What's Making Me Happy!

It was a fun weekend in the pond.  The opening ceremony (Mouth Stuffing Ceremony) went well.  Instead of sitting at the back of the boat, a sat just in front of the drum (which isn't too far from the gong).  Happily, I rememebered to bring ear plugs.

Later, we did the usual 5:30 practice session.  I took my usual seat on the back row.  My arms were tired by the end.

Most dragon boats have a pair of whiskers.  Each is actually a spring with a ball at the end.  At one point when we were turning around, I saw some people ahead of be trying to capture an escaped ball from another boat.  I had just enough warning to set my paddle aside and lean ove with both hands and catch it like I was scooping up a grounder.  I never though Little League Baseball taught me anything useful, but under the circumstances, this was the perfect way to make a successful catch.

Based on the size, this one was from a long boat, so I started observing the other long boats and spotted one that was missing the whisker ball.  It was from the far end of the pond, and we didn't get close enough for me to get their attention and toss it over.

Sunday morning, my wife and I carried it back.  I'm sure there are spares, but when we got to the far end, the dragon was missing the whisker ball.  We managed to locate the guy in charged of that sector.  He kept us for tea and chatting.  I decided to test my luck and mentioned that I'd never had dinner in any of the other sector's halls and asked if I could attend on Monday.  He agreed, but asked me to also show up on Tuesday evening when some other village officials would also be there.  I agreed.  As I was leaving, he surprised me by giving me one of his sector's uniforms.  I'll wear it during practice on Tuesday (which should generate some questions from my fellow crew members), since there's no time to change between the end of practice and the beginning of dinner.

Wow!  Those questions from my fellow crew members are going to be bigger.  I've been asked to wear the uniform today - in the other sector's boat.

If we get too close to any of my sector's boats, I'm going to be splashed to death. 

Happily, death by splashing was avoided, but I'm spending a second day in the other sector's boat today.

My sector's dude was informed that I'd be in a boat from another sector, but the crew wasn't. Someone shared a WeChat video taken from one of the bridges yesterday that showed my sector's boats.  My seat was empty.  I guess they saved it while thinking I was running late.

And another sector reserved me for Thursday while I was heading towards the far end of the pond. 

Sadly, something went wrong exiting the boat.  I had to step over to another boat to get to shore and slipped.  My left foot came down hard.  It hurt on impact, but felt more like a stinging sensation than a break.  Everthing was fine during dinner and walking home.

Three hours after the incident, it started hurting, a lot. I'm about to head over to the hospital to get it looked at.  I've got a bad feeling that I'm done paddling this year.

Doc at hospital told me to get a CT scan and come back to see her about an hour afterwards.  First CT scan appointment was 1.  Ended up getting scanned at 1:30.  Guy in CT department told me the data would be available at the machines in the nursing station at 5 pm. 

The doc got access to the scans at about 2:45.  She said it was fatal just a soft tissue strain.

The pain had reduced some, so cane in hand, I made it to the pond.  I decided to sit on the drum deck and take photos and videos (and not to even try to stand up while doing so).

My 3rd uniform was delivered to my sector's dining hall.  I think I won't exactly help that sector's boat go a lot faster today, but I should be able to paddle some.  This will also give me a chance to take photos in their dining hall.

Paddling and dinner with the third sector went well (I just had to slowly limp without a cane).

By Friday, I was able to walk with only a small limp.  We had the Rewarding the Boats parade in the morning.  This involves sending all the boats around the pond and stopping to pick up drinks, snacks, and even cigarettes.  I think of it as sort of being like Halloween for Dragons.

Saturday was race day.  It was not actually an official race with judges, but the general rules were followed anyway, including all boats making the same number of runs in each of the three lanes.  This is done because the pond is curved and giving each boat the same number of runs in each lane saves the complications of offsetting either the start or finish lines.

Those of us not on the race teams got our usual front row seats in the non-racing boats near the finish line.

Sounds great! Hope your foot is continuing to improve!

It still gets a little sore if I walk too much (or drag luggage through airports - I'm visiting my mother in the USA right now), but I think I'll be back to 100% in another week or two.

Mom visited.  Live reenactment of Escape From LA successfully completed.  Three days relaxing in HK with my wife completed.

Now I need to plan my delayed vacation in Hunan.

 

   

Congratulations!!

At freaking last!  My vacation in Feng Huang that has been subject to infinite delays is finally scheduled.  I leave in 8 days.

And, it's a one-way trip.  Last time, I get a good point while writing, so extended it a few days.  I'm planning on 10-12 days, but am packing for 3 weeks.

I'm also planning to try a different hotel.  I love the view from my usual, one, but I'm hoping the new one is a bit quieter.

Tomorrow tomorrow!
I go to Fenghuang tomorrow!
It's only a day awaaaaayyyy!!!

 

Got back last week.  20 days in the lovely town of Fenghuang.

Had a great opening night.  Some girl I didn't know approached me on the street.  She had a pic of me with one of my sponsored students in her phone.  It turns out that she's also sponsored and my student is one of her best friends.

Lots of fun (and food - Confucious Temple Snack Street was open for breakfast and dinner), but it was VERY hot.  Happily, there was a little noodle shop next to Phoenix Square that was open all day since snack street and a number of small food shops were closed at lunch due to the heat.

On a previous trip, I made friends with one of the Miao performers at the Phoenix Eye Maglev Station.  Annual passes for the maglev aren't available all the time, but he managed to arrange for me to be able to buy one.  Due to the heat, I spend some of my book writing and poetry composition time on the well-air conditioned maglev trains.  I also got some good stuff written on the main deck of the Phoenix Eye station.

I met a pack of Art Institute students who were sketching by the river.  I was going to add one or two of them to my WeChat, but one reached over and tapped the correct sequence on my tablet to show my personal QR code, so I got 14 of them.     I finally set them up as a group (in which 5 more were added) so I could answer a lot of questions once instead of 14 separate times.  They are great fun.  It's sort of like having my own fan club.

I look forward to going back in the fall when it's a bit cooler.