i work in san francisco and things are CRAZY around here on Chinese New Year. it took me forever to get into work and when i did.... that's when things really took a turn for the annoying.... and most annoying of all is my boss.
i can't mention names here cuz i do value my job somewhat... but her cultural quizzing of me has got to stop. first thing she says when i walk in the door is not 'hello'... it's "So.... year of the dragon in China, eh?... I suppose you are going to tell me that dragons actually exist" chortle chortle snort snort
and with that she waddled off to the break room to pour another cup of instant coffee with sensa and creamora... into the mug she had made with a photo of her sniveling offspring nearly strangling their family feline in some sort of ‘awwww, isn’t that cute’ bear hug.
i didn’t deign to answer her absurd querie. like most of my friends, as a girl i had a pet dragon. mine was named Buttercup and she was a cutiepie
i’m afraid this is the only baby pic of Buttercup i have left...
we lost most of our family photos when our house burned to the ground... and NO buttercup did not set the place on fire... my mom’s salon style hairdryer did when she had too many things plugged into one outlet in the bathroom... as for pics of me riding buttercup; well if you’ve ever owned an adult dragon you know that they do NOT like having their picture taken... just ask the paparazzi who have tried... the ones who have survived anyway.
i was pondering these memories while proofreading an autobiography by an ambiguous pop singer who claims to be a one hit wonder but whose only single failed to even register on billboard’s charts, when boss lady speed-shuffles over to me, beaming like she has a great joke to tell, and asks, “I was just wondering, do they have fairies in China too?.... Ohhh-ho-ho-ho... hahahahhaha” snort chortle gag choke.
oh, but isn’t she a card...... OF BLOODY COURSE they have fairies in China! in fact one of my best childhood friends was a Chinese fairy named Sooki... she was so sweet and shy and giggled all the time
this is one of the first fairy renderings ever done in china... millenia ago. it's Sooki's great-great-times-a-bajillion grand-somebody, and if you google 'Chinese Fairy' this is what comes up... pretty cool huh!
Sooki and i both got chinese dragon tattoos together when we got older... yes, it hurt, but not nearly as much as the process of having it removed when my mum found out... it took absolute TONS of fairy dust to wipe it out, as well as consumption of vast amounts of fairy cake to ease the pain.
here is a little statue my friend Stuart designed of me and Buttercup back in the day. he said it was one of a kind and mine and mine alone... then i saw him hawking cheap mass-produced copies on the home shopping network... such a sell-out
to this day, Chinese new year remains one of my favorite holidays. from the dragon riding races to the fireworks, diving for pearls with the Chinese mermaids and feasting on fine little cakes made with rice flour it always makes for a very gong xi fatt chai = 新年快樂 = happy new year
nostaligically,
e.
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