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20050225
 
It's kinda late
Yes, I'm up, but it's Friday! Almost Saturday. I'm still tired, which is silly. But hey, it happens.

Man, it's been an interesting week. Yes, I didn't blog on Wednesday. I changed my schedule from eight hours a day to nine hour days. Ugh. But on the good side, I got a half day today! Yes, I got to stay out late, party a bit (been a while) and then sleep IN to recover. It was very nice.

But yeah, nine hour days. This was a crazy busy week, work-wise. Actually, everything-wise. Had my four days of kung fu, which went fairly smoothly. Work was what kept me occupied, though. I actually did a lot of work! Which is good, and also a little bit of a pain. I made it through the week, though. Interestingly, kung fu and work somehow mixed - a couple of co-workers are looking to learn martial arts. One of them wants to do some boxing, so he asked me to look up boxing schools for him. The only thing I found was a Muay Thai place, so he looked into it. Apparently they offer a free two-week trial thing, and the two guys are going to try it out. Although the school teaches a bunch of stuff, mixing Muay Thai, groundfighting, jujitsu, karate, and even some kung fu. Or, as Sifu would say, chop suey. Sure, you can go around and earn "black belts" in several styles, but that only means you've got basics for each. To master anything, you need to spend a LOT of time with it. But I'll stop there, before I go off too much. Sihing did say to tell the guys that he'll spar with them when they think they can fight. Which I told them. It would be fun.

I've been thinking about delusion this week a lot, too. Wondering how people become persuaded into doing things, in some cases, things that really aren't so good. For example, Scientology. I don't know how much you actually know about Scientology, but the details are scary. But see, most people who get into it don't learn the details right away. They don't learn them until several years into it. By then, it's too late. But if you learn the details now, it seems silly. Well, not SEEMS, but yeah. All about a guy named Xenu. It's hard to believe that people actually have a "religion" about this. But what pulls them in is that they're given promises of being able to do amazing, important things. And through some basic, legitimate practices (part hypnosis, part psychological), they're convinced to take the first steps. But the main thing that I wonder about that isn't questioned is why taking part in the super-important role of saving the world requires you to spend thousands of dollars. Hey, if I'm going to save the world, and I need help, I'd PAY other people to help me, not ask them to pay ME. There's even a full story out there about a woman's experience through the whole thing. You can go out, get educated, make your own decisions.

The other thing I've been looking at that fascinates me is something called Yellow Bamboo. Basically, it's a Balinese art that professes practice of it gives you power of all sorts. The big things that grab people's attention is the power to heal people on the brink of death, as well as being able to defend against attackers without even having to touch them. Yeah, well a guy who used to be known as the Amazing Randi makes it his business to disprove all sorts of claims to do supernatural things. In fact, he has an offer out there. Cash money for tangible proof that supernatural abilities are possible. LOTS of cash money. A lot of people have tried. And some Yellow Bamboo members gave it a shot. Here, I'll share a bit of it with you. It was all videotaped for Randi's contest, for the preliminary test. If it succeeds, then they'll do an official test. It started by laying out the rules. Then they had to get ready, which is... interesting. And then finally, the test! I'll let you see it for yourself. And yet, people are still convinced this is all very possible. Now I DO believe in qigong, and that there are things we can't see that are there and we can use, but trying fantastic things like defending against an attack without touching the other person is a bit much, especially after, oh, less than a year of "training". And sometimes probably not the best idea to try out, especially on camera. I'm a very logical person, so I'd give this idea some merit if I actually saw people doing it successfully. So far, no go. I'll stick with my kung fu for self-defense, and mystical internal stuff for purely meditative purposes.

My lip healed up nicely after getting it ripped apart by Sihing, in about half a week. I was impressed! So I'm going back tomorrow to try again. And maybe even test out of a form, so I can move to the next one. Learn another weapon set! Woo! And then tomorrow night, it looks like there's going to be an open mic night/Coffee House at the Newman Center, and since Steve invited me to perform, I think I shall head over there. Maybe play some guitar, maybe even do some kung fu. Maybe both, at the SAME TIME. That would be a little different, I think. Unless the guy before me does it. Then that'd suck.

I went and swapped movies again, after watching Dawn of the Dead. It was actually pretty good! Very dark, but believable, unbelievably. Yes, I didn't really believe that zombies were running around, but the characters acted in fairly reasonable ways as reactions. And zombie movies are fun. If they're done right. So I went and got two movies, one which I've never heard of, but involves martial arts, and the other one being Donnie Darko. Now I won't link either, because I don't remember the first one's name, and because if you haven't seen Donnie Darko and don't know anything about it, then do yourself a favor and watch it before learning anything about it. Trust me, it would probably be better like that. Even though there are SOME people out there who DIDN'T trust me. Grr. I'll just say it's not a "normal" movie by any means, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. Made me wonder about things on a more philosophical side, which I don't get a chance to do as much as I'd like. I may go back to school after I retire and get a graduate degree in philosophy. I think that'd be cool.

Okay! And now it's time to go to bed, to rest up for kung fu in the morning. So random link! How bout a couple? I've already posted links to videos. Why not keep it up? How about some DANCING? I'll start with a guy I find completely amazing, not only by his dancing skills, but by the sheer amount of strength he's got. Check him out, his name's Junior. Oh, and if you want to see what kind of competition he had, you should check out the dancing skills of the people there. Freakin' incredible. And to finish it off, a little bit of a different style of dancing.

P.S.: Oh! How can I forget? My trip to Hong Kong is coming up soon! In just over a week. I'm excited! And to share my excitement, I'll share a bit with you with an article about Sigong, who I'm going to be traveling with. It's cool stuff.
Comments:
you went a little link crazy today, mmm hmmm. =P
 
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Hey this blog is not about umbilical cord blood gas. Silly internet bringing me here :-) Funny I have been doing hours of research on umbilical cord blood gas and it brought me to your blog on It's kinda late. The web plays funny games sometimes. Anyways, I was reading your blog Blogger and I think it is really cool. Keep up the great work.
If you do not mind I will snag your blog and put it in my favorites. I read a ton of stuff on here that interested me. Keep blogging away :-)
 
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Hey this blog is not about cord blood banking canada. Silly internet bringing me here :-) Funny I have been doing hours of research on cord blood banking canada and it brought me to your blog on It's kinda late. The web plays funny games sometimes. Anyways, I was reading your blog Blogger and I think it is really cool. Keep up the great work.
If you do not mind I will snag your blog and put it in my favorites. I read a ton of stuff on here that interested me. Keep blogging away :-)
 
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20050221
 
Ah, relaxing weekend. Finally.
Yes, finally. All that lion dancing kicked my butt around a bit. Although I think it might have improved the muscle definition in my butt by kicking it so much. Kicking, being all the horse stances that lion dancing requires. Not that anyone could APPRECIATE the muscle definition in my butt. Except for me. Mmm, yes.

Okay, so this weekend was pretty laid back. And completely busy at the same time. Friday night was the start of it all. Yes! I stayed up late! I don't even remember why! It must have been a good night. Oh yes, that's right! I rented UFC 50. James came over and we appreciated the variety of competition the UFC has to offer. It's funny sometimes. One of the first matches was between a large black ex-football player and a young Brazilian jujitsu black belt who looked way too nice to be in the UFC. He kept smiling, and looking almost polite. They barely touched each other the first round, a couple of clashes, that was it. And in the second round, the jujitsu kid throws this punch, a really horrid punch. A giant haymaker, really. And somehow it glances off a point on the other guy (a kickboxer)'s face, and he goes down, completely out with his eyes open. Just straight backwards, boom, and he looked very lost when he started coming to on the ground. It was pretty funny, but sad for the kickboxer.

Yeah, there were a few other good ones, it was interesting to see. And then it was time for Halo 2! Where we laid waste to a few people. James has some l337 5k1llz. Good times.

And to bed! To rest up for the next day, which started with kung fu! Yes, I really don't normally go on Saturday's, but Sifu, being sneaky as he can be, made sparring ONLY on Saturdays. So I had to go do it. I've missed sparring. Sifu worked with all the new guys (and a girl), and they had a good workout. One of them sparred Sifu and tried a spinning backfist. I didn't actually see it, but from what I heard, Sifu pretty much owned him at that moment. I turned to see the guy hit the ground and everyone make "whoa" comments and applaud. It's wise not to underestimate Sifu's sparring skills. Sihing Justin and I helped one of the more advanced students with his sparring techniques, giving him pointers on hand positions and takedown techniques, and then sparring a bit with him so he could test them out. Then, right before class was over, Justin and I sparred. Sort of. It lasted all of five seconds. Started with me feinting a punch, then throwing a kick, planting the same foot down in preparation for a takedown. As I move in to attempt it, he spots the opening perfectly and kicks me. In the FACE. I was fine, and ready to keep going. Unfortunately, my lip was NOT. Yeah, somehow my lip got split. All OVER the place. I was bleeding for a while, and it still looks pretty gruesome. Perhaps I'll put up a picture.

So after that we went, got some food, and then one of the students brought his movie for viewing. I'd seen it before and had a previous engagement, so I only stayed a bit, but his movie's actually pretty good. Lots of cussing, lots of gunplay, but put together well. Makes me want to make a movie. Again. I always have wanted to, but with guitars and kung fu, there's NO TIME.

Yes, my previous engagement? Constantine! It was different. But actually pretty good. Better than I expected. I still have to watch Dawn of the Dead, which I rented and never did see. I think it'd fit with the theme, somehow.

After that, Sihing and a few other kung fu guys ended up coming over, and we spent a lot of time with gaming goodness, plus Chinese food, and lots of Pepsi (yes, I know, I'm bad). It was so much gaming goodness two of them ended up staying too late. Which meant crashing on the couch. But it was all part of an excellent guys' night.

The next day was time for Justin and I to help my parents and the neighbor swap fridges. It was hard work! Fridges are heavy. And slightly awkward to move. But we did it. Even though it required removing the doors from one fridge, and the handles from the other. Vice grips are very nice, by the way. Just FYI. So a bit of hard manual labor, and then for his help, I bought Sihing lunch at Chili's. Mmm, ribs. And chicken. And corn on the cob! It was good.

And for a change, I went to mass at a different place. Goodness! Yes, it's a big change! I've been playing at Newman for nine years or so, so going anywhere else is quite different. I grabbed my guitar and cruised to St. Bernard's, after being invited to help in their choir by the drummer. Yes, drummer. They have a full drumkit set up for their five o'clock service. I'm still not sure about that, but hey, whatever works. So I knew only one of their songs, but they still set me up with two microphones, one for the guitar, one for vocals. And it was me, the drummer, the piano (choir director), and two vocalists. Turned out pretty nicely! And I did play for every song, even though I'd never heard most of them. I only sang on three, though. I got a lot of complements, and they invited me to come back next week. We'll see, I may do it, and then try a different parish for two weeks. See what else is out there.
And today is the start of my new schedule. Nine hour days. Start early (earliER), stay late. But it means I get a half day on Friday! Yaay! We'll see how it goes. Okay, time for random link. This is one I got from a friend. In this day and age, it might (0|\/|3 1n |-|4nDy. But the kicker is where this comes from.
Comments:
dawn of the dead creeped me out for some reason. maybe it was the weather, maybe it was my dinner that night...i dunno. you know i don't get creeped out that easily, so take what you want from that.
 
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20050216
 
Picture time!
Yes, finally. Time for pictures! But that's further on down. First, some news. Naruto! It's been licensed! This is both good and bad. Good, because it will be on Toonami the third quarter of 2005. Bad, because all the torrents have been removed! Dang, I may have to subscribe to get my Naruto fix. For $3.50 a month, it'd probably be worth it. Perhaps just rip them all to CD to have ready to go. Yes! Maybe I should do it before THAT gets removed. Ugh. I just hope they don't tarnish the originals, being moved to the States, where they might worry about some of the scenes or language used in the original. Eh, I was weak. I went ahead and signed up. Naruto, here I come!

So today's my first day off in FOREVER. Normally I'd be at choir practice, but no, not today. I think I may have to pull the guitar out to play a bit, though, just to keep my chops current. All that, you know. Maybe write some music. Haven't had time to do that in a WHILE. Though I still would love to. Dang! So many things to do, and not enough time!

Sifu tells me I spread myself too thin, and he's probably right. Trying to do all this at once. And I still want to work more on my drawing ability (believe or not, I'm half-decent) as well as try my hand at creating/directing movies. I have great ideas! For now it's just music and kung fu. Kung fu is sort of tops for now, since it increases my physical abilities and health. Which is helpful if you want to do ANYTHING else. So once I get a lot of that down and learned, I think I'll be better off all around. Plus my qigong, too! That's good stuff.

Okay, okay. Time for pictures! LOTS of pictures. The first few are from the open house.


Yes! It was in the Sunday paper! As that's me, the head of the gold lion. Love those shoes. And the socks that match them, eh? Crazy fireworks. Those things are LOUD.


These next few were taken by Courtney. Thanks, Courtney! This one shows two of the lions, same as above. The two that I wasn't in. Plus you can check out some of the slick band in the background, there.


Here's all three lions, just moving about.


And the fireworks are set off!


I like this shot. I think we're all getting ready to bow out. Or do some sort of something.


A nice profile shot.


These next ones are from Nam Hai. CRAZY fireworks. Thanks to Steve for getting good shots.


Me and Kaleb! Setting up in our suave outfits.


We begin with our bow-ins. Lions at the ready!


Buddha! This was Justin (not Sihing, but Sidai), working the fan. With a nice belly, I might add.


I put this shot up for two things: One, for our bright lion showing a little more, erm, tail, than he should have (which is funny), and so you can see how high the offerings are. Left to right - you can get an idea how high off the ground they are from Buddha, standing under the lowest one.


Did I hear something?


Oh yeah, did I mention LOTS of fireworks? There you go. Before they're set off.


And they're set off!


Yeah, I guess not enough have gone off. That's what the guy is doing with the lighter, bending over to light some MORE. Notice almost EVERYONE holding their ears. Except for us, sadly.


RAAOWR!


Mmm, Buddha's head is tasty!


A rare glimpse under the lion. Notice Kaleb holding his hands on his legs. Yeah, we got a little tired.


The offering! This is what we have to get down.


We're getting the offering! Or trying, at least. Everyone is watching! See their faces of amazement! And Sifu and Buddha on the side, just in case. You know.


We DID get it! It wasn't easy, but we managed to get it, and there was applause!


Shannon! He's working his butt off, just like the other lions.


Me and Kaleb AFTER. We're kinda tired. And maybe just a bit sweaty.


After that, it was time for kung fu demos! This was a sparring set between me and Jonathan, the most senior student in the kids' class.


Whew! Steve took even MORE photos, but I'll just put these up for now. Thanks, Steve! And a couple more, that Courtney snagged at Nam Hai.


The second lion getting the second offering.


Me and Buddha fighting the fireworks!


Lions are fierce!


Two lions, for a stroll.


More insanity. Amidst the fireworks.


Yeah, I CHOMPED that stuff.


And another shot of us getting the offering. You can get an idea here how high it really was. Sadly, you can't see what the stack looks like. It's NOT easy.


Whew! LOTS of photos. Yes. I hope you liked them! And maybe now you know what you MISSED, if you didn't go. It was quite a scene.

And I think I'll take the rest of tonight, get some Naruto downloaded, all that. It will be good. And Resident Evil 4. Maybe be naughty and drink a Pepsi! Ah, it's good to have some free time. Although not too much. But when you're crazy busy, a little bit of R&R is always appreciated.

And today I'll leave you with an interesting random link. It's another blog, one which, SOMEHOW, has become more well-known than mine. But it's at least worth seeing.
Comments:
Ah the Lion dance... so majestic, yet so Wicked Awesome!
 
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20050214
 
It's a nice day! But I'm stuck inside...
I like nice days, but they're nicer when you can be part of them. I went out to lunch to get some of the day's niceness. Today is Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day! I know some of you probably DON'T like it, and it's a silly holiday, but I have a poem for you.

Roses are #FF0000,
Violets are #0000FF,
All my base are belong to you


Isn't it nice? And if you laughed at that, you're a NERD!

Yes, well. The news of the day is the turnout of the lion dances. There are four I have to talk about! That's a lot. The first one was on Wednesday, at the Royal Dragon. It was cool! We got to turn the eyes on, which is nifty. So we started outside, played a little bit, then went in and got to cause a ruckus with the crowd. My mom and my sister showed up, so that was cool. I played with a lot of the kids, and most of them really liked it. The offering was interesting. To explain: the offering is usually a bit of lettuce attached to the payment for the lion hung from a string, usually from a high location. The lion has to figure out how to reach it. In this case, we had two benches placed, so we jumped on the benches and then I jumped on a pot that was placed on the benches. I got the offering there, and then the lion chews up the lettuce and spits out three times. It's traditional, I don't completely understand the motivation for the spitting, but I think it's good luck for the people/things that get the lettuce thrown towards them. I heard later a bunch of the kids ran up to grab the lettuce. So we did a good dance, and the owner was happy with it, which was cool. We also got more photos taken for some sort of periodical, and we all signed a waiver to let them use the pictures. It was cool, though.

The next dance was on Saturday morning, at Nam Hai. It was crazy! It was drizzling lightly that morning, so the weather wasn't great, but wasn't too bad. We had three lions there, and a good amount of people watching. Sihing plays the drum with the rest of the music crew to get some attention for a little bit, then we start the dance! It begins with the traditional bow in, then we try to do a leg stack while the other two lions each put a leg on a pot. The bad thing is that our shoes were kind of dirty, and the pants we had to wear had sequins all over them, so trying to do the stack was hard. Oh, the leg stack is where the tail sits in a horse or a bow stance (bow is front leg bent until thigh is parallel to the ground, back leg is straight, both feet angled forward) and the head jumps onto one of the tail's legs with one foot and raises his other leg high. When I tried doing it, I kept sliding, but we pulled it off, although it COULD have gone better. So we go from there, go inside, do our stuff there, come out, and then the fireworks/firecrackers are set off. Six strings of them. 96,000 fireworks. It's the loudest thing I've heard in as long as I can remember. Maybe ever. Sadly, I forgot my earplugs, which sucked. So all the lions had to play the fireworks, which meant biting at them, stomping near them, all that. I have burn-holes in the pants I was using, and had some nice marks on my arms and face. Plus my ears are still recovering from that. It took a while, and was rather tiring. After that it was time to get the offering! Actually, THREE offerings. Each one higher than the next. So the first lion goes up, does a shoulder stack (seated on the shoulders) and gets it. The next lion goes up, tries the leg stack on top of a pot (tail putting his leg on the pot, the head jumping on that leg), doesn't quite make it, does the shoulder stack and has the tail stand on the pot. And then it's OUR turn, with the bright gold lion. We have two benches up there. Remember, now, remnants from 96,000 fireworks are all over the place, so we have our shoes caked in mud AND firework pieces. We start by approaching the benches, I "paw" at them, put a foot on it and then jump away, to show the lion's apprehension to trying such a crazy stunt. Repeat it, with the music helping to show the challenge being met. Then JUMP onto the benches, first head up as tail moves forward, then tail up as head moves forward on the benches. And we try the leg stack! It's still very very slippery, so I slid off Kaleb's leg the first few times. We try three times and ALMOST make it. I tell him, "Again!" and we do it again. And make it! Unfortunately, since you have to jump up AND back to stack, we're too far away to reach the offering, so I had to come down and then do a shoulder stack. But we did that all right, got the offering AND applause. It was cool!

Man, it wasn't easy. But we finished the dance after that, and got applause on finish. I had some friends come to see it, too. Thanks guys! Two of them got pictures, I'll have to post them when I get them. I don't have the pictures now, but I do have some I'll put up later, either today or tomorrow. And afterwards we got congratulations, and the owner was happy with our performance, which is very good. We even had some young girls come up and ask for our autographs! Yes, very nice.

After that it was kung fu demonstrations, but it had to get cut short because of weather (the rain starting to come down a bit more). We still did get to do the bending of the rebar. Now to understand how impressive this is, do this: take a finger and place it in the indention where the base of your throat is, right over your sternum. There's a dip right there. Push. Harder. Notice how that's not really comfortable? Well, the rebar is placed so each end is put against that spot, one for each of the two people bending it. In this case, it was Sihing Justin and Sidai (younger brother) Eric. From there it's walking towards each other until the rebar bends in half. It's not easy, believe me. But they did it!

Yeah, and that was the START of our day. I won't dull you with detailed descriptions of the other two dances, but they went well. The second one was just me and Kaleb, one lion, and it was a lot of fun. At a jewelry shop and a bridal shop. I think I startled a poor girl trying on some bridesmaids outfits when we walked in there. It was funny, but all in all we got a good reception there. And the third one was two lions, the other being Shannon and Eric, at a Chinese Buffet restaurant, way out south on Memorial. It was pretty much raining by then, so the hardest part in that restaurant was walking on the marble floor with wet shoes. We were sliding all over the place, and the stack to get the offering inside was VERY hard. Kaleb's feet kept slipping every time I landed on his leg. Finally we did it, though, with a few people's help by putting their feet next to his so he wouldn't slip. Success! And we had lots of people give us thanks afterwards, telling us they really enjoyed it.

After that I took a couple of the guys back to my place, we hung out and played some games, chilled a bit before passing out. All in all, a good day. Challenging and rewarding. And if you didn't come to see one of our dances, you missed out! Definitely different from anything you've probably seen before. You'll see pictures when I get them up, though.

Yesterday was mainly recovery day. Relaxing, playing some Resident Evil 4 (such a GOOD game), eating lovely food. And then to church! Where I did not sit with the choir at Newman for the first time (not including Wednesday) in approximately EIGHT YEARS. It's a weird thing, to sit back with everyone else and only watch/hear. Although I'll say I had something like five people who I normally don't talk to very often come up afterwards and ask me why I wasn't playing, which made me feel a bit loved. If no one had noticed, that might have sucked. But yes, they did, and I explained to them. I may try playing at a different church next weekend, to get a taste of different styles of music. It'll be a surprise! And maybe some people at THAT church may recognize me. And be confused. But change can be good. We'll see what happens.

Oh, and on that topic, my picture made another paper, the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic. There was an article on TEC in there, and they had a huge picture of me and a friend of mine named Tressa next to it. Weird. I really don't think I'm photogenic, but hey, whatever works.

And now a time for a random... ad.


And now it's time for random... linking! I've been doing meditation lately, and it's actually doing some pretty cool stuff for me. If you know what you're doing, it CAN do cool stuff. Oh, and a bonus link, while I'm on my paranormal kick: do people really have psionic abilities? Ways to link to each other, even without realizing it? Why not do a study or two?

Oh! P.S.: Blogger has updated their comment code, so now you can actually put your name into your comment (if you choose), even without having an account. Yay!
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20050211
 
One big weekend
Well, not big, really. More like supersaturated. That's right. Three, count them, THREE lion dances tomorrow. And one of them is going to be insane. As in, difficult. And exhausting. Plus we get to do kung fu demos immediately afterwards. And that's our first lion dance of the day. Yeah, I'll probably be passing out that evening.

Man, I'm bored, and nobody's online! And I'm sleepy. What a horrid combination. But the news lately has been keeping me shocked and appalled. Here, a few bits from today. Excuses, excuses. Self-defense sometimes is good. Keep hope alive! Yeah, random bits.

Oh! I have a joke for you:
An astrophysicist, a physicist, and a mathematician are attending a
conference in Scotland. During a break, they take a walk through some
of the countryside, and come upon a black sheep.

"Aha," exclaims the astrophysicist. "I had no idea that all sheep in
Scotland are black."

The physicist looks at her colleague in disbelief. "All sheep in
Scotland are black? Are you nuts? We've only seen one sheep!"

The mathematician interrupts. "And only one side of that sheep."


If you laughed at that, you are a NERD. I laughed at it. AHH HAHAHAAHAHAAAA! Yes, it's funny.

Oh, I was mad this morning because I was contacted by the OSLA. Well, now they're called the OGSLP. But yeah. It's student loan stuff. Apparently, one of my puny loans (as in less than 5K) got missed during my consolidation. And nobody bothered telling me about it. So it looks like I was delinquent. AGAIN. Just FYI, going delinquent on your loans is about the WORST POSSIBLE THING you can do to your credit. And here I was, trying to repair my credit by keeping my loan payments current, as well as doing nicely with my ONE credit card and its massive $300 limit. So yeah, I was upset. They decided that now would be a good time to contact me, after I had been 92 days delinquent. Thanks! I'm sure glad you didn't contact me before then! I might have known what having good credit was like! Ignorance is bliss! MAN. But I contacted them, we exchanged some words. Apparently, there's hope. I might be able to get it cleaned from my record, and have it put in with the rest of my consolidated loans, which is where it should have been in the first place. Ugh. Student loans can be sucky.

So ANYWAY, back to kung fu. Which is where my blog lives nowadays. Yeah, yesterday we had our standard class, a good number of people showed for the adult class. Oh, and I forgot my pants AGAIN. So I had to buy a new pair. It's my backup set, now. But they're not too shabby. Elastic waistband. And pull strings. I'm only thin enough that after pulling the pull strings tight, they go down to my knees. But it's supposed to be like that, right? So I have my new pants, and teaching class. Sihing gives me Sifu's standard instruction: "Make 'em sweat." So I did. Woo! Warmups can warm you up quite a bit. Everyone needs to work on their horse more, though. Especially me. Sihing sat down with us for our last horse, after doing the other stances, and had me count to ten. And then the next person. And the next. Yes, everyone counted to ten. And there were about eleven people there total. Plus, it seems Sihing forgot how to count to ten, so he had to pause a bit. Do the math, there. 11 people ~ 110 seconds ~ two minutes, give or take. I should have been able to handle it without any issue, but it was actually hurting by the end. Maybe because it was with our LAST horse. Sihing cheated and didn't do any other stances. It made him look good. But hey! I held my position! Unlike everyone else. I think we only had one person collapse, but pretty much everyone else ended up a lot higher. YOU try a two minute horse, keeping your thighs parallel to the ground, knees above the feet, feet double shoulder width apart. See how good you think that feels.

At any rate, there was plenty of horsing around (HA HA, HA HA, Ha h...) and then we did class. I like instructing! I feel like I can actually give people some good knowledge, after having my years of instruction under my belt. We had a good class, and then it was time for more lion dancing. Sihing was trying break me down, I think, because he was giving me pointers on how to use the lion. Pointers in painful directions. "Harder! Faster! In more uncomfortable positions!" In some cases, that all sounds good and lovely (mmm, positions), but for lion dancing with the gold lion for extended periods of time, it's PAIN. Good exercise, though. I just hope I do a splendiferous job tomorrow. Tomorrow! At Nam Hai! 11 AM! If you haven't seen lion dancing yet, you should show up! And even though you SHOULD, you still might NOT, which is too bad. Your loss.

And on a completely different note, I have a hair growing out of my left bicep. And it's freakishly long, and clear. Yes, I've had it before, and I've pulled it. But this time, I'm NOT GOING TO PULL IT. Muahahahahaaaa! And it will bother some of you, but you're not here, and you CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! That is all.

So tonight, it's a big hour and a half of lion dance practice, and hopefully all will go well. And hopefully it won't rain in the morning tomorrow. That would suck. Well, it might mean we don't have to do the lion dance, but at the same time, it would still suck. I just need to get my practice, get plenty of rest, and awaken rejuvenated and rarin' to go. For Nam Hai, and then two other lion dances, and then our kung fu Chinese New Year dinner over at Royal Dragon. Mmm, good food.

Today is Friday! And it's Lent! Which means, for some people, no meat, and fasting. Why is it called fasting? I'm going to fast. It certainly doesn't FEEL too fast. It feels rather slow. Why not call it slowing? It sounds more strenuous. Oh well, the way I eat sometimes is technically fasting, anyway, so it's just being done on a regularly scheduled plan this time. I AM drinking more water than normal. So maybe I could consider THAT fasting. Because water does go through you rather fast. At least through me it does. Sometimes. I'm sure you want to know lots more about that, but that's all I have for now.

Okay, and now I shall get back to stuff, and other stuff. But hey, have a lovely weekend, and all that, even if YOU don't spend any time in a lion. Random link time! I'm still on my qigong/chi kung kick, so I'm sharing the wealth of knowledge with you. Read, learn, there's lots of it! Just not so much common knowledge in the west as the east. In the east it's as common as AOL CDs. So here! Expand your knowledge, from another grandmaster I know well of (and have actually contacted before). Maybe find something that you like.
Comments:
SHIT! I'm a nerd! how can this be....
 
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20050209
 
Happy Chinese New Year!
Also known as the Lunar New Year. Did you know the Chinese calendar predates the Gregorian calendar by centuries? We've only been using the Gregorian for about 425 years. Actually, 423 years, if you must know. That's based on the Julian calendar, which was started by Caesar in 46 B.C. Yeah, they had too many leap days, so it was changed to the Gregorian. But yeah, the Chinese calendar has been used for a very long time. By that calendar, this year is 4702! And it's the year of the rooster! Just lots of random info for you.

Well, being the Chinese New Year, there is, of course, at least one celebration tonight. It happens to coincide with Ash Wednesday (have you Catholics remembered to forgo meat for a day?), but I think I'll have time for all of it. Yes! Tonight! 6:30 at the Royal Dragon! It'll be quite traditional, we'll do all the regular stuff we do. Not TOO crazy. Hopefully won't knock over tables and such. If you can make it, you might find it interesting.

And I've been getting feedback from the first few lion dances. Good feedback! For one, we had FOX news at the kwoon for our open house, but I don't know if we were ever actually on the news. I got interviewed, though. Hee hee! I think CBS was at the Chinese American Association thing at TCC, so they may have gotten some good footage. Oh! And a picture in the Tulsa World, on Sunday (full color, baby!), page A21. Turned out pretty good! That's me, on the right, in the gold. I love goooold.... I'll get a picture up on the blog when I get a chance. Since I was IN the lion at the time of the dances, I don't get to hear about results until after. But from what I heard, it was cool. The open house had a good crowd, I think the kids were the ones who got a kick out it, or at least showed it more openly. The TCC showing I only found out later had a very good reaction. I guess the gold lion looked really good, too, because the music guys made comments on it. And I also heard that the crowd all got on their feet when the lions awakened, and didn't sit down until we went off the stage. Yay! I think we set a pace that might have been hard to follow. Even though we didn't even get to do our GOOD stuff. Grr. That's okay, though.

I had some friends take their cameras, so I'll get some pics up, and maybe even some video sometime soon. Should be fun stuff. It WAS fun stuff. But by no means easy, trust me. I only realized last night, during our lion dance practice, how much heavier the gold lion is than the others. Sihing had us start practicing with the red one while Sifu was gone on an errand, and I didn't even break a sweat (which is crazy) while in that one. Then I pull the gold one on when Sifu gets back ("What are you doing? Put that away! Get the gold one out!") and it's layering the floor of the kwoon with salinated fluid in generous helpings. I'm getting more used to it, though, and hopefully by Nam Hai I'll have my lion working nicely. Nam Hai is a little scary, though. Sifu was saying we can expect a crowd six times the size of the one we had at the kwoon (which was NOT small), and also MORE fireworks. Which is crazy. But we're getting our practice down! Yes!

Yeah, so this week was mainly recovery time. I went to kung fu on Monday and apparently I was the ONLY ONE. No one else showed up. I'm thinking part of it is because people are LAZY and their demos on Saturday made them tired. Aww. Cry me a river. (I actually like that song, I'll admit.) It's the American way, though. I help perpetuate it, with my pizza and Pepsi, I'll give that, BUT I do try to get my vegetables and exercise, too. And I do drink lots of water! I'm cutting back quite a bit on the Pepsi, which isn't a bad thing. Yeah, so anyway, I show up, and no one's there, so I end up talking to one of the students' mothers, with Sifu. She tells us about how much of an effect kung fu has had on her daughter, and how it's been so good, she's planning on supporting her through it above everything. She even said, if it came down to electricity or kung fu, she'd choose kung fu. So that made me feel cool. I DO like being appreciated, and I'm weak that I want to hear it, but I only need to hear it every now and then. Yeah, so she gives us all sorts of good comments, and then Sifu and I chat for the rest of the normal class time. Which was cool! We talked about qigong, and kung fu, the advanced levels of them, all sorts of stuff. The whole hour made my day get 500% better. Which was GOOD, because up until then, it had SUCKED.

Yes, it had sucked. I was tired of dealing with people who just aren't considerate, or smart, or both. UGH. For one, one of my pet peeves has recently been boosted from witnessing people do it all the freakin' TIME. Turn signals. Do YOU use your turn signals? When turning? When changing lanes? Apparently, in Tulsa, most people DON'T. Yeah, getting cut off, without any cue. It really looks like their car is sometimes just drifting, and I wonder if they're even paying attention. In one case (and this was on Monday), I saw someone who really DIDN'T realize what they were supposed to be doing, and changed lanes unwittingly when the road curved slightly. Yeah, so Monday, I had to go pick up my mom from work to take her to the airport, to get her car, where my dad had to leave it. It was okay, it just made me more flustered, because I was hoping to have enough time to lay back and relax for at least an hour before kung fu started, but she needed me to pick her up from work at seven. But it's family, so of course I'll do it. I go back from work and get my kung fu stuff, then head over to pick her up, and on the way there (mind you, less than five miles away), I get cut off TWICE. Quite badly, each time. One, at a light. I have a green, and this other person does NOT. So I'm driving through the intersection at about forty-five, and as I'm in the MIDDLE of the intersection, they decide to turn right. Right, all right. RIGHT in FRONT of me. Oh man. I had to slam the breakes, I flashed my brights and hit the horn. Ooh, I was mad. And then, about a mile, mile and a half away, some podunks in a pickup pull the same stunt, but without a light there. Just pull out in front of me, as I'm traveling at a fairly elevated velocity. Physics escapes some people, I guess. Grr. Yeah, my whole DAY was like that, I wasn't happy. But my hour at kung fu actually made everything better! I was in a fully GOOD mood as I drove back home. Which was strange, but I was grateful. Good moods are GOOD for you. Try to remember that, when you feel tempted to sulk into the bad mood badlands.

Eh, but work lately has been good, I can't complain. I've been doing my job, and I'm actually getting a lot of props for it. Because I'm doing it WELL. The people I'm doing the work for are excited about it, because I'm doing it better (in their eyes) than the guy before me. So that's always good. Just have to keep doing it, I'll be okay.

So today, in addition to the Chinese New Year, is the start of Lent. Lent is a time to lay back, not be too [pick any of your seven deadly sins] here. People are giving up things. I say don't JUST give up something. Sure, trying to lay off the Pepsi is HARD. Trying to not watch TV so much is HARD. Putting that crack pipe down is HARD. But why not try to actively DO something? Do something good? I think that would be splendid. Try to make someone smile each day. Or random acts of kindness (I always like those). The best ones are the ones you can manage to do without getting recognition for. I know, I know, I said I like getting appreciated for stuff I do, but in some cases, it's good to just hit someone randomly, and all they know is that someone thought to do something nice for them. They just don't know who. It's like being a superhero! Even if you don't do it every day, even if you're not Catholic, why don't you try it out? See what you think? And if you believe in karma, it's not a bad idea at all.

Okay, I think I should stop here. My blogs are somehow GROWING each time I blog. I don't know why. Eh, maybe it's like a lunar cycle. Only longer. "Goodness! It's almost mid-February! The full blog is approaching!" Keep watch for some photos, I'll post sometime when I get a chance. Man, I didn't even talk about guitar! Maybe next time. Okay, time for random link. I looked around for best prices for my ticket to Los Angeles. Here! That's what ended up giving me the best price, although not by too much.
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20050207
 
And it's partway done
I'm still tired from the weekend. Man. Had a good one, though. Two lion dance performances. Saturday started at 7:30, getting ready for our practice for the Chinese-American Association gig at TCC. So we head out there with all our gear, and we're the first ones there. Turns out not very many people even show up. So we are all set up, and then start practicing. It goes fairly well, we're practicing with only one lion. We only practice the first part of our two part session, and it all seems to go well. We do it a few times, which is tiring. And the final time the other group who is going to do a flag routine around the lions before they wake up shows, so they do their thing, we wake up the lion, and then we're done. Seems like it's all cool.

From there it's back to the kwoon to get prepared for the open house. I go with another guy, we swing by my place to grab my formal top and some Gatorade, and then go to the kwoon. I get there and realize I FORGOT MY PANTS. No, I was wearing pants, I forgot my kung fu pants. So I had to go back and get them. It was pretty silly. We practice and set up the routine for the three lions. I'm in the gold/orange lion, so I get to do the main stunts. We talk through the routine, and it's time to start! Well, it all went fairly well, with the dance. A good number of people showed up, including some friends of mine (thanks, guys!) and the news. FOX got some video of us, don't know if they put it on the news or not. There's a good picture of us in the Sunday paper (in the A2 section somewhere), I'll see if I can find it and post it. It was a long dance, we had to play the fireworks, and there were a LOT of them. Very loud, and the lion, wanting to show his courageousness, has to "fight" the fireworks. I was hearing ringing for a bit after that finished. We did all that, got the offering down, and played with the crowd a bit. It was fun, and I think people thought it was cool.

After that it was demo time. I did three demos, after the kids were done. The first was with the most senior student in the kids' class. I started it and messed up. Ugh. So I started OVER, and then it was just fine. Except for the final punch, which he blocked before I threw it, so I would have hit him in the face, if I hadn't pulled all my punches. But I think it turned out okay. Then I did half of the most advanced form I know, called Gung Gee Fook Fu. It's still really long, and I kind of switched a few movements, but it turned out all right, I think. Unfortunately, I lost it on the last demo, a sparring set with Sihing Justin. Dang! It was going so well, too! We were ferocious, hitting hard, and then I missed ONE move. It falls apart, briefly, but we recovered after about four seconds and finished it. It still makes me very mad. I'll have my chance to redeem myself at the Nam Hai demo next Saturday, though, where we'll be doing basically the same demos and lion dance. If you didn't get to see the open house but can make the Nam Hai performance, come check us out!

So we finish that and we were all EXHAUSTED. Actually, Shannon (the old senior student, before he left) went and threw up after finishing the lion dance. It's really that hard to do, and he hasn't done it in a while, so he was a little out of practice, and maybe slightly out of shape. He still did a great job. So a few people went to take a brief break after that before we had to set up and do our final practice. I went and got some food (Bill and Ruth's, baby!), then came back. A lot of people were just conked out on the kwoon floor, using sparring pads as pillows. It was pretty funny. So I went and laid down for a bit, and then Sifu comes back and we started practice again.

We had to do two stacks for the TCC show, and our team was fine (me and a guy named Kaleb), but the other team (with Shannon and the other Eric from the school) didn't quite have it down. So Sifu had them do a DIFFERENT routine, where Shannon (as the head) would jump and wrap his legs around Eric's back, and Eric would grab him and spin in a circle. It looked kind of funny, but it worked. We finished our practice and then got dressed up and went off to TCC. We show up there and we start getting ready, set out the lions and everything, and we're five minutes away when the management tells us they want us to do both parts one and two of our routine in a row, with no break. So we have to figure out how to change this, last minute. We do it, and then we're about to walk out when they tell us there's ANOTHER change. Back to the original. I guess the act between our parts showed up, or something. So we go out, and get started.

The crowd is huge, there's a ton of people. I can't really see them, being INSIDE the lion, which doesn't have very much visibility. The flag people run around, and we start the wakeup process. I think some people might have been surprised (if they've never seen lion dances before), because we were inside, and it might have looked like there wasn't anyone in the lions. But there WERE people in there, oh yes. Tired people, but still people. Anyway, we wake the lions, do some waking up actions, and then do the salute. We finish that, then it's time to walk around and do the stacks. This is where things got messy.

Shannon and Eric started to do theirs, but I guess Eric wasn't completely ready and Shannon tried jumping to set theirs up. Eric ends up getting hit in the face by Shannon, Shannon never "latches" on, and they set back down. No stack, no whirl. On OUR side, we set up, and I jump. One minor detail is that right before I jump, the lion skin/cover bunches up on Kaleb's leg. The leg I'm going to jump on. He was about to move it off, but I jumped before he had the chance. So I take off, and land on the cover, which naturally, starts to slip down his leg. I do everything I can, which means continually hopping with the one leg back up as it slips. Kaleb holds me as best he can. Finally, it stops moving, although with my foot not quite as high as it should be, I stabilize as much as possible, and we hold our pose. So we did get a stack! But it was really hard, and not quite the way it should have been. Anyway, we did get a few oohs from it, and then it was on to playing with Buddha (who had knocked his knee during our demos somehow, so wasn't all there, either). We did that, saving our energy for the second part, which would be walking down into the crowd and playing with people in the audience. We finished our playtime with Buddha and each other, and then walk off. And the management tells us WE'RE DONE. Which made all of us both relieved (physically) and upset (every other -lly). We had been practicing for a while to do this, and two full practices AT TCC, and they tell us at the very last minute we're not doing it. Grrr.

Anyway, we tried not to worry about it. Headed out, went to get food nearby at a buffet place near Cinemark. We still had our clothes back on for the lions, so we got quite a few looks, but it was cool. The food was good, we talked, and relished in the fact we were DONE. For the day.

After that I took a couple of the guys back to my place, we sat at gamed a bit, just chilling out. Then passed out. I actually woke up early on Sunday (9:30), which surprised me. Just got cleaned up, got some food, then tried to finish watching Once Upon A Time in China 3 (which has a LOT of lion dancing in it, by the way). I barely made it five minutes. BAM - passed out on the sofa. I was out for a while, then woke up to go meet with an old kung fu student, named Tom.

It's exciting! Tom teaches qigong, has for a while. I'm going to start learning from him, although I can't start yet. Need to finish some more kung fu stuff first. But I went, we talked, and I got a book from him. He had some very good stories about his experiences with qigong, and I gave him a couple from kung fu that he's missed since he was gone. The book is written by his current Sifu, who's a very cool guy. I'm going to read through it and practice the first exercises. Tom told me he sees me as eventually becoming a healer, which I am quite excited about. I've thought about becoming a full medical doctor, but for me, I have some issues with the complications of how the medical field works. At least in the States. I think for me, learning the Eastern style of medicine and healing would be ideal. Perhaps someday join up with someone who's expert in the Western style, and join forces. I'm sure a lot of you are skeptical about this eastern "healing" stuff, but someday, you'll tell me about an ache you have, and maybe then you'll start believing. I've seen it done before, and it's quite cool stuff.

So there's that. And the other thing I'm doing a little differently - I've decided I'm giving up choir for Lent. I need a break, for a variety of reasons. So I won't be in the choir for forty days. If people give me the impression they miss me there, I may come back afterwards. We'll see. But it'll be a good time to just get away for a little bit, maybe go to other parishes, see how their music is there, and maybe even volunteer to help them for a weekend. It might be interesting.

Ooh! AND I had a couple of ladies over after church on Sunday. They were both feeling kind of pooty, so we had a good helping of pizza, Pepsi and the Fifth Element. Hopefully it was enough to lift everyone's spirits. I do like that movie, it's rather fun, and not too serious. Even if it IS science fiction (which, for some odd reason, some people don't want to try out).

Okay, so that's enough for a HUGE blog entry. Probably be more after the next lion dances. Speaking of, next one is this Wednesday! 6:30 PM at the Royal Dragon! Maybe you can come. The food is good, and with a lion doing things around you, it's also exciting to eat. Fun times! But now it's time for random linking. You still should check my last random link(s), but here's another one for you. Just a quick news story. Made MY eyes widen a little, maybe it will yours. Check it out!
Comments:
Amazingly enough, with the majority of that post being about kung fu, my comment is about the giving up choir for Lent... I think that's really a cool idea. =)
 
thanks again for the cheer up party last night. =) it did make me feel better....with all the yummy bruce willis-ness. hehe.

the lion dancing was amazing! maybe i can get my friend to come out with me on wednesday. =)
~!*c*!~
 
It's long, but you might enjoy this:
Chen Style Taiji
 
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20050204
 
Quickie nighttime blog
In the past I used to blog late at night, and it seems now I don't ever do it anymore. Which is too bad, because I get kinda kooky late at night sometimes. Just a quick cover over the BUSIEST DAY. Yeah, quite busy. Started early with the first lion dance. At Holland Hall, for elementary school kids. Needless to say, it was a success! The kids loved us. I made a lot of them laugh, and a few of them were a little scared. I think the people that asked us to do it were impressed, and got more than they expected. We did our thing, then the guy who runs the Wushu school in town did his demo, with two kids from his school who were about the same age as the other kids in the elementary school. They were pretty good, but I think the kids were more impressed when the instructor did HIS demos, swinging his staff about at crazy speeds. They did a very good job, though.

So we all finished, then they had a question and answer session, for each of us (our school and the Wushu school). Somewhere between a third and HALF the kids raised their hands to ask us questions. They had good questions, too! They wanted to know how the lion operated (there's movement involved in the face, although if you want to see it you should come to the open house - Saturday at 1, 27th and Memorial), how much the lion head weighed, if it was hard work, all that. When a girl asked if the head was heavy, Sifu had her come up to the front and actually hold the lion head, which I think all the kids liked a lot. And I have a feeling she might be telling HER friends about it later. It was really cool, though, the kids all seemed to enjoy it. Only a couple got shy when we got close to them, and one or two actually got scared. But all in all, our first lion dance turned out fairly well.

From there it was straight to work. Then work until about 6, from there straight to kung fu to teach OUR kids' class. And then stay to teach the adult class. I do enjoy teaching that class, though, even if it does wear me out a bit. And stay after THAT to do... what else? More lion dance practice. Of course. But it was fun! I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. It IS my first year as the lion, so it's educational. And I helped with Sifu and a couple of guys to replace the bungee cord to hold up our sign in front of the Academy. It's a good twenty feet off the ground, so that meant putting benches in the back of Sifu's truck, a pot on the benches, having one of the students stand on that pot, and then ME sit on his shoulders. I'm scared of heights, too. But the job was finished!

Anyway, MAN I'm tired. So I'm going to read a bit and go to sleep. Tomorrow's more lion dance practice (for the TCC demo) and then off to a dance! Yay! Should be fun. Saturday's the big day, though. Our open house is the huge thing, starts at 1, 27th and Memorial. A full hour of demo stuff to watch and be amazed. And then at 7, we have the Chinese-American Association New Year at TCC, 81st and 169. That one will be a ton of people doing demos, but we'll be opening it up. You should come see us!

Okay, it's late, but I'll STILL give you a random link. Actually, how about TWO? Both of these aren't really pages, they're media. The first one is sports-related. Again, I don't normally do sports-related stuff, but this case is an exception. This kid is amazing. Even if you don't know anything about soccer, you should check him out. Keep in mind, he's only 9. Look at the dates in the video, do the math, and realize how old he is in these videos. It's phenomenal. And the other random link? A very large file, but it gave me all sorts of good vibes. A rather amazing video, for completely different reasons. But I liked it a lot. And I like to spread the love. So here you go!
Comments:
w00t! Welcome back to the dark side!! (And I mean that as in nighttime...right, of course!) O:) You cannot escape them. I'm really glad the lion dance went well. I'M going to be there to see you on Saturday. I'm looking forward to it. See you then!!

-A
 
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20050202
 
Hard work is hard... work
Man, I'm hungry. Maybe it's because I've only eaten a QT Hotzi today. And some chocolate. I should probably get some FOOD. Since I have choir practice today, and should have something in my belly. Maybe Umberto's. I've heard they have good food.

Yeah, it's been a very busy week. Hard work! Monday night I did get to hang out with a friend I haven't seen in a while. Her silly boyfriend takes all her time, and he's gone for a few days, so I'm taking advantage. We watched Short Circuit! Sweet movie. Quite an old movie. Perhaps older than some of you. Which would be sad. It's got some classic moments, though. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Yesterday was the day that kicked my booty. Man! Started with work and so forth. Had to take care of a lot of stuff for work. So I was busy most of the day with that. And then it was time to go right to kung fu! To help teach kids' class. Immediately following that, teaching the adult class, which was hard work. Probably shouldn't have pushed myself QUITE so hard, because after that, it was lion dance practice! Goodness. By the end of it I couldn't move my arms fully. Ugh. I'm hoping I can do well when the time to perform finally comes.

And when is that time? Tomorrow! At 8:30 in the morning! That's not right. But it's what we're scheduled for. The first one, the test of our abilities. It'll be a short one. Then a big practice Friday night, and two big dances on Saturday. One of which is going to be our open house, at the kwoon (27th and Memorial) at 1. You should see it! It's not just lion dance, but kung fu, too! Lots of stuff to see. Then later that day, at 7, it's our full opening of the Chinese-American Association's Chinese New Year celebration at TCC Southeast. 81st and 169. Lots of stuff happening there, too, although we'll only be opening with the lion dance. Oh man, just thinking about it gets my blood pumping. It's hard! But if you can, you should try to see one or the other. It'll be a great spectacle!

After that we'll have some time off, hopefully recover a little. Then it's back to business, one at Royal Dragon on Wednesday, and one BIG one the weekend after that, on Saturday (see below, on the schedule). Perhaps one or two more, you never know for sure. I'll be in great shape by the end of it all. Honestly, I think I can see my arms and shoulders toning up more just from lion dancing. It IS that hard.

Today it's been more work, getting stuff done, which is good. But I'm sleepy, too. Need to get to bed EARLY tonight for the show in the morning. Man.

Okay, I need to eat. I'm starting to feel it, and I get CRANKY when I'm hungry. Some of you might know that already, but it's true. So I need food. Which means I'll give you a random link! To distract you as I run away. Random news link today. Sports-related, which is even more rare, from me. But I thought this one was attention-worthy.
Comments:
did you get umberto's?! i hope you enjoyed it, if you got it, b/c pizza needs to go bye-bye pretty soon. ;)
~!*court*!~
 
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as of 10/23/03

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