Great Day

It was a great day. Well okay, it really started for me in the afternoon, I've
been in nightowl mode again and sleeping in when I can.

However, that aside, I was invited to a Chinese New Year celebration held at
Bethany Care Center today. It was originally supposed to be on the 7th of
February, but the entertainment they wanted was all booked up, and the only time
they could get them was this week. That's why so late. The celebrations
apparently run from the 7th to the 25th of February. But better late than never.

We were treated to Chinese dancing, singing, and and a tai chi demonstration,
done to music on a zither. Cool!

The singing was wonderful too, I'm always fascinated at how different the styles
of singing and other music in cultures I'm not so familiar with.

The snacks were good, though distinctly western. Hehe. These wafer things that
had a waffle design, you can buy them at stores but these must've been home made
or at least gotten from some other supplier, because man they were good! The
sponge cake with the buttery coconut toping was also wonderful.

Everyone was given little bags with Chinese writing on them and a flowery
picture/design, and inside each bag was a chocolate coin. Coolness!

The entertainers also put on some western dances, such as "My Achy Breaky Heart"
and believe it or not the Macarena! Lol! Keep in mind this place is a care
center, so, mostly seniors, and they loved it, even the Macarena got tons of
whoops and applause. Lol!

After that, I went to A&W for a quick bite before going to work. I hadn't eaten
anything before going to the celebration and new I wouldn't last all through
work on just sponge cake and a wafer.

Akina came along with me and behaved herself all through the celebration. She
did growl quite a bit from there to the mall, I have no idea why she seems to
want to growl when in the car or at my work place. She doesn't have to, she's
been in the car and at work enough times that she shouldn't feel threatened or
even annoyed by those surroundings any more. I think it's just become somewhat
of a habit for her, and I'm doing what I can to get her to break it. Now that
we're getting much much closer and I've been handling her extensively, she will
eventually stop trying to show us how much she likes the sound of her voice in a
car or at the ballet studio.

She behaved at work too, growling only a little and very seldom. But she did get
the attention of some students in the last class who got to see her. Some of
them petted her and she licked their fingers. The girls ooed and awed, really,
people are so darn cute themselves when they gush over a cute animal, it's just
adorable! Lol!

Akina has licked the heck out of me today as well, and she's been starting to do
that more and more, now that I'm finally letting her since she's no longer
trying to nibble and nip. She is fast becoming another Mia, and she's got her
whole life ahead of her yet. I hope it's as long - preferably longer than Mia's
was. We will have a lot of time to enjoy each other and she will charm a lot of
people just like Mia did.

So that's about it for now.