WARNING: If you are sensitive to grossness, do not read this.

My grandmother was rarely allowed to cook. She did it only once or twice a year. She usually made something that she called "Stinky Eggs". I suspect that the stench was from the addition of vinegar, but I'm not really sure. I know that the eggs were left unrefrigerated overnight prior to cooking, but I'm certain that the amount of rotting that could happen in one day would not cause that horrid scent.

Although I don't know the full recipe, I have watched certain parts of the process of making the stinky eggs. Salt is added to it and the eggs are beaten lightly for a few minutes. The resulting concoction is placed in a shallow enameled steel pan which is placed inside a bamboo steamer and steamed inside a wok. This low temperature cooking method has one very serious consequence. It does not kill parasites.

My grandmother always kept a bamboo fan near her during the summertime. She used it both to cool off her body and to swat at flies. We had many flies when I was young, because the windows that we had opened like doors. They were not the variety that moves up and down. This made it impractical to put up insect screens. We also didn't have air conditioners, so opening the windows was the only way to keep cool. We lived close to the East River and breezes came through the windows even during the hottest days of summer.

I did not witness how it happened, but I assume that my grandmother killed a pregnant fly with her bamboo fan and the maggots landed on her stinky eggs. When the horrid dish was presented at the dinner table, I first noticed tiny holes opening and closing. A few minutes later, tiny worms appeared. They were still alive and sticking their bodies up in the air to try to escape the heat of the eggs. The vision of writhing worms coupled with the general grossness of the stinky eggs made me feel ill.

I tried to warn my family, but they couldn't see the worms. Everyone in my family has poor eyesight except me, and they do not use their glasses when eating. I eventually convinced my sister to put on her glasses and she saw the worms too. My mother and grandmother ate the worm-infested stinky eggs. It was the only time I ever vomited from seeing something gross.

My brother's wife gave birth this morning. Unlike last time, my brother did not call me. He also did not send me a private message. He only posted updates on Facebook. This is somewhat reminiscent of the email that he sent to inform me that he had gotten engaged. The body of the message was:

Your new sister in law.

That was the entire message and a photo of her was attached. This time, it's even more impersonal.

I had assumed that I would be obligated to escort my mother to the hospital to see the new child, because I had to do that last time. Since my brother did not contact me directly this time, I am not sure if I am still expected to do this. For now, I will pretend that I did not see his Facebook updates.

An unfamiliar Asian guy who is supposedly my cousin walks into the room with a large camera hanging from his neck. He is holding a calendar which he proudly displays. It contains photos from a wedding which he photographed. My cousin is not a professional photographer and he doesn't know anyone at the wedding. He apparently likes to photograph strangers and to make calendars with those photos.

As I flipped through the pages, my cousin stopped me to point at a specific day. I believe it was April 21. While pointing, he exclaimed "Xerxes". He said it loudly several times as if he wanted to be sure that I heard. He was so loud in the dream that I had to awaken.

Upon awakening, I felt it was very important to remember "Xerxes", but I don't know why.

I have been feeling a lot of stress recently. I have been doing emergency repairs almost every day. This has severely interfered with my ability to rest properly. It is also contaminating my mind with the anxiety of my clients. I thought that I was the only one experiencing this weird energy, and I thought it was caused solely by work.

Maybe I am the only one and I'm just experiencing a distorted view of others due to this, but I am seeing this tension in other people too. John had to sign off because of a bad mood. Roja is going away for a while.

I'm not sure what is happening. I thought it might be a combination of the springtime mating/territorial combat stuff coupled with radiation from Japan and solar flares. My mind is still too messed up to properly analyze the situation.

The sky has very rapidly darkened and the winds are howling.

The parody looks more interesting than the official movie.

Until my brother's second child is born. I'm not sure if this one will be a boy or a girl. My brother and his wife haven't said anything about that. They also haven't been posting sonograms online as they had done with their first child. After a year and a half of being an uncle, I still don't understand why people congratulate relatives of the parents.

Since I got away with not giving any money to my brother last time, I intend to also not give anything this time. The only uncle duty that I intend to fulfill is escorting my mother to the hospital to see her grandchild.