November 6, 2010 by Adam.

Babies are good luck. Well at least my son was today.
For instance I wrote about a verbally hostile encounter with a man on the street in an earlier post. Guess what? I bumped into him again today, and this time I was wearing my son in the baby Bjorn. You know what happened? He apologized. And I apologized too because I’m sure that I could have made the issue go away faster. Obviously because now that I was wearing a child, there was no issue. My son brought peace to the street better than I could.

It seems like whenever I am with my son, nothing bad happens to me.
So I thought that I was protecting my son, but my one year old is in fact protecting me. I’ve been watching PBS and I am hearing over an over again how the Puritans might have been annihilated but the local Native Americans saw that they brought women and children with them and so took them to be not a threat. Also many tribes might have killed Lewis and Clark except that they had Sacagawea and her infant with them as well. In other words, the presence of children will sometimes increase likelihood of survival or peace rather than create more of a risk. (Of course this is not always true)

But for me it usually has been. People make way for me and even old ladies will get up and ask if I want to sit down. I usually decline these offers as a man holding or wheeling a baby is not at all the same thing as a woman who is pregnant. But people seem to equate that and think that they should be extra courteous to me even though I am young and somewhat athletic and my kid is already sitting either in a pouch or a stroller so he doesn’t need a seat.
People won’t think I look mean because they don’t even see me. They are looking at my kid.
Was I good luck to my dad as a kid?
I will tell you that in fact, I know that I was not.
Here’s how I know.
My dad passed when I was four. (Some astrologists might even say this is an example of my star overcoming his or something like that, thus really bad luck for my dad.) Anyway I have few memories of him. But those that I have are strong.
So when day, before the age of four, my dad took me into a gambling house in Chinatown (probably the one which he was partially responsible for watching. I think he took me many times but I only remember this time. They were playing a game where they throw dice into a bowl. I don’t gamble so I don’t know what the game was, by as a child I kept trying to grab the dice. Finally my dad picked up the dice and put them in my hand and I threw them out into the bowl. I was told later that these hands are called “virgin” hands and are therefore supposed to be extra lucky.
Guess what? My Virgin hands threw snake eyes. At the time I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t even know this was gambling. I just knew things were rolling around and I had to grab them. I don’t know how old I was.
I will tell you what else. My father was a Chinese Chef. No offense to my dad but he was very fresh off the boat looking. And I, his son (Yes I see the family resemblance so you can’t scare me) had blond hair and pale white skin.
I heard later that people in Chinatown would give him crap about it. And I have one memory of a drunk American of non Chinese descent giving him crap and telling me to come over to him. He was speaking English which I understood and my father did not. However, the situation was something that my father understood and calmly sat there ignoring him, but I did not, and almost ran over to the drunk not being able to discern stranger from from friend.
I have had one incident though where someone called the cops because they thought I was kidnapping my son. (He wasn’t in a Bjorn or a stroller and I look very white but my son looks very Asian. But I see family resemblance again I have no doubts.)
But my son knew immediately to keep his mouth shut once the police came. He is smarter than me already in this respect. But that was cleared up quite easily.
To most people, having a kid might mean having to get an extra job, setting aside dreams, doing without, moving down the economic ladder. But I tell you my son has caused me to be able to have more time to rediscover my childhood and my dreams that I had set aside, given me an excuse from other responsibilities that were going nowhere and moved me up the economic ladder, to the point where my address was a signal to the police that they were to let me go. I don’t have to do without for him, because he is richer than me at the moment through no merit of mine.
I am still looking for a job, but not for my child’s sake, just to pay off college loans, because my kid is basically set thanks to Gong Gong.

Sometimes I feel like it is tiresome to get all the gear ready to go out, and I did lose a hat, a spoon, and a sippy cup today, and I nearly lose my mind everyday.
But I think over all, my son is a good luck charm counteracting a lot of my bad luck.

(This was first published on

1000monkeycave.blogspot.com)

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October 10, 2010 by Adam.

Today is Double Ten, the celebration of the 1911 rebellion led by Sun Yat-Sen which overthrew the Manchurian Empire and established the Republic of China, based on Democratic principles,  allied with and heavily influenced by the United States of America. Of course the history is quite complex but this is the basic meta-narrative I learned while attending Kwong Kow Chinese School in the 1990’s. Back then the celebration began with a very large parade from Chinatown to Boston City Hall in which even the major streets were closed off.

The Kuomintang  fought a civil war with the Communists while simultaneously fighting with the occupying Japanese forces during World War II. The war with the Japanese weakened the Kuomintang enough that the Communists were able to win the war and the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan where Double Ten is still celebrated as the national holiday.

Chinese Americans from say Guangdong, are often Kuomintang supporters or perhaps some really old men used to be Kuomintang soldiers. They come to celebrate Sun Yat-Sen and the idea of Chinese Democracy. In fact when I went to Taiwan as part of the Kwong Kow Dulcimer band, we were shown a video in which Taiwan (R.O.C.) should its territory as including the mainland. Of course we knew that the mainland was under control of the Communists and was the People’s Republic of China. (P.R.O.C) Even at that time, when it was pretty obvious that the Republic of China would not be able to launch an attack (perhaps supported by U.S. troops) to retake the mainland, and that such an action would be impossible, it was nevertheless still part of the rhetoric.

A few years later (after 1997), the rhetoric in the American media became whether China would “re-take” Taiwan.

The thing is, most overseas Chinese who are from mainland China, consider Taiwan as part of China.

My in-laws many past roommates, and many Taiwanese do not agree with this.My Father in-law told me he once met a young Chinese man in an elevator who asked him where he was from.

He replied, “Taiwan.” A lot of shouting ensued and my 60 something year old father in law yelled “I’m not F-ing Chinese” When listening to this story I was very quiet. As far as I am concerned I am American of half Chinese Ethnicity. Though I think my grandfather was a Kuomintang Official in Guangzhou, so what? This is not even my argument, let alone my battle or whatever.

Anyway, past years, when Chen Shui-bian was in power (he is now locked up for corruption) there was some yelling at City Hall among old men. “Raise up the Kuomintang flag all the way!” “Beat down the Toi Yue!” This were responses to speeches by DPP representatives who believed that Taiwan is in fact separate from China.

Now I will never argue with my past roommates or my in Laws over this, and if one day my son decides to be a Taiwanese separatist in College or something, I will support him, but Chen Shui-bian’s argument for Taiwan not being part of China, is based on a treaty that essentially says that Taiwan is a territory of the United States of America.

The current President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-Jeou (who went to Harvard Law and has some other ties to Massachusetts) is part of the Kuomintang party. He says his focus is not to separate, rejoin, but to work together with the mainland to make money. That seems like a more reasonable approach from my American perspective.

The celebration today was much smaller than the old days when Taiwan would pay around $10,000 (or so I have heard) for this parade in Boston. Chen Shui-bian got rid of the payment to overseas offices to put on these celebrations. Nevertheless, the celebration was quite nice. Several lion dance troupes were there, Gung Ho, Wah Lum, Wongs Association, Shaolin Hung Gar, and us, Woo Ching White Crane. I didn’t catch the names of the dance troupes but  they did a fantastic job dancing the aboriginal dances of Taiwan.

It was a nice day and a laid back and friendly environment.

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October 10, 2010 by Adam.

Walking around with my son strapped to me can be a hassle, but I usually don’t have a problem with people. People usually smile and are quite friendly with my son. The only problem I have is with owners of large dogs perhaps. If my son is on the grass I will pick him up or if he is in a stroller I will keep my distance. Some owners of large dogs don’t like that I am implying that their dog is unfriendly and will argue with me that there dog is quite friendly and that I am being ridiculous. Also, I have heard that my face is naturally angry looking and so maybe they are offended by this too. However, I feel that I am not bothering them or their dog and I have the right and perhaps the responsibility to put distance and my body between my 1 year old and a friendly animal that has teeth and is large enough to eat my child.

Th thing is, when I walk around without my son, sometimes I get in trouble with people. Usually these people are crazy, but I know that my face and its naturally angry expression, coupled perhaps with my near sightedness which makes me squint at things I am trying to read, or people I am trying to determine if I recognize, makes people feel that it is necessary to give me trouble.

And now, the first crazy man.

I was walking to teach a Kung Fu class for children at the CCBA. I noticed a man staring at me very hard. I thought ” Do I know this man?” In fact his face did look familiar. He looked like someone who had visited the Kung Fu School before. Perhaps he recognized me too. I wasn’t sure. I will clarify right now that the man was Caucasian.

I walked up the steps and he was pushing a metal dolly on the street. He had now stopped walking and was standing there staring at me about twenty feet away or so.

I turned around and sad “Hi.” in the way I usually say hi to Chinese parents and grandparents who I think I recognize from having taught their kids. Schoolteachers are in this category as well.

“Hi nuth’n.” came the response.

“Oh I though maybe you were looking at me because you recognized me or something.” I said. I felt the tension but I made efforts to smooth it over.

” Yeah well…” the man twitched and getsured, “You were looking at me!”

“Oh I see,” I said. I wanted to just end this and go upstairs to the class I was now late for. But his anger was annoying me.

“Don’t bother me alright!” he yelled “You think you are a tough guy! You aren’t a tough guy so play tough guy somewhere else not here!. I’ve got  this right here!” he yelled and slammed the metal dolly onto the ground now.

“Oh you are right” I said, “I am not a tough guy. Do you have some sort of problem with me though?” I was calm but I won’t say my adrenaline was not pumping now. And now I will say this. Sometimes there is something bad about practicing too much Kung Fu. For instance if you practice Salsa dancing all the time, if the situation is right and a woman wants to salsa dance, it will be difficult for you to turn her down. This is okay as long as you aren’t married to someone who is jealous. The same is true of other intimate activities. Maybe the woman is married, or too young for you, but there is that temptation even if you know that you will decline.

Now if you practice Kung Fu all the time and someone is willing to fight with you, it is the same. It can be difficult to turn down, even if that person is crazy and may not be right in the head, you just see a body that is strong and possibly able to fight, perhaps that person is a martial artist. You will want to try even if you know you shouldn’t.

I thought about how he was sort of threatening me with a metal dolly, but he wasn’t attacking me. I would have to go over to him and attack him. What would people say if they saw that? I would be in the wrong. I couldn’t justify fighting him. He continued yelling at me saying “If you want to have a problem I’m standing right here!”

If he was just crazy, then this was a misunderstanding. He also had a twitch and a cross eyed look that didn’t quite look right.

I asked him, “Did somebody pay you to come after me or something?” Now perhaps I sound crazy. But he had been staring at me, and I still think this was the same person who had been in the school before. But I could be wrong.

I forget how he responded but I wanted to know what he was doing there with the dolly. I.e. did he just happen to be there or was he looking for me. In fact, he did seem to be looking for me, and his anger did seem to be  made up or at least out of place. Was this an act or was he just slightly off balance upstairs? Was I being paranoid? He sure was annoying me.

“So… what are you doing here anyway?” I asked.

“What is he doing here?” He nodded at nobody.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What is  Kong Tzu doing here?” he yelled Kong Tzu said be mindful of your words. You should be mindful of your words pal.”

I now realized he was referring to the statue of Kong Zhi (Confucious). Kong Tzu perhaps being a bastardization of Kong Zhi and either Lao Tzu (Dao te Ching author) or Sun Tzu (Art of War author) mistakes aside, he obviously new something of Chinese Culture and who the statue was supposed to be of. This makes me think even more that he had been at the school before and was someone who I recognized. The normal response to my initial “Hi.” though should have been a similar greeting if he remembered me or wasn’t here to start trouble. Anyway, somehow I went upstairs allowing him to have the last word and of course implying that I was not man enough to face him.

Part of me is still feeling as if I should have fought him, but to run across the street and attack him also seemed ridiculous, illegal, and would make me the crazier one.

I start teaching the kids class with Meditation and stretching.

Enter crazy man number two.

An old man this one was, also Caucasian.

He began by asking then demanding something in writing from  my Si Hing who was treating a patient. He was demanding something regarding his knee and then and only then would he be willing to take classes here. My Si Hing had seen him before and it was only after this old man started insulting my Si Hing and our Kung Fu based on his having been a Japanese Samurai Warrior in his last three past incarnations did I realize that he was a little off.

I got up from stretching and asked him to leave.  I told him he was not welcome in the room if he was disrespectful to our instructors.  He said he was leaving but was still standing in the door way now spewing more insults which were beginning to turn obscene and he was making threats at this point too. He was saying all sorts of things which I won’t repeat and many of which I don’t remember. But I didn’t exactly feel threatened because he was an old man. But he was becoming a hassle.

“What are you going to do?” He said  almost out the door, “Hit me?”

“No but I will call the police.”

“Oh yeah right.” he said

I moved forward and was able in a quick motion to shut the door before he could catch it.

“You @%@%#@%” he said, “I’m going to call the police!”

Guess what. I called the police. And actually I would like feed back from other people on what I should have done.

Yes I could “handle” the old man. But what are the legalities of that.

Anyway, he returned later and said, “The police are on their way. You can deal with them when they get here.”

“I know. I called them.”

“Yeah right” he said.

I had opened the door again thinking he had gone.

“Please step back so I can close the door. He did. And I closed it. So he wasn’t physically belligerent. (In the past I have dealt with a drunk who wandered into the old school and pulled out a knife. Guess what? Also an old white man.)

The police arrived and I did talk to them. I did feel silly because this old guy wasn’t a threat, but I didn’t want to put my hands on him. What if I did? I felt that the police sort of thought I should have handled it myself and the guy had left right as the police showed up. (Apparently he ranted and raved downstairs as well.) But if I handle it am I protected by law?

Anyway, at this point I realize it was a good thing I didn’t decide and escalate the first crazy guy situation until it came to blows. If I had, when the old crazy guy situation came up, I would have no credibility as a sane person.

Ever since Our school moved from Tai Tung, I haven’t had to deal with many crazy people. At Tai Tung, we were on the first floor and I slept there often with the door open because the elderly person that slept there couldn’t breath without the door open. So I would deal with anyone that came in, all night long. I realize this lack of sleep and dealing with crazy people made me harder and perhaps age faster. Dealing with these two crazy guys brought all that back.

I guess that’s why I’m writing this at midnight instead of sleeping.

Tomorrow we celebrate Double Ten at City Hall so time to sleep.

-Adam

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August 29, 2010 by Adam.

Today our family went out to Groton, MA. The reason is that someone in Gardner was selling one of those wooden play cubes, the kind with wires and beads and wheels that babies can make go around a little maze that is cut into wood. These things are pretty expensive. But this one was being sold for $15. A good deal, if you want to drive to Gardner.

As it turns out, Grace, my wife, did want to drive to Gardner and in between Gardner and Boston, is Groton.

What is so special about Groton? It just so happens this is where I went to boarding school, The Groton School.

Groton doesn’t really seem to carry a name in the circles I hang out with in Boston, but among certain crowds in New York and Hong Kong, the name carries a lot of weight. I’m sure with certain crowds in Boston too. But they would be surprised that I went there, because I am a stay at home dad, and not a successful businessman, lawyer, or well….uhh… I can change diapers real good.

But because I went to Groton, I got to meet some classmates from Hong Kong. One friend from Hong Kong I recently met up with. I had actually stayed in his house in Hong Kong for more than a month. I am so grateful that I had his experience and got to meet his close and distant relatives. It really helped me “find my Chinese side”. In fact for the past ten years. I feel like I have been finding my Chinese side. And only recently have I been focusing more on my European American Side. Which brings me back to Groton.

In all the four years I went to Groton, I walked into the town once. I noticed it was pretty classy compared to Ayer, which was where the train stop was when I came into Groton on the Fitchburg line. Now there is a big Korean Super Market at that train stop. I wish that had been there in my time. All I remember from that stop was the nice old ladies at Kelly’s that sold you the train tickets, and a Bar fight that hapened in the middle of the day. The police old guy who got knocked out from a steel toed construction boot to the Jaw from a young (may I say jacked?)man.

Old guy was known to the police. Both white, both drunk, neither one much of a fighter.

Anyway, we stopped at a couple of Farm stands around Groton and Ayer.Very beautiful and quaint. One was based on the honor system. I’ve never seen anything like that. I never knew Groton was so awesome.

Then we ate a Cafe. The food was amazing, the reuben sandwich wasn’t heavy and the kraut taste cut through meat, the squash soup was fres made with farm fresh ingredients. This cafe has parties with live Irish and other folk music where you can bring your own beer. Seems great. Were these places around when I was going to school their. How come our school didn’t have more interaction with the town. I have heard this said many times before actually, but I also never knew how an apparently awesome place Groton was. It seemed like people kind of looked down on “Townies”.

In contrast, the college I went to, Stonehill, was very involved in Brockton. Brockton has become arguably worse than Roxboury and Dorchester but us Stonehill kids were all over Brockton in various programs etc. But Groton’s “Townies” aren’t like Charlestown or South Boston kids. Groton Town has money, they have farm stands on the freak’n honor system. The most dangerous thing I heard was that there was a KKK chapter there, but this would be nothing for Old New York folk to worry about. Besides this is just a rumor.

Actually the one time I walked into town, I was with an African American girl. People were staring at her (maybe us) but the point is, we walked into town. We didn’t look down at Groton. We would take field trips there.

The “Townie”kids ended up hanging out more with the finacial aid students (like me) and the whole group of ABCD kids from the Bronx and Queens in New York. They identified more with us, than with the New york money that went to school. Well maybe I’m simplifying things in a bad light just because I didn’t have a good time. Maybe someone else would say everyone got along and partied at Groton… except Adam was a glum fellow, and there is some truth to that.

There is another prep school in the area, Lawrence Academy, that does have more interaction with the town though . In fact, that school’s students art work was hanging up in the Cafe we went to.

Nevertheless, I am grateful for my time at Groton and for the times I was hired y the school to play Chinese Dulcimer, do Chinese Lion Dance, and other performances they hired Woo Ching White Crane for. These performances were also open to the people surrounding the town. Also, I know the musical I starred in, Grease, was adverstised in the surrounding towns and many people came to see it. One of the main actresses in that play, was a day student, very talented, with an incredible natural singing voice (as it turns out also half-Chinese) I rememer her freinds in the audience screaming her name. Maybe she wouldn’t think there was really any disconnect at all. In fact the Class under ours seemed much happier.

Maybe its just my own fault I didn’t know Groton town was so awesome. I know I wouldn’t have went to a Cafe back then. I was too cheap.The women in the Cafe loved little Noah, which surprised Grace. she thought that white women wouldn’t thin that Shao Bao looks cute, because he looks so Chinese. Grace already kind of wants Noah to have a Chinese wife. Even though her husband, as far as most people are concerned, is white.

“Maybe later he will get a white woman.” said Grace regretfully.

“Just like his grandfather” I quipped smiling.

“Hey…!”

“Keeping it mixed.” I said.

Well when all that was done we headed back to Chinatown, where even though we don’t live, we basically belong. American food is good, but it’s true, I cannot survive on it for too long. I don’t know why, that’s just how it is. I pass for white but I simply am unable to fully assimilate. I’ve tried and failed.

So to my performance at Films at the gate.

After my students fire cupped my shoulder that was bothering me. we drank a looked through old pictures, and finally after they left I changed into my uniform and headed down to the Green way park by the Gate. I was invited to perform for 10 minutes or so to sort of kick start the movie.Actually my school was invited, butif I ask all the kids to come, I have to feed them, and feeding them costs a couple hundred dollars at least. This gig was for the community and so there was no money to earn. But as it turns out I got a free meal anyway, this is Fate.

After my performance, (I did a freestyle Drunken form followed by having a bunch of kids from the audience follow along for a form) people started asking questions about the school, prices, and why my Chinese was so good. One little girl told me to stop talking to her mother and get a drinking of water because I was out of breath and still sweating from the performance.

Then another voice came, “Sow mm sow ngau ahh!” or “Will you take me as a student?”

I guess I should call her Auntie. She was a close friend of both my parents.

Her daughter Tracy was there along with a cousin Jason who was visiting from California. They had just came back from New York when they heard my Kung Fu Sales pitch on the street. (Did I change names to protect privacy? How many Chinese Tracys and Jasons do you know that are from New York and Cali. Too many!)

Auntie invited me to go eat something. That was my free meal. Jason and Tracy were very interested in the movie that was no starting. Children of Invention. I am also interested. I am sorry I didn’t watch it. But it has been years since I saw Auntie. and Jason’s father as it turns out was also close to my father and had stayed with us. Movie or Family. Family.

Dinner discussion was one discussion in English with my age group and another discussion in Chinese with Auntie.

Discussion about my family life, taking care of a child, how I do that, how I don’t work, etc. Well lets just say Auntie says what she thinks, and sometimes maybe a young daughter is embarrassed  by words that could be considered insulting to me. But I am not insulted. Because I have known Auntie for a long time and she has done a lot for me. In fact, she was paying for this meal, even though the money she earns is through some factory job that is hard work, real hard work that I have never even done before, not for a week. I worked very hard once, for a couple of days during New Years at a Chinese restaurant when I was still at Groton. In a way it was fun. But I was young and it was two days. I know my life is easy. I am not insulted by what Auntie or many other women who are close to me have to say.

But when an old Chinese I don’t know starts saying things, honestly, I let her have it. I swear at her in English. I don’t care. I’m not a nice person at all. But I respect Auntie and other people like her. She has done a lot for me and what have I done for her or her children? I have tried to get Tracy a good job, but so far, I have done almost nothing for them, basically. Why does auntie and her husband do so much for me? Because my father and mother did a lot for them. This is very Chinese. Of course I am expected and I myself hope to do a lot for their children, but it just hasn’t happened.

“How come you always meet Tracy randomly?” said Auntie ,”This is fate that you always bump into each other when you perform Kung Fu.”

It’s true we all mulled, I have bumped into her on many lion dances, once even at her job. It was fate, wun hei, cloud air? It’s funny.

Conversation then turned to Kung Fu, and Bruce Lee the latest movies, moves, practice. I can talk about that for hours. And I know what I am talking about.

Ohh.. the funny thing is that when I came into the restaurant,  I was still wearing my Kung Fu uniform. I went to the bathroom to change but I was still sweating so much from the performance. I felt like I would get sick from “Feng” from the Air conditioning.

The whole time I sat and ate, sweat  poured down and settled on the part that was sitting. So when I stood up, my but was all wet. Perhaps it looked like I had peed myself. I saw the waiters giving me a funny look. I mentioned this to my friends, “Before maybe i would be embarrassed by this but actually I don’t care at all.”

Why is this? Because my son sometimes really does pee or poo or spit up on me. If I had a job, and my job was to wash my boss’s ass, sometimes with my hand, actually wash the feces from in between the cracks, how much do you think someone would need to get paid to do this? Before I would say, there is nothing that could make me do that, no amount of money, or it would have to be a large amount of money. And every day? How long would I last at this job. But for my son I gladly do this for free. Having kids is funny that way.

So anyway, we get outside and  I start talking to Jason about three moves I will show him.

These moves are famous in Taishan. They are called Chuen Pow Cup. They are famous because these three moves beat the hell out of all other types of Kung Fu in the area. Another Master in Chinatown once asked me if I knew the secret to White Crane, and then said these three moves while providing movements for them that were actually sort of a Choy Lei Fut equivalent, though they wouldn’t be so named in Choy lei fut either.I laughed because these moves are actually our basics. But is true that thy are quite powerful.

My Sifu once taught someone who taught someone else, who taught someone else, etc. these three moves. This was in China, in Guangzhou. Well tat students, students, students, student was, well…. a bandit of sorts. Back then the police didn’t have guns. They learned Moh Ging, which at that point consisted of Wing Chun and other grappling  Chin-na types moves to arrest people.

To think of them trying to do that to someone doing white crane is funny. That guy, who Sifu did not even know, fought twenty or so police men and was beating the hell out of them until slowly, slowly, they managed to subdue him. Sifu got in trouble for this, but also got a job teaching the police Kung Fu. Did they pay him? Actually I’m not sure about that. But its good to have police who are your students, even if your heart doesn’t agree with the Party in power. Not really like there is a choice in the matter anyway. After that Sifu wasn’t allowed to teach in Guangzhou, so went went back to the village, where people sought him out.

So here I was teaching Jason these same moves on the street in Chinatown. I don’t care that people are looking. Kung Fu is not as easy to steal as you think. It’s not even easy to learn, and besides, guns, bombs. poison, arson, and pollution are the modern dangers to society. If Berie Madoff knew kung fu, would he have done more damage? No he probably would have done less because he would have a different world view.

“You are teaching on the street!” said Auntie.

Yes I did. And people were staring at us. I don’t care. I think Tracy got a picture. e-mail it and I will post it up with this article. Maybe Jason will practice and become a master in his own way. That would be fate that he happened to be there when i was performing at the Films at the Gate. Its interesting where fate bring you and why. I thought Groton would bring away from Boston or at least to a lot of money. But I am even luckier taking care of my son than I would be working a difficult job I don’t like, even if it paid well. Fate is funny.

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August 16, 2010 by Adam.

This past weekend was the August Moon festival in Chinatown. The assumption is that it is called August Moon based on the chinese holiday (Jung chow jeet) and that it on the western calendar date of August 15th for…..convenience?

Ironically we actually celebrated the July holiday this weekend as the Chinese Holidays go by a Lunar calendar. (The July holiday is the Chinese Halloweeen. I would assume August/Harvest Moon/ Jung chow jeet is a month away.)

So I ‘ve begun to wonder…. if the Dragon boat festival can be on a sunday that is pretty close to the actual holiday… why not the August Moon festival? Why don’t we have a Moon Lady at the August Moon festival?

I understand that its good to have a summer festival in Chinatown. And we should keep it, but why not celebrate the traditional holidays close to the actual dates? Chinese New Year is done this way… and so is the Dragon Boat festival.  Well…. moving on

Our Kung Fu School, Woo Ching White Crane performed midday at this festival because we had a wedding performance later that day. We also had a wedding performance the day before… but more on those later.

For the festival we were going to just throw something together, but Sifu suggested that since it has been a few years since we’ve done stilts or done a fighting form that we should do them this year. we insisted we didn’t have enough people, would be to tired, etc. but in the end saw that Sifu was right. (he is always right)

We can do this stuff, why not just do it.

I actully did choy chiang on stlits, but we did not parade aroundas we did in the old days, due to convenience, politics, and lacking the manpower to stop someone from trying to intentionally knock me off the stilts.

As it turns out, many of the Kwong Kow kids I tech were there. Suddenly their sometimes mean kung fu teacher was someone they wanted to wave to and even admit to knowing.

Next came Kung Fu. I heard our kids did great and I also saw our friend  Moi Sifu, perform looking more bad-ass than the last performance. Why? The stage was larger and the weather was cool, as opposed to an oppressive heat.

I heard from Grace, who was holding our child and taking pictures that My fighting form looked pretty good. I also heard that the Old ladies near Si Mo were gasping with fear that my blade was so close to cutting my partners head of each time.This was probably the smoothest performance of the form we have done yet.

I also enjoyed watching the audience (especially the old men) during My Si Hing’s Kwan Gung vs. Choy Yerng form. I could see at the part where he does the motions of putting the five beards back in place that the men would turn to each other saying “I told you so… I knew it was Kwan Gung” Th young people just see it as a cool big knife probably.

To end  Ika  Hsiao performed yo-yo. This time the gusts of wind mad it difficult to maintain spin, but Ika’s Performace hi time was stillbetter than last. She moved aroundthe stage more and added new tricks, jumping rope up to three times with the string while the yo-yo was in the air, and then catching it. I could hear the crowd cheering over my drumming. So we brought out many types of things this year for traditionalists, kids, and danger lovers.

Now for the weddings. I have to mention one first that might actually start a trend. The Bride and Groom requested that they do the lion dance as they come in as a surprise.  Then they would come out of the heads and we switchedwith them and that’s how they presented themselves. Never heard of it being done and it must have been pretty cool. Too bad I couldn’t see the audience’s face because I was in the tail.

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