I'm getting pretty old...fast. Heh, none of us can stop the inevitable tide of time tromping its way through our bodies and souls, quickly making every little ache and pain that used to go away so effortlessly without thought now linger on and on and on, day after day after day...creaking, aching, stiff and sore muscles that will.not.let.up.and.now.turn.ing.in.to.a.mi.graine...throbbing, pounding, making you want to stick a big ol' sharpened pencil into your temple and swirl it around, just to make it stop.STOP.STOP!

*Whew*...ok, that was a little weird.

Forgive me if I sounded a little bit crazy there for a second. You see, it's wedding season...yup that period of months between May and October that men and women all over the world find joy in standing up in front of their friends and families, making promises that they may (or may not) keep and then griping over how much their Aunt Sophie is knocking back whiskey sours at the free open bar or how their mom's second cousin's son is complaining about their table being waaaaay back in the corner when they think they should be right at the edge of the dance floor.  Ahhhhhhhhh...gotta love wedding season.

Do I sound a little grumpy right now?  A little jaded...cranky?  Ah, I'm an old curmudgeon now.  Excuse me for a second while I go yell at some young whipper-snappers to get off my lawn.  

Ok, now I'm back.  I only sound grumpy because you would too if you had to spend your Saturday nights performing lion dancing for the proliferation of Chinese weddings that require the services of aforementioned harbingers of prosperity and good luck...ahem, which would be US!

Of course, I don't mind so much.  It's not like I got much going on Saturday nights anyway.  I'm an old married curmudgeon.  I don't go out...very much.  Anywho, enough about my pathetic existence.  Lion dancing for weddings aren't all that bad.  Sometimes they're held right in Chinatown in the private banquet rooms of one of the bigger restaurants.  So, it's easy enough to walk over to the venue with our stuff, do the deed and then head back to the school.  Done in 30 minutes, easy, peasy, Japanesey.

However, other times, you gotta squeeze the lions, the instruments, all the other equipment, all the players into cars and then caravan all the way across town to get to the facility.  Then, comes the inevitable wait...as you know, nothing ever starts on time, and wedding receptions especially.  For sure, if they say be there at 7:00, it'll be a good 45 minutes of hanging around before the lion dancing even starts.  Sometimes for these wedding receptions, the bride and groom are kind and generous and will have snacks and bottled water waiting for us after we perform.  We *always* appreciate that!  Other families don't even offer us tap water, even after performing so hard for them.  Ah well...you get what you get *sigh*.

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