August Moon

6:00am
"Ahhh! August Moon time!" cried Noah, who was but a distant voice in the back of my dream. I opened my eyes. "Uhnnggg" which means it is not yet time for August Moon we have a few more hours Noah. But when it came out of my mouth that's all I could manage.

Jonah and Grace woke up much later and despite Noah's enthusiasm I didn't want to go into Chinatown for the whole day because I knew that Jonah would crash and Noah would just become a crazy person when he got too tired.

We did get to Chinatown after a lunch at home and Noah played chinese chess and then we got him dressed and for the bowing to the ancestors in Moh Goon Jonah actually ran into the tail and participated as the middle of the lion (I was the butt) Screaming in delight, Jonah had his August Moon memory.

We then prepared to perform. Noah got to do lion head and then also did his Sup Ji and Staff and instead of sword we brought our own stick we use as a sword which is more of a club or a pang. It is a branch which we painted, crayoned and glitter glued. But it still looks like a branch.

Noah wouldn't actually do Sup Ji by himself so I started with him (after having just done my form.) But I left him after the opening and he continued without realizing I had left. After that he was okay. He got some pictures in the Herald.

The other picture of our team makes it look like the lion head suddenly came a live and was flying away as it bade it's dancers goodbye. It's a really cool picture and looks like something out of the pages of the Monkey King comic books I read Noah.

We ran into many friends on the street on the way back to Moh Goon while belting out Nam Yi dong ji kerng.

Then we did another performance for the Federation. Usually this is done another teams too but yesterday because of the scheduling it was just us again, so we ended up doing the same thing, which was fine for me because I felt like Noah got double experience.  I did some different forms than I did the first time and I was glad that I had the chance to do so many forms.

A lot of the schools are really getting better in terms of presentation and numbers of students. They have a lot of contraptions for the lions to go on that are pretty cool. Grace mentioned that the school before us had a really loud drum. It was so loud people were covering their ears. But Dai Dai just passed out in Grace's arms at this point. I think when you are used to the drum, it has a calming effect on you and you can fall asleep more easily.
I guess if we had a lot of people, or if our family had a bunch of people and money, we would start buying more equipment and stuff too. But right now I am actually downsizing mentally on equipment. I mean, I like that Noah used a tree branch for his form, and for my stick form I picked the most tree branch- like stick that Moh Goon had. Next year I think Noah and I will spar on stage with our sticks. Not a set form, but just how we play in the park, and I think I will use tree branches too.

But when I am a grandfather and if the kids make a lot of money and we attract more students, maybe we will build more contraptions for the heads to play at, and maybe buy bigger drums.. or make them.. and buy more heads... or make them. But that is something for the future. Right now we are a small family that belongs to a small Moh Goon so I will focus on skill and the Kung Fu itself.