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Richard Masiello (1936 - 2008)

Eulogy for Richard J Masiello
2008-05-31

On behalf of Eve, and all of my family, we would like to say thank you for joining us today in celebrating the life of my dad, Richard Masiello.

 

Dad


My Dad came into this world at the end of an era. His generation was the last to grow up and see the family farm. He grew up with strong traditions, values and respect, passed down from the old country from which his grandparents came.

Dad



But Richie also grew up in an age of modernization and change. As a young man he developed a passion for all things mechanical. A passion that would guide his professional life as a trucker, a mechanic and a business man. Also a passion for his beautiful restoration work on antique cars and bicycles.

 

Dad


Richie was a wonderful father who provided for and brought up myself, my brother Andy, and my sister Joanne. His dream was for my brother and I to play pro ball. He came to every game we played and often was drafted to be a coach. He bought us a pitching machine and built a batting cage in the yard. He gave us every advantage that a kid could have. There was only one problem. I could never throw a ball ninety feet.

 

Dad

 


I was fortunate that I worked with my dad for several years in the business that he had built with his brother Jim. I learned much about the hard work, dedication and quality that my dad gave to the business each and every day. He could be very demanding as a boss, but I also saw side of him that was generous and caring towards those who worked for him. Richie never refused to help someone who was in need. He would be repaid in loyalty.

 

Dad

 


My Dad told me a joke at work one day. He employed about forty drivers, and across the hall from the office was a break room that the drivers could use during downtime. "If I could get away with it...", he told me, "I would put slot machines in the break room and pay everyone in quarters". It was typical of his great sense of humor, but it also showed me that my dad was a keen observer of the human condition.

 

Dad

 


Perhaps, Richie is looking down on us all now. There is a part of him that has the utmost respect for these traditions, and he would be honored by all of the friends and family that have come to pay their respects. But there is also a side of my Dad that is fiercely independent. What he would really want is to be remembered with a big party that brought together family and friends. So as we leave here today, we should honor his memory. Think of all of the good times that we shared. Raise a glass to him and say, "Thank you! We will miss you! Salute!" 

 

Dad

 


 


讓我們老去的原來是哀傷

These past couple of days I have been asking myself a lot of questions. There is a chinese saying, "To be born, To get old, To get sick, and to die are the most common things for a human being, no need to be too happy or sad, the day we are born, we already know what will happen to all of us" (生老病死,人之常情) . But if it is that simple, why is my heart so painful and empty? What is the meaning of being a human being? What is the meaning of life? I finally found the answer for myself --- Sharing! Sharing and be able to share with the people who we love and care for, is the meaning of life and being a human being (因為你們的存在,我的生命才有了意義). I am so sad about that because I know Tony and I can't share anything with Dad anymore. This is so scary and painful, and there is no way to fix it. The only thing we can do is to try our best to share more time with the family when we have the chance and hope that there will not be too much regret when the day comes.
 

 
 

Big Daddy!

Richard Masiello, my father-in-law, I called him "Dad".

The first time I met him was the Christmas of 2004, right after I moved from China to here. I was excited and nervous to meet him and all of Tony's family. Tony had told me a lot of his stories at that point. As soon as his car pulled into the drive way. Tony and I ran out of the door to welcome him ( We had a party at my Mother-in-law’s old house ). He had a big smile on his face, and he hugged me in his arms so tight that I felt like I would sink into his tummy. I called him "Dad" since that moment, and I felt in love with this big Italian guy right away. 

When he speaks, I feel like I am watching the movies. His italian accent is absolutely beautiful. My dad and I are both big "Godfather" fans and we have watched this movie together so many times. And now, there was a person who talked like that in the real life. It is so cool. It is even more cool that he is my father-in-law. I always tell Tony that I can listen to Dad talking all day long. Now when I think of him, I can still hear his voice.

We had not been visiting him a lot because we are living in MA. We never tried hard enough to visit him because we believed that he will be around for a very long time. There was always "the next time". --- Next time I will cook ribs for him when we visit....

Almost every time we visited him, he would bring us to these very expensive restaurants, even if just for the lunch. I always told Tony that I would like to pay for it (especially after I had a job) . Tony always told me that he will be mad about it. ---- What a big Daddy!

He loved to serve me drinks (Actually, not just him, a lot of Tony's family love to serve me drinks - champagne, wine, beer, gin and tonic.... ). I knew he loved to serve me a drink, so that I always told him champagne or wine. Then he gave me that big smile and handed me the drink. 

There was one time he roasted the jalapeno peppers for us with our chicken marsala and pasta. That was yummy....I had six roasted peppers that night, I remember when I asked him, are they spicy?... he picked up one pepper, and threw the whole thing in his month, and looked at me said "NOT HOT AT ALL". --- I knew they were hot, because my stomach was burning at that time.

He still makes the best pasta. Tony.... what can I say? You are catching up.... but his pasta is still the best so far. I always ate a lot when he cooked for us. I always felt that I would not need to eat for a week after that.

Sometimes when he asked me what do I want to drink, he would touch my hair like I am a little girl. Every time, when he kissed my cheek, he will hold my face with his hands like I am a little girl. The last time I saw him (May 10th), right before we walked out of his house to go to Mario's for lunch, he used his thumbs to squeeze my face like I am a little girl.

I wished Tony married me when I was 18, so that I would have more time to be part of the family. I was 120 lbs at that time, so I am not sure if Tony would be interested in me though.

At last year's Christmas party at his house, I drank a little too much, and I sat on his chair (near the fireplace) while he was in the kitchen, when he came to the living room, I got up and tried to let him sit on his chair (I know that is the only chair will make his back and leg feel a little better), but he touched my hair and told me to sit down, and he went to sit on the couch).

There were many more details and I will remember all of them, and I will tell my children about him, and I will also tell my son (if I could have a son) that if his grandpa was still alive, he will call him "Wooden Head" ....

Dear Dad, I love you so much and I will miss you forever! 


生死不離 - no matther what, we will never give up!

   
《生死不离》
作词:王平久
作曲:舒楠
演唱:成龙
 
歌词全文:

生死不离 你的梦落在那里
想着生活继续
天空失去美丽 你却等待明天站起
无论你在哪里 我都要找到你
你的呼喊就刻在我的血液里

生死不离 我数秒等你消息
相信生命不息
我看不到你 你却牵挂在我心里
无论你在哪里 我都要找到你
血脉能创造奇迹
搭起我双手筑成你回家的路基
 
生死不离 全世界都被沉寂
痛苦也不哭泣
爱是你的传奇 彩虹在风雨后升起
无论你在哪里 我都要找到你
你一丝希望是我全部的动力
 
 
 

為死者默哀! 天佑中國!

 
...... 

 讓我們一起努力,團結起來,重建我們的家園吧!
 

Colbie

Last weekend we went to see Colbie Caillat at the old Opheum Theater in Boston. Surprisingly, it was a great show. Colbie's voice filled the room, as soon as she entered, with a warmth, and every song was played with a passion. She also was visually stunning, wearing a white summer dress and standing bare foot on stage through part of the show. Below is a clip of the show we attended that I feel captures the view and the ambiance of what we experienced from our vantage point that evening.

 

 


 


I wish I could go to play!

Milky

Twenty-five years ago

It was twenty-five years ago today I drove up to New Haven with Tom Fichera and Geoff Tremont and saw my first Grateful Dead concert. While in some ways it was 'just a concert', it was also an experience that would shape the rest of my life and forever change that way that I looked at the world. It is hard to believe that a quarter of a century has passed by since that evening. The New Haven Coliseum is no longer standing. It was destroyed by implosion last year. 

 

The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead performing Truckin' on April 22 1983 in New Haven CT

 


Let's Celebrate Beijing, China 2008 Olympic!!!

 
This is not a Dream. We will do a great job for the Olympic, for the world and for anyone who loves PEACE as an independent and pride country. And I believe this will not be the only time we will host the Olympic. 

Happy Birthday Milky!

Milky's First Birthday Celebration!


Peace - March, 14, 2008 (Tibet, China)

Peace!?

Why Can We Have it? 

Tibet History


Live like a real human being!

Into the Wild
==========
 
Into The Wild


I think this movie was the best film of all movies that I have watched in 2007. I have not finished reading the novel yet, but so far, I really think the film is a little better. If you have read the novel, you will know how difficult it is to represent it on film. I have to give Sean Penn credit for this.

In the novel, the writer followed Chris's steps and found out why and how he chose to live this kind of life, and during Chris's last journey, what happened to him and why he ended up starved to death. I could not really picture all the palaces the writer mentioned on the book. They were all strange to me. However, in the movie, Sean Penn really went to all these places and presents them in the picture. All these amazing places right in front of my eyes, not just my tears wanted to come out, my heart too. I felt like my heart was beating crazy in the theater, and I told myself that it was worth it. Who cares what happened at the end, it was worth while just for those moments when  he stood on the top of the Grand Canyon, side by side with 1000 years old trees, the desert, the waterfall, the miles and miles of golden farm, the mountains, and Alaska, and all of the great people that he met on the road, the kindness, the wildness, sharing, trusting, listening, caring --- sparked in their soul --- this beautiful greatness inside of human beings simply spread out without any advantage or economic benefit. Our human existence actually can be so beautiful outside of our modern society. I was absolutely jealous of him. Jealous that I can never have the strength to do it, and I can never give up my family bonds and responsibility like he did.
 
Most of us are stuck in this infinite loop in our modern society. We spend most of out time to earn money and buying a lot of junk which we don't really need. We try to tell ourselves what we are doing is really for something, but how many of us really know for what. We slowly forget what is our dream and sometimes even wonder if we really have a dream. We fool ourselves that what we are doing is for the future, but human beings can't live forever. Short of resources, or full of violence, either nature will kill us or we will destroy ourselves, but for certain there will be an end for humanity. Life is so short, we should treasure every moment, not trash every moment.
 
His death was a tragedy, and was stupid. I wish he did more research before he went there or talked to someone who has been there before. But at the same time I also understand why he did not spend more time to prepare for it. He could not wait any longer, going to Alaska like a volcano in his blood, he could not wait any longer to light up his dream anymore. In some way, if he thought of himself too much, I don't think he would have ever made it to  Alaska at the end. Like a lot of us, we all have an "Alaska" in our dream, but it is just a dream, and we can't ever prepare good enough to step "Into The Wild".
 
Thanks Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn for telling me such a brilliant true story. Thanks Christopher McCandless for fighting for your dream, and fighting for us. In my heart, you are my hero and my fighter.
 
============

A timeline of McCandless' travels (some minor events may have been omitted):

1990

1991

  • January 11: caught in a storm off the coast of Mexico;
  • January 18: cross the United States border illegally;
  • February 3: goes to Los Angeles "to get an I.D.";
  • February 24: returns to Lake Mead to retrieve items he had buried;
  • February 27: Las Vegas; works at an Italian restaurant;
  • May: Leave Las Vegas;
  • July-August: Oregon Coast;
  • September: Bullhead City, Arizona; works at McDonalds and opens a savings account, mentions in letters that he might finally settle down;
  • December: Niland, California, meets back up with the Burreses, helps them at flea markets at "Slab City";

1992


Happy Leap Day!

Yawwwwwwn!!!! 
Yawn!!!

我想你

无论世界怎么转变,你还是我的最爱。我还是很想你, 每一次开车经过那里,我的心还是会很痛。好几次夜里醒来,我会寻找你的身影。然后试着想象你就在我的心里。你在哪里?回来看看我好吗?
Perhaps, there is a god!!!

Okay, not really... but this is pretty damn close...

Eighteen and fuckin one!



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Tony and Quan Masiello.
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