Dancing at the Crossroads

I can make up so many jokes with that CD title from my favorite Celtic group. See, I have a favorite American folk music group, my favorite Balkan group, and my favorite Celtic group. If you aren't srict about initials it's A-B-C. If you are it's A-D-B-C. Whatever. Anyways, I made up a joke about finding people from the band dancing at the crossroads in a non-serious story* and telling the main character all sorts of dumb puns on their CD titles as they give her directions. This, unlike many of the strange people that wind up in non-serious stories, had no basis in reality--I have never met anyone in the band, unlike the other two. In all, by the way, I've met three people between the two but even that gives you a little more to work with. I haven't even seen this group live.

But I was just thinking about CD titles and how nice they would be as book titles (I always do) and I realized that there's another joke about "dancing at the crossroads"--my favorite Balkan group is impossible to sit still to, and the first time I saw them was at Crossroads mall in Bellevue (And I wasn't dancing, per se, but my feet were, and that sort of counts).

Yesterday, in desperation, Kiana and I got together to paint, though our teacher is all of a sudden a bit too busy every time a lesson comes up. Now, it could be that she all of a sudden had a work overload, or she could be putting us off. I suspect the latter, but mostly because Mum does so, too, and she's the best source of Chinese culture in my family. Of course, a Chinese person who was western enough not to mince words would be invaluable, but since you have to find a person, then become really close friends with them, and then take care of the rest, I'll stick to my mom, or another foreigner who's been here much longer than we have. Those are my best bets.

I didn't really know what to paint--so I started painting something from home. I enjoyed filling in every detail I could remember adn put down, though I did make the roof too dark, the windows too yellow, the sign too close to the main building, and skipped (intentionally) the "window boxes" that lined the walkway.

Then I decided that I would paint another picture (after a little break that involved a woman and her son and a duck going to America on a ship captained themselves, picking up some pirates who turned out to be Vikings and slept all the time, and finally sang a song about "Hey, hey, it's the New World!" In the middle of it, Kiana did something I used to do, and still do sometimes--sing prose to a very strange twist of melody like a recititave only singing it like an aria. And no rhymes. It was like I was playing with my past self for a minute). I didn't know what to draw, so I painted (contrary to watercolor style) a wash of the deepest, darkest blue I could mix, and then I painted a black hill, then I made a mix of green and black practically out of the tube and painted it on with very little water. Finally, I used white straight out of the tube to make the limbs snowy and the snowflakes falling fast. Ah, if only--sometimes I wish that we could live, not in Beijing, but in northern China where it would look more Christmas-y and we could have central heat. Oh, well, it's just an idle wish come Christmas and Easter time. Now, don't say that I haven't seen snow because it does snow in Seattle--every two years or so, a day or two in January.

Anyways, I now have got to work on Christmas presents--I have Daddy's practically finished, know what I'll make for the three women in my family, and am hopelessly lost on my sister. I asked her what she'd want and now I'm torn between giving my sister something she wants and would enjoy or doing less of a "sacrifice" but something she'd still enjoy. It sounds cruel, but everyone will understand when I tell them: She's awfully clingy and wants to sit on your lap and kiss you and hug you and everything and she won't get off even when we tell her to stop. I can barely stand it when I want to--I don't think a present has to be that much of a sacrifice. I am not selfish, I just don't think it will end the way she hopes (i.e. I'll be mad because I got into this, and she'll be mad because I promised and am not exactly keeping my word). Even though she said it wouldn't have to be Christmas Day...hmmm...maybe I could play EV Nova with her extra...?