender age of 4 I was promptly whisked halfway across the world to a small apartment in Jackson Heights, NY. It was quite an affair really. The kidnappers wanted $50,000, my parents only had 10k so they just gave up, figuring it wasn't worth their time. But then they were stupid and got picked up by the NYPD for jaywalking. Silly people. But anyways, since I was already in NYC, my parents figured they might as well just come out and join me. Land of opportunity and all that jazz. I won't bore you with all the details of when I was a young 'un running around the mean streets of The City but suffice to say I was your typical Asian child; played the violin, got good grades, robbed elderly citizens, shot bb pellets at small animals, threw snowballs at public buses (never at taxis, the taxi drivers WILL come out to chase you down) as they went by, etc.
	After about a decade or so in The City, my parents finally decided that I really shouldn't be spending all that time in the sewers so they moved us all out to East Hanover, which is in North Central New Jersey. Yes, out of the frying pan and into the fire. I've heard my share of NJ jokes thank you very much so please don't email me any more. Suffice to say, "No I DON'T live off of a NJ Turnpike exit." Much obliged. This all took place when I was in 7th grade. Anyway, not much changed besides the fact that we now had about 3 times more room than we had before. It was a nice town. I spent a whole bunch of idyllic years there. In grade school I was a soloist in the Glee Club. That didn't last long once I hit puberty when I was 9. So throughout junior high and high school, I was a band geek. Trombone player. Still maintained my "typical Asian child" image. No one knew about my run-ins with the law though. Bah, doesn't matter anyway, they've all been stricken from my record since I'm no longer a juvenile. =) Oh! And we got a dog!!!!! Name was Poppy. Yeah yeah, my mom isn't very creative alright? Plus she doesn't exactly have a firm grasp of the official US language. English damn you, it's English!! I miss our dog. He was so cute. We gave it away when I went off to college.
So I did manage to graduate high school in the top 10% of my class and moved once again. This time I went west to the wild city of Chicago to test my survival skills in the gothic halls of the University of Chicago. Actually I had wanted to attend Pomona College in California. But my parents didn't want me to go that far. Hah! Little did they suspect that I'd get my way sooner or later. But anyways, I had fun at Chicago. It's a great city. I goofed off way too much for my own good though. Spent the first two years being a MUD freak which didn't help whatsoever. Found a girlfriend though which kept me occupied for the last 2 years. Was really strange; she was crammed into the bottom of a dumpster behind the hospital but after some fiddling with and cleaning up, was as good as new. Raegan, if you ever read this, I'm joking, I'm joking!!!! ^o^ Managed to graduate in 4 years to the relief of everyone that was ever involved with me while I was in Chicago. Got my Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences and hightailed it outta there. Lest they change their mind and take it back. And even more westward I went. Hell, California wasn't west enough for me. I had to leave the continent entirely. About as far west as I could go without requiring a passport. And thus I arrived in Hawaii.....
	.... where I was beset upon by heathen dirty beasts like the world has never witnessed!!! Ja nakute! The people I've met in Hawaii still remain, to this day, clothed in grass skirts, coconut shells, and loinclothes. ;-) In all seriousness though, they are incredibly nice people and I am quite glad that I made their acquaintance during the 2 years that I was there, despoiling their land and eating their plate lunches. I originally went there on the pretense that I was gonna be good and studious and aim for a PhD in biomedical sciences at the University of Hawaii - Manoa. Well I quickly learned the folly of my ways and decided to just cut it short, pick up a Masters, and hightail it back to the mainland before the natives could find out exactly why all their rice was disappearing. ;-p Not that I really wanted to leave. The weather is stupendous, the babes are numerous, and you can walk around in shorts all year round. And my god, I wasn't a minority there. Amazing. Anyway, I'm very happy to have met all them kama'aina (spelling anyone?) and a big mahalo goes out to them for putting up with this idiotic mainlander; although I did come bearing lots of videotapes. ;-p One day I'll be able to make it out there again and hopefully by that time, they won't have been blown away by Hurricane Iniki - Part 2, JUDGEMENT DAY. And maybe, dare we hope, even H3 will finally be open! =) Ciao, guys.

©Yuu Watase and Flower Comics

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