On This Last Day of 2008

I began this entry yesterday but didn't finish it.  So here I am in 2009.  Another year...what else can I say...Happy Happy Happy!  Everybody Happy!

 
This is how I have been surviving the winters for the last three years.  My day light lightbox to fight SAD.  I have been sitting in front of that thing for about twenty minutes everyday and I'm doing fine.

On the winter solstice ( Dong Zhi), I had my traditional rice dumplings ( tang yuan).  These dumplings are made with sweet rice flour, so it's super high in carbs.   I think during the cold winter months, people crave for more carbohydrates in order to warm up the body.

That night, next door's sewage backed up again.  An occasional occurance for the past fifteen years.  When the sewage bags up, raw sewage is spilt onto our side.  There is contagious raw sewage all over the place! 

I notified the Department of Building Inspection and the Health Department to put pressure on the the building owner to really correct this problem so that it will not happen again.  They root the pipe but it's only a band aid solution.  The real problem is with their sewage line.  I've been trying to tell them that, but they just ignore me.  I  hope this notice from the Department of Building Inspection will get them to really address the problem...it's been shitty!

My additonal greeting cards debut at the Silver Bells Faire.  I sold over thirty of them.

I now have three stores selling the greeting cards for me.  Brand Fury, Chinese Culture Center Gallery Shop, NJAHS and I am working on East Wind Bookstore.  They've been selling them for $3 to $3.50 each.

Well....Christmas came and went.  Since I don't get into Christmas, we didn't do anything special except cook this free turkey my mother-in-law got from some free food giveaway. I took a walk to Chinatown and had a dim sum lunch at Dol Ho.  I love Christmas in Chinatown because it's like Christmas does not exist.   I live seven blocks from the main drag of C-Town.  It's a nice downhill walk.  A lot of Jews come to hang out in Chinatown on Christmas day too. When I was a kid, I thought there was a real Santa Claus like most kids.  We heard the typical stories of Santa living in the North Pole and bringing presents to kids.  How he came into your house by way of the chimney.

We lived in Chinatown and no one had fireplaces and chimneys.  So I thought Santa Claus just don't do Chinatown because of that.  He only went out to the Leave it to Beaver houses with fireplaces.  It was because we were Chinese.

There were the fake Santa's at the department stores.  Every year we got a photo of us with Santa Claus at the roof of the old Emporium on Market Street when I was a kid.  It was thee thing to do in those days.  The roof of the Emporium had actual carnival rides like a ferris wheel, mini roller coaster, octopus, etc.  It's amazing how they got all that stuff up there every year.  There was a small ice skate rink where there was an ice show.   There was waiting in the long line waiting to see Santa.  Just thinking over and over again what to tell Santa what we wanted.  Of course we never got what we asked for.    Now what would I ask Santa for today....

Hey...isn't Christmas a celebration of the birth of Jesus?  Happy birthday Jesus!  Looks like the jolly fat guy stole the show here. 

It's either Jesus or Santa.  Neither for me.  I guess that makes me agnostic.  I pray for all the suffering souls whenever I drive or walk by On Lok Senior Center where my dear mother spent her last days.