I like that new show, Brothers & Sisters.

Okay --- so, it's a tad bit predictable...but you know what? So are real people in real life.

I don't know. There's just something about this show. There was that one scene where Kevin, the token gay character of the show, explodes at his mother, played by Sally Field, out of frustration when he accuses her of ignoring the fact that he has a life of his own.

It got me thinking about how my own mother's like this --- and I think it's something you kind of fall into when you're really close to someone and you're single, so they just take it for granted that you'll be their plus one.

I don't know.

The older I've gotten, the more I realize that a lot of the things that my mother does is out of love --- because, being Chinese, she's not the type of person who's gonna come up to me and give me a big ol' hug and say, "I love you." Actually, I don't remember her ever saying, "I love you"...which might seem really sad, but you know what? That's just the Chinese way.

If any of you have watched The Last Kiss, you'll remember a scene where Tom Wilkinson's character, the father of Zach Braff's girlfriend, tells Zach that saying "I love you" doesn't mean anything --- it's the actions that prove you love somebody that counts.

And I totally got that.

So, yeah, I know that a lot of the things that my mother does comes from a place of real love...but...and yes, I realize I might seem like a dork for quoting from the many TV shows that I watch, but I have to go back to what Denny said in that answering machine message on the last episode of Grey's:

It turns out, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. Sometimes you have to make a big mistake to figure out how to make things right. The stakes are painful. But they’re the only way to find out who you really are. I know who I am now. And I know what I want.

Sometimes, I just want to tell her, "Let me make my own mistakes. Quit telling me how to live my life."

And the thing is...I know that she understands that I'm unhappy a whole lot and that she wishes something good and great would happen to me for a change, but the thing is, I'd still rather bump along, making those mistakes and getting disappointed and being unhappy on my own and know that it's my own doing, rather than me going along with what she wants...'cause then I'll blame her. And you can't blame someone else for the way your life goes.

It's all about stepping up to the plate, in the end, isn't it?