New Year's Eve

Well maybe we should have done our Tuen leen fahn on the weekend after all. Due to the state of the T Grace has been coming home rather late. I encourage her to just stay out and make the best of the situation. Enjoy yourself, etc.
Tomorrow me and the boys will go and do our lion dance for a few houses. Our house, a neighbor, and a friend. I'm going to use the cardboard head that I painted instead of the more "authentic" looking one because I don't want that one to get wet from the snow. The drum is going to be one of the toy drums and toy cymbals and gongs (though I may not have anyone to actually play those.

But it's mainly the idea. Basically it's all I got in terms of some sort of ritual or celebration. So I might as well do it.

I'm actually more nervous about this little adventure than the actual parade in Chinatown. I mean, I don't know if I will actually succeed, or if someone will call the police on me. That's another reason why even though it is kind of lame that I have a toy drum, it is also sort of safer.

But one day I hope to do this thing on my block with the real heads and a real drum. It can be a small drum, but you know, bam, a real drum. I actually have a real head so that isn't really the issue is it? But a real head and a fake drum.. that just won't match, so might as well have a fake head too.

Wong Fei Hung Marathon

I thought Noah and I might watch all the Once Upon a time in China movies this week. But it turns out Noah just wants to watch the lion dance fights. I used to wish that these movies were more realistic. But now I realize that Wong Fei Hung happened to exist, but the movies have made him into a Paul Bunyan Cultural hero where you can use the events to preach certain ideas. Mainly the movies from the 90's with Jet Li are Hong Kong ideals that Chinese People should be modern, support foreign investment, continue to hold on to their traditions but not superstitions, make the country strong, and be Christian. This last one is easier to see when you look at actual history versus the movies.

Most of the frothing at the mouth bad guys in the movies are Buddhist. But the biggest frothing at the mouth rebellion at real Wong Fei Hung's time was the Tai Ping. Supposedly he was a medic for the black flag militia which fought some battles for them too.

But in the movies, Wong Fei Hung is like an invincible god who preaches and hits people with crosses or cross like objects.

The world he is in is so far away from the modern world that it' more like a fairy land or Camelot even though it's not actually that ong ago. That's because there was so much change from his time to 1990's Hong Kong.

Now it seems like 1990's Hong Kong is a world away from today's Hong Kong and China. But this fantasy world Wong Fei Hung is in that never happened willed with lion heads... well that's not that different from Noah's house.

A really good shovel.

My Block is my village, my household my little patch of land I govern with my shovel.
My shovel, my spear, my weapon. Honestly I've never felt more in control of something. At least I have something to do. I can shovel. Even when it looks impossible, because the snow is light I know I can have a path cleared  within minutes. My overzealous helpfulness is sometimes met with suspicion and out right rejection. Whatever. The sidewalks are clear. I take out my frustrations on the snow that must be cleared. And then, after coming to terms with that rejection, I just started digging tunnels and building forts. Perhaps my body has just gotten used to shoveling and now I can't stop. I have developed techniques where I can thrust snow high and farther than I ever could have last year while simultaneously switching the shovel from a left handed grip to a right handed grip or vice versa mid air.  It would have been much cheaper if I had taken up this activity instead of Kung Fu as my hobby. Like that guy Seamus Heaney wrote a poem about. At the very least, my hobby would have actually made me some money instead of costing me money.

I love this weather. I love working up a sweat. Let's all by live in yerts and bow snowshoes. Let's start knapping beer bottle bottom shards to sticks and hunt rats. I don't care, just show me how.

I feel like I can do anything.

Maybe I'm insane.

Maybe I just have a really good shovel.

Video of Noah's Performance

This captures Jonah taking the orange from the dish. I think I should put in here that Noah had already eaten the "orange" and that someone had put it back into the dish. So actually Jonah was correct in taking the orange away at this point.

Chicken Sacrifice and a holiday visitor

Yesterday I was in Line to get fried chicken wings at Chinatown Cafe. Chicken wings and a rose. That was Grace's wish. You may say that is not very romantic. But what you want is better than something expensive that you don't want.

Anyway, everyone in line was buying whole chickens and the words "bai sun" which means bowing to the gods was thrown around. Basically the chicken would be a sacrifice, and then it would be eaten by the family directly afterward. Chinese are very practical.

But what Holiday was it? Chinese New year is next Thursday. The only thing I could get from Facebook (and not asking anyone in line because I didn't put this all together until I was walking home) was that people were probably just doing the Chinese New year's dinner now since they wouldn't have time later.

Hey Jews don't change their holiday dinners to fit in with the work schedule do they? Maybe Chinese are too practical. Actually what would really be practical would be a Chinese Holiday App. I know there is actually some sot of Holiday every month. And most of it just means you eat.

But I wasn't sure if this was  some other pre-new year holiday I was supposed to do sacrifice a chicken or if everyone was just doing stuff early despite having to wait in the snow. Not that I have an altar in the house.

This morning I woke up to see a child standing up on our bed. I thought it was Noah, but things were out of focus. I moved my foot to gently kick where Noah's legs would be. But they weren't there. I had a moment of panic as I put my hand down and felt Noah's body. The other child, which looked a lot like Noah was looking at Noah. I wanted to go back to sleep but I was sort of afraid for Noah somehow. The part where the child's head was shifted and then faded away until it was actually jut the light on the ceiling.

This reminded me of a time when I was a child and I woke up to see a bunch of Chinese kids sitting on my bed eating rice happily until they faded away before my eyes. They weren't trying to hurt me, but it still freaked me out.

This little visit from doppleganger imaginary Noah made me wonder if I had somehow missed an important holiday and some child ancestor was looking for the chicken he was supposed to get.

But hey we can just get a chicken on Wednesday right? Or maybe today we'll set up a little pretend altar and do a pretend chicken just to ease my mind and give the kids something to do.

Noah Performs for his Class

Today Noah's class did a common Valentines and Chinese New Year's and Tet celebration. Another family did some explanation of Tet and Chinese New Year and Lai Si (every kid got one with a dollar) and then explained the traditional Ao dai (pronounced Ao yai)
Then I did the Lion Dance story and Noah performed his little dance. Jonah did not hold the tail, instead Noah's friend did. The only thing I didn't like about it was the drum I played did seem loud enough. It was loud enough at home but failed to fill the space of the classroom. It was just so exciting to see my son perform and to drum for him. But I need to get a real drum or at least a louder drum.

I didn't get video but hopefully the teacher got some pictures and hopefully the other family too.

I was going to bring the Big Lion head but then realized now that Noah can actually do a real lion dance, who needs me to do it? I mean maybe the bigger head would have been a little more exciting but it might have also been scary.

The next thing up for Noah in terms of performing is our little parade we will do on our block. Maybe Jonah will start practicing so that he can participate now that he saw that it can result in a performance.

Jonah was pretty excited about being in school. I think he will do well next year.

Yoga Fu

I was working on this idea for a while. The name Yga Fu, seems to simple and silly, but Grace started calling it that and I haven't thought up a better one. Basically it is Kung Fu adapted to a map, and instead of doing a form, you try to fit in all the stretchy stuff even if it doesn't make martial sense.
It started off with two separate manuals. There was one that was Tibetan Yoga Kung Fu, that might have a pirate theme, and the other one was lion dance themed. I stopped working on it because the pictures were harder to do than I thought, and I realized that the origin story would have to come out of theis other novel I was working on Aravel, which is like Lord of the Rings meets Lion Dance. So I've been working on THAT book only. But I have been practicing my Yoga Fu to develop it further and to master it.

The basic thing it started from was this.

A Kung Fued up Sun Salutation. Like a Sun Salutation but with Gung and the Warrior one stuff done just like how it's done in Tian Gong Kuen.

Then 100 Chuen kuens or straight punches.

Sun Salutation, 100 Pows, Sun salutation, 100 cups, Sun Salutation 100 been ngaus (back fists and hooks), Sun Salutation, Punches with leg lifts, Sun Salutation 100 Walking punches backward and forward staying within the confines of the mat.

That worked with Noah a few times but then he got bored. Actually looking at it now, it looks like a lot. Even in it's basic form. But say, if you ever studied Woo Ching White Crane at our school even for a summer, you could look up Sun Salutation and some version of this. Actually I guess you would still need some instruction in the variation of Sun Salutation.

Dam it that was the simple version? Well I've made it even more complicated since then adding in strikes to the Sun Sequence. And then there is also a moon sequence which incorporates back bends. It still simple though because anyone can do these moves or some variation of them.

Then I went ahead and added my 10 animals from wheels on the bus, but made it more free style. Basically it's become something great for me, but I'm not sure it would be easy to follow anymore. Someone certainly couldn't see it once and then memorize it and work on it at home. It's not like the 5 Tibetan rites. Which is sort of what I was aiming at in terms of simplicity.