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.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 8:26 PM | 1 comments