Chinese New Year

I spent most of the Chinese New Year holiday just relaxing and hanging out in my apartment. The weather was cold and rainy, so I didn't feel like going out much. I did go out a little though.

On New Year's eve I went out to eat, and the restaurant decided to have a dumpling making contest. A group of people from England asked me to join their team, and I accepted. We didn't win the dumpling making contest, but it was a lot of fun.

On New Year's day my driver and his daughters came by to visit. I knew they wanted to take me someplace, but when they showed up I was surprised they wanted to visit my home. Good thing it was not too much of a mess. They brought me some apples, oranges, and tangerines. They were expecting me to cook them breakfast, but I explained that I usually don't eat breakfast. I gave the girls some Pop Tarts. They really liked those.

After that we drove over to the River Viewing Pavilion Park, which is across the river from where I live. The park was built in memory of Xue Tao, a female Tang dynasty poet.


My driver and his daughters

The park was very pretty and since it was a holiday there were not many people here.


Part of the River Viewing Pavilion Park


A nice gazebo among the trees


A workshop to make brocade


Not sure who this was, but people knelt on the little rug and bowed to him


A stone carving


A workshop to make paper


Statue of Xue Tao


Statue inside the bamboo area of the park


Goldfish pond outside the bamboo workshop

I really liked this park and want to come back when it's warmer outside, and not raining. Luckily it is close enough to my apartment that I can walk over.

After visiting the park we went to have lunch at Peter's Tex-Mex. Believe it or not, this was not my choice... I was in the mood for some Sichuan food. Anyways, we went to Peter's and had a good lunch. I taught my friends how to eat with a knife and fork, and they got to try some good food. The Sonora style steak my driver had looked really good... I'll have to try that myself sometime. I went with the burritos and the girls had tacos and chicken fingers.

After lunch I went home and did some laundry. The rest of the week was spent playing computer games, eating, and watching movies. One night I did go out to eat at the Shamrock Pub and ran into a group of people from France who were staying up late to watch the French rugby team play the Irish rugby team. I decided to join them and root for Ireland. That was a lot of fun! France won, by the way.

I recreated my Jinxerbell character in Everquest II, and made it into a female Coercer. A male Jinxerbell was just too... gay. I got the new Jinxerbell up to level 30. Playing a coercer is the most difficult character type I have ever played, but I have started getting really good at it. Here is Jinxerbell in her formal dress clothes...


Jinxerbell the Coercer in Neriak

I also watched a bunch of movies... A few old movies, like the Flying Tigers, etc... The new Rambo movie, which was good. I watched some Chinese movie on TV that was very funny. I do not know the name of it, but will try to find it on DVD. I am not even sure how to describe it really... martial arts kid comes to America. I also watched a movie called All Babes Want to Kill Me which was kind of funny, but pretty stupid.

Today I am back at work. I need to get my work visa renewed. It's a pain in the butt process, and I'll write about that in another post maybe.